May 1, 2008

My Fellow Rotarians:

 I have booked Thursday, August 7 for our annual Captains game at Classic Park. It is a 7 p.m. game. I will begin circulating a signup sheet very soon. Last year we invited Rotarians from Mentor and Painesville and we had a total attendance of 65. The price of $19.95 includes a picnic dinner in the left field pavilion and a ticket for the ball game. Hope to see all of you there.

Jim Collins

January 16, 2008

The day is rapidly approaching when the Willoughby Rotary Club will honor:

Bob Meil as the 2008 Distinguished Citizen

AND

The Willoughby Evening Lions Club as the Distinguished Civic Organization

The event will be Monday, February 4 at Pine Ridge Country Club.

This is a REGULAR LUNCHEON MEETING of the Rotary Club, and every Rotarian should make an effort to attend, as most of usually do on Mondays at Gavi's.

On this special occasion we will be joined by many citizens from the community who want to join us in paying tribute to these two "Distinguished" winners.

Here are the particulars:

Lunch will be served beginning at 11:30 a.m. This will allow us to begin the program at noon and complete it by 1 p.m.

For all non-Rotarians, the price is $15 per luncheon. Those who wish to attend should call Andrea at the Merhar Nationwide Insurance Agency. There will be no tickets issued, but names will be placed on a list -- those who have pre-paid and those who will pay at the door. It is preferable for non-Rotarians to pay in advance. This will make life a lot hectic for Judy Bash, who will be collecting from those who pay at the door.

Checks for $15 should be send to Andrea at Merhar's Nationwide Insurance Agency, 4077 Clark Avenue, Willoughby OH  44094.

But whether paying in advance or at the door, anyone outside the Rotary Club must call Andrea, because we must have an accurate count of how many will be served lunch.

Deadline for reservations is Monday, January 28.

Please encourage your friends to attend.  This is a SPECIAL occasion, and one of the many positive things that Rotary does for the community.

SPREAD THE WORD!

Thanks so much,
Jim Collins

November 16, 2007

I told the Rotary Board Wednesday morning if I were them I would fire the entire Newsletter staff because of inactivity. The board members refused the offer. Truth of the matter is that I have difficulty finding time to compose a newsletter. Every time I start I am interrupted. The false starts are not worth keeping. So here is another attempt. I hope this one works.

The Rotary Ball was a resounding success. As was the car raffle. Thanks to a lot of hard work by Michelle Hauser and her committee members, the event was probably the finest ever. So congratulations to everyone who helped and who attended.

I noted that the District Governor and a few others have started calling the event the Charity Ball. I do not believe that is correct. It is, insofar as I know, the Rotary Ball, which began many years ago as a social event. The charity aspect was added later. The Ball, whatever you want to call it, is one of the finest social events in Lake County every year. We should be proud of it. And this year a lot of people kept on dancing until the music stopped.

The annual Christmas Party is coming up soon. The date is Monday, December 10 beginning at 6 p.m. at the beautiful Mooreland Mansion on the Lakeland Community College campus. Don't go to Gavi's for lunch that day. You will be the only one there. If you are a newer member and have not been exposed to the gift exchange, here is how it works: Each person who attends is expected to bring a wrapped gift. It is a good idea to make it impossible to figure out what is inside. The price was once set at $10 or $15 per gift, but some people really go overboard spend what I would calculate to be $75 on stuffed dolls. When you select your gift from the table, you may keep it or take a gift that someone else has chosen and give that person your gift. If you get something really bad and use it to select something you like better, the person you stick your gift with will end up with it at the end of the evening. On the other hand, if you take something away from a Rotarian or spouse that is really neat, you will probably not keep it for long. The next person will probably take it from you. Remember, if something looks like a framed portrait, judiciously wrapped, beware! It could be a framed picture of Carmen Sesa. And remember the Steve Byron rule (it was he caused the rule to be instituted). If you get a jar of cashews or other delicacies, you cannot open it and begin eating it until the party is over. Nobody wants to swap for a half-consumed jar of nuts.

The directors spend a great deal of time Wednesday discussing a real dilemma: succession of officers for next year. Michelle will be the next president. But after that there is no president-elect. It is not a job for a board member with limited experience. But as with all matters in our club, I expect this will be resolved in good fashion.

Judy Bash would be a fine president someday, but we need to keep her as treasurer for as long as possible (20 or 30 years?). This may be unfair, but she does a job that not many people could step into.

And let's keep our eye on John Barbato for leadership potential. He has some great ideas as Membership Chairman and they will soon pay off.

I do not mean to offend anyone by overlooking them, because we have a great talent pool with great possibilities for leadership roles. But I don't have the space to list all of them.

That is sufficient for now.

Your faithful scribe,

JKC

The word for today is "fangast." It means a marriageable maid.

August 16, 2007

My Dear Fellow Willoughby Rotarians:

The Rotary Ball, the finest social gathering each year in Lake County, is two months away, but crunch time is upon us for selling tickets for the Corvette raffle. It is imperative that we adopt a sense of urgency to get all 800 tickets sold!

Michelle has put her heart and soul into what, in all likelihood, will be a one-time project. It is not likely that we will have another endeavor such as this. It behooves us to make the raffle a success.

The tickets are not difficult to sell. I have sold 27 and I am now taking five at a time from Michelle to sell. My pledge is that if I have any unsold tickets I will go to friends and sell them on a 50-50 basis. (I have already had some offers). If I have, say, three left over, I will put up $150 to buy halves of them and others will put up $50 per ticket. That creates that many more chances to win.

Nothing would please me more than to sell the winning ticket. That would certainly make someone that I know feel good. The more I sell, the better the chance of selling the ultimate winner.

I would hope that every member of the club will join in this effort. If you haven't sold any tickets yet, you will discover that selling them is not difficult.

Having said that, I understand that some members have indicated that they are not willing to sell tickets, as a matter of principle -- that the club was not founded to be a "tin cup" organization.

I fully understand that attitude and I can easily be sympathetic with it. We said when the club was founded in 1961 that we were not going to emulate other clubs in the area and were not going to sell pancakes, peanuts, roses, white canes or whatever.

I subscribe to that theory. I -- and a handful of members -- have never bought a weekly Rotabuck 50-50 raffle ticket because I don't believe in it. But that's just me -- and a few others.

I think the car raffle is different -- a one-time opportunity to undertake a project that will, if successful, be one of the best that we have ever done. Remember, the board and the membership at-large endorsed the project when Michelle proposed it. We owe it to her not to go back on our word and to make it a success. At the same time, we should not be critical of any members who choose not to participate. That is their right. Anyone who has decided NOT to sell car raffle tickets is every bit as good a Rotarian as anyone who DOES participate.

But I re-iterate -- for those who have chosen to take part in the project, time is of the essence. I plan to sell a lot more tickets, and I hope you do also. It is a fine way to support the charities that we help underwrite.

ON ANOTHER TOPIC -- Monday, September 10 is the date when we are all being asked to bring ONE BOTTLE OF WINE and ONE BOTTLE OF BEER, imported if possible, create a huge Mountain of Wine as a silent auction item at the Rotary Ball. I attend a lot of benefits at which silent auctions are held, and it is my observation that wine collections generate more interest than almost all other items. Imagine if we can offer 90+ bottles of wine and beer to a bidder!

We have a great club. We can keep it great if everyone dedicates himself/herself to these projects. As noted previously, if it is your choice not to participate, I respect that decision. No member should be criticized for making this choice.

As always,
Your faithful scribe,
JKC

The word for today is "grammar-folk." It means educated people. I hope all of you are grammar-folk.

June 27, 2007

The installation dinner at the Bed and Breakfast was a very nice affair. Those who did not attend don't know what they missed. We now have a new regime and it is time to move forward. Debbie had a great year and I am sure Dale will do the same.

There are several things for Willoughby Rotarians to be thinking about.

1. Selling tickets for the Corvette raffle. Michelle is working exceptionally hard on this project, and we owe it to her to expend every effort to be helpful. I have sold all 15 tickets that I had her allot to me, and selling them is not at all difficult. It does not take high pressure salesmanship. Usually, all you have to do is mention the project or show someone a ticket and that person will respond positively.

2. I must have all checks for the Captains game by Monday's meeting. I will give them to Judy and she will write a single check to the Lake County Captains. I will send a list of the names of all of those who are attending to the Captains, and the list will be at the Will-Call gate the night of the game. When you tell the person at the counter your name, you will be given your ticket(s) and ID for the food. The gate opens at 6 p.m. ANYONE WHO HAS NOT YET SIGNED UP CAN DO SO MONDAY.

3. Don't forget to get your brick for the Rotary memorial at the new Willoughby Municipal Court. Mike Wildermuth has all the details.

4. Don't forget to bring a bottle wine to the Sept. 10 meeting. That will be designed as WINE MONDAY. Also, we would like each member to bring a bottle of imported beer. The MOUNTAIN OF WINE and the MOUNTAIN OF BEER will be auction items at the Rotary Ball Oct. 13. If all of us participate, this can be a huge auction item at the dance.

5. Dale would like us to have a new design for the Willoughby Rotary flag that we exchange with visitors from out of the area (or out of the country).  I am sure he will have more to say about this very soon.

6. The firefighters did a great job of cooking for the annual picnic at the Wick Pavilion, and all of the food was exceptional. Congratulations to our enlightened leadership for another outstanding picnic. And thanks to Fire Chief Al for demonstrating that fire does, indeed, have useful purposes.

The word for today is "peascod wooing." If a young woman, while she is shelling peas, meets with a pod of nine peas, the first young man who crosses the threshold afterwards is to be her husband.

As always,

Submitted in good faith and with the best of intentions,

Your faithful scribe,

JKC