Newport Rotarian Takes a Fall

It is very unusual for Newport Rotarian Harold Chartley to miss a Monday night Rotary Meeting. So, questions were raised on July 14, "where's Harold?".

It didn't take too many more days to find out. Harold had suffered a fall and injured the back of his head on Monday afternoon, but he was back at Rotary and front and center at Governor Lee Dxon's Installation at the Country Club of the Crystal Coast on Wednesday evening.

Harold was in good spirits and said that he will be back next week! As one of the "Senior" members of the club... we look forward to seeing Harold every week, and miss him when he's not there!

Newport Rotary Sign Errected

After several years of not having a sign at the entrance to town indicating a Rotary presence, an attractive new sign has been errected at the corner of Highway 70 and Howard Boulevard (Nine Foot Road), next to the "Welcome to Newport" sign. The sign, shown here, features the Rotary Wheel emblem, and states the club meeting time and location.

Rotarians Bevin Wall & Amos Parker headed up this project.

Thanks to Diversicare Assisted Living for agreeing to placement of the sign on their property and to "Jimmy" from Amos Parker Builders, Inc. for his expert assistance.

Governor Dixon Highlights Children's Concerns

District Governor Lee Dixon of Morehead City highlighted the concerns of preventable child illness and mortality during his address to the Newport Rotary Club on Monday night, July 14, 2008. This address caps off the beginning of his 48 Governor's addresses to all of the clubs in Southeast North Carolina.

According to DG Dixon, the magic number is 30,000. This is the number of children under the age of five that die every day from preventable diseases such as pneumonia, measles, and malaria. A compelling visual slideshow accompanied his address.

The club was challenged to meet the child mortality crisis with a specific fundraiser targeted toward reducing child mortality. This might be done locally, regionally, or internationally, with or without the use of a Rotary Foundation Grant. The District Conference Cruise to Mexico will also provide an opportunity to work on a service project impacting child mortality.

Newport Rotary has a consistent program of supporting the needs of children in

the community, including annual participation in the Dictionary Project (free dictionaries to Newport Elementary & Grammercy School second graders), Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Conference (RYLA)(leadership training for High School Juniors), Rotarians Against Drugs Speech Contest (RAD), Service projects and curriculum with local second grade school students. In 2002-03 Newport Rotary partnered with other county Rotary Clubs and the Health Department to provide English & Spanish books on immunization concerns to the County's Hispanic population.

Governor Dixon was accompanied by his Rotary partner Glenda. He was introduced by Club President Cliff Schweitzer.

Rotary President Cleans Up Club

Newly inducted Newport Rotary President Cliff Schweitzer makes good on a promise to "clean up" the Club. With vacuum cleaner in hand, Pres. Cliff leads by example!

One of the "4 Avenues of Service" in Rotary's balanced club menu of service is "Club Service". This is essentially the inner workings of having a functioning club, including the friendship and fellowship aspects of the club, as well as the service aspects of running the club.

Newport Rotary takes pride in being one of the few Rotary clubs in the district to own its own building. Every Newport Rotarian shares in the weekly maintenance of the building by being assigned to the clean-up crew.

Make Dreams Real! District Governor Lee Dixon to Address Rotary Club

District Governor Lee Dixon of Morehead City will be the featured speaker at the Newport Rotary Club meeting of Monday, July 14, 2008.

The Governor will deliver his official address to the club for the 2008-09 Rotary Year and bring us information on the Rotary International and District initiatives.

Our District Governor has requested that in lieu of a gift, that each club put $100 up for a raffle with the winning member getting the funds donated to The Rotary Foundation and credited to their Paul Harris Fellow Sustaining Member account.

Also, the Governor requests a meeting with the club Board of Directors directly after the official club visit, for approximately 20-30 minutes. He will be available to meet and greet Rotarians & Guests prior to the meeting.

Click here for a full biography of DG Lee Dixon.

Boys & Girls Home & Alzheimer's Research Update

Past Assistant Governor Brian Garrett of the South Brunswick Islands Rotary Club in Shallotte, North Carolina was the featured program at the Newport Rotary Club on July 7, 2008 updating the club on two Rotary-supported initiatives, the Boys & Girls Home at Lake Waccamaw and the Coins for Alzheimers Research Trust. Rotarian Garrett is the Chair of the District Committees supporting both efforts, and is on the Board of both organizations. Newport Rotarian Winston Reese arranged for the program.

The Boys & Girls Home of North Carolina is a residential and foster care/adoption program for neglected, abused, and hurting children that emphasizes academic and Christian education in a homelike, Christian setting. Newport Rotary supports B&GHNC through its support of the Rotary Cottage, which is one of several civic organizations funding residential cottages for children on the campus. There are 11 students resident in the Rotary Cottage.

The Rotary Cottage was fully renovated in 2005-06 through the efforts of Rotarians led by Governor Phil Crawford, and this led to the other civic organizations also doing needed repairs. Rotary also established a Legacy Fund for future needs, which is endowed at over $110,000 and has allowed for the recent purchase of a van for the cottage. A replacement of the campus pecan trees, used for fundraising in sales at the Country Store, was recently begun using a Rotary Foundation Grant. Newport Rotarian Amos Parker led a club drive several years ago supporting B&GHNC's "Harvest Train" fundraiser supporting the Country Store.

Coins for Alzheimer's Research Trust (CART) has raised over $2.6 Million for direct Alzheimer's Research since its inception in 1995 by South Carolina Rotary clubs. Currently involving Rotary Clubs & Districts in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, this year the fund awarded $250,000 to the Cleveland Clinic / Case Western University and $250,000 to the Univeristy of Alabama- Birmingham for "cutting edge" Alzheimer's Research. Newport Rotary has supported CART by passing the "blue bucket" in its weekly meetings since 1998, this marking the 10th year of support.

The club was thanked for its past & ongoing support of both projects.

Visitors included Steve Blizzard, guest of Rotarian Joe Garner, and Kyle Garner, guest of PDG Derryl Garner. A delicious meal was prepared by Rotarian Maher Saikali and Rotary Partner Mary Saikali.

Past-President Saikali Honored at Ceremony

June 30, 2008 is the last day of the Rotary Year, and July 1, 2008 the start of the new Rotary Year. Therefore it was fitting on the 365th day of the Newport Rotary Club year to honor President Maher Saikali and his administration for a fine year in serving the people of Newport and the World.

Past District Governor Derryl Garner (1973-74) presided over the ceremony in which Past President Saikali was award a Past President's Gavel Plaque, and Past President's pin, both traditions in the club.

Information about the President Cliff Schweitzer and the installation of officers for 2008-09 will appear in the next installment of The Newport Rotary Bulletin.