April 29 2009

Lake Murray-Irmo Rotary Meeting Minutes for April 29^th, 2009

President Eddie Robinson brought the meeting to order. John Hanson recognized visitors. President Robinson introduced his wife Cynthia, and mother Mozell Robinson. Lyman Whitehead provided the club with health and happiness. His joke about a lie detecting robot was an amusing start to the day. President Robinson then gave an update on Bill Kopelman saying that Bill was responding favorably to his treatment and asked that the club keep Bill in our thoughts and prayers. The meeting was then turned over to Emily Keene and Maria Hargrave for an update on the pancake breakfast. The breakfast will be held May 13^th at the Seven Oaks Park location. Tickets will be available for sale soon, as will signs to be posted inside business locations to advertise the event. The fundraising committee challenged the club members to try and sell at least five tickets a piece for the event which will help support our club and our community. John Adair addressed the club regarding the vocational distinguished service award. The nominees were: Doug Trevette of Trevette Mailing Service, Dr. Robert Callis of Lexington Family Practice, Dr. Jon Pitner of Pitner Orthodontics and Barbara Wilm of Lexington Medical Center. The club then voted via ballots at each table. The winner will be announced during next weeks meeting. Blount Shepard gave the club a review of the previous weekend’s highway cleanup. Ten to fifteen bags of trash were removed from the Farming Creek Rd.. Blount also recognized the bravery of several first time shad roe and oyster gravy eaters. Zeke Riddle even claimed to like the stuff. President Robinson called Patty Cavanaugh to assist him in the induction of the club’s newest Paul Harris Fellow. Mozell Robinson, President Robinson’s mother, was recognized for her years of service to the community educated children as a public school teacher. After the induction, President Robinson allowed time for Happy Dollars.

John Adair introduced the speaker, Lou Nolan. Lou is a member of the Five Points Club in Columbia. She has served as her club’s president and is currently the Assistant Governor-elect for Area 2 of District 7770. She is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow and Sustaining Member. Lou is also on the Board of the Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust, or better known as the CART Fund. Lou spoke about the origin of the CART Fund, its mission and the current state of the Fund. She began with a story to illustrate the effects of Alzheimer’s. She spoke of a pair of sisters, one whom had been diagnosed at a relatively young age with the disease. The woman had trouble remembering dates and times, then the names of relatives, and eventually found it difficult to recognize her own husband. Lou explained that for adults between sixty and seventy years old, most will experience some degree of normal memory loss. Those that seem to have a more extreme case should seek medical help and undergo a memory test. Alzheimer’s can affect a person at any age but is seen more frequently in older individuals. In 1995, researchers discovered one of the most aggressive genes related to Alzheimer’s disease. In that same year, Robert Ackerman led the Sumter, SC Rotary Club in organizing and starting the CART Fund. The idea was that Rotarians empty their pocket change as a donation to the Fund to support research. The program has grown from the Sumter club and has been adopted by each Rotary district in North and South Carolina and Georgia. The money collected is used to support Alzheimer’s research through a single grant awarded each year to various approved medical research programs. The grants are awarded through an association with the American Federation for Aging Research who reviews grant proposals and recommends the best ones to the CART Fund. Lou added that 99% of the money donated goes directly to research. To date, the grants total $2.3 million to various research centers. As for the results of the grants Lou offered this example. The University of Texas – Medical Branch received a grant from CART to study testing of blood and spinal fluid for markers of Alzheimer’s. The tests were originally unsuccessful but the researchers did discover a new protein linked to the disease. The discovery aided in the development of a new brain scan technique that allows researchers and doctors to recognize the early development of Alzheimer’s “tangles” in the brain.