Greeters this week were  Marcia Baragary and Bruce Dickson. President Chuck Pattishall, opened the meeting by introducing the singing trio “Diva and the Dixies.” They gave the club a beautiful Valentine’s serenade of “Sugar Time,” “Mr. Sandman,” and an original by Diva Nancy Emmerich, “Sunset over the Ocean.” Prez Chuck thanked the Diva and Dixies and acknowledging our greeters.  John Ailstock shared an inspirational moment. Jack Crabtree led us on the Pledge of Allegiance.

Host Ryan Arzner started by noting that everyone not wearing a Rotary lapel pin needed to kick in a buck. He then recognized:

Kristi Brill for an anniversary, her 28^th

Jan Fyant, who will soon be celebrating her magical first anniversary already

Ryan then noted that our own Russ Rainwater and Art Bradley appeared in the News Register last week, for their attendance at the recent Mayor’s Charity Ball. Russ was featured as a dashing Zorro. Both were given the option of paying into the Rotary till or dancing in front of the club. They opted to contribute. Ryan asked anyone but Al Owen to share some good news:

Sharon Larson proudly announced that the local Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts would be going door-to-door collecting items for Goodwill on March 7^th. Have your goods ready!

Stephanie Jensen asked for help next Friday to distribute dictionaries in Dayton. She also mentioned that tickets are still available for a fundraising auction and dinner dance being held tomorrow night at the Evergreen Space Museum, to benefit the local Montessori School.

Steve Battiglia announced that our exchange student, TAMARA BORGES, for whom he is the current host father, just got back from a trip to Bend with other inbound and outbound Rotary students. She had a fabulous time and experienced snow and snowboarding for the first time. She is now addicted, and wants to go to Mt. Hood and snowboard on Monday. If anyone is heading that direction, she would welcome a ride!

 

Jeff Sargent told members that tonight is the opening at Gallery Theater of the musical comedy, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” It features our own Walt Haight as a marvelous dirty old man, so you won’t want to miss that. His wife JULIA is also in the show, which runs through March 7^th.

Norman Goss praised his “first” wife of 31 years, PHYLLIS MARTIN, who would be part of the program presentation later today.

Ryan Arzer closed the segment with his usual and sometimes shocking joke. This one was!

Prez Chuck reminded us to kick in for the Pennies for Polio campaign, and then asked Ray Fields to take the podium. Ray reminded the club about the Paul Harris Society, an elite group of generous members who contribute $1,000 or more a year to the Rotary International Foundation. Ray then called up member Jess Davis to receive his four sapphire Paul Harris Fellow pin and our gratitude. Thank you, Jess!

Prez Chuck invited us all to attend the groundbreaking ceremony next Friday at 2:00 p.m. for the new flagpole our club is sponsoring at the intersection of Adams and Baker in North McMinnville. Assistant District Governor Art Bradley also announced in a recent email that during the recent student ski trip to Bend, our two outbound students for next school year found out that they will be going to Brazil and Chile. Prez Chuck also updated the club on the recent tragic shooting incident in Portland with some uplifting news. All of the remaining students who were victims want to finish their term here. Families of the victims who came to Portland were warmly received, and a representative from District 5100 flew to Peru with the body of victim Marth “Tika” Paz de Noboa for services.

MAIN EVENT

Prez Chuck introduced BERNIE MCGINNIS, Co-Coordinator of the SMART Reader Program at Newby Elementary in McMinnville. BERNIE has been active for years in a variety of local community programs.

BERNIE explained that SMART, which stands for Start Making A Reader Today, is an Oregon-wide privately financed program dedicated to encouraging adults to read one hour per week to children in K-3 grades. He also introduced PHYLLIS MARTIN, extraordinary volunteer and Co-Coordinator with him at Newby, and DON VAN ETTEN, a remarkable SMART volunteer reader who also helped restore the Spruce Goose at Evergreen Aviation Museum.

BERNIE continued by sharing that 38% of fourth graders in Oregon schools read at or below grade level. Fifth graders who participated in SMART are 60% more likely to reach state reading benchmarks than those who have not. SMART serves 266 schools and 10,092 students in Oregon, and 8 schools and 526 students in Yamhill County. This results in spending $300 per child and distributing over 16,000 books to Yamhill County students.

How can one help? By being a SMART ambassador, chapter member, school coordinator or reader. Following an inspirational video about the program, PHYLLIS MARTIN took the microphone to explain that the local program needs more volunteer readers. There are more students who want to participate than can be accommodated. The commitment is from October to mid-May, and an adult reads to the same two children each week for 30 minutes each. The program also gives two books per month, free of charge, to each child.

DON VAN ETTEN, a volunteer reader at Newby, explained the personal satisfaction he gets from being a part of the program. Today kids are not being read to at home. They are often not even being fed properly. The free book days are often the biggest day of the month for many students. DON told a story of one new student who received two books on his first day. The boy said that he was going to give one to his brother and the other to his sister. DON also shared a story about a young girl to whom he read a heartwarming book about a raccoon, a tale which always makes him cry. He then asked the girl what she would like to hear next, and she wanted to hear the raccoon story again. She asked for it three more times! DON saw her at school some years later, and she gave him a big hug.

BERNIE returned to emphasize the unforgettable experience of the program. It takes only about 1.5 hours a week of your time, including travel, but makes such a difference in the life of a child. Questions included whether there was a background check conducted (yes), and if substitute readers were also allowed (yes).

Rotary eClub of District 3310 - Singapore

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Rotary eClub of District 5450 - Colorado (Rotary eClub One charter)

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Rotary eClub of District 7890 - Connecticut

Rotary eClub of Zente-Hellenas - Greece (Zone  10-2470) in English or Greek