President Ray Goellner presided.
Ray led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Tom Bates gave the invocation.
Art Thorn led the recitation of the Four-Way Test.

Ray said that we were inducting Matthew Stephens as a new member, sponsored by Robert Whittaker, who could not be present today. He thanked Maggie Callaway for handling the new member orientation. After the induction ceremony, Matt was welcomed into our club and presented with an information packet.
The next item was to vote on how to handle the Fairgate money to be received this year. Ray said he had sent an email to everyone asking them to vote on this. He said there were people present who had not voted on the options so he would read the options and get their vote. Option No. 1 is to keep the money that we get from Fairgate this year and put it in the operating budget instead of the Foundation budget to close the deficit. And any money we pay to a County Fair project comes from money received in 2023 and 2024, which went into the Foundation budget and was never disbursed. Option No.2 is to put the money from Fairgate back into the Foundation. He took an individual voice vote of those who had not previously voted. After tallying the votes, Ray said Option No. 1 passed so that for this year, the money will go into the
operating budget. After discussion, it was decided that every year the club should vote before Fair ate as to how the money will be used. Ray said that he, Maggie and Peter Falley would be meeting on Wednesday to discuss the budget. Rosie Higgs asked why we were in the short position. Maggie said it’s simply because we have very little money coming in for the operating budget. Dues are not covering bills, and we have increased our expenses by adding the storage shed and Club Runner. It’s a possibility that dues may have to be increased. Club dues cover RI dues and district dues. Mark Abramson said that the fundraising we do should not have to go to cover operating expenses. Mark commended Ray, Maggie, and Peter for addressing the issue. Ray said the committee would be reporting back to the club.
Tom Bates asked to talk about the Hunger Strike fundraising project. He said all we had to do was to contact one or two friends and ask them to contribute. Half of the money collected will
go to Hunger Harvest, a national organization, and the other half goes to our choice. He suggested The Commons. He has signed us up for this project which ends November 20. He was going to send out website information for contributions. The big concern seemed to be the time factor. Tom said we will do what we can. Tom’s next topic was global grants. He said he would go over the projects and answer any questions. He said individuals could also contribute on line to one of these grants. Keep in mind that we can’t be sure which of the projects that will get approval from The Rotary Foundation. Contributions to these projects cannot be made until the projects are approved. The first project was by the El Paso club and they are seeking support for a project to build a Global Borderland Center for Peace on the US/Mexico border. The Rotary Club of Juarez is doing surgery for cataracts and eye health. Schools with a Voice is a peace education, conflict resolution program for kids. Camino Real has a program of heart surgery for children. Hobbs is doing clean water and sanitation training for two
high schools in the Philippines. (This program was highlighted by Sunny Kellerman in her talk last week. It is spearheaded by and Interact Club in Hobbs.)The Santa Fe Club is doing a water project for the Indians, who only have available water a couple of hours a day. Juarez Conecta wants to purchase an ambulance, and if they have a lot of support, will purchase two. Saltillo women want clean
water and healthy children and encourage hydration without using plastic water bottles. Saltillo men do free eye exams, provide free glasses and a mobile clinic. Purified water for their school
was Santiago de la Monclova. Juarez Transforma wants to support orthopedic surgeries for club foot. Los Alamos, New Mexico has a greenhouse project. Ciudad Juarez wants to buy a cancer
machine to detect cancer. Tom added that you could view these projects online and could donate individually as well as our club donating. He believes these global grants are one of the best things that Rotary does. Ray asked if he had a recommendation, and Tom said water projects are very important. He would support the Hobbs club. Discussion followed about the various projects. It was decided to make a commitment at next week’s meeting.

 

Ray asked if we wanted to give a donation to Wreaths Across America. It was decided this would be determined next week.

 

Maggie said we had found better prices for the storage shed.

 

Meeting was adjourned at 1:15 pm.