Christmas Party 12 18 08

Hi Everyone!

What a great party. I wish I had taken a photo from the stage, you all looked so great! What an awesome time of fellowship and fun. Thanks so much to Heidi Blair and the Fellowship Committee for their hard work in putting the event together. I especially enjoyed Santa and his helpers doing the ornament exchange. Molly and I are very grateful for the beautiful Pensacola Pelican ornament from our mystery exchange person and the custom ornament(French Tri-Color) from Guiliana.

Here is a photo of our very own PDG Wayne Etheridge reading "T' was the night before Christmas" to all of us. Wayne was assisted by Nelda, but I was to slow to get a photo of both of them.

Please email me any pics you have of the party and I'll add them here.

See you in January!

Bill C.

Meeting Notes 12 11 08 - Pensacola Little Theatre

The Holiday Spirit is truly building within the club, and it was great to be with all of you this week! One of the special things about our club is the ability to share our joys and sorrows. As I started the meeting, I noted we had both joyful news with the T'gills new baby girl, Emma Greer. Congratulations to Greg and Celeste! We also had some sad news today as we learned of the recent passing of Don Gregory's son. Don, we are all thinking and praying for you and your family.

We had "Bid Ferd" come up and give us a groaner, a funny story about an armed senior citizen and her dangerous senior moment. Nicely done, Ferd. Reed Eubanks lead us in the Rotary Prayer, Patrice Whitten lead the Pledge to the Flag, and Ed Ellis lead us in the Four Way Test. We only had a few happy dollars, notably from Andy (Dick Cheney) Hinton, who - despite the Crimson Tide's loss to the Gators, still had a happy dollar. Charlie Hass had some interesting happy dollars about his son (Andy) new movie production and recent travels.

We then voted on our slate of officers for Rotary year 2009 - 2010, which will begin in July of 2009. Congratulations to all of your new officers:

President: Rick Lambert
President Elect: John Stein
Vice President: Ferd Salomon III
Secretary: Raisa Overstreet
Treasurer: Regina Baniakas
Sergeants at Arms : Johnny Fayard and Hope Allen
Jack Brown introduced our visitors and guests, we had 2 visiting Rotarians - Dan Livingston and John Clark, both from the Downtown Club. Bill Hooper brought a guest, David Hughes. Thanks for your visits!
Lots of Announcements today - the most timely is the Christmas Party at New World Landing next Thursday night (6 to 1030 pm). looking forward to seeing Santa there and the ornament exchange! We had two major community support goals achieved and a generous tip today;

1) Boys and Girls Club – Heidi Blair on board, working with Hattie Grace – talked to our Board about doing a special Christmas gift for the kids (vs Essay Contest). Trisha Woodburn came up with the great idea so we will be giving all 80 kids a $10 McDonald’s Gift Card! Jay Overman and Ronnie Arnold will be making that happen this week. Thanks to all of you for providing a meaningful Christmas treat for these kids!!

2) Lakeview Foster Families - You donated a total of $864 to help needy families at Christmas! Pat yourselves on the back, and thanks to Ronnie Arnold for collecting the funds for Lakeview!

3) We gave Rachel and Memory - our faithful wait staff at the PYC a nice $200 tip, and hearty round of applause for their hospitality!

We can only be good for so long, so Huntley came up to the mike and acted as our Woolley. Huntley was ruthless in his fining, but somehow we didn't collect al the fines that were levied! We'll have to get you next time...

The pot for the drawing is now up to $483, with 22 cards left. Bob Bothfeld won the raffle, but didn't pull the Ace of Spades, so he rolled the $10 consolation prize back into the pot. Thanks, Bob!

John Stein then introduced our guest speakers today, from Pensacola Little Theatre. Jerry Ahillen told us all about their programs for the year, then Yasmine Cobbett sang the country song "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" live and in person!

See y'all at the Christmas Party next week!

Meeting Notes 12 4 08 - Four Way Test Essay Contest

We owe a sincere debt of gratitude to "Big Ferd" for founding the Four Way Test Essay Contest. Our meeting this week was highlighted by four high school students reading us their winning essays. If you were there, you know I am not exaggerating when I say they were inspirational. It was truly an honor to preside over this meeting, with all of the students, parents, teachers and administrators joining a great group of SubWest Rotarians to honor our "is it, is it, will it, will it" test. Magnificent job well done by Wendy Simon and her group of volunteers who organized our event this year!

Ronnie Arnold got us going with a true groaner about a preacher who looked like Conway Twitty and moved to Brewton, Al. Pretty funny! Wayne Etheridge lead our prayer, Dr, Michael Roberts (principal of Washington High School) lead the Pledge, and Ed Ellis lead the 4 Way Test.

The happy dollars were really flowing, started off by the 3 that Heidi Blair asked me to list in her absence, we even had some "War Eagle" folks celebrating the departure of their football coach, while the Gators and Roll Tiders were equally jubilant.

Justin Beck introduced our 2 guests - Tania Canfield (his guest) and Lynne Dennis (Skip's guest) and our 7 visiting Rotarians; Janette Chadleigh (and he husband Tom) form Duncan, BC Caanada, Sauanne Kahn, Leon Hirsh, and Joseph Stanberry form 5 Flags, Tony Datillo form LaGrange, GA, Dan Livingston from Pensacola North and Roger Enzor from Downtown.

Skip Dennis did the Woolly today with a musical quiz to finish the words of popular Christmas songs - some of you have pretty good voices! Tom Johnson won the raffle for a chance at the $465 dollar pot, but didn't find the Ace of Spades on the 23 cards remaining and then generously donated his $10 consolation prize back to the Foundation. Thanks, Tom!

Wendy Simon then came up to introduce all 4 of the finalists in the essay contest. We got over 43 essays this year, and the winners were fantastic. We'll get all their names and photos posted soon, but my aging memory is good enough to let you know that the grand prize winner was Ms. Shelby Carson, daughter of Ed Carson (coincidentally president of the Pace Rotary Club this year). Shelby attends Washington High School, and her essay sounded more like something a college student would write! Well Done - we are proud of all the winners!

Speaking of proud, I am very pleased to let you know that SubWest donated almost $2,500 to the Manna Food Pantry this year. That is the combined total of your individual gifts plus the $1,000 match from the SubWest Foundation. Talk about the power of Rotary - wow!

We will vote on our slate of officers for 2009- 2010 at next weeks meeting, so please attend1 Remember the Christmas Party is 2 weeks from now, Thursday night 12/18/08 at 6 pm at New World Landing - sounds like a great time - I think Santa has agreed to visit us and help with the Ornament Exchange! Until then, I'll see you next week at the Yacht Club for our regular meeting. Can't wait!!