An Education on The Rotary Foundation

We had a very educational and informative rotary meeting Thursday the 17th of November. It was our pleasure to hear from Errol Eernisse, who is a member of the Sugarhouse Rotary Club, and he reviewed the workings of the Rotary Foundation and where the money comes from and where it goes. The numbers are very impressive and here is an example, as of September 2010 there has been $248 million donated to the foundation. We have 1,304,583 Paul Harris Fellows, which benefits TRF as well. These donations are used for projects ranging from local, national, small international and large international. It is important that we as rotarians are supporting this foundation for the impact it is making in the world. Keep the money coming everybody.

We also had a member focus by Annette Basso. She has had a storied life and career in rotary and it was great to get to know her better and hear her cool stories. Thanks for being a member of our club Annette. We love having you with us.

Snow Canyon Ranger Station Welcomes Dixie Sunrise

This blogger was not at the Rotary meeting on the 10th of November so I can only speculate on what happened. I do know that we met at the Snow Canyon State Park Ranger Station for some education and enlightenment on the Park. Pictured here is a lovely young Park Ranger educating club members on the history of the park and the programs offered to park goers year round. What a great opportunity to experience a vocational excursion. Those who were absent really missed out. This blogger included.

RYLA Highlights and Gilbert Jennings combine for a memorable Sunrise Rotary Meeting

The Dixie Sunrise Rotary Club was treated to a great meeting Thursday. Pictured in this blog are two of the RYLA participants we sponsored this year and they gave a enthusiastic recap of their experience and their new found passion for Rotary. Also pictured is one of our newest members, Lisa Davis, who was a facilitator at this year's RYLA. We heard about the speakers and the activities and the commitment level of these two participant's is off the charts. We look forward to working with them as a club and the possibility of helping them start a Rotaract club.

We also had a presentation from Gilbert Jennings representing the Spirit of Dixie II. This group is one of the major contributors in helping make improvements to the campus of Dixie State College in an effort to help them achieve university status. The idea is to make the campus a place where members of the community want to come and chill and soak up the atmosphere of an institution of higher learning. There are plenty of avenues of service for our club and I could see the wheels turning in President Wilcox's head. Overall, a great meeting. It is great to be a Rotarian. Especially in our club.

This just In: Rotarian Joe Christopher steps up and contributes!!

Rotarian Joe Christopher came through for the club in a big way by scheduling our speaker for our meeting on the 20th of October. With his experience with the American Cancer Society he brought in Christina Goodman, Patient Services Manager, with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Christina is seen in the pictures getting recruited by President Wilcox and signing a dictionary for our dictionary project. Christina gave us an awesome presentation on the L&L Society and how it is helping people on a daily basis with their battles with cancer. She also told us about the bone marrow donors list and how to get on it and there was a lot of interest by members of the club. We hope to be able to help in some way. Thanks for your time Christina.

A Visit from the Youngest District Governor in the World!!

Thursday the 13th of October was an historic day for the Dixie Sunrise Rotary Club. Our program began with the inuduction of a great husband and wife team into our Club. President Wilcox, with the help of District Governor Rick Cambra, inducted the Davis' into our club and gave them all the rights and priveleges of being full fledged, card carrying Rotarians. We are excited to have them in the club and look forward to getting to know them better and serving the community with them.









For the second part of our program, it was our distinct pleasure to hear from the youngest Rotary District Governor in the world, Rick Cambra. He was able to attend our bored meeting the day before and this morning gave us some great words of encouragement about Rotary and District 5420's direction in the upcoming year. (which is nearly half over) A couple of take home messages that impacted this blogger were the PR campaigns to be run by the district featuring real live rotarians' pictures on bill boards; and the charge to make Rotary fun. Because if is not fun, your club will be shrinking. We were all impressed by the DG's professionalism, except for the time he swore when he talked about Mark Heiner. Well, who doesn't? Anyway, a great meeting and if you missed it, you really missed it. See you next week.

Habitat for Humanity Makes Dixie Sunrise Feel at Home

On Thursay, September 15th, Mike Gburski was our guest speaker. He originally hales from Connecticut and finds himself as the Executive Director of the Southwest Utah Chapter of the Habitat for Humanity. HFH focuses on helping low income families get into affordable housing by acquiring property and building homes with donated materials and labor from the community, contractors, and building suppliers. They have been averaging about a home a year but want to increase that to around three to four houses per year. Mike did a very good job informing us of his organization and there were many good questions from the crowd.

In other news, Lynn Spafford, informed the club of his disatrous week. As many of you know, his business was hit by lightning Sunday evening which ruptured a gas line and burned his store. As is typical of Lynn, his attitude is very positive and he is on his way to rebuild and get his store back to better than ever. Saturday the 17th, our Rotary Club will be spearheading a project in the community to help Lynn clean up from 8 am to around noon. Fab Freddy's will be there with a pressure washer and Alsco will have a truck there with coveralls, gloves and rags. If you want to help leave your younger children at home, wear some sturdy shoes and come join the effort.

Sunrise at the Black Bear Diner

Due to a scheduling conflict at the luxurious Best Western Abbey Inn, the Dixie Sunrise Rotary Club showed its flexibilty by meeting at the new 5 star restaurant The Black Bear Diner. We had a good showing for the road trip and the folks at the BBD were very gracious and accomodating. If you missed it; you missed it.

Our speaker was Splendor Sargent from Cherry Creek Radio Cares. We found out that in addition to being on every board and committee in the county, she also worked for our very own Dr. Gooch for about four years. Wow, now that is some staying power. Cherry Creek Radio Cares helps connect individuals and organizations with resources in the community to help meet their needs. CCRC has different levels of involvement from PSA's to full blown involvement and Slendor is happy to meet with organizations to assess needs and determine a level of involvement to ensure a successful outcome. She said she had a very impressive PowerPoint presentation but we weren't set up for it this morning. So, we will have to have her back. That is all for today.

Sunrise Rotary Gets a Law Review

We were priveleged to hear from one of our own members this morning. Greg Walker, Esquire, Attorney-at-Law and all around good guy gave us a review of the law. He came with a computer and a slide show and everything. We learned about the origination of the law, why they call it the bar and where the Judge sits and everything. It was very informative and only reinforced the fact that Greg was the captain of the Law Review team at his law school.

One thought question: Why do they call them an Attorney-at-Law? What else can you be an Attorney at? 50 bonus points to the first non-attorney with the answer.

DOCUTAH Premiers at the Sunrise Rotary Club

Phil Tuckett, Docutah Festival Director and well decorated NFL film veteran, was our speaker this morning. Along with his Operations Manager, Lani Puriri, they previewed the event which will be hosted by DSC and the southern Utah area September 8th thru the 17th. There will be 100 films entered this year in honor of DSC's 100 years in business. They range from two minutes forty five seconds to two hours fifty six minutes. This will be a fantastic event and everyone is encouraged to support the festival. We also saw our own Lance Greer in the promo materials. His is asking for a new contract with more money. Good luck Lance.

On a service note: Don't forget our service project on September 17th at the Family Crisis Center. Hey, come to the service project and then go to the final day of Docutah. Just a thought.

We finally received John Kinsman's name badge and President Wilcox is shown here presenting it to him. He is now a fairdinkum (Australian for bonafide) member of the club.

John also gave a 5 minute and 960 second member focus which was very informative and helped us get to know him better. Thanks John for sharing with us!!

We had a very informative speaker who told the club about the website stgeorgenightout.com. A website dedicated the exciting night life of Washington County.

We had some awesome visitors on Thursday. These two youngsters came for a hot breakfast while their mom is backpacking across Europe for the summer. And we still don't know who the guy with the beard is shoveling food in his mouth like he just got back from some trek experience or something. Well, that is all for this week. See you all Thursday.

Rotary Torch Run was HOT! HOT! HOT!

We had a good turn out yesterday as we carried the torch to eradicate polio. We had representatives from all of the Rotary clubs in Washington County (I think) and we all had a good time. We were welcomed by the President of the Red Rock Club (name is escaping me) and then we all hit the track for the run/walk/meander/stroll depending on how you felt and how you were dressed. The obvious absence of super athlete/marathoner Shayne Wittwer was felt as we were looking for about 5 miles from him. Since the event was in his backyard we were sure he would be there. I think we had breakfast afterward, but this blogger had to leave after his 10 mile effort to go earn a paycheck. All in all it was a great morning for the event and we all felt good about the effort. By the way, Kaylnn Larson walks really fast.

Rotary Clubs get all Boxed in at All Clubs Meeting!

The four Washington County Rotary Clubs were represented at an all clubs meeting on Thursday the 14th of April. PDG Wally Brown gave us an excellent presentation on the Shelter Box project started by one Rotary Club in Scotland. We were told of where the Shelter Boxes have been employed since 2005 and what natural and man made disasters were covered. The contents of a Shelter Box were displayed and Wally let us know what it would take to be involved and sponsor a box.

He was introduced by Past President of the Sunrise Club, Marla Shelby-Drabner, and we found out that Wally is an alumnus of Dixie High School. (Who knew, right)

We were also entertained by a bull story from Paul Gooch that was hard to believe. Only a kid from Mona could pull off that tall tale.

PDG Gil Trujillo also had some great things to say about the Rotary youth programs and all in all it was a great meeting. Shame on those who missed it.

Next week promises to be exciting as we meet Wednesday at Hansen Stadium for the torch run to eradicate polio. Wear your running shoes and be there at 730 am to put in your 10 miles. Then you can go to work sweaty.

The Learning Center for Families Shines in a tag team presentation at the Sunrise Club!

Thursday morning we were joined by Debbie Justice, the Director of the Learning Center for Families and Carol Hollowell, the Program Director for the Volunteer Center of Washington County. Debbie presented information on the palacial building they are constructing to help thousands of infants and toddlers and their families in their coverage area which reaches to Fredonia. Carol presented different opportunities for sponsoring rooms in the new building and I think John Johnson committed to the library and a play room for about $120,000. We will rename him St. John. You won't want to miss next week when our own green thumb, Dan Rak, will present everything you want to know about forestry and growing and harvesting trees. Bring you dogs, I am sure they will be interested. See you Thursday.

WOW! What a meeting. Action Packed. Something for everyone.

This blogger will attempt to summarize the Sunrise Rotary meeting on March 3, 2011. I was present for breakfast, which was fabulous, but I missed the program due to a job I have.

New Member Induction: In my opinion the most memorable aspect of the meeting was a New Member Induction. John Kinsman was inducted by President Wilcox in an emotional ceremony. John is the one in the middle and that skinny guy on the right is his sponsor.

Speakers: We had two great speakers; Del Beatty, the Dean of Students for DSC and Katy Peterson the Director of the Dove Center. Below are couple of photos of them signing dictionaries for our project.

We also had a visit from Her Highness, the Dixie State College Homecoming Queen, Jessica Baird. She is quite striking and our President seemed smitten by her and if I wasn't having technical difficulties I could post the picture. Maybe later I can edit it in. Check back. That's the cliff notes version for March 3rd. See everyone on the 10th. Except if you are in Costa Rica. (and you know who you are)

Soup in a work of Art!

The St. George Art Museum has much to offer, including Soup in a work of art!

Our Club was introduced or re-introduced to the work of the St. George Art Museum at our meeting on February 10th. Museum Manager and Curator, Deborah Reeder brought the members up to date on new acquisitions, current shows – including a large Zions National Park exhibit entitled An Art Voyage through Zion. She also introduced us to the work of Charles Becker whose exhibit, Into the Mysteries of the Super Real, is most intriguing.
When considering the impact of the current economy, Deborah and her staff have done a marvelous job of maintaining a high quality museum with interesting collections and exhibits. Deborah did express her sadness of being unable to bring traveling shows to St. George right now but hopes to resume those in the future as the area experiences some recovery.
She also reminded us that the economy has not put an end to the Art Walks! Enjoy an evening of gallery strolling – be sure start at the Museum for your visit card to win prizes – refreshments and good fun.
And, Deborah told us about the upcoming Soup ‘N Bowl Fundraiser, a luncheon which will include a hand-made bowl of your choice in which to enjoy your soup and take home for your personal collection. Advance tickets are available at the museum and will prevent the delay of standing in line for a ticket on fundraiser day, March 4th.
For more information on these activities and the broader perspective on the museum, visit their website: Museum@sgcty.org.
After a program on February 17th by our Membership Chair John Johnson, we will hear on February 24th from Kristy Pike on the Art Around the Corner Foundation as well public relations tips for our Club. See you then.

And, with this post, I pass the mantel to Todd Watts, the new “blogmaster.” Be sure to send him information you would like included in the blog.

Handing off once again, Marla