The Rotary Review

"Service Above Self"
by Jesse Katen

Thank you for visiting! Please return to this blog to read current and past postings of Jesse Katen's column, "The Rotary Review," published weekly in The Deposit Courier. Your feedback on the column and on the club’s activities are always welcome--simply add a comment by clicking at the end of each entry.


Wednesday, December 9, 2009

December 16, 2009

I am happy, after months of being busy and living in Los Angeles, to return to my habit of writing my weekly columns in the Courier to share with everyone what happens at the wonderful—and occasionally wild!—meetings of the Deposit Rotary Club! I hope you have as much fun reading about our activities as we do having them and I do writing about them.

Despite the snowy weather on Wednesday, December 9, we had near-record attendance at Rotary's weekly lunch meeting at the Methodist Church on Second Street. Despite the dreary weather and the fact that our scheduled program, a visit from the DCS Elementary Chorus and Show Choir under the direction of the lovely and talented Mrs. Rae Turner, had to be canceled because of the school snow day, we Rotarians still managed to have a fun and rewarding meeting! Over a great hot lunch of Italian goulash, green beans, Italian bread, and a variety of homemade pies (I always tend to go for the chocolate cream!) prepared by the women of the McClure United Methodist Church, Rotary president Brenda Lee called the rowdy bunch of Rotarians to order to discuss our latest charitable projects and also to fine members of the club for their bad behavior. Members also get fined when it's their birthday, the birthday of someone in their family, anniversary, when they
purchase a new car, are mentioned in the newspaper, or wish to share happy, proud, or sad stories. You wouldn't think a group so concerned with fining and punishing people could have as much as fun as we do!

We celebrated the news that so far, this holiday season, our club has raised $1,824.50 for the Deposit Food Pantry, according to club Treasurer and extremely hard-working Rotarian, the much-loved Nancy Zacharias. We raised the money in a variety of ways including a lunch auction held at the Deposit Historical Society, donations from a variety of generous individuals, and also selling the "Christmas Turkeys" you may have seen hanging on walls and in windows of businesses all over town. If you donated money or purchased one or two or a dozen of the Christmas Turkeys, we sincerely thank you for your kindness and would like to let you know that the Food Pantry is now able to provide turkeys to dozens and dozens of families in need right here in Deposit during this holiday season. Thank you! We are also sure to raise more at our upcoming Christmas Party at the Chestnut Inn this Saturday. I cannot wait for the evening's festivities!

When it came time to share personal happy, proud, and sad moments (and get fined for it!), the dollar that caused the most controversy happened to be that of the respectable Mr. Mark Tucker. Mark, having just returned from a trip to China last week, told us of his experience with the local cuisine. He enjoyed chicken, fish, pork, beef, and another delicacy. . . hmm. . . of. . . shall I say. . . a more. . . domestic. . . nature. Over the cries of horror and disgust from his fellow Rotarians, Mark paid his fine and assured us that the dish was far from delicious. Apparently, man's best friend is much better as a friend than as anything else…

Thank you for again reading the news of our local Rotary! You can find this column as well as all of my previous ones at our own Rotary Blog at depositrotary.blogspot.com. Feel free to share your thoughts and voice your suggestions to me by emailing me at jesse@jessekaten.com. I'd love to hear from you! And, as always, please feel free to join us for lunch on Wednesdays at noon at the Methodist Church and consider joining our hysterical and worthwhile community service organization!

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