President Brad said that the district Trilogy at Normandy Church was very informative. He said he and Harvey and Ron and Peachy and Boyd attended. Ron and Peachy readily volunteered Boyd to serve on various committees. By sitting on both sides of Boyd, they were able to readily volunteer him by raising their hands in back of him, they said. 

 Brad asked Ron Hollenbeck to briefly sum up the program. 

 Ron said the presentations focused on international work and youth programs, like RYLA. He said it was made mention that United Nations Day is in October and that Rotary played a key role in developing the charter for the UN. Two exchange students from Bosnia spoke briefly. They are being sponsored by the Dayton Rotary Club in connection with the anniversary recognition of the Dayton Peace Accords, he said. Both enthusiastically spoke of their excitement about being here in America. 

 Rotaract was also explained as an opportunity for those aged 18 to 30 to join in service, even if they are not attending a local college, he said.

 

President Brad said that the dictionaries and thesauri have arrived and the 30 cases of each make up a total of 1,400 books.

 

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries left with polio, since as of Aug. 11 of last year, there were no more cases of polio in Nigeria, Brad said. 

 

The September birthdays will be celebrated at next week's meeting, so birthday celebrants should remember to bring their $5 birthday donation.

 

Brad announced that Mac Hickman is heading up the Matching Gifts Campaign, a limited time offer for the district to match gift donations for the Paul Harris Fellow. You can become a new fellow or earn a new multiple Fellow pin. You can also make your spouse and children fellows or honor your parents, grandparents, grandchildren, favorite person, etc.

 Mac Hickman is from Cincinnati and Rotarians need to make their personal checks payable to: The Rotary Foundation, and mail them to program chair Mac Hickman. You need to include your name and a note asking for a match of your annual fund donation of $100 or more, among other things. Brad has copies of the detailed information. This comes on the tails of the Paul Harris Society, that was established for those who sign up to give $1,000 a year to the Rotary Foundation. 

 The special offer is being made by Rotary District 6670, and personal donations, from $100 on up, to the annual fund of the Rotary Foundation. The offer began Sept. l9 at Trilogy and ends October 15 at 6 p.m.. The initial matching amounts are limited to five Paul Harris Fellow awards per Rotarian. 

 

 

 

  Sgt.-at-Arms Erich Eggers said our new goal of 300 coats can be met if there are 20 coat donations for each of the next three meetings, including the one this day. Many members donated $20 for a coat at this meeting, and Erich kicked in a donation for four more coats to help get closer to the 20 coat per meeting goal he set. Only about 32 members were present at this meeting, so it was a good effort put forth.

 

Erich said that since Hannah's Treasure Chest does not get coats any more from Carl's Coats for Kids, there is a greater need for others to participate in supplying coats. Eric suggested that we try to get other Rotary Clubs involved in Operation Warm, especially since the coats go to children in Warren and Greene counties as well as Montgomery County.

 

Boyd brought the Pancake Breakfast tickets, and there are still many members who have not picked up their tickets, while some members have already come back for more, with Don Gerhardt already up to 75 tickets. 

 

Don Gerhardt distributed copies of The Pancake Breakfast Song for everyone to sing, but the singing had to be postponed until next week due to a shortage of time. The song is sung to the tune of Take Me Out to the Ball Game. 

 It goes: Take them out for some pancakes./ Give them some sausages too./ Serve them some OJ and applesauce./ It's a great meal, at a very low cost./ Go and sell all your tickets./ If you don't it's a shame,/ cause there's food and fun for everyone,/ while we build Rotary fame.

 

 

 Our Rotary Club sponsored two pumps to a village in West Africa last year and is sponsoring two more for two separate villages this year. 

 The  Ghana video showed how the clean water helped people in a small rural village stay healthy and clean and live more productive lives. Seven million people are at risk from water-borne diseases and stagnant water, and having a water pump they can help sustain, is one way to help combat disease, the video stated.

 

In Washington state, a Rotary Club took it upon themselves to coordinate others to get a food program to work for the needy. 

 The second video, called Doing Good in the United States, stated that 25 to 33 percent of the food grown in the United States goes to waste. The executive director of the Rotary Clubi n Washington state got farmers to donate their excess produce, everything from apples, pears, blueberries, peas, cabbages, beans, and onions, etc. He got truckers to haul the produce and volunteers to package the produce, that was then brought to the food bank. People were shown going along a row picking up what they needed from the food bank's display of the packaged produce. Around 4,500 volunteers helped provide three million family meals, the video said. Without this project, 6.4 million pounds of produce would have gone to waste, the video said. It was one Rotarian and a Rotary Club that started the whole program, it said.