Announcements: Carlos reminded us that the next three meetings will be held in the conference room at HMS (1007 N. Pope Street). For people attending, there will be a $5 charge for lunch. Carlos asked if he could guarantee attendance of at least 15 people, with the club picking up the balance of the cost if fewer that 15 attend and pay for lunch. That was approved by voice vote.

Carlos also announced that Leslie Bush is resigning from the club because her new assignment at Western Bank allows her to work from home (in Deming), and she won't have occasion to be in Silver City to attend Rotary meetings. Jerry Ouzts will take over as Secretary in July, but an interim Secretary is needed. No volunteers came forward, so the matter was left open. 

Dorothy Moore announced that the garage sale items temporarily stored at Linda Telaak's house are being moved to Kathy Eaton's house tomorrow (May 1), and help is needed to make the move. She also asked that any additional items for the garage sale should be brought to Kathy Eaton's house. The garage sale is scheduled for June 1, and it is important that members of the club participate both on that day and the day before to set things up.

Hugh Epping introduced Jamie Sechrist, the new Executive Director of the Grant County Community Foundation and he reminded us that this year's Give Grandly is scheduled for this Saturday, May 4th, and urged us to attend and contribute.

Tom Bates told us that the Hygiene event at 6th Street School went very well. There were about 135 kids in attendance in the school cafeteria. They each received a packet of hygiene supplies. A dental hygienist from Dr. Beck's office gave a talk about the importance of dental hygiene. Although it was hard to keep the kids quiet, the talk went very well. It was attended by Tom, Carlos and Jim Callender.

Peter Falley reported that Harry Kellerman is still struggling and is expected to undergo another procedure to deal with the aftermath of earlier surgery. He also reported that Lucy Falley is doing  a bit better.

Maggie Veeder reported that the board had discussed the problem of shrinking attendance at our weekly meetings. One possible solution that was discussed was to meet only every other week rather than weekly. However, that idea was not received favorably. There was discussion of how we could do a better job of engaging members. We currently have difficulty finding people to work on the Bulletin, recruiting speakers and doing to the P.R. work for the club. No particular solutions were brought forward, but it was noted that some of these functions will fall by the wayside if we can't find members to take on these tasks.

 

Program: Carlos introduced our speaker, Lee Ann Stevenson, who was a Rotary Youth Exchange student in Silver City in 1989. She was from South Africa, but now lives in England. She told us that her time as an Exchange Student was a life-changing experience. She explained that, not only did she get introduced to a new culture, but the three host families she stayed with also told her that they benefited from hosting her by learning more about South Africa and its culture. A highlight of her exchange year was the trip across the US at the end of the year. There she not only saw a lot of the country, but she also made friends with other exchange students, with some of whom she is still in touch. When she learned that we had stopped hosting exchange students, she urged us to join the program again, since it provides great benefit to the students being hosted but also the host families and members of the club.