We started the second half of the Rotary year and held our first meeting of 2024. It was great to be back and we have 27 members with perfect attendance in 2024; we also had 7 guests in attendance. President Wells is batting a thousand in 2024 with ringing the bell to start the meeting. We said the pledge, had a prayer from Darrell, followed by Steve Shute leading us in Auld Lang Syne. Prior to fellowship we also had a couple of announcements.
Deb Wilde filled us in on Chinle and the upcoming gathering to celebrate the nuptials of Savannah and Dally. During happy bucks we learned that Savannah and Dally are also expecting in June. Good thing Deb finally pulled the wedding shower together; baby shower will be next. The celebration will be held at Annie's Cafe & Bakery located at 208 6th Street on Tuesday, January 9, from 12:30 to 1:30 PM. We also got an update from JB (Janice Barker) on the Red Kettle Campaign. She did not have final numbers; however, the preliminary numbers are looking good and she should have final numbers to present soon. Charlene also informed us about the upcoming brunch at the Redstone Inn. The brunch will be at 11:00 AM, Sunday, February 4. Attendance for the event is to be reported to the Redstone by January 26. Please register online or reach out to Charlene.
After not meeting for two weeks, there were a lot of happy bucks to be shared. With PJ and Jim Drolet out for the winter, Jon Tindall acted as Sergeant at Arms. While Savannah had the happiest of bucks to share, Floyd contributed the most. 5 babies could have been conceived and delivered in the time he waited for project approval; he was happy to announce approval. John Stelzriede reported that not only were people relocating out of Colorado, the snow was also relocating. With all of the announcements and happy bucks, we rolled straight into our program.
Darrell Mount introduced Jeff Barbee as our speaker. Darrell remained at the front with Jeff and asked questions. Jeff spoke of getting his start in photography at CMC and told of his adventures and passions. With his mother, Nancy, in the room for the presentation he struggled with the question on dangerous situations he was in. He joked that everything was always perfect. He then spoke of an incident that occured that landed him in jail for 5 days. He didn't share much about that experience but does have quite the resume. Jeff is based in Johannesburg, South Africa and shared information about his 501c3, allianceearth.org.
While we did start a new year, some things haven't changed. John Haines was the holder of the lucky blue ticket. Next meeting we will hear form our exchange student Alex. Alex is from the Ukraine and is at the halfway point of his exchange. It is always great to hear from our exchange students and I am sure he will appreciate our support and want to share with all of us about his experiences. How many of the 27 with perfect attendance will be left standing after next week? Will John Haines win again? Join us next Friday to find out.