Joe writes. . . .

I can't believe that three months of my presidency has already passed. I look back with pride on the accomplishments of our club thus far this year. The Centennial Project is completed, we have participated in our annual immunization program "Shots Across Texas", we have signed up a record number of organ and tissue donors at our booth at the Health-A-Rama and my year isn't even half done yet.

Upcoming things to be preparing ourselves for are our blood drive on Oct. 19th. Lets roll up our sleeves and give till it hurts. Just kidding on the hurting part. We are also working with Child Protective Services on our annual Adoption Awareness picnic scheduled for November 6th to coincide with National Adoption Awareness month. Be on the lookout for sign-up sheets being passed around by Wondra. Please be generous with your donations of time and effort.

Remember to take some boxes with you and bring in your donations of gently used infant items for the orphanage in Matamoras, Mexico. Check out the list I will be circulating for other items urgently needed. I would like to get the donations together for the first part of November so we can get them down to the border for Christmas.

Also in the works for the three Rotary clubs of Victoria is a Christmas party for the families of our service men and women who are currently serving over seas. Stay tuned for further details as they become available.

Thank you all for giving of yourselves to make our Rotarian dream of Service Above Self a reality. ▲

Club’s annual blood drive scheduled October 19

 

The blood mobile will be at the Country Club during our meeting October 19. Each donor will be given an American Blood Donor tee shirt. Tonya Scheibelhut, South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, said they need 510 units of blood a day to meet the needs of our area. The need keeps rising because of new technology, more accidents, and new treatments. To give blood one must be at least 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good health. Some restrictions have been removed allowing diabetics to give blood. There are health benefits for men over 40 who give at least twice a year—it lowers the risk of heart attack and cancer. ▲

Winning Presidential Citation Tradition continues

PDG F.J. Brewerton presented the Club what may be its twelfth RI Presidential Citation. We have gotten one every year since RI started the program. We were among good company; the other two Victoria Clubs received citations at the same time. About 40 percent of the clubs in the district received them. Ours was the only city with multiple clubs where all clubs were honored. ▲

The Centennial Project is substantially complete

The Centennial Project installed playground equipment at the Anna Blackley Apartments, a Victoria Housing Authority property that houses disadvantaged families. Three separate areas were installed, one area for toddlers (foreground), a larger heavy-duty area (background) for older children, and a concrete pad was poured to the left of the picture.

The work took several days. Billy Settles, Travis Fromme, and Terry Robinson and others placed the sand pads, and laid out the site ahead of time. On Saturday morning, August 21, over 40 members from all three clubs assembled the playground equipment. On Tuesday, August 24, more volunteers placed concrete around the large playground equipment legs and later that day planted 15 large trees and shrubs. The final work was done on Thursday, August 26, when the curbs and mulch were installed.

We still have three pieces of curbing to install with some Rotary benches before the dedication in February. The cost so far is $24,600 and the benches will be another $3,400. This will make the final cost $28,000 shared by the other two Rotary Clubs and the Kiwanis Club. Our share is $10,000.

For all those helped on the project . . . thank you for your time and effort. ▲
 

 Two join Victoria Rotary Club in the summer quarter

Income