Two years ago we implemented a pilot project offering an evening meeting option with no meals as a way of attracting new members. The pilot project ends in August and we must now decide how to move forward and how/whether to change the bylaws to reflect that decision. At next week's meeting, Bylaws Committee Chair Mary Moe, with the help of the rest of the committee, will seek your feedback on the bylaws changes being considered in response to the pilot project, as well as other bylaws changes the committee is exploring.
Join us on Zoom! Tuesday at noon. President Yturri will send an email with the link early next week.
This and That
We have successfully updated our club constitution! We will now send the constitution to Rotary International for notification/approval purposes. Thank you for voting so promptly. With 44 votes, we far exceeded the number needed to establish a quorum and the vote was unanimous!
Just a reminder that some members still have at least a portion of their dues outstanding for this fiscal year. It is crucial that all dues are paid in full by July 1 so that Treasure Megan Connors can pay our district and RI dues.
Last Week at Rotary
In a powerful presentation last week, author and public speaker Monique Hammond told us about hearing loss - hers and maybe ours if we're not careful.
Monique was a hospital pharmacist until she attended a church concert one day. Over the course of four hours, she became completely deaf in one ear. Although loud sound was a factor in her hearing loss, exactly why she lost it she'll never know. Ultimately her lost her job because of her disability and realized she would have to re-imagine her world. She had a lot to learn and now she has a lot to teach. Her new mission is to keep people of all ages hearing better and longer through education, training and community/industry safety initiatives.
Hearing loss is a "silent epidemic," which can strike at any age, Monique told us. Yes, aging is a common cause, but it is far from the only one. Excess noise, head trauma, infections, diabetes, earwax plugs, auto-immune and cardio-vascular issues are some of the other causal factors in hearing loss. Of these, noise-induced hearing loss is perhaps the most tragic because it is preventable. Turning down the volume of all the machines around you is a crucial first step toward preventing hearing loss.
No matter what your age, hearing loss takes a social, emotional, professional and financial toll. Monique has paid that price, but she has used her own misfortune to prevent others from paying it too. If you missed her presentation last week, you missed a real treat: a polished presentation by an inspirational individual!
Saluting a Decade of Service: Carol Lindseth
The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight....
I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.
Marge Piercy must have been thinking of Carol Lindseth when she wrote these lines. For the past decade and more, Carol has jumped into the work of Rotary head first. She has served on the board all that time, in virtually every office the board offers. Her term of service as our secretary is especially notable. For the past 8 years (and maybe more), she has been the steadying hand, the one who quietly submerges in the task, works in a row and passes the bags along, the one you can always count on to do what must be one.
At the end of this month, Carol's unfailingly gracious and eternally competent years of service on the board come to an end. There really is no gesture, no tribute, that can adequately convey our gratitude for all that she has done for Rotary Club of Great Falls. Perhaps Piercy said it best:
The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident ....
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
Carol, you have done so much work worth doing exceptionally well. Go get some well-deserved rest. We know that before long you'll be crying out for more work that is real. You're just built that way. Thank you.
Milestones
Happy birthday on Tuesday to Eric Hinebauch and Doug Hagen. Best wishes to you both for the year to come!
