November 23, 2004 Calendar of Events

Last Week: Stephanie Lubis “Spotlight Reporting of BH, BL, & Charlton”

This Week: George Bailey: “Charlton & Ballston When Our Club Began”

Next Week: Harry Thornhill “Ghana”

Coming Up:

December 7 Tree Lighting & Concert

December 14 Christmas Party at the Glen Sanders Mansion.

Give suggestions for future programs to Rey Whetten or Linda LeTendre

Other Events Coming Up:

November 23 BOD & Chairs Meeting 5PM

Invocation: Garry Morrow, Dan Stec or Bob Youmans

Minute for Rotary: Bill McClary

If you have items for the Rotatelle,r contact Dick O’Rourke at 372-8287 or robrwo@aol.com or Ed Warren at 663-7669 or ewarren@nycap.rr.co

Reporting Local News:

Stephanie Lubis, reporter for the weekly Spotlight newspaper, described

her work at the November 16 meeting. Ms. Lubis covers the towns of Ballston and Charlton for the Spotlight. She grew up in Saratoga County and graduated from Shenendehowa High School and the University of Albany.

This is Stephanie’s first reporting job, and she is enjoying the experience. Her first assignment was to cover a Charlton Planning Board meeting. Stephanie

said she wasn’t sure she understood what the Board was talking about and

wondered whether anyone would care about the subject. She said she has

learned that “people make the story” and has been impressed that so many

people care and contribute so much to the various groups that make up the town.

Stephanie believes stories can be in greater depth in a weekly compared

with a daily paper because they are strictly local. Her stories are straight news;

she does not offer her own opinions in them. She gets many stories by

covering board meetings (eg. Town boards, planning boards, the school board)

and learns of other news from press releases.

Stephanie stressed that hers is not a 9 to 5 schedule. Most of her

meetings are on Monday or Tuesday evenings and by Wednesday, the day

she must meet deadlines for the Thursday publication date, she is “burnt out” .

She says meeting her job responsibilities is a matter of “sink or swim”.

No assignments are given to her; weekly Friday editorial meetings may offer

general themes, but she is on her own in developing the six stories per week she

is expected to deliver. No week is the same and she says it is “always fun to

meet new people”.

When asked about future aspirations, Stephanie said, “I’m not sure,

but “I like to write and I’m still trying to get good at what I’m doing”. Her coverage

of Rotary affairs suggests she is already pretty good at what she does, and with

the personal charm and sense of humor she exhibited during her presentation,

it is clear she is a young person with a bright future.

News Briefs:

• President Steve reported that the Club had contributed $500, with $250 more

added by Rotary Foundation, toward a joint Water Purification Project in Honduras.

• A sign-up sheet for the December 14 Christmas party at the Glen Sanders

Mansion was circulated. In addition to signing up, members were asked to indicate

a meal choice (beef, chicken, or vegetarian). Dance music will be provided by

“disc jockey” Mike Welshhans, who asks that you e-mail requests for your favorite tunes to him by December 10 at djdiscomike26@aol.com.

• The Entertainment ’05 book sale is complete. We sold 71 books, and after all receipts are tallied and the final bill paid, the Club will realize a $678 profit.

President’s Corner:

Looking Back, Reflecting and Looking Forward

Though hard to believe, this coming month will mark the mid-point of this Rotary year and our club’s current leadership administration. It is an appropriate time to reflect on the first half in order to reinforce what we like, and improve those things we can do better.

Looking Back:

In June and July we agreed on a set of club themes and goals for this year. Our themes are repeated every meeting – We honor our Past, take great Pride in the Present and are Building for the Future. We laid out both general goals and very specific objectives for each of our four service committees. Club-wide, we sought to improve our level of communication, our overall organizational procedures, the quality of our governance, to conduct our work in a more business like manner and to enhance our level of teamwork, where everyone chips in so no one Rotarian carries too heavy a load. We all realized that this array of objectives was a challenge, but certainly not an insurmountable one. We certainly have the available talent to achieve them. We also anticipated the fun and reward a group like ours would experience doing good things and improving our club.

I have seen great things happen these past months, and I have seen significant progress and achievement in areas we all felt needed improvement. I have seen individual BHBL Rotarians come up with great ideas and give more than a full measure of their time and talent for our club and its mission. Members have attended extra meetings on weekends or evenings or worked week-in-and-week-out on programs or organizational responsibilities that require extraordinary dedication and commitment. I have also seen our club show a level of caring and generosity that I know makes us all proud.

Mid-Point:

Now is a good time for each of us to think about our club and whether:

1. the objectives we agreed to at the beginning of the year have been met? If not, are they still valid? If so, do we have the resources to achieve them? Are they attainable? Is help needed?

2. you are satisfied with what you do for our club? Do you need help? Should you help more?

3. you have suggestions that can help our club become better next half and next year?

Please consider these questions, and provide any suggestions or issues you may have. Any recommendations for positive change or improvement are welcomed.

Looking Ahead:

During the next half, I am confident we will use lessons learned to continue to improve our club. I believe a bottom line measure of our club’s success is its ability to help change and save lives. I am confident we will continue to give what we can. We need to always strive to improve – year in and year out. Solid program continuity fostered by clearly understood operating practices and smooth leadership transitions are key. I’ll ask several members to serve on a nominating committee in December. Our BOD agreed to conduct our annual election in February; plan on Tuesday, February 1. This will provide next year’s leadership team time to be up-to-speed when they take over. We want to appropriately celebrate Rotary’s Centennial. We plan to make our dinner on February 15 special. We also plan new initiatives that should increase public awareness of Rotary, as well as foster our club’s goals. We need to honor folks that have gone “the extra mile” and have served as role models for our club and our community. Nominations for Rotarian of the Year, Citizen of the Year and The “Doc” Garrison Life Time of Service Award will be due April 1. Cheers.