We sent the first mail-out announcing the Fifth Annual Charity Sporting Clay Shoot and the results of our last event to its sponsors. They should have received their letters on the 20th and 21st of September.

Thanks to C.F. Schneider for editing these letters. In an effort to keep our letters fresh, we are rewriting them to update them from last year. Of course, the intent is the same—sell, sell, sell. The gist of this first letter was that we did well last year, thanks to the generous support of sponsors, and we would appreciate future support.

The next letters, which will go out in November, will ask the recipients for support. We will evaluate our past donor list and ask some of them to raise their sponsorship level, where appropriate. We send two letters of this type—one to last year’s sponsors personalized by mentioning the amount of their last donation and a suggested amount for this year and another to potential sponsors from our solicitation list. These letters are among the materials that need to be rewritten. Bill Brown responded to the request for update help and is working on them now. We can use more help—we want letters that will keep the money flowing.

The solicitation list was updated last year using an abridged list of Chamber of Commerce members supplemented by suggestions from our membership. This year, we will continue with the same list and ask you Rotarians to furnish additional leads. Our best source of new donors last year came from membership suggestions. The year-to-year increase in donors last year was 16—from 44 in 2000 to 60 in 2001. For this year’s campaign we will need about 80 donors to meet our goal of $40,000 profit to be shared between the Boys & Girls Club of Victoria and our Rotary Club.

Greg Haynes confirmed that Double H Sporting Clays has us scheduled for next April. Both the equipment and equipment-setup are scheduled. Hopefully, they will bring good weather with them like they did last year.

Our board of directors authorized us to bid as much as $1,500 for large tents at the Aztec Party Shop going-out-of-business sale. They would have been nice, but the public thought they were worth more than we did. Travis Fromme and Jack Whitmire attended the sale and made the obvious decision that the price was much more than the authorized amount. They sold for as much as brand new ones available in Houston.

One of the next steps will be to get volunteers to head various committees to organize and plan the work necessary to conduct a successful Clay Shoot. In the past we have had groups that take care of registration, grounds, food, scoring, field operations, and solicitation. The last is most important and Don Day has done a great job the last two years. Don, are you going to take this on again? The food may be more complicated this year because we no longer have a member from Homewood Residence. For the past two years Homewood has furnished some food items and has allowed us to use its kitchen for some of the preparation.

To make the field operations run smoother, we are considering assigning each station to a station-captain who would recruit other members to help with its operation including scoring. Would this be a good idea?

Once we get organized and after the United Way campaign is over we will start the solicitation in earnest. We want to be ready for a smart, slick start on November 15.

The Victoria Rotary Club Organ, Tissue, and Blood Awareness Project will make it first "debut" at the Health-a-Rama 200l. It will be held at the Victoria Community Center on Saturday, October 6th, from 10AM to 4PM. We need volunteers to decorate on Friday, October 5th from 1 to 5PM. Also, we need help in manning the booth hourly from 10 to 4PM and to help tear down after closing.

I’m thinking of having a theme—like, Be a Lifesaver, Share your life, give of yourself—and give out Lifesavers candy.

We have booth 37 and the following have volunteered:

    10AM Pat Pachta and Sally Covacevich

    11AM Bill and CeeBee McLeod

    12PM Jack Whitmire

    1PM

    2PM Betty Burns

    3PM Omar Rachid and Doug Anderson

We need more people to fill in the blanks as well as setup on Friday.

This is one of the projects needed to qualify for the Rotary Presidential citation. The criteria for this award have been toughened this year. One of the requirements is a new project—this is ours. Call Sally at 576-3651.

The Saturday following the Health-a-Rama, October 13, is our Club’s time to help with the Habitat for Humanity Unity Build at 512 Nelson. This is the ninth week of a 16 week project. We are committed to provide 10 Rotarians to install vinyl siding. Very few people have agreed to help. Please join the team to make sure Mankind is our Business.

Donations Committee starts its work     Mary Hodgkinson

In preparing its recommendations to the Club board of directors the Donations Committee solicits applications for grants from the community. Monies to be distributed come mostly from the Sporting Clay Shoot.

We are now accepting grant applications from all local non-profit organizations. A description of the specific use of the requested funds is required on the application. The Club will select local non-profit organizations supporting youth educational and literacy programs; however, all applications are considered. In addition, we financially support Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), Rotary Four-Way Test Speech Contest, University of Houston-Victoria (2+2) Scholarship Fund, Rotary World Affairs Seminar, and the Victoria Adult Literacy Council Knowledge Bowl Contest.

Applications may be submitted for a grant in amounts up to $1,500 per organization. Application forms may be obtained from Dr. Art Munford at 111 Professional Park Drive, by calling 578-0247, or by downloading from our web site—www.victoriarotary.org. The deadline for submitting grant applications is Thursday, November 1.

The Victoria Rotary Club Donations Committee is proud to make sure Mankind is our Business.

Do you know friends, family members, or colleagues from your business or profession who have all the qualities of a good Rotarian? If you do, then consider proposing them for membership in our club or referring them for membership in another Rotary club. We’ve actually lost membership so far this year, but the good news is that there are several in the pipeline.

Every Rotarian has the privilege and obligation of seeking qualified Rotary club members. A full roster of dedicated members enhances fellowship and helps a club implement successful service projects. Every new Rotarian brings a range of personal and professional resources that can greatly strengthen a club's ability to serve its own community and communities internationally.

General Qualifications: Rotarians are adults of good character and good business or professional reputation, who hold or have held an executive position with discretionary authority in any worthy and recognized business or profession.

Once you have identified a good candidate, print out and complete the form available at http://www.rotary.org/membership/prospective/referral.html and submit it to our club secretary. If the candidate is a referral for another Rotary club's consideration, please press the "Submit" button below the form and the information you provide will be forwarded to a Rotary club in the candidate's locality.

Of course, you can still propose new members the old fashioned way. Get a form from Ken, from our brochure, or from the Rotarian. Complete it and submit it to Ken.

If anyone knows of a great holiday program—either a choir, kids group, or whatever—let Phyllis and the Program Committee know. We, also need suggestions for next year. Email phyllishunt@victoriachamber.org or call 573-5277.

There is an ongoing need for your Rotarian magazines. The Club Service Lane is trying to get subscriptions for the local libraries. In the meantime, they can use our old magazines as a substitute.

Give your magazines to Mary Hodgkinson.

One joins Victoria Rotary Club in the summer quarter

Mo Brown

Assets

Total Assets                                28,217

Equity                                             28,217