Reported by Samuel Greer
President Julie Benkoski called the meeting to order at noon. Edis Oliver led the pledges and Past President Bruce Golden gave the invocation. Past President Sara Pantin led us in reciting the “FOUR WAY TEST.” Past President Gaines Bagby was our Greeter at the top of the stairs and Ray Kang introduced our guests and visitors.
President Julie presented Bogdan Bikish with his Blue Badge (with his sponsor Vlad Bahrencu). Congratulations, Bogdan! She then presented Girish Altekar with his PHF +2 pin and Debbie Farnum and Brad Winegar with their PHF +1 pins. Congratulations to Girish, Debbie and Brad!
Don Grillo gave a final reminder about the wine tasting party he and his wife, Lise, are hosting on Friday, October 26th. He hopes all of us can join him!
After President Julie’s Announcements and a few minutes of Fellowship, Ken King introduced our Polio Panelists: Judy Hutcherson, Ann Graham, Ken King and Jack Mayo.
The panel discussed Rotary International’s End Polio Now campaign. Due in part to Rotary Clubs’ efforts, global cases of polio have been reduced to 20 cases in just two countries: Pakistan and Afghanistan, with Nigeria reporting no cases for the first time in 2018.
Jack Mayo, a polio survivor, described life with polio and what it was like to live in a society that lived under the cloud of polio. Ken King, Judy Hutcherson and Ann Graham discussed Rotary’s ongoing efforts to eradicate polio and recounted tales from recent inoculation trips to India and Pakistan.
President Julie announced that w e w on’t be meeting at St. David’s next week because we’ll be holding our semi-annual Cluster meetings, then she thanked our featured newsletter sponsor Reggie Nisbett (Greater Texas Water Company). She closed with a “Thought for the Day” from C.S. Lewis and adjourned at 1:00 p.m.