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Hillcrest Rotagram - February 3, 2009 Meeting

BULLETIN EDITOR:
Bill Burcham
  
The meeting was opened by Brian G. C.
 
Guests: Richard Walsh from Florida, Rev. Roger Korsten.
 
Brian G. opened the meeting in the absence of Joe C. President.
 
Rotary Minute: Brian announced that Bill Gates donated $255 million dollars to help eradicate Polio.
 
Happy/Sad Bucks: Richard W. is please to announce that he is now the grandfather to a second child, one boy and one girl. He handed out cigars to members of the club. Mike J. is happy as today is his father's birthday (Mike Sr.), Mike Sr. is happy that he met Bill Gates at the ceremony where Bill Gates gave the Rotary Foundation $255 million dollars for polio eradication. He was able to personally thank him. John W. was sad as he and Jeanne had to go to North Carolina for the funeral of Jeanne's step-mother. Tom M. was happy as he and Pat are celebrating their 32nd wedding anniversary. Lynda R. was happy as the family celebrated the third birthday of one of their grandsons and tomorrow is her birthday. Joe d. was happy as he and Bonnie were able to spend time in Colorado skiing with their daughters.
 
Announcements: Information from the International Cluster is that the Over the Rainbow project in Brazil has released a list of items they need for the project, one of which is blood pressure cuffs.
 
Richard W. pointed out an article about Polio in the Rotarian Magazine. Dr. Sabin was mentioned. He stated that his wife met Dr. Sabin.
 
History: Jackie M. has been researching club history for the 50th Anniversary celebration. She provided some today:
  1. 1969 The club changes its name to the Hillcrest Rotary Club
  2. 1990 was the first pancake breakfast the club held
  3. 1962 The name of the club bulletin changed to the Rotarian
  4. 1977 The city of Richmond Heights was added to the area the club covers
  5. 1987 The first woman was inducted
  6. 2001 The club had its first woman President, Gail Sinito
Mike Sr. stated while he was in Evanston, Il. He acquired a copy of the clubs original charter. This can be on display at the celebration.
 
Club Service: Mike Jr. asked if any member of the club had not yet received the invitation to the 50th Anniversary celebration. He also stated that the invitees needed to RSVP with a check included.
 
Lynda R. stated that she is in need of information to provide to the various governmental agencies to be able to get resolutions from them. Brian stated that he would assist her with this quest.
 
Mike announced that members of the club would not be going to Tastee Bites this Friday as the restaurant was to small to hold a group of people.
 
Community Service: Jackie stated that she received a thank you letter form Lander School for the Christmas gift.
 
The speaker Glen Haley, President & CEO - YMCA of Greater Cleveland was introduced by Brian. Brian stated that he used to play on a soccer team at the Y which eventually led to the start of a soccer program at Memorial Jr. High School.
 
Glen stated that:
  1. There YMCA types are defined by the area population.
  2. Globally there are 950 Corporations in existence
  3. The Cleveland Y serves 3 counties
  4. Each Y has a charter
  5. They have a defined territory to serve
  6. They are independent of the national organization and act as franchises
  7. the national organization does assessments of each Y
  8. Each Y currently has separate memberships with no crossovers for the members.They are working on changing this
Glen explained some of the long, and rich, history of YMCA's. The first club began in England in 1884.
 
He stated that the Y's have 3 pillars - Spirit, Mind and Body. The first Y was begun by a Christian organization.
  1. The first body building classes were started by Roberts J. Roberts in 1881
  2. They started reading rooms which later developed into libraries
  3. Basket ball was started in 1881 by James May Smith. It began with a medicine ball with a peach basket nailed to a wall. The medicine ball did not bounce.
  4. The Y's were also instrumental in starting foot ball, volleyball, and racket ball.
  5. He stated that soft ball was first called Kitten Ball and then Sissy Ball but changed to Soft Ball as men would not play the game under the other names.
  6. In 1954 the Cleveland club became the first intergraded club, 10 years ahead of the times.
  7. They had many schools which have since progressed to being colleges. The one example he gave was a school in Cleveland that became knows as Fen College and is now known as Cleveland State.
He explained the difficulty the Y is beginning to experience in fund raising, mainly due to the current economy. They are also looking at innovative methods of building clubs i.e., associations with cities and businesses. They collaborated with the city of Lakewood to build a Y as the community center. They are a nonprofit organization dedicated to the people in their communities. They continue to have a 148 room facility in Cleveland that rents to people for overnight stays.
 
Rotabuck Winner: Bobbi T.