RC Whitesburg Official District Governor Visit

July 30 marked the final Official District Governor Visit in July of DG Jack McAllister to RC Whitesburg. Here the club shared their major community service projects, many with an education emphasis. Their club’s inauguration of the Imagination Library among Rotary clubs in D6740 has encouraged other clubs to consider this project. The noon meeting, at which the president of the local Interact Club also attended, was followed by the dedication of two picnic tables with the Rotary insignia at the lookout area on Pine Mountain above Whitesburg. The venue provides a beautiful view and lovely tables from which to enjoy that view.

Members of the Whitesburg Rotary club gather after dedicating a picnic table
they have provided for the lookout area on Pine Mountain

 

DG Jack McAllister (on left) and president Larry Whitaker (on right) were pleased to have
Sara Gilley (center), president of the Jenkins Interact club, at the Whitesburg Rotary club meeting

 

 

RC Whitesburg's Interact Club receives Presidential Citation

 

The Interact Club of Jenkins Independent School recently received the Presidential Citation award, the highest award an Interact Club can receive.  The Interact Club is a school based service club of Rotary International, and must participate in community projects and international projects.  The club participated in the Shoe Box Ministry, read Letters to Santa on WTCW/WXKQ, participated in Read Across America (celebrating Dr. Seuss birthday) by reading books to the children at Burdine and McRoberts Elementary, and purchased a Gardeners Basket for a family in Ecuador which contained things needed to start a small farm. Pictured is 2012-2013 Interact President Kevin Brashear. This club is sponsored by Margaret Hammonds and Barbara Ison of the Rotary Club of Whitesburg.

 

 

District Governor visits RC Whitesburg

 

The Rotary Club of Whitesburg was honored to have the new District 6740 Governor, Jack McAllister, attend the July 30^th Rotary meeting at the Pine Mountain Grill.  Governor McAllister became a Rotarian in 1979 while working in Ottawa, Canada as a research scientist for the Agriculture Department of the Canadian Federal Government.  He joined the Rotary Club of Lexington, KY in 1990 and has since held several leadership positions in the Lexington Club as well as District 6740.  He is a multi-Paul Harris Fellow, the most prestigious award of Rotary International for his contributions to the Rotary Foundation.

 

Prior to addressing members of the Rotary Club of Whitesburg, Governor McAllister met with the Board of Directors and committee chairs to discuss plans for the 2013-14 Rotary year.  He commended the club for their efforts to increase membership and selection of service projects for the year.  He encouraged Club members to promote Polioplus the week of October 20-26 with Thursday, October 24^th as being World Polio Day. 

 

This year’s theme for Rotary International, “Engage Rotary, Change Lives”, challenges members to take responsibility for their community and take the initiative to do what is right and not what is easy.  The Rotary Club of Whitesburg has selected the Imagination Library Literacy Project as its number one local project for the year.  The Club’s international projects include donating $1000 to the polio eradication effort and participating in the District’s effort to donate 3100 pairs of shoes to the Shoes for Kids project.

 

The 2013-14 officers of the Rotary Club of Whitesburg are President Larry Whitaker, Vice-president Jerry Utt, Secretary William Banks, Treasurer Eileen Sanders, Director R.C. Day and Director Jim Webb.  

200th child registers for the RC Whitesburg affiliate of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library

The Imagination Library registered its 200^th child on Thursday, August 15^th.  One year old Braydon Short  is the son of Caleb and Erica Short and resides in the city of Whitesburg.  He received a free book  at the time of registration. The Imagination Library is an early childhood literacy program started by country music singer Dolly Parton.  The program provides children with a free book each month until they reach their fifth birthday, regardless of family income.  The Imagination Library is an opportunity for children to have books in the home where they can learn to recognize letters, numbers, colors, objects and build a good vocabulary in preparation for kindergarten.  Reading aloud to children exposes them to words they may not encounter in everyday language and gets them excited about learning.

Rotarians Barbara Ison and Margaret Hammonds attended Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Homecomin’ 2013 at the Music Road Hotel Conference Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee on June 11-14^th  and had an opportunity to talk with David Dotson, President of the Dollywood Foundation.  The theme of the conference “Imagine More” showcased two full days of presenters sharing their personal stories of success with the Imagination Library. During the conference, participants had the opportunity to discuss ideas with other program leaders and learn how other states have implemented the Imagination Library and raised funds to support the program. Toni Buzzeo, Author of “One Cool Friend” was on hand to sign her book which has been made into a production now playing at Dollywood Theme Park. The highlight of the conference was a personal appearance by Dolly Parton. Over two hundred individuals from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada attended the conference.  

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library started in Sevierville, Tennessee and because of its popularity, it was made available to any community that was willing to partner with Dolly to support it locally.  Since the initial program began, nearly 40,000,000 books have been mailed to children in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.  Currently over 1600 local communities provide the Imagination Library to children every month.  Already statistics and independent reports have shown Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library drastically improves early childhood literacy.  The Rotary Club of Whitesburg sponsors the Imagination Library in Letcher County.  The program is coordinated by Rotarians Barbara Ison and Margaret Hammonds.

 

Please contact Margaret Hammonds at 633-8200 or Barbara Ison at 634-2106 for more information about the Imagination Library program in Letcher County.

 

 

Josephine Richardson recognized for many years of service to GSE program

DG visits and club events

RC Whitesburg's President Joe DePriest welcomes DG Kathryn on August 14

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President Howard Roberts of RC Pikeville, DG Kathryn, and AG Seema Sachdeeva at the official visit on August 15.

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President David Hellmich of the RC Lexington Sunrise gave DG Kathryn Hardman the honor of assisting in the induction of four new members during the official visit on August 28. New members Michael Quillen, Kirsten Kegley, DG Gridley and Seth Lawless were joined by their sponsoring members Keith Key, Donna Sloan and Dale Torok. The membership drive was assisted by a successful after-hours social event hosted by the club earlier in the month.

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President Chris Jobes accepts an award on behalf of

RC Louisa for membership development.

 

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At the Heart of America Zone Institute in Huntsville, Al October 4-7, 2012 District Governor Kathryn Hardman and John enjoyed an evening with Rotary International President Sakuji Tanaka.

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DG Kathryn, Youth Exchange host parent Harry Chestnut and Youth Exchange student Guilherme Messon Messari (Brazil) were invited to ring the World Peace Bell following the multi-club meeting of Florence, Kenton, Covington and Campbell in Covington on September 18.

 

 

Margaret Hammonds shares information about the Imagination Library

Margaret Hammonds from the Rotary Club of Whitesburg was the guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Hazard on Wednesday September 12, 2012. Her topic was Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, an early childhood literacy program which the Rotary Club of Whitesburg implemented in January 2012. Hazard Rotary is planning to start this program in their area, and hopes to have it in place by spring of 2013. Hammonds was instrumental in bringing this program to the Whitesburg Area during her tenure as Rotary President 2011-2012, and remains the coordinator between the Rotary Club of Whitesburg and the Dollywood Foundation. The Imagination Library provides a free book per month for children under 5 years of age who live in a selected service area, regardless of the family income. The Rotary Club of Whitesburg currently has 143 children registered in the program in the Whitesburg area.

 

Congratulations RC Whitesburg - 12 new members this year!

Congratulations to Rotary Club of Whitesburg for adding 12 new members in one Rotary Year, 2011-2012!

Rotary Club of Whitesburg set a goal of adding 10 new members this year, and instead, added 12! The three newest members are David Narramore, a local dentist, Lennie Darrell Holbrook, Secretary of the Veterans Museum, and Shad Baker, County Extension Agent. Narramore and Holbrook became members on May 1, 2012, and both were sponsored by President Margaret Hammonds. Baker became a member on June 19, 2012. Five of the 12 new members were sponsored by President Margaret Hammonds, Membership Chair Barbara Ison added 2, new member Debbie Watts added 1, new member Brenda DePriest added 1, Josephine Richardson added 1, and Administration Committee Chair Jack Burkich added 2.

RC Whitesburg sponsors Interact Club

Interact Club started at Jenkins Independent School

The Rotary Club of Whitesburg is pleased to announce the sponsorship of The Interact Club of Jenkins Independent School. During the month of December the club was organized and members participated in an election to select officers for the school year. Officers have already met and made recommendations on Club By-laws and the Club Constitution. Once these documents are approved by the membership of the Club, application can be made for the Certificate of Organization from Rotary International. Interact is a service club for youth ages 14-18 and is one of Rotary's fastest growing programs. It is self-governing and self-supporting and can be either school or community based. Interact clubs are in over 120 countries and geographical areas and are dedicated to community and international service. Rotarians working with the Interact Club are Margaret Hammonds, Barbara Ison, Eileen Sanders, Debbie Watts and Sherry Wright.

Interact Officers for the 2011-2012 school year were: Front Row L to R: Ashley Wright, Director; Brook Puckett, President; Samantha Potter, Treasurer, Back Row L to R: Barbara Ison, Rotary Club of Whitesburg Treasurer; Emily Barron, Director; Kevin Brashear, Vice-President; Stacia Collins, Director; and Sonya Breeding, Teacher Sponsor.

RC Whitesburg attends Valentine's Luncheon

Members of the Rotary Club of Whitesburg were invited to a Valentine Luncheon on Feb. 14th at the Shriners Bldg. in Whitesburg. The luncheon was sponsored by Whitesburg ARH. Rotarian and ARH Community CEO, Dena Sparkman gave the opening remarks. The song, "Let Me Call You Sweetheart", was led by Rotarian R.C. Day, and the prayer was conducted by Rotarian Jerry Utt. The featured speaker for the program was Cardiologist Dr. Sam Patil with the theme "Love Her Heart". Dr. Patil informed the audience of signs to look for when women have heart attacks which are different than men's, as well as how to eat heart healthy, and maintain a heart healthy lifestyle. Over 150 members from the community were in attendance. ARH provided gifts to everyone who attended, and the luncheon was catered by 4-Star Catering Service. It was great exposure for the Rotary Club, and the club gave Dr. Patil an application to register his 8 month old daughter in the Imagination Library, sponsored by Rotary Club of Whitesburg.

RC Whitesburg's Imagination Library - Opened January 26, 2012!

RC Whitesburg welcomes new members

The Rotary Club of Whitesburg is pleased to announce the installation of two new members for the 2011-12 Rotary Year. Sherry Wright, Coordinator of Federal Programs, Professional Development and Special Education Programs for Jenkins Independent Schools; and Eileen Sanders, member of the Jenkins Board of Education were officially installed by Rotarian Barbara Ison on Tuesday, December 6th. Sherry Wright was sponsored by Rotarian Deborah Watts and Eileen Sanders was sponsored by Rotarian Brenda DePriest. New members were presented with membership certificates and pins during the installation ceremony. From L to R: Sherry Wright, Eileen Sanders and Barbara Ison. This made a total of 8 new members inducted into the Rotary Club of Whitesburg since July 1, 2011.

RC Whitesburg starts an Imagination Library

The Rotary Club of Whitesburg has received a District Simplified Grant through Rotary International to start Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in Whitesburg. Children ages 0-5 years of age are eligible to enroll if they live in the service area (the service area includes children living in Whitesburg with the zip code of 41858 in their 911 address). Each child will receive a free book monthly. The Dollywood Foundation will mail out the books and the Rotary Club will pay for the postage. This is one of the many literacy projects the Rotary Club of Whitesburg is doing this year. The goal is to improve reading scores of children when they enter school. Schools that will be impacted by the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library are West Whitesburg, Cowan, Beckham Bates and Martha Jane Potter. The Rotary Club hopes to expand this program to all zip codes in Letcher County in the future. The Rotary District Governor John B. Adams presented the check to Rotary President Margaret Hammonds on his recent visit to Whitesburg.

RC Whitesburg welcomes 7 new members in July, August and September!

Moving steadily towards its goal of 35 members by the end of the Rotary year, a gain of 11, RC Whitesburg welcomes the following seven new  members and thanks their sponsors:

Deborah Watts --July 19, 2011 -- sponsored by Margaret Hammonds

Deborah Young -- July 19, 2011 -- sponsored by Honorary member Penny Ritter
Brenda DePriest -- July 26, 2011--sponsored by Barbara Ison
Katina Benton -- August 16, 2011 -- sponsored by Josephine Richardson
Danny Vance -- August 23, 2011 -- sponsored by Barbara Ison
Perry Fowler -- September 6, 2011 -- sponsored by Margaret Hammonds
Sherry Wright -- September 6, 2011 -- sponsored by Deborah Watts

Welcome Rotarians! And congratulations RC Whitesburg!

RC Whitesburg welcomed State Rep Leslie Combs

Visit RC Whitesburg's website at this link

 

The Rotary Club of Whitesburg welcomed State Representative Leslie Combs as their special guest on Tuesday, September 13th. She has served as the State Representative of the 94th District since 2007. Since being first elected to the legislature, she has risen to become chair of the House Tourism Development and Energy Committee, which covers two of the most important issues that Letcher County and Southeastern Kentucky face on a day-to-day basis. She presented an update on what is happening in the State Capitol and what can be expected in the months ahead as the General Assembly readies for its legislative session beginning in January. She discussed the state of the budget, education, coal severance funds and the job market and entertained questions from members and guests. She encouraged everyone to feel free to contact her regarding legislative concerns and she will continue to be a strong voice for the people of Eastern Kentucky.

RC Whitesburg improves Housing Authority park with basketball goals

The Rotary Club of Whitesburg purchased new basketball goals for the Housing Authority's basketball court as one of the Service Projects for this year. Rotary Club members passed out fliers on Sunday prior to the event to all of the children living at the Housing Authority inviting them to the Dedication Day on Wednesday afternoon August 10th. Twenty-four (24) new basketballs, purchased by the Rotary members, were given away, along with free Rotary balloons. Refreshments of pizza, cupcakes, cookies and drinks were furnished, compliments of Whitaker Bank, Inc. of Whitesburg, and served by Rotary members. Reporters/Photographers from both local newspapers were present.

Jackson McCall posed with a new basketball he was given by members of the Whitesburg Rotary Club.

Members of the Whitesburg Rotary Club pictured from left are William Banks, Joe DePriest, Jack Burkich, Ernest Bradley, Debra Lucas, Margaret Hammonds, Bessie Shepherd, Roy Crawford and Dr. Bill Collins.

Children played basketball at the Whitesburg Housing Authority August 10. Members of the Whitesburg Rotary Club purchased new goals and basketballs for children who live at the Whitesburg Housing Authority.

Alexis Cornett posed for a photograph after she received a basketball from members of the Whitesburg Rotary Club.

For more photos, please visit this link

http://www.themountaineagle.com/common/photos/Dedication_of_new_basketball_goals_at_the_Whitesbu.html

RC Whitesburg Has a Successful Fundraiser!

The Rotary Club of Whitesburg just completed a summer fundraising—selling RADA cutlery.  We set our sales goal at $1200 (24 members @ $50 per member). We ended up with total sales of $2,850, plus received donations of $100.  Our net profit was $1250. As an incentive to get members to participate in this fundraiser, we gave $50 in free RADA Cutlery to the member who sold the most.  The winner was Treasurer Barbara Ison who sold $560.  The proceeds from this fundraiser will be used to purchase dictionaries for every 3^rd grader in the two school systems in Letcher County in the fall.   The club will distribute 295 dictionaries to students and provide reference books for each 3^rd grade classroom for a cost of $500.  We exceeded our sales goal and will use the additional funds to support another service project planned for the Rotary year.

In addition to promoting the project within the club, we did direct selling from the catalogs, placed public service announcements on both local radio stations, placed an ad in the two local newspapers, and listed it on our new website, (www.clubrunner.ca/whitesburg-ky). We set up an internet account with RADA (an option offered by RADA) — so friends and relatives who lived out of town or out of state could purchase items. We provided instructions in our advertisements and on the website on how to place on-line orders so that our Club would get credit for the sale.  We had orders placed as far away as Kansas. 


As Kalyan Bannerjee says, "we will need to think in new and different ways, explore new ways of seeing.  If we do what we have always done, we will get what we have always gotten—nothing better, nothing more.”  


We tried a new approach for our fundraising and it paid off.  Our RADA on-line account will be active for one year so anyone who would like to support the Club can do so by ordering RADA products any time during the year.