HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2008-2009 YEAR CONTINUED

During the Rotary year, President-Nominee (later President-Elect because of John Swartwout's resignation) Neil Nathan organized the weekly programs on a variety of topics. The speakers included: our own Lucille Deblaise (the Club's Exchange Student from France; see below), Kevin Katz, Jerry Mohn, and Otie Zapp. Other speakers were: Susan Andrews (GSE Team Leader to France), Ball High School Music Department (with Dr. Hines), Frank Billingsly, Joann Cavazos, Lynne Cleveland, Carolyn Karbowski & Judy Biggs, Shrub Kempner, Raquelle Lewis, Bowen Loftin, Patty Mayeux, Kim Mytelka, Freddy Poor, Jim Rodriguez, Rabbi Jack Segal, Jeff Sjostrom, Steve Smith & Greg Whitaker, Texas Family Musicals, Inc., Liz Turner, Dolly Warren, Alice Williams, Police Chief Charles Wylie, and Judge Jim Yarbrough. Scheduled as speaker for the June meetings are UTMB's President David Callender, Ken Laird, Meg Wincester, and, of course, President Bets for her "swan song".

Special programs were held on: July 16, featuring Dwayne Jones (Galveston Historical Foundation), John Zendt (Moody Gardens and Tourism), and Melody Smith (Convention and Visitors Bureau); October 29, with information on the RI Foundation and the Club's Foundation (with Mike Cowan, Bets Anderson, and Randy Klibert); and December 10, with a program "Focus on the Future" during which several Committee Chairs gave an update on their committee activities (Keith Bassett, Bill McMullen, John Augelli, Pat Bumpus, Jake Walsdorf, Kristen Carlson, Juan Peña, Brett Kirkpatrick, and Ruth Finkelstein Suhler.

Much appreciated classification talks on November 5, March 25, and May 6 featured: Mary Beth Bassett, Bill Buffum, Kevin Harrington, Gigi Heffernan, Mary Brechtel, Bill McMullen, Bill Ray, and Barbara Sasser. District Governor Roger McCabe visited our club on November 12 (originally his visit was scheduled for October 22 but Hurricane Ike had changed that plan); in just 20 minutes Governor overwhelmed us with a condensed "encyclopedic" summary of what Rotary is all about.

A special celebration took place at our meeting on February 25: with a Rotary cake we recognized our Club's 96th Birthday (which was February 24). We also used that occasion to honor the three members who have the longest tenure in our club: Bill Glenn, Jr. (58 years), Lee Ansell (55 years), and Buddy Benson (52 years).

On December 17, 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. Charlie Delgado (saxophone) and Bonnye Karger (piano), as well as Ruth Finkelstein Suhler and Pat Bumpus (voices) entertained us with wonderful music. With Ray Pinard's help and "Amen" we raised $7,000.00. A "Thank you" to all the generous (and some very generous) donors, who made the one-hour fundraising event again such a great success. An additional "Thank you" goes to all the members who brought (unwrapped) "Toys for Tots" that day for the Marine Corps.

As mentioned above already, because of Hurricane Ike the Board cancelled the meeting on September 10 and we could not meet September 17 and 24, and October 1 and 8. Additional Wednesdays without a meeting were: August 27 (this meeting was changed to August 26 to participate in the United Way Kick-Off), November 26 (Thanksgiving), and December 24 and 31 (Christmas and New Year' Eve).
In 1990, our Club established the Galveston Rotary Foundation, Inc. (which is separate from the Foundation of RI). In 2008-2009, the Board of our Foundation included ex-officio: Bets Anderson (President), John Swartwout [as of 3/09 Neil Nathan] (Vice President), Neil Nathan [as of 3/09 Bill McMullen] (President-Nominee), Mike Cowan (Secretary/Treasurer), and additional members: Randy Klibert, V.J. Tramonte, Jim McCurdy, and as of 05/09 Lise Darst (for Jim McCurdy who could no longer serve on the Board). The Board allocated $14,199 for support of a number of community organizations and club projects, including: three scholarships for High School students (see below) and support of graduation projects at Ball and O'Connell High Schools; the Galveston County Science & Engineering Fair; the Club's Guatemala Mission (to set up a Women's Shelter); Artist Boat; Galveston Youth Leadership Award; Friends of ACE Unit Scholarships; helmets for the Club's Bicycle Safety Day; Chamber of Commerce; Ball High School Athletics and Fine Arts Departments; Ball High School Media students; and Galveston Bay Oyster Club.
In previous years, the most significant money for the Club's Foundation came from our two fundraisers: the Chili Supper and its Silent Auction. This year, for the first time in 32 years, there was no Chili Supper and no Silent Auction. Hurricane Ike washed away all the plans we had. However, mark your calendar for November 5, 2010 and contact Keith Bassett and Diana Davis if you have great ideas that promise to make the upcoming event the best Chili Supper & Silent Auction ever.

One of RI President D.K. Lee's major goals for his year was reducing child mortality. Our Club contributed to that goal by providing free bicycle safety helmets to kids 6-12 years old at an event at Moody Memorial First United Methodist Church on May 16. The helmet give-away was part of a "Kid's Bicycle Safety Morning", in partnership with the Galveston Police and Fire Departments, Boy Scouts of America, and the American Red Cross. In addition, our Club contributed funds to RI for Polio Eradication and to District 5910 for its Water Well Project in Nicaragua.

The 51st Galveston Island Spelling Bee contest for students from the island's elementary schools took place on February 23 at Austin Middle School. As in previous years, the event was sponsored by our Rotary Club. Ruth Finkelstein Suhler, Linda Ott-Thompson, and Kurt Sistrunk served as competent judges. The winners of the contest were Ben Thompson from Satori School (1st Place), Mahathi Mula from Odyssey Academy (2nd Place), and Kevin Tian from Galveston Catholic School (3rd Place). Also co-sponsored by our club (together with Galveston College and Workforce Solutions) was the Galveston College Career Fair and Transfer Day on April 8.

For several years now, John Augelli organized the Club's participation in the Beach Clean-Up, held on April 25, 2009 (Hurricane Ike washed the usual September Clean-Up of the schedule). Much needed Rotarian and non-Rotarian help came from Gloria Augelli, Susan Baker, Donita Brennon, Barrett Ingram, Milton Marroquim, Ray Pinard, and Ruth Finkelstein Suhler. Mark your calendar for the next beach clean-ups (last weekend in September and in April); you may find some of your own belongings that Hurricane Ike washed into the gulf!

As in previous years, our Club Foundation awarded three scholarships to high school students. This year's deserving recipients were: Alexis Gonzalez (a 2008 RYLA participant from O'Connell College Preparatory School), Shereen Kamalie (Ball High School), and Krystal Strother (Ball High School - Communities in Schools). For their heroic service during the aftermath of Hurricane Ike, Justin Bowling (Senior Construction Manager for the City of Galveston) received the 2009 Rotary Vocational Service Award, and Lyda Ann Thomas, Steve LeBlanc and Brandon Wade were praised with Certificates of Recognition.

Unfortunately, our Interact Club at O'Connell and Rotaract Club at Galveston College/TAMUG still seem to be "hibernating". Let's help our committee chairs to bring them back to life again!

Our Club began sponsoring exchange students in 1992 and since then sponsored a student every year. This year's student came from France: Lucille Deblaise from Blois, a city about 100 miles south of Paris. Lucille arrived on August 15 and only four weeks later she had the same unexpected and unwanted experience as everyone else on Galveston Island: Hurricane Ike. Luckily, Lucille had a very caring host family during that time: James and Janet Rice. Lucille first evacuated with her host mother, four children and two dogs to Arkansas, and later spent some time with her host father and her oldest host sister in California. Lucille's second host parents were our own Mary and Casey Brechtel, a perfect match for both, the host parents and Lucille alike. Karen Mahoney graciously served as chauffeur every morning to get Lucille to Ball High on time. As with the previous ten exchange students, Ulli Budelmann served as Lucille's counselor and legal guardian. The orientation meeting for the 11 exchange students in District 5910 was originally scheduled for September 12-14 but because of Hurricane Ike had to be postponed and re-located to Palestine, at the very north end of our district. All students met again four more times: for a fun-filled weekend at Crystal Lake near Palestine; 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; at the District Conference in College Station; and for a real "Texas" experience at a ranch in Harper near San Antonio / Fredericksburg (kindly made possible by PDG Chuck Mason's family). A special treat for Lucille was her trip with Mary and Casey Brechtel (and "flight ticket" support from the club) to Bonaire (Netherland Antilles), where she obtained a SCUBA diving certificate.

For the first time that the Historian can remember, Galveston welcomed an inbound Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar: Sora Lee from Suwon in South Korea (District 3750). Sora is a Graduate Student in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at UTMB. She arrived in August but already shortly thereafter - because of Hurricane Ike - she had to evacuate like everyone else. Her Rotary counselor Ulli Budelmann took her to Huntsville, where the two stayed with PDG Glen Mattingly to ride out the storm.

This past year our club sponsored 10 high school students to participate in the educational and fun-filled "Oh, we feel so good" RYLA weekend camp-out. This all-expenses-paid activity took place on January 9-11 at Pineywoods Baptist Encampment in Woodlake near Lufkin. Eight students came from Ball High School: Mamie Aoughsten, our Exchange Student Lucille Deblaise, Eva Gao, Benjamin Mytelka, Margaret Patterson, Eric Reihle, Melissa Ross, and Hannah Willey; and two students were from the O'Connell College Preparatory School: Abbey Laclede and Corey Lee. They joined about 200 students from other High Schools in the District and about 40 adults. Chaperones from our Club were Juan Peña and Mary Ross.

Three of our club members were active at District 5910 level: Ulli Budelmann served as Assistant Governor for the Friendswood, Galveston, Galveston Island, and Mainland (La Marque) Rotary Clubs; he also continued as Inbound Coordinator on the Youth Exchange Committee and served as counselor for the District's inbound Ambassadorial Scholar Sora Lee from South Korea; Randy Klibert served as the Governor's Special Representative for Galveston County; and Harold Fattig became the District Chair for the "Roll of Fame and Four Avenues of Service" awards.

For the first time since many years, our Club could not participate in hosting the visiting GSE team (from Argentina). Obvious reason was the devastation that Hurricane Ike had caused to our island, so we had not much to show. For sure, the Club will participate next year again!

Mike Cowan 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". Congratulation, Mike. You are the Club's 31st "Roll of Fame" recipient.

For their special service to the club and beyond, Mary Brechtel, Kristen Carlson, Karen Mahoney, Bill McMullen, and Jake Walsdorf were honored with a Paul Harris Fellowship. The Club's VIT Association grew by one member: Mike Guarino (#62). A note to all Paul Harris Fellows who are not (yet) a VIT member: please consider joining the VIT Association. Linda Ott-Thompson and Ruth Finkelstein Suhler would be more than happy to explain what the association is all about and what it takes to join; they co-chair the new VIT Committee to promote the association. At this point it is appropriate to thank Neil and Linda Nathan again, who hosted a wonderful VIT social at their house on July 30.

A club member, who never says "no" when asked for help and who did an outstanding job with putting our club bulletin, the PILOT, together every week, was named the 2008-2009 Club's Most Valuable Member: Kristen Carlson. Congratulation, Kristen, that recognition is well deserved. To those who did not know, our PILOT received an "Honorable Mention" at the District Conference in College Station. This is one more reason for you (!) to volunteer as a reporter for the PILOT and thus to help Kristen continue publishing these great weekly summaries of our meetings.

The Club's "Bell Ringing" for the Salvation Army was again in the perfect organizing, singing and collecting hands of Pat Bumpus and Ruth Finkelstein Suhler. On Saturday December 13, our Club members collected $1,520.55. This is a remarkable result because we collected almost $500.00 more than last year (a performance that was much better than the DOW, as one of our financial gurus was quick to point out).

During the entire year, at the beginning of each meeting President Bets paid a wonderful tribute to all Club members whose names appeared in the Galveston County Daily News, e.g., as an honoree, as an article author, or otherwise. The most significant recognitions of Club members included the following:
Bill Leopold (together with Robert Evans) created the Doug Kanoy Fund to allow employees of the Galveston Historical Foundation to continue (under)graduate academic work; Carlos Peña received the Distinguished Church Service Award from the Texas Lutheran University for his outstanding service to the church; Gigi Heffernan was named "Woman of the Year" in Insurance by NAPEW (The National Association of Professional and Executive Women); Gigi was also appointed to the State Catastrophic Board; Jerry Mohn we re-elected to the Board of Directors of the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association; Lonnie Cox was named a "Damned Good Judge" by the Texas Gang of Investigators Association; Ray and Vivian Pinard were honored for their "history of helping" at the Family Service Center Anniversary Gala; Barbara Sasser (together with Ruth Daub of Williamsburg, VA) won the prestigious women's 55-and-over doubles title at the United States Tennis Association National Women's Grass Court Championship; and Marvin Langston was named HomeTown Bank Executive Vice President. President Bets specifically thanked all those members who served on the Galveston Recovery Committee: John Augelli, Robyn Bushong, Scott Livanec, Maureen Patton, Barbara Sasser, Tom Schwenk, Myles Shelton, and - knowing Bets - she surely served on that committee herself. To avoid a possible "legal action", the Historian offers an apology to all those club members, whose names appeared in the GCDN but who are not mentioned here.

As for the past three years now, many of our club accomplishments were highlighted in a special 12-page insert in the Galveston County Daily News, published in a full-run issue on June 25, 2009. "Thank you!" Robyn Bushong for having put together another outstanding insert. Copies of it (in addition to the 24,500 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.

Finally a historical note: the year 2008-2009 became the first Rotary year (as far as our Club "veterans" can remember) during which we did what many other Rotary Clubs do, that is, at every meeting we cited The 4-Way Test.

To summarize, congratulations to President Bets for leading us so successfully through this difficult "Hurricane Ike" year. As a Rotary Club we survived well, and the damage that the storm and water surge caused in the lives of so many of our members will hopefully soon fade into history. Some of the Dreams we had as a club became real; others have to wait a little bit longer. Back to welcome ...click here.