The Rotary Club of Hillcrest - District 6630

Hillcrest Rotagram - January 6, 2009 Meeting

BULLETIN EDITOR:
Bill Burcham

NEXT WEEK: On Tuesday, January 13, our speaker will be Sharon Moster, Executive Director of A Kid Again, Inc. She will talk about her company.

COMING PROGRAMS: On Tuesday, January 20, we will hear from Seth Spitale, President of Fly Northeast Ohio, talking on "Charter Aircraft: The Business & Personal Alternative." On January 27, our program will feature Dan Davis, Chairperson of our District's Four Way Test Speech Contest. He will talk about "Character Building: Rotary, Students & You!"

THANK YOU: The sponsor for our January programs is DGE John Bosco and his law firm.

GUESTS: Our visitors included two prospective members: Carrie Rosenfelt, Director of Development at WECO Fund, Inc. and Derek Nevar, a dentist in Chesterland.

STRATEGIC PLANNING: President Joe Cicero thanked Bill Hite for conducting a successful, day-long Strategic Planning session last Saturday and assessed fines to all who failed to attend. He also announced that a follow up meeting will be held on Saturday, January 17, at Lyndhurst Community Center from 9:00 until 2:00.

HAPPY/SAD BUCKS: Jackie Minotas wished everyone a happy new year and was very pleased with the great Strategic Planning meeting. John Wilson thanked Bill Hite for the time, effort and expense he incurred in putting on the meeting. Richard Welsh suggested we should double the salary Bill was paid for last Saturday. Lynda Rossiter had a great holiday and was also very pleased with Saturday's meeting. John Bosco was happy he went to the meeting. It was so good he forgot he was only going to stay a short while and he also saved the buck fine. Brian Giallombardo said it was too bad we hadn't had a meeting like that preceding Joe's presidency. George Schumacher was happy that OSU "showed up" for the Fiesta Bowl. Bill Burcham was very happy that Joe Kamiab has volunteered to take over for Joe Cicero on the Meals on Wheels route. Scott Mills feels that Christian needs to have more experiences than he is getting. He would like different Rotarians to invite him to enjoy family experiences with them for a weekend. He thanked Joe Wilson for taking care of Christian during the holidays. President Joe said he was grateful for all members of the club who have mentored him but especially to Bill Hite for help along the way and for the very effective Strategic Planning Meeting.

PANCAKE BREAKFAST: President Joe indicated that the Chagrin Highlands Club has invited us to join them in conducting a pancake breakfast. Do we want to do so? Lynda Rossiter, who organized our pancake breakfast last year, supports the idea.

POTENTIAL FUNDRAISER: Scott Mills passed around a game that he discovered when he visited Michigan recently. A Rotary club up there has been selling a local version of it. We could adapt it to our area and do the same and perhaps earn some money.

TOH THANK YOU: The next Taste Thank You Dinner will be at Malange on Friday, January 16. Be sure to sign up next week or email Mike Johns, Jr. by then if you plan to attend.

THE CLEVELAND POPS: Thanks to Bill Hite for arranging another great program.

Our speakers were Carl Topilow, conductor of the Cleveland Pops, and his wife, Shirley Morgenstern, who is the President and CEO of the organization.

They began the Cleveland Pops in 1996 after realizing that Cleveland had no high quality orchestra specializing in pops music as other cities had. They now give five subscription concerts each year in addition to a holiday concert and one on New Year's Eve. They've done concerts for the Browns, been on national TV accompanying an ice skating performance, and travel around Ohio giving concerts in various communities. Each of their subscription concerts is preceded by a pre-concert lecture featuring performers. Sixty instrumentalists play the concerts at Severance and about forty perform at other sites. Members are professionals, music teachers, or advanced students, but there are no Cleveland Orchestra performers.

Each of their concerts has a theme and this year's were reviewed by Carl Topilow and illustrated by a brochure describing them. They try to have fun at each event as they did with us. Shirley Morgenstern described a new program that goes into schools and actually teaches students to play keyboards and selects the best to perform during a concert at Severance Hall.

ROTABUCK WINNER: Steve Kenyon