Nice to be back in the saddle after holidays and two weeks of an ugly head cold. Must be that time of year. We should exercise little handshaking this time of year.
Our Co-Presidents-Elect Dave Walker and Karen McDonald will soon begin their training to lead us next year. On Feb. 5th, Dave will attend Grants Management Training in Reno (Karen has already completed that training) and both will attend Pre-PETS the following day. Then in March, Dave will represent us at PETS (President-Elect Training Seminar) in San Jose. Thanks for your energetic start to 2016-17. You will be a great co-presidents! Special thanks to Dave for presiding for me at last week's meeting.
I awarded Anna Dillavou Rotarian of the Month honors for December recognizing her efforts putting together our annual Christmas party and her great work heading up the Holiday Baskets project, which was a great success. Anna did not make the meeting last week so hopefully she will show this week so I can pin her. Thank you, Anna, and all those who pitched in.
You can look forward to our local students competing in the Speech and Music contests coming in February and early March. This is a fun time of the year.
RLI 2 (Rotary Leadership Institute) will be offered on Saturday, Feb. 13th in Nevada City for those of us having completed RLI 1. There is no charge for this day and it includes a great lunch. This is a wonderful experience for those interested in Rotary leadership. Register on the district website. I will be attending.
Dan Halloran was able to sell all left over wine from the Foundation Dinner to our members at $7.00 per bottle. For wine lovers, a great buy. Dan also took charge of ordering flowers for Betty Cook for her wonderful hospitality and use of her beautiful home for our Christmas party. Thank you, Dan.
Jim Hemig, publisher of The Union newspaper spoke of the merger with the Wildwood Independent and the added expertise of our own Mike Dobbins as a valuable asset. Much discussion was around print vs. digital media and new programs being developed to inspire new readers.
Our program next week will be Scott Kellermann from the Nevada City 49er Breakfast Club speaking on his many projects in Uganda.
See you Tuesday.