Bill Hite opened the meeting by leading us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of The United States of America followed by Ray Hanson whose missionary experience came through during his invocation.  The ever dependable Howard Wood led us in song.  Where have all the monkeys gone followed by the Smile song that won’t leave our brain the rest of the day!

INTRODUCTIONS:

Minard Duncan did a great job reading the little pieces of paper telling him who was with us.

Walt Barnes proudly introduced his bride of 42 years Adrian.  Without bating an eye the two timing Walt introduced his other guest, Sandy Hayes who will be doing the decorating for the Rotary Sock Hop.

Cameron McCune introduced Ellen Ballard who is looking to be reelected to the school board.

Staying with the education theme, George Giokaris introduced Ed Adkinson who is principal at Sunny Hills High School.

Not to be outdone by Walt, Jim Williams couldn’t wait to introduce his lovely wife Sally Williams.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

President Terri thanked Jim Mc Kamy for all his hard work in making the trip to the Regan Presidential Library in Simi Valley a success.  She also gave away two Ducks tickets to the Wednesday night game compliments of John Christensen.

Fred Johnson made sure we all knew about “Island Fever” benefiting the Fullerton Boys and Girls Club this coming Friday.  He did make assurances that Dan Kiernan would not be singing.  Thank You Fred.

Tom Meyer, sporting a new doo, is looking for applications for who will be benefiting from our annual Rotary concert that will be held on February 27, 2007.

Walt Barnes let us know about the first Rotary Sock Hop at the Fullerton Boy’s and Girl’s club on December 7, 2006.  A fun filled 50’s themed family event that will feature our very own Fred Johnson as the D.J.

Rotary Night at the Honda Center which used to be the Arrowhead Pond will be January 16, 2007.  Tickets a mere $18.50 which may be less than the parking!

FINE MASTER:

The honorable Randy McFarland presiding.  I am not sure who the finor or the finee was, but Randy had a few very bad jokes that made Mike Oates look very good.  For example, what are the two main reasons teachers enter that field?  July and August……..  Franki Berry, Leroy Fulton and Winston Creel missed out as they would have been asked some very serious questions regarding birth control.  David Schoen, Dick Daybell and Dan Kiernan got through with a minimum $10 fine.

RAFFLE:

Ticket number 5516 was sold to Rick Crane who said he hadn’t won for ten years and still hasn’t.  The pot has grown to $70.00 and the jokers are still in the pile.  Rick did get away with ten bucks from Andy Anderson.

FEATURED SPEAKER:

Ed Mattson has addressed more than 2000 audiences in 41 states and 5 foreign countries.  A Rotarian who has been awarded the Order of the Sword by the American Cancer Society had quite a story to tell how he came to find his passion which he calls “Rotary on an International Level”.  He told us about his first wife’s instinct and will to survive different types of cancer during her lifetime.  The disease finally took her life and as he was alone after her funeral he knew he must do more to help fight cancer. 

Ed reminded us just how lucky we are to be living in the United States and why we have it so good.  He believes Rotary is the best organization in the world and showed how different clubs are partnering and sponsoring new Eastern European clubs to a better medical care system in Eastern Europe where such care is almost non-existent. 

He introduced us to current projects in Bucharest, Romania and Chisinau, Moldova.  Scheduled to open soon will be the “first of it’s kind” cancer screening center in Bucharest.  It will feature ongoing programs with Womens and Childrens Hospital and Echo of Chernobyl Pediatric Rehab.

Ed closed by letting us know about the multi district project to build Romania-International Medical Center which will start this year and how major hospitals and medical centers in Massachusetts, Maryland, Texas and North Carolina will help improve the conditions and lend their support of the hospital project.

See ya next week……..