Grapevine – August 26, 2021
Greeter – Tracy Regalia was the greeter and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four-Way Test. Sandy Hamilton led the invocation.
Guests – Diane Smith (guest of Steve Truax), John Hardy (WV State Delegate & visiting Rotarian) and Suzanne Novak (guest of Sharon Novak)
Club Business/Announcements:
- Fellow Rotarian, Vickie Elliott is in the hospital right now with serious case of COVID. Remember her in your prayers.
- Shelter box initiative: right now, Rotary clubs are sending Shelter Boxes to Haiti. We set sponsoring one Shelter Box as a goal for this year, Pete is our Shelter Box point person, and as soon as he returns from his travels, we are going to get rolling on it.
- Bernice and Steve Truax are still trying to gather information about our Rotary Zone’s Youth and Peace in Action initiative – Dana and some other Rotary officials are really talking it up.
- We are working a Wellness Screening at the Wellness Center on Sept 25th. Volunteers should plan to be there by 5:30 AM.
- We are cooking and serving at the Apple Harvest Pancake Breakfast on October 16th and 17th. We are looking for volunteers for that.
- The Rotary Foundation dinner is Sept. 25th starting at 4:30PM.
Program
One of the things our Programs Committee has been trying to do is to connect residents of the Eastern Panhandle with their state officials and vice versa. With that in mind, today’s speaker is WV State Treasurer Riley Moore. Riley Moore is West Virginia’s 25th State Treasurer. Born in Morgantown, he received his undergraduate degree in Government and International Politics from George Mason University in Virginia and a Master’s Degree in Strategic Security Studies from the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. For many years, Riley served as a national security advisor to the Foreign Affairs Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. He also worked as a contractor with the Department of Homeland Security. In 2016, Riley was elected to the West Virginia House of
Delegates to represent the 67th District, serving one term in that role. In addition, Riley mentioned he started his career as a welder and seems to be the ultimate renaissance man! He and his wife, Mina, have two young daughters.
Riley is the CFO for WV with $20 Billion in assets under management. He is responsible for investing our tax dollars. Some of these investment programs include: the WV Smart 529, 457 Supplemental Retirement Plan, and the WV Able account. He went on to discuss a few of the 9 new bills recently signed into law. First, was the Jumpstart Savings acct. specifically designed for Tradesman. This program is designed to allow Tradesman to contribute money to a tax advantaged plan in order to save for items they will need upon entering into the workforce. These items include, new business start up costs, tools, equipment, and certifications. WV is the first in the Country to offer anything like this and other states are quickly following suit. Riley said, “COVID caused a disruption in supply…we need to rely on Americans” As a Tradesman himself, Riley is very passionate about this bill. Next, he discussed the Hope Scholarship, an educational savings account. Every student in WV has $4,600 in tax dollars allocated to them per year. This plan will allow parents to seek out alternative sources of education with the $4,600. It can also be used across state lines. The details are still being worked on and updated. For more information please visit https://hopescholarshipwv.com/FAQs Next, Riley discussed the fight with the Biden Administration due to the proposed cut-off to capital lending for gas, coal and oil industries. Riley stated, “these are legal businesses and you don’t have to like them”. Lastly, at the request of the audience, Riley discussed his thoughts on Afghanistan. His main focus was on items & equipment unaccounted for, including classified items like Night Vision Devices (NVDs) and the Americans trapped over there. He says these are the things that cause him angst.
The audience really seemed engaged in the presentation and we are grateful for his willingness to spend time with us!!!PS- he did not have a PowerPoint so the information is from my scattered notes and memory.
Upcoming Programs:
- Sept 02 – Friends Fur Life & Rescue Me WV
- Sept 09 – Berkeley County Water Supply
- Sept 16 – Alzheimer’s Association
- Sept 23 – New & Old Member Bios (You won’t want to miss this!!!)
50/50
- Sandy Hamilton sold tickets. Penny Porter drew the winning ticket. She did not draw the winning card and agreed to sell tickets next week.
Community Announcements:
- September 6th is the War Memorial Park Labor Day breakfast from 7:30-10:30AM
- October 9th is the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, located at War Memorial Park. Registration from 8AM-9AM, walk starts at 9:30. (Come walk with me!)
- October 15th will be the Girl Scouts Women of Distinction banquet, and the club will reserve a table there.
I was not sure where to put club presentations, so here they are…
I was gifted the Paul Harris Fellow award by the amazing Bill and Marilyn Schoon. They presented the award after the Club Announcements. I was very surprised and am completely honored and humbled to accept such a wonderful gift!!!!
***Next week we will resume having student guests, with Mrs. Stanley and her Faith Christian students as our first guests!
What are the Rotary Interact Clubs?
Interact Clubs are an important branch of the greater Rotary youth programs that invite students between ages 12 and 18 to get important chances to develop leadership skills while also focusing on the Rotary credo of “Service-Above-Self.” in fact, many high schools across the United States and the world have their own chapters of Interact Clubs that allows students enrolled in those schools to work together and be a part of many different community service programs and initiatives.