JANUARY 31, 2009

UPCOMING PROGRAMS

STRATFORD: - Meets Thursdays at 12:30 p.m. at Forsyth Country Club
Feb. 05:  Ken Otterburg, Managing Editor for the W-S Journal – Adapting to Changing Times
Feb. 12:  Students from Kimberly Park Elementary School will perform for Valentines Day.
Feb. 19:  TBA
Feb. 26:  Brian D. Casey, President and CEO of the High Point Market Authority, will talk about the International      Home Furnishings Market and industry trends.

WINSTON-SALEM ROTARY:- Meets Tuesdays at 12:30 p.m. at  Benton Convention Center
Feb. 03:  Dan Collins, Sportswriter for the W-S Journal will focus on Wake Forest and the baseball team formerly known as the Warthogs.
Feb. 10:  David Daggett, local attorney and world-class Ironman Triathlete.
Feb. 17:  Andy Wolgar, Commercial Manager of Creation Autosportif USA will speak about their LeMans auto racing program in regards to Forsyth Tech

REYNOLDA ROTARY: - Meets Fridays at 12:30 p.m. Assembly Room of the LJV Coliseum
Feb.  6:   “The Bridge”, a recovery program for professionals.  Speaker Craig Arey
Feb. 13:   Brian Etheridge’s topic will be Leadership North Carolina
Feb. 20:   Headmaster of Summit School, Michael Ebeling
Feb. 27:   Leadership in tough times by Becky Edmunds, CEO of The Edmunds Group  

CLEMMONS: - Meets Wednesdays at 7:00 a.m. at the Village Inn – Clemmons
Feb.  4:   Wendy Barnhart, “Saving Little Hearts”
Feb. 11:  Barry Schline, “Crime Prevention in Forsyth County”
Feb. 18:  Matheus Dragone, Exchange Student
Feb. 25:  Classification talks

DATES TO REMEMBER:
Feb 12 – Bring your Valentine to lunch!
March 19-21 – PETS
April 23-26 – District Conference at Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort

ANNOUNCEMENTS, NEWS & INFORMATION………………

Sergeant-at-Arms for February is Steven Gallo

Invocation Schedule follows:
Feb.  05 – Gordon Spaugh
Feb.  12 – Lee Strange
Feb.  19 – Loy McGill
Feb.  26 – Shari Covitz

Welcome again to our newest members:
Michael Johnson
Donald Pocock
and returning member Vicky Leonard.

CONGRATULATIONS:

Programs

January 22, 2009

If you missed this speaker you missed a very funny lady!  Laura Hamilton, humorist, spoke about “Life’s Choices and Changes- How to Cope in Crazy Times”.  She gave us many examples from her life and others that we could all relate to regarding our emotional perspectives of different situations.  How we can remember things from years ago but can’t find our keys, the more technology we have the less we know how to operate it - remember the blinking numbers telling you that you hadn’t set the clock feature of your VCR? and maybe you still haven’t!  She said that change happens when we do.  Set goals even if they are tiny ones.  Don’t listen to those who sit in judgment of your capabilities.  Michael Jordan’s math teacher told him to forget about basketball, Colin Power’s mama told him to forget about the military.  Life’s choices and changes; YOU make the choice on how to handle the changes.

January 29, 2009

Our speaker was Phil Kirk of the NC Wine Industry and Catawba College VP of External Relations.  A very informative and engaging representative of the Yadkin Valley Winegrowers Association which includes Hanover Park Vineyard, Rag Apple Lassie Vineyards, RayLen Vineyards and Winery, Round Peak Vineyards, Shelton Vineyards, Stony Knoll Vineyards, West Bend Vineyards and Surry Community College. 
Surry Community College has the only Viticulture program in the area, Appalachian now offers a 4 year degree in the wine industry and has a quality control van to test wines and NC State provides technical assistance to the industry through their agricultural extension programs.

Our state was the #1 producer of wine before prohibition.  It’s now 10th in the country and if trends continue we could be in the top 5.  Twenty two years ago there were 6 wineries, in 2000 there were 15 and in 2009 there are 25.  There is more wine sold here than beer.  Our top three grapes are muscadine, chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon.  The economic impact to the area includes all the various facets that make up the industry, from growers to bankers to machines used for cultivation and harvest.  There are 6000 people who work in some fashion in the wine business, with 400 contract farmers, many of whom used to grow tobacco.

The latest economic problems aren’t likely to impact the wine industry much.  The largest impact on wines and production is Mother Nature.  The unpredictability of the weather is of major importance to a crop based business as was seen two springs ago when we had a late freeze.  Many vinifera varieties were damaged and grapes lost to the cold.  Are we the next Napa Valley?  We could be.  We have the micro climate and state support to make it so.  Shelton won an International Competition for their Riesling, our wines are improving exponentially.  If you haven’t tasted NC wines lately you may be surprised at how far they’ve come.   For more information go to VisitNCWine.com .

ROTARY FOUR WAY TEST:

Of the things we thing, say, and do…
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?