April 15, 2009

Lake Murray-Irmo Rotary Meeting Minutes for Wednesday, April 15, 2009 President Eddie Robinson brought the meeting to order. Our invocation was given byJohn Adair. Visitors were Fred Splittgerber and Cheryl Cotton from the St. AndrewsClub. Larry Stohs introduced his guest, Meredith Allen, President of the IrmoChamber. Rod Funderburk introduced our speakers, Emily Stanek and Courtney Gibson. Rod introduced his guests, his wife, Rowena and grandson, Joshua. John Hanson announced two local events, the Richland County Electronics Recycling tobe held at Columbiana Mall on Saturday, April 18, from 9:00 to 1:00 and a free shredevent at Irmo Town Hall on Saturday. President Robinson gave a reminder about the CART fund buckets for Alzheimers research. Blount Shepard reminded us about the highway cleanup this coming Saturday. We areto meet at his office in Ballentine at 8:00 for breakfast and fellowship before thecleanup. President Robinson asked us to remember Jim Wellman as he is undergoing knee surgerytoday. Ginny Barr reminded us of leadership training in Charleston tomorrow. John Adair asked that we submit to him the name of a non-Rotarian for adistinguished service award. This person is to be a full time employee in theircareer for at least seven years. Emilie Keene and her committee are finalizing plans for the last fund raiser of theyear and is asking for suggestions for a topic or speaker. Lyman Whitehead provided health and happiness. President Robinson conducted a ceremony to induct Jerry Isbell into membership ofour club, with Larry Stohs and Ginny Barr participating in the ceremony. We arepleased to have Jerry and look forward to his association and contribution to ourclub. Happy dollars were given from John Adair, who proclaimed his piano tuning hasreached 36,000; Joel Collins gave a happy dollar for his grandson, Deane, in honorof his 10th birthday; Commander Jay Seward's happy dollar was for 3 new ROTC cadets;Kelly Payne's was for her supportive Interact kids and their participation inAdopt-a-Highway; Beetle Bailey's was for his attendance of the Heritage GolfTournament and Larry Stohs for Eddie Robinson's Distinguished Service Award atClemson. Beetle Bailey announced an annual barbecue for next Thursday for $7.00. Rod Funderburk introduced Emily Stanek, who was one of the winners of the RotaryScholarship from our club last year. Emily was born in Boston and moved to Memphis.She will be traveling to Monterey, Mexico, 2 ½ hours from Laredo, Texas, in August. She will be spending an academic year at the Tecnologico de Monterrey. She is aSociology major and minor in Spanish, having graduated from USC in May 2008. Shehas studied in Costa Rica, where she lived with a host family. She is currentlyworking as an immigration advocate. She will be working towards her Masters inpublic policy and public administration. Monterey, Mexico has a population of 4million and is a multi-cultural city and a business and industrial area. Emily toldus she is alert to safety issues while traveling in Mexico. She thanked us for oursponsorship of her. Courtney Gibson was also a scholarship candidate last year. Courtney is originallyfrom Saranac Lake, New York and moved to Irmo when she was 12 or 13. She went toour Dutch Fork schools and is a graduate of the USC Honors College, with a major inPolitical Science and a minor in Spanish. She will be leaving in early July, 2009and will be studying in Quito, Ecuador. She will spend 3 months at the Academia deEspanol-Quito, studying Spanish. Courtney currently works on Latino issues oncampus, as well as AIDS and domestic violence. She graduated from George WashingtonUniversity with a Masters in International Affairs, with a focus on human rights. She was attracted to the Rotary Scholarship because of the service aspect. Shethanked Rotary for this opportunity. President Robinson thanked Emily and Courtney and also thanked Rod Funderburk forhis work on the Rotary Scholarships. President Robinson gave a reminder about the Board meeting on Friday morning at 7:30at Panera Bread and adjourned the meeting. Patty Cavanaugh Reporter