September 18, 2014 – Meeting Roundup – Peace Corps
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Our speaker will be Greta Harman, who will be telling us about her experience with the Peace Corps in China.
The Peace Corps has been a leader in international development and citizen diplomacy for more than 50 years across more than 139 countries. In an increasingly interdependent world, they tackle challenges that know no borders—such as climate change, pandemic disease, food security, and gender equality and empowerment. Although times have changed since the Peace Corps’ founding in 1961, the agency’s mission—to promote world peace and friendship—has not. Today, the Peace Corps is more vital than ever, working in collaboration with partner organizations and using cutting-edge technologies and well-tested best practices to enhance impact.
Their more than 215,000 current and returned Volunteers know that the Peace Corps changes lives—both their own and the lives of people in communities around the world. They learn about leadership, ingenuity, self-reliance, and relationship building and become global citizens. Peace Corps Volunteers reflect the very best of humanity, innovation and aspiration for a better tomorrow. When they return home, they share their stories and experiences and give back to their own communities, helping to strengthen international ties and increase our global competitiveness.
Join us for dessert and enjoy an entertaining speaker at the Purple Iris.
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WVU AD
Oliver Luck, former WVU quarterback and present WVU athletic director, spoke to us about the issues facing college athletics. The first issue is the attempt by the football players at Northwestern University to unionize. The players claim that since they are essentially employees, they have this right. The second one is the O’Bannon antitrust law suit that Ed O’Bannon has initially won against the NCAA. The third challenge facing college athletics is the consolidation of power into five conferences-ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big Twelve, and the Pac Ten. If you are not one of the 65 teams in these conference, you don’t have a chance at things such as the football national championship. When the Big East began falling apart, WVU joined the Big 12.
Cogwheels
Answer to last week’s question:
Cem and Judy Martin were the first married couple to be members of our club.
This week’s question:
What is the address for the Martinsburg Rotary website?
Our two student guests from Musselman High School were Taylor Lord and David Stas.
Tom Cummings, a retired banker and radio account executive, was a guest of Tina Nipe. George Karos brought Mark Baldwin, city manager. Kevin Starliper, senior vice president/chief lending officer with CNB Bank, was a guest of Ross Curtis. Buzz and Lisa Poland brought Lisa’s dad, Billy Ray Dunn, a retired professor and former Randolph County superintendent and present owner of the Vintage Lady Shop in Harpers Ferry. Bill Wertman, Family Court Judge for Berkeley and Jefferson Counties, was my guest. Walt Ridenour brought his daughter, Anita, and son-in-law, Larry Cooper. Todd Beckwith, Senior Vice President of City National Bank, was a guest of Phil Noll. Phil also brought Ron Frye, a retired teacher and previous owner of Shenadoah Valley Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine. John Slonaker, a Shepherd College graduate and a federal government retiree, was a guest of Sandy Hamilton.
We’re growing again. The following have been proposed for membership: Mike Whalton sponsored by Doug Roach; Amanda Vance sponsored by Leslie Crabill; Dawn Brown sponsored by Mike Hornby; Tim Merecurio sponsored by Mike Hite; and Kathy Deffer sponsored by Berniece Collis. If there are no written objections, they will become members this week.
We beat the Sunrise club with 368 pounds of food donated to the Megafood Drive. Martinsburg High School was the overall winner with over 1,000 pounds donated.
The main recipient of the proceeds from the Taste of the Panhandle will be the Bethany House. We will also be donating money to the Children’s Home Society, JUMP and the Be-Hive.
Roy Young showed us a three-minute video featuring Rotary and the golf tournament that all participants in the tournament will receive.
Thanks go to all who participated in the Day of Caring.
Mary Hayward won 50/50 with a ticket she gave to Karen Spence. Karen did not bring her luck though.