Danville IL Rotary Club

Tonya Hill presented our Prayer, Pledge, & 4-Way test.  Keith Souza led fellowship in a game of “Name That Tune”.

Our speaker today was Sunrise Rotarian, David Garver.  Dave is involved in the Danville Art League.  He spoke about the donation to move the old Red Cross builing accross the street to some donated land rather than having it torn down.  He explained how much more space the group would have and what funds have been raised to cover the moving expense.  For more information on the Danville Art League, click here.

Today was the final meeting of the club for this year.  The new officers will be installed next week.  President Keith took care of prayer, pledge & 4-way test.  He also introduced our speaker.  President Keith had everyone sign the flag for this year.  Tom Chamberlin finished up his last week of fellowship.  Thank you again, Tom for taking care of that this month.

Our speaker today was fellow Rotarian, and new District #118 Superintendent, Mark Denman.  Mark has served in the following roles during his 34+ year tenure with the district:

Grade 7 teacher, East Park Jr High/Middle School, 1975-1983, Principal, Daniel Elementary School, 1983-1987, Principal, East Park Elementary School, 1987-1994, Principal, North Ridge Middle School, 1994-2001, Principal, Danville High School, 2001-2004, Associate Superintendent of Schools, 2004-2009, Superintendent of Schools, beginning July 2009.  Mark gave us an overview of the state of the district and he looks to begin his new position as superintendent in a few days.  The district has continued to improve benchmark standards set forth by the federal government.  While they face several challenges, he’s also very excited about the changes happening in the district.  Information on Mark (and district #118) can be found by clicking here.

Katie Hopper led us in the Prayer, Pledge, & 4-Way test.  Rick introduced visiting Rotarians & guests.  Installation of officers for the upcoming year will take place on July 6th.  Please try to attend to show your support for the incoming board.   Tom Chamberlin handled fellowship.

Our speaker for today was our very own, Dr. Alice Marie Jacobs from Danville Area Community College.  Dr. Jacobs spoke about the status of the college.  They continue to face funding cuts from the state while enrollment has almost doubled since 2000.  She also told us that community colleges receive only 13% of the higher education dollars while they serve 64% of the people attending college in Illinois.  DACC continues to improve itself through new programs and funding via grants.  Some facts about DACC can be found by clicking here.

Pictures from our Wine & Cheese night have been added to the photos page.  You can see them by clicking here.

Thank you again to Amy & Greg for hosting this wonderful event.  Everyone had a great time!!!

Lynn Childs led us in the Prayer, Pledge, & 4-Way test.  Marla introduced visiting Rotarians & guests.  Reminder was made that the club board meeting would be held on 6/16/09 at 7am.  Tom Chamberlin took care of fellowship in traditional Rotary fashion.

Our speaker for today was Tom Redington, a Rotarian from the Clinton club.  He is heavily involved in the the Rotary Youth Exchange.  Tom brought us up to speed with expectations for our incoming youth for this year.  Tom was a wonderful speaker and brought some great stories of past youth exchanges he’s been involved in.

For more information about Rotary Youth Exchange, please visit: http://csrye.org

Chuck Schroeder led us in our prayer, pledge & 4-way test.  Frank Brunacci introduced visiting Rotarians & guests.  We thanked Amy Merchant (and her husband, Greg) for hosting the Wine & Cheese party this past Friday.  A great time was had by all and there is already talk of putting another event together.  Tom Chamberlin led us in fellowship.

Our speakers today were Eric Jensen & Axel Meuller from ThyssenKrupp.  More information on ThyssenKrupp can be found by clicking here. They gave a presentation on everything about ThyssenKrupp from its 200-year history to the plans for the local plant.  They are the world’s largest supplier of crankshafts.  The company has several business lines.  They addressed questions regarding the growth of their plant here in Danville to how the economy is effecting their company.

Thanks to everyone that helped with this meeting.  I was on vacation and not able to attend.  The speaker for today was fellow Rotarian, Deb Fridy from the Danville Area Board of Realtors.  A link to the DABR site can be found by clicking here.

Deb gave us un update on the real estate market in the Danville Area.  You can view a copy of the presentation by clicking here:  dabr-rotary

Overall the message is that things are not as bad here as most places. Thanks for the information Deb.

The flags for Rotary Memorial Way are in and we couldn’t be happier.  I am so very excited about the media coverage of this event for Rotary.  One of the television stations came by the War Museum yesterday to cover the story.  This morning, Bill Pickett inverviewed Scott Reed for the radio. Your President Keith was also interviewed by WICD 15.  Absolutly wonderful media coverage for this great event.

Front page of the Commercial-News!!!!

I would like to take a second to everyone that turned out this morning.  We had over a dozen club members there to help.  Thank you so much to the flag placers, the water getters and the community for supporting Rotary Memorial Way.

Shawn Mallady started our meeting with the Prayer, Pledge and 4-Way Test. Gil Garman delivered Fellowship.  Thank you to Gil for your work this month.  Scott Reed asked for all available club members to help place flags this Friday at 8am.  We will meet at St. Paul school.  The sign-up sheet for the Cheap Wine & Expensive Cheese was passed around. We will not have a meeting next Monday, due to Memorial Day.

The club recognized Dr. John Adams for his years of club leadership.  John is leaving our community and moving to Lafayette, IN.  John is a Past-President and has served as our club Treasurer for the past 15 years.  He will be missed by this club and this community.  Best of luck, John and the next chapter of your life.

Pat Owens introduced our guest speakers today; John Graves from Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry. HFHI seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world, and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.

Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together in partnership with families in need. For more information, visit their website at: http://www.habitatdanville.org/index.html

Laura Williams started our meeting with the Prayer, Pledge and 4-Way Test. Gil Garman delivered Fellowship.  Scott Reed thanked those that worked at County Market on Saturday selling flags.  The group sold 109 flags.  The sign-up sheet for the Cheap Wine & Expensive Cheese was passed around.  Mike Brown of Provena USMC was welcomed back to our club.  Mike’s schedule changed and he is now able to attend our Monday meetings.  Welcome back, Mike.

Heather McKiernan has submitted her application for membership.  We look forward to welcoming Heather into our club.  Flag slips need to be turned in at next Monday’s meeting.

Chris Kittell introduced our guest speakers today; Rotarian, Vickie Hicks from the Danville Public Library Foundation and Barb Nolan from the Danville Public Library.  They presented a video that highlighed the many different aspects of the DPL.  Vickie spoke to the importance that the library holds in a community.  She read a story that is being developed to promote the positive aspects of our communuity, including the library.  For more information on the DPL, click here.