HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2009-2010 YEAR CONTINUED

On December 16, at the last meeting before Christmas, we celebrated a "Rotary Family Day", as always combined with the "Bread Basket Luncheon" fundraiser for the Edgewater Meals-on-Wheels Program. Thanks to Ray Pinard's enthusiasm (and, of course, "Amen") we raised $7,300.00 (which is more than ever before). A big "Thank you" to all the generous (and some very generous) donors. An additional "Thank you" to all the members who brought (unwrapped) "Toys for Tots"; the Marines James and Ray really appreciated your support.

On February 10, fourteen significant others joined the members of the club to celebrate Valentine's Day, with a lot of wonderful singing accompanied by Bonnie Karger at the piano. Thank you Ruth for having orchestrated that event and Neil for having handed out so many long-stem roses. The meeting on March 17 started a bit earlier to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, with Clyde Wood playing the bagpipes. Thank you Mary O'Keefe and Karen Mahoney for this of course very green event prior to our regular meeting, and "Thank you" Stephen Duncan for showing off your Scottish kilt.

A very special celebration every year is our "Salute to Veterans". On May 26, we enjoyed having about forty guests and honored more than thirty veterans (club members and guest) for their service. As in all previous years, Mike Guarino deserves a big "Thank you" for again having so beautifully and tastefully orchestrated this event.

Those of you who did not come in the late afternoon of April 9 to Fisherman's Wharf really missed a nice social gathering with complimentary hors d'œuvres (the calamari fritti really went quickly); do not miss the next social whenever that may be! A great success was the "Bicycle Helmet Give-Away" the next morning (April 10) at the Grand Kids Festival; the helmets put a smile on the faces of 330 kids.

In 1990, our Club established the Galveston Rotary Foundation, Inc. (do not get confused, that foundation is completely separate from "the" Foundation of RI). The 2009-2010 Board Members of our Club Foundation included ex-officio: Neil Nathan (President), Bill McMullen (Vice President), Jake Walsdorf (President-Nominee), and Bets Anderson (Past President); additional Board members were: Lise Darst, Brett Kirkpatrick, and Randy Klibert. The Board allocated a total of almost $15,000 for support of a number of community organizations and club projects, including: two scholarships for High School students and recognitions of "Students of the Year" at UTMB, TAMUG and Galveston College (see below); the Galveston County Science & Engineering Fair; Galveston Catholic School; West Isle Little League All Star Team; Developmental Momentum (books for island schools); Galveston Fire Department (training manuals for kids); Lassie League Softball of Galveston. Most of the above money ($10,000) was given to two Haiti relief efforts: Mercy Ships and Shelter Box USA.

In addition, our Club Foundation contributed $1,000 each to RI for Polio Eradication and to District 5910 for its Water Well Project in Nicaragua.

As every year, most money for the Club's Foundation came from our "Chili Supper and Silent Auction" fundraiser. It took place on November 5 in the cafeteria of Ball High School and netted close to $15,000. A big "Thank you" to Keith Bassett (Chili Supper) and Dianna Davis (Silent Auction), who headed up these two events, and to the many club members, who offered a helping hand.

The 52nd Galveston Island 5th Grade Spelling Bee contest for students from the Island's elementary schools took place on March 7 at Austin Middle School and, as in previous years, was sponsored by our Rotary Club. David Bowers, Mary Brechtel, Ruth Suhler, and Zoula Zein-Eldin served as competent judges. The winners of the contest were Kayla Kaster from College Prep Academy and Austin Middle School (1st Place), Cambry Carter from Austin Middle School (2nd Place), and Mitchell Moreno from Galveston Catholic School (3rd Place). As for many years now, co-sponsored by our club (together with Galveston College and Workforce Solutions) was the Galveston College Career Fair and Transfer Day on March 30.

In April and September, members of our club again participated in the state-wide Beach Clean-Up. For our club, John Augelli continued to be the organizing hand. Club members who helped him picking-up East Beach trash were: Ulli Budelmann, Marie Garrett, Randy Klibert, Bill McMullen, Ray Pinard, and Ruth Suhler in April; and Ulli Budelmann, Brett Kirkpatrick, Neil Nathan, Juan Peña, Gary Peters, Ray Pinard, George Ritz, and Jake Walsdorf in September. During the April 24 event we certainly could have accommodated many more trash-picking Rotary hands.

This year, our Club Foundation honored six students as "Student of the Year" and presented them a certificate and a $50 check: Samuel Bernal (O'Connell College Preparatory School); Michael Dent (Ball High School); Christof Straub (UTMB Graduate School); Michaela Marek (UTMB Medical School); Kisa Young (Galveston College); and Amy Reeves Leuchtag (TAMUG).

Unfortunately, our Interact Club at O'Connell and Rotaract Club at Galveston College/TAMUG stayed inactive for another year. With your help the respective club committee chairs could certainly bring them back to an active life by which they could join the other 284,000 Interact and 184,000 Rotaract members world-wide!

Our club sponsored a Rotary Exchange Student every year since 1992. This year's student was Nuttanich "Meaw" Reaungvetvorrachai from Bangkok in Thailand. Meaw stayed with us in Galveston from August 8, 2009 to June 14, 2010; during that time she attended Ball High School. At the beginning she stayed briefly with Jay and Lori Carnes (in Texas City), and then until December with Rusty and Lisa Carnes. Her host family till the end of her stay was Kelsey and Laurie Maxson (while they were on a mission trip to India for two weeks, Karen Mahoney and Casey and Mary Brechtel helped out hosting). A very big "Thank you" to all of them for having so wonderfully cared for Meaw. It is the quality and passion of the host families that make the Youth Exchange Program work. As for the eleven previous exchange students, Meaw's counselor and legal guardian was Ulli Budelmann. Meaw was one of ten exchange students in the District. All ten students got together several times: August 28-30 for an orientation meeting on the west-end of Galveston Island ("Thank you" Jay Goss, College Station RC, for allowing us to stay in your beautiful beach house); October 23-25 for a fun-filled weekend at Crystal Lake near Palestine; January 29-31 at the South Central Rotary Youth Exchange (SCRYE) meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they met almost 200

other Rotary Youth Exchange students from 30 Rotary Districts; April 30 - May 2 at the Multi-District Conference in San Antonio; and, for the last time, May 14-16 for a real "Texas" experience at a ranch in Harper near Fredericksburg (generously made possible by PDG Chuck Mason's family).

This past year our club sponsored 11 Galveston high school students to participate in the "Oh, we feel so good" RYLA weekend camp-out. This educational, fun-filled and all-expenses-paid activity took place January 8-10 at the Pineywoods Baptist Encampment in Woodlake near Lufkin. Eight students were selected from Ball High School: Michele Chen, Hannah Cleveland, Charlotte Dearman, Tierney Foreman, Natalie Giesen, Vicki Jean Hallcolm, Dominique Hellmich, and Victoria Vazquez; and three students came from the O'Connell College Preparatory School: Marcelo Arredondo, Catherine Trimarchi, and John Villareal. Our 11 students joined more than 200 other students from High Schools elsewhere in our District (and about 40 adults). Juan Peña gave us a slide show of the event at our January 27 meeting. Beside Juan, other chaperones from our Club were Pat Bumpus, Ray Pinard, and Elise Worthen. As every year, they all had a great time.

This year only two of our club members were active at District 5910 level: beside his position as Governor-Nominee Ulli Budelmann served as Assistant Governor for the Friendswood, Galveston, Galveston Island, and Mainland Rotary Clubs; he also continued as Inbound Coordinator on the Youth Exchange Committee; and Harold Fattig served his second year as District Chair for the "Roll of Fame" and "Four Avenues of Service" awards. If it would be known how rewarding (and fun!) it is to participate in District activities (of course, beside the hard work), surely more of our club members would serve Rotary at that level.

After an involuntary pause last year because of the aftermath of Hurricane Ike (we did not have much to show at that time), our Club again participated (at least for a day) in hosting the visiting GSE team from São Paulo, Brazil (District 4430): Bruno Katayama, Eleonora Cordeiro Mattoso, Elidy Cavalcanti, Fernando Tetsuo Nebuya, Leandro Fabrício Dix, William Medeiros, and the Rotarian team leader Regis Yoshio Shimanoe. In the morning of April 14, they toured Moody Gardens and at lunch time presented a program about their home country at our club meeting.

Randy Klibert became our Club's newest member in the District 5910 "Roll of Fame". He received this award in recognition for his "Loyal and Dedicated Service and Devotion to the Ideals of Rotary". Well deserved, Randy! You are the Club's 32nd member in the District's "Roll of Fame".

Every year the club recognizes members with a Paul Harris Fellowship for their special service to the club and beyond. This year's recipients were: John Augelli, Robyn Bushong, Keith Bassett, Lise Darst, and Scott Livanec. In addition, John Schmidt contributed the necessary funds and became a Paul Harris Fellow. He also became the 63rd member of the club's VIT Association and Al Miller became member #64.

For many years Mike Guarino has been the chair of the "Remembrance Committee". This year he has been honored as the Club's Most Valuable Member. Thank you, Mike, for your many years of service to the club.

The Club's "Bell Ringers" for the Salvation Army collected about $1,500. A "Thank you" to the twenty club members who rang the bells and to Pat Bumpus and Jerry Vaughan for organizing that event.

During the entire year, many of our club members lived Rotary's motto "Service above Self" beyond the club and Rotary levels and excelled professionally or voluntarily served the Galveston community in a variety of charitable, civic and professional organizations. To name just a few (in random order, to avoid complaints): Dianna Davis was named "Outstanding Juvenile Placement Officer in the State of Texas", John Augelli "Librarian of the Year" by the Texas Library Association, and our late Richard Squier Hitchcock's "Citizen of the Year"; following Tom Schwenk, David Bowers served as President of the Galveston Historical Foundation and he also served as President of the Galveston Association of Realtors; Libbie's Place Adult Daycare honored Buddy Benson; and "congratulation" to John Zendt, who became the CEO of Moody Gardens. Many more of our members have voluntarily served our community in one or the other way but are not mentioned here; they know who they are and we all appreciate their service and dedication.

Finally and as a historical note, for the first time in the history of Rotary International, six Texas Rotary Districts (District 5730, 5810, 5830, 5840, 5870, and our own 5910) celebrated the accomplishments of their District Rotary Year together. This "Tejas" Multi-District Conference took place in San Antonio April 29 - May 2. Unfortunately, only three of our club members attended (Neil Nathan, Harold Fattig, and Ulli Budelmann); the rest missed a wonderful Rotary event.

Many of the accomplishments listed above were beautifully highlighted in a special 12-page, full-color insert in the Galveston County Daily News, published in a full-run issue on July 1, 2010. "Thank you!" Robyn Bushong for having put together yet another outstanding insert. Copies of it (in addition to the almost 25,000 inserted in the GCDN) will be distributed at our annual Chili Supper, RYLA, the Galveston College Job Fair, the Annual District Conference, and at other community-wide events.

To summarize, "Thank you" President Neil for having taken the Future of the Rotary Club of Galveston so perfectly into your caring hands and "congratulations" for all the accomplishments that made the 97th year of our existence another successful year of Rotary service.

Back to welcome ...click here.