Membership Front and Center

John Howard

Each week it is a struggle to come up with the words to start our blog.  This week I only came up with one word: Bravo!  John Howard allowed his program week to be hijacked by the membership committee.  Neal Pearcy asked Charles Green to lead us in a membership discussion.  Charles called on other Rotarians as well and the hit it out of the park.

Capt. Morgan (Ha Ha!)

Mark Morgan got up and spoke about being a new member some of the struggle to find a what rotary means to each of us.

Dave Simmon spoke about getting involved and the membership process. Dave reminded us to ask people who would make good Rotarians to join us, but you have to ask.

Dave Simmon

Finally,  Terry Kessinger got up and spoke. If you know Terry, when I say he spoke many words but said nothing, you know what I mean.  No really, Terry spoke about the years of service that he has dedicated to the Danville Rotary Club.  For years Terry has worked with our club and Rotarians to add fun into our social events and fundraisers. 

Terry Kessinger

Each of the Rotarians had their own topic that motivated us to reach out to members of our community and drive membership.  This is not just at our local level. Our district and Rotary International are making sure that the good deeds that Rotary does are noticed. Drawing attention to these good deeds will help to attract other like minded individuals.

Charles "Smooth Jazz" Green

This week we are pleases to announce that Susan Rempert has put in her application for membership.  She has been the guest of Bill Barfield and Jerry Weed. Jerry is the proposing Rotarian.  Jade Gruner also had a guest with him, Scott Hill owner of Diesel's Sports Grille. 

Another speaker today was Shannon Shervin. Shannon came to speak to the Rotary Club about Post Prom for the Danville High school.  She has fill out a request for a donation from the Danville Rotary Club Foundation. 

Thanks again for the Membership Committee for putting on a great program. 

 

Reminder: There will not be a meeting the Thursday of Spring Break.   If you would like to attend the Brownsburg Rotary Club meeting on Thursday at noon, please send an email to David Heffner.   This means we will also bump the Board meeting to April 11th.

The Big Lock Up

Housing the Good and the Bad under the same roof.  For years, our County Sheriff's family lived in the same building as the local jail.  Today, over 1500 visitors per year walk the same halls as generations of past criminals and law enforcement.  The building today is the site of the Hendricks County Museum.  Harold Hiser was the program chair that brought in Sally Lawson and Deanna Hindsley to talk to us about the museum.  Sally and Deanna brought visual aids that dated back a hundred plus years.  She read a small excerpt from a dairy from one of the sheriff's wrote just as the news of the death of Abraham Lincoln made its way to Danville.  The Museum has undergone renovation of the years and runs on volunteers and donations from the community for support.  On April 11th, the Museum will hold its annual Gala for supporting the museum.

This past weekend, Ron and Greg attended PETS II.  Ron has stepped up to fill the roll of President Elect.  He has worked very hard to get up to speed for the coming year.  Ron rode up to Carmel with me and we had two hours to talk about Rotary and ideas for the club.

Also this last weekend, Neal and Bobbie Pearcy drove two eager students to Camp Techemsa for RYLA.

Tonya Hassler and Melissa Salerno, both Sophomores at Danville High School were our Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) scholarship recipients for 2013. 

Melissa and Tonya attended the Camp Tecumseh YMCA  leadership conference March 15 / 17th. The closing luncheon brought many group hugs as they said goodbye to new-found friends and a "never to be forgotten" lifetime experience. Thanks again to Neal and Bobbie.

Rose sale order forms are available now.  See Steph for details on ordering.  

Today the Avon, Danville and Plainfield Rotary clubs made a donation to Susie's Place.  Greg, Greg Zusan and Max Hank made the presentation of the check before the media and visitors.  Emily quipped that the funds would go towards snacks for the kids and officers.  

A Few People Changing the County

William Roche

Rotarian to the rescue.  This week's Superhero was Gary Emsweller.  Gary was able to come up with a speaker in under 7 minutes forming a new Rotary record.   Gary introduced William Roche.  Bill is the Director of the Hendricks County Parks and Recreation department. 

Bill is one of those people who have the ability to make something out of nothing.  His latest project is creating a new park Southeast of the Gordon Graham Airport off of Gibbs road.  Bill said that this is a process that includes the residents of the County because it is their park and they should have input into its design.

On top of creating new parks, the organization also is on a mission to provide environmental education and help people connect with nature. The county parks serve over 100,000 visitors per year.  

As announced,  we are looking for a new board member. If you are interested, please let me know.

Any week is a good week to invite a friend or neighbor to join us for lunch.

Golf outing May 16th. Please add it to your calendar.

Suzie's Place

This week we had a representative from Suzie's Place attend our weekly meeting.  Heath Allen was the speaker host.  Heath introduced Maria Larrison and she explained what Susie's place does and for how long they been helping children.  Susie's place had gotten so big that they had to move from one location to new location next to Ivy Tech in Avon. They also have recently opened a second location in Bloomington, In.   As a child advocacy center they work closely with the prosecutors and law enforcement to help victims and families.  Susie's place has been able to reduce the number of interviews with a child from up to 8 down to 1. Most of the cases are domestic violence and sexual abuse.  Suzie's Place is in need of some snacks, juice boxes and other refreshments.  

RYLA... Denise announced that are club will be sending two high school students to camp Tecumseh in the coming month. They will participate in Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. This is a 2 day event. Word is that the students are very excited to attend.  

Announcements
There is a rotary board meeting on Thursday morning it will start at 7:30 a.m. The board meeting will be held at Courthouse Grounds.