By the time you read this, we'll have another Harvest Howl in the books. At press time, Howl Chair Mike Wier said we were sold out, with an extraordinary number of ticket-buyers from out of town. The last time your cub reporter visited the venue, the tables were all beautifully laid out, the silent auction in solemn stillness lay, and John Roberts y Pan Blanco were on the stage, checking out the acoustics.
Since Thursday afternoon, Rotarians have been in and out of the Four Seasons, hauling, measuring, cleaning, arranging, sprinkling leaves across tabletops, hanging lights on the "chandelier," preparing bidding sheets ... all the countless tasks that lie behind a successful Howl. Thanks to all who pitched in to help ... and a special thanks to our sister Rotary Club who helped with the silent auction. Whew. We did it!
Next Week at Rotary
Next week at Rotary we will learn all about advanced PTSD solutions from Dr. Katrina Lewis. And we will have a Mary Moe Member Moment. Mm-mm, good!
Recently at Rotary
During a happy moment at our Oct. 26 meeting, Gregg Holt told members about attending Chief Earl Old Person's funeral the previous weekend. He was impressed with the chief's long record of distinguished service that began, as many leadership paths do, with Boy Scouts. Gregg later sent a story on Old Person's Boy Scout experience, parts of which are highlighted here:
Being a "skilled orator who spoke fervently for the rights of his tribe" took bravery and Old Person felt that he acquired that confidence in BSA Troop 94 of Browning, Montana. "That's where I got my public speaking .. I learned from that." Scouting, he added, was something that gave him courage.
"That courage was tested," The Great Falls Tribune reported, "at the 1947 World Scout Jamboree, held in France. Of the 24,000-plus Scouts in attendance, Old Person was the lone American Indian in attendance." Along with about 1,150 other U.S. Scouts, he made the nine-day trip across the Atlantic Ocean on an Army boat and set up camp in a tepee he borrowed from his father. He became the main attraction, signing so many autographs he got writer's cramp.
As many mentioned at his funeral, the lessons of Scouting stayed with Old Person throughout his distinguished life. In 2011, then-BSA Chief Scout Executive Robert Mazzuca traveled to Montana to honor him. Thanking Mazzuca for the honor, Old Person said that the values of his Native American upbringing aligned perfectly with the values of Scouting.
An important reflection for Rotary Club of Great Falls, whose roots in Scouting were firmly planted over a century ago and continue to flower in the club's membership!
Mark Your Calendars!
Whether you're recruiting students to your college, employees to your organization, or members to your club, professional head-hunters will tell you to seize the moment. With Harvest Howl putting our club's name out there over the past month, now is the moment to intensify our recruiting efforts. As it happens, that moment coincides with our traditional post-Howl celebration.
Do you know someone who should be a member of Rotary? Every membership starts with an invite. Invite your list of potential Rotarians (one or many) to the November 16 Rotary Social at the Country Club. We will celebrate a successful Harvest Howl and let potential new members get to know us better. Please invite your spouse or other guest as well. Let's get a roomful of happy "Campers"!
Rotary Social
Tuesday, Nov. 16 - 5:30 p.m.
No-host bar
Appetizers courtesy of Rotary Club of Great Falls
Milestones
November has been a generous month for Great Falls Rotarians: It brought us three members who are now tricenarian Rotarians! Kudos to Gary Bjelland, notching 36 years on his Rotary belt; Mark Macek, 33; and Bill Bronson, 30. Ninety-nine years of service above self = impressive!
Weekly Wisdom in the Wake of the Howl
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.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half-submerged balls.
I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.
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.
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.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.
