Harvest Howl is exactly three weeks away! Some reminders:
Bring a bottle of wine or liquor to one of our weekly meetings. Wine and liquor baskets always make great silent auction items.
Carey Gray reports that she's lined up her crew for selling 50-50 tickets, so that duty is taken care of. We still need silent auction items, though.
We'll have a full day on Saturday, Nov. 2, converting a big, empty arena into a dinner-dancing-partying venue. It's really fun to be part of the transformation, so block out 2 or 4 or 6 or 8 hours to help that happen.
The morning after the event, we'll need clean-up volunteers, converting the after-party mess into a big, empty, CLEAN arena again.
Coming Up This Week ... and Next!
This week Gina Loss will join us to tell us about an interesting service project, Project Linus. Join us at noon at the country club.
We'll have our second Eliminate Polio Shredding Event on Tuesday, Oct. 22, during our noon meeting. Bring your paper to be shredded and help shred polio as well! As with the summer event, the charge is $10/box for the first two boxes and $25 for boxes 3-5. Contact Lacey Gallagher with questions.
Last Week at Rotary
Presentations at our noon and evening meetings last week focused on important community efforts underway.
County Commissioner Jim Larson addressed the noon club about the importance of the 2020 census to Montana. For one thing, if Montana’s count is up and other states are down, Montana could pick up another seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. We have had only one for several decades.
The count will also determine the state’s share of federal funding for the next decade for highways and need-based support. Montana received over $2 billion from the 15 largest federal assistance programs in 2015, including $914 million in Medicaid funding. That amount would increase by $2,000 for every additional resident added through the count.
The official census count will start in April 2020 with online, telephone, mail, and door-knocking effrts.
Jen Creed addressed the evening club on the subject of inclusive playgrounds. As many playgrounds in Great Falls illustrate, children with special needs are essentially shut out of many public playground activities. Inclusive playgrounds ensure that all children experience the joy of playing on fun equipment provided in public parks and schoolyards. The recent passage of a levy for parks maintenance allows Great Falls to create more inclusive playgrounds in our community.
Spotlight on ... Aaron Weissman
Deep roots in this community foster deep commitments, and Aaron David Weissman embodies both. He is passionate about the things that make Great Falls great and he's tireless in his efforts to preserve and extends those assets.
Aaron is the relatively new owner of Teriyaki Madness and loves making people happy with great food. In spite of a demanding work schedule, Aaron is just as active outside of work. He loves all things outdoors. It's an unusual day that you don't see him hiking, running, cycling, skiing with his kids, rowing on the Missouri with his wife, or engaging in some other vigorous activity in the beautiful place we call home.
He's active in service as well. Aaron leads a Boy Scouts troup and is a passionate advocate of scouting. He's also been an active supporter of swimming opportunities in Great Falls and has served for many years on the Superintendent's Community Advisory Council for the Great Falls Public Schools.
With his service ethic, Rotary was a natural for Aaron. Like many of us, he joined Rotary to meet people and learn more about the community. What he discovered was a group of pretty amazing members. Aaron is definitely one of those. No matter how busy he is, he's never too busy to go the extra mile.
Milestones
October has been a lucky month for Rotary Club of Great Falls. In addition to a bumper crop of amazing new members last year (see next week's bulletin), these veteran members celebrate Rotary anniversaries this month:
Beth McFadden - 25 years
Mike Wier - 13 years
Jeff Milhollin - 12 years
Sydney Blair and Kevin Eckhardt - 9 years
Lois Spencer - 6 years
Thanks to all of you for a combined 74 years of service above self!
Weekly Wit for Columbus Day
If Columbus had had an advisory committee, he would probably still be at the dock.
Arthur Goldberg
Christopher Columbus, as everyone knows, is honored by posterity because he was the last to discover America.
James Joyce
Perhaps America has never been discovered. I myself would say that it has merely been detected.
Oscar Wilde
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
.jpg)
