January 12, 2006

UPCOMING PROGRAMS...

STRATFORD: - Meets Thursdays at 12:30 p.m. at Forsyth Country Club
Jan. 19: Linda Brinson, Editorial Page Editor of the Winston-Salem Journal
Jan. 26: Clinton Parker, owner of Honey Farm, " The Importance of Honey Bees and Bee Venom Therapy"
Feb 2: TBA
Feb 9: Special Valentine Program
Feb 16: Ms. Sherry Bridges, Marketing Professor WFU
Feb 23: TBA
Mar 2: Jo Ellen Carson, Direct Rebuilt Leadership Winston-Salem
WINSTON-SALEM ROTARY: - Meets Tuesdays at 12:30 p.m. at the BentonConvention Center
Jan. 24: Joint meeting with Chamber of Commerce, John F. Manley, Jr. CFA, Senior Equity Strategist, Private Client Division, Smith Barney will give the Economic Forecast for 2006.
Jan. 31: Classification Talks
REYNOLDA: - Meets Fridays at 12:30 p.m. in the Assembly Room of the LJV Coliseum
Jan. 20: TBA
Jan. 27: George Sweat
Feb. 3: Dr. Jane Stephens, "Putting a Face on AIDS in Africa: Bringing Local Resources to a Global Challenge"
CLEMMONS: - Meets Wednesdays at 7:00 a.m. at the Village Inn - Clemmons
Jan. 18: TBA
Jan. 25: TBA

ANNOUNCEMENTS, NEWS & INFORMATION................

DATES TO REMEMBER:

January 26 - Board Meeting
February 9 - Valentine Luncheon

GIVE YOUR SPOUSE OR FRIEND A TREAT...
Thursday, February 9 will be our Valentine Special. Bring your spouse or friend to lunch and enjoy a special program. Invite your guest now and put it on your calendar. I will have sign up sheets a little later.

WAY TO GO STRATFORD ROTARY...
You heard the call and are rising to the occasion. Stratford Rotary has 14 new Paul Harris Fellows. Some of you have paid your full amount, some of you are asking for extra Benevolence billing, and some of you that are already Paul Harris Fellows have assigned your extra funds to another member and completed their $1,000 obligation. President
Bobby wrote everyone a letter defining your status, but if anyone has any questions about how much more they need to reach $1,000, please call Margaret at 784-8667. Let's keep working towards being a 100% Club.

EVER WONDER WHAT YOUR LOCAL BENEVOLENCE FUNDS DO?..
Stratford Rotary received a letter from Dustin Tuttle, one of our scholarship winners this year, thanking us again for the opportunity we helped provide for him. He just finished his first semester at North Carolina State University with a 3.578 GPA qualifying him for the 2005 Fall Semester Dean's List. Dustin is pursing a degree in Civil Engineering. Dustin believes that our support afforded him time to enrich himself in ways other than the purely academic. He has become involved in the Baptist Student Union, which has drawn him closer to God and brought him many new friends as he has become active in the group as a whole and in the missions team. Your contributions made this
possible!

ABOUT OUR MEMBERS...
Sad to say, the following members resigned in December for various reasons such as traveling and job demands: Bill Baldridge, Rod Meyer, and David Welch. We will miss them.

Congratulations to Matthew and Karen Simmons on the birth of their son, Robert Nathanael Simmons, born December 12, 2005. Nathanael was welcomed by big brother Finley.

Please remember Shari Covitz. Shari had extensive back surgery on Thursday, January 5, 2006. Her entire back was practically reconstructed. It was great to see Jerry Herman back with us after having his second hip replacement. Jerry is walking great and looking forward to getting back to exercising.

SPEAKING OF PROGRAMS..
I sent the program schedule twice but several of you say you still did not receive it. Everyone up to March 2 knows about it so I am listing the names from March 9 forward. Please get your program and let me know as soon as possible. A month's notice would be great, but I need at least 2 weeks.
March 9 - Greg Cox
March 16 - Roane Cross
March 23 - Pat Crowley
March 30 - Carl Deaton
April 6 - Chris Douglas J
April 13 - Good Friday (No Meeting)
April 20 - Bob Douglas
April 27 - Stewart Douglas
May 4 - Amy Egleston
May 11 - Barry Eisenberg
May 18 - Spring Social (No Lunch Meeting)
May 25 - Tom Eshelman
June 1 - Open Date (Member resigned)
June 8 - George Fleetwood
June 15 - Larry Gray
June 22 - Susan Gray
June 29 - Bob Harrell

JOINT MEETING WITH THE CHAMBER ON JANUARY 24. The Winston-Salem Rotary Club will be hosting John F. Manley, Jr., CFA, Senior Equity Strategist, Private Client Division, Smith Barney on January 24 at Embassy Suites, Grand Ballroom. RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED. You must let me (Margaret) know by Wednesday, February 19. I must turn in a number by then.

PROGRAM FEATURES............
January 5 - As we started the new year, we encountered some program problems. Our own Rick Amme stepped up today and brought us an impromptu program. As we always say, if you want a great program just ask our own members. Rick is in Crisis Management. He regaled us with some stories from his days in television. After some humor Rick got serious and gave us his perspective of the mine disaster. He said that management is the single most person responsible for a crisis. A crisis is usually smoldering before it blows up and someone in the company knows that something is going to happen. In a crisis, management should hold information until they have all the facts but be quick in finding a solution. Speed saves when things go wrong. Thank you Rick for another great program.
January 12 - One of our newest member, Scott Gerding, gave us his classification talk today. Scott grew up in Gatlinberg, TN where everyone there own their own business, mainly restaurants, gift shops or motels. Scott's family owned a pancake restaurant so he knew early on that he did not want to be in the food business. After graduating from WFU he didn't quite know what he wanted to do. Scott described how he went from Mall management to graduate school to finance in a Fortune 500 company to finally accepting that he was destined to be a small business owner. Thinking that he did not want to be in the restaurant business, he decided to open a bakery. Scott described how it all evolved and he wound up back in Winston-Salem owning The Dessertery, The Midtown CafE9, and River Birch Restaurant. Thank you Scott for sharing your past and future with us.

CONGRATULATIONS:
Happy Birthday:
Ellen Stockton 1-02
John Garrou 1-03
Dave DeRamus 1-06
Ed Robbins 1-08
Matthew Simmons 1-09
Charlie Culbreath 1-10
Philip Stewart 1-11
Tom Cannon 1-14
Kay Johnson 1-16
Ben Phillips 1-27
Scott Cawood 1-28
Richard Bell 1-31

MAKEUPS...
Winston-Salem:
Reynolda: (1-06) Gordon Spaugh: (1-13) Bob Coil, Dayle Phillips:
Clemmons:

REMEMBER:
Being a Rotarian is a privilege with responsibilities. Not everyone has the opportunity to be a Rotarian and be a part of the worldwide impact it has. Be proud of being a Rotarian and what it stands for. Every organization has to have leadership and without it, it cannot survive. As with any non-profit service organization, the leadership of Stratford Rotary is all volunteers. We need to thank the members that have stepped forward to try and make Stratford Rotary a thriving organization, not criticize them. In this fast paced world we are living in it is hard to juggle all the responsibilities that we have without some minor glitches. Unfortunately, because of this fast track, we are losing ground in our membership numbers and people are saying no when asked to help and this makes the job even harder. When you are asked to contribute, be it time, money, or talents please do so willingly. The commitment to carry on the work should start with us but we also need to be looking for new members to help carry on the good work of Rotary as a whole, specifically Stratford Rotary. Stratford Rotary is committed to helping our community through our work at Kimberly Park Elementary School and funding the scholarship program. Our contributions to The Rotary Foundation help to keep Rotary alive throughout the world. That is why we are encouraging everyone to become a Paul Harris Fellow.

We will be collecting books again this year for Kimberly Park Elementary School. The librarian at the school has indicated they need books for 9 to 11 year old children, and specifically requested the following types of books: simple-concept non-fiction books; sports books, simple biographies, joke/riddle books. The school needs recreational reading books - books the children can read for fun. The school cannot purchase these 'fun' books for children with the grant money they receive so this is their greatest need. Please bring new or used books to our Valentines lunch on February 9th. We can and do make a difference! Will you make a difference?

JANUARY IS ROTARY AWARENESS MONTH!