Orangeburg Morning Rotary in the News, and the Newsletter

This item ran in the Times and Democrat on May 7, and was reprinted in our District 7770 Newsletter.

The Rotary Club of Orangeburg-Morning presented a$5,000 check to Buster Smith, director of the City ofOrangeburg Parks and Recreation Department, on April 3 tohelp pay for improvements to the dugouts at AlbergottiBaseball Field.

The renovation of the dugouts is part of an overhaul of thecity’s oldest recreational field, with the field also receivingnew fencing, renovations to the concession stand andscorer’s table, a new batting tunnel and bullpens.

“Our club has always had a focus on youth and on improvingthe community, so this was an excellent opportunity topartner with the city to greatly improve Albergotti field,”said Mike Dennis, district foundation advocate of the RotaryClub of Orangeburg-Morning.“Hundreds of kids will benefit from the improved field andthe city will also have a great place to potentially host DixieYouth tournaments in the future. Our RotaryDistrict 7770, which encompasses the majority of South Carolina, makes available, each year, grant money that can be used for local projects.

"We applied for a grant of $2,500 which we matched with $2,500 from our club for this effort. Overall, Rotary District7770 has given out $80,000 this year alone, which was matched dollar for dollar by other clubs to enhance their local communities.”


Clich HERE for the entire newsletter.

Edisto United Way Welcomes New Board Members

At our May 7 breakfast meeting, Howard Hill was thanked for his service in helping to revive United Way in the Edisto region. Outgoing board members were thanked for their service, and incoming board members were welcomed aboard. Go to Bill Carter's photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/billcarter393/UnitedWay2008 for more views.

Officers Honored for "Service Above Self"

On April 29, the Rotary Club of Orangeburg-Morning honored three police officers for Service Above Self: Senior Patrolman Shawn R. Hallingquest (far right); Department of Public Safety Detective Sergeat Cindy Smith (center) and Orangeburg County Sheriff's Department Investigator Anthony Craft (second from left)

Rotarian of the Year: Mike Dennis

At our annual "Service Above Self" banquet last night, Mike Dennis was chosen as Rotarian of the Year of Orangeburg Rotary Morning. A former club president, Mike was also recently chosen to succeed Mary Scarborough as District Assistant Governor.

About this great honor, Mike says:

I want to make sure you know how much this means to me. We have a wonderful Club with active members who are so deserving of this award so it is meaningful and a surprise to receive it this year. I can think of many of you who do so much to help the Club and community and want to thank you for what you do and ask that you keep up the good work. Getting involved with Rotary has been a blessing for me in that it has opened up my eyes to the collective power we can garner and the impact we can have on the lives of people we do not know and will never see. To me that IS Rotary!

As seen in The Rotarian...

At the end of a month which has highlighted public education issues in South Carolina, I was interested to see this in our Rotarian and our Rotary website

Rotary's Wide World of Books!

Participate in Rotary’s Wide World of Books and help a child learn to read!
LA2008 will feature an international Book Drive where Rotarians from approximately 171 countries will create a worldwide service project by giving a gift of literacy to the children of the seven Southern California Rotary Districts!
For many years, Rotary in the Southern California Districts has partnered with the Los Angeles Times and Reading By 9. This partnership will become a global initiative as every LA2008 Convention attendee brings a book to Los Angeles!
The donated books will benefit students in kindergarten through third grade in the Southern California school systems - students who rank among the lowest in the nation in reading skills.
For more details, see

http://www.rotary2008.com/convention_project.htm

NEXT MEETING JAN 2, 2008

Adults who cannot read or write nonetheless find ways to work hard, raise children, and run businesses; and sometimes, they find their way to literacy. That's the message we heard from Barbara Hilliard, who heads the Orangeburg Adult Literacy Council for Orangeburg county, currently housed at OC Tech. The County of Orangeburg is estimated to have a 37% percent illiteracy rate. The goal of the literacy program is to help clients achieve their goals.

Volunteers are needed. Can you help? Call ORANGEBURG ADULT LITERACY, (803) 268-2531.

# # #

Taylor Garrick Has co-ordinated our efforts to adult families for Christmas. Thanks to the generosity of club members, the children in three families will find a few special presents under the tree this year.

# # #

The Four Way Test

Of the things we think, say or do...

First,
Is it the Truth?

Second.
Is it Fair to all concerned?

Third,
Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?

Fourth,
Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?

In a surprise move this morning, president Bill Carter hit himself with a pop quiz on the four way test (can you recite it from memory?) which it took him two tries, and one generous hint from the gallery, to pass. Hank has agreed to take (and pass) this test next meeting.

What follows is a bit of the history of the Four Way Test from a Rotary website:

The test was primarily written for his bankrupt Club Aluminium Company in 1932. Herb actually gave up his job in ‘packaged groceries; house to house sales’ (his classification in #1 club) in order to join 250 other employees onboard the so-called “sinking ship”.

Rotarian Herb retold the concept of the test in his own words:
”To win our way out of this situation, I reasoned we must be morally and ethically strong. I knew that in right there was might. I felt that if we could get out our employees to think right they would do right. We needed some sort of ethical yardstick that everybody in the company could memorize and apply to what we thought, said, and did in our relations to others.

So one morning I leaned over on my desk, rested my head in my hands. In a few moments, I reached for a white paper card and wrote down that which had come to me – in twenty-four words.”

When a company advertisement was placed before Herb, declaring his aluminium product as “the greatest cooking ware in the world”, Herb simply stated “We can’t prove that”. The advert was rewritten simply stating the facts.

Herb’s heads of department belonged to different religions and all found no incompatibility with their respective faiths. Thus, the test was “for any man to take as arises”.

The most significant and practical example of the test in action concerned an incident involving a Printing contract. One local printer won an order from Herb’s company beating all other tenders. The printer, however, soon realised that he had under-estimated his quote by $500. Legally, Club Aluminium could ignore the printer’s appeals and compel him to fulfil his side of the contract. Club Aluminium was deeply in debt and had acted in good faith but Herb asked his board to reconsider and pay the printer the extra $500. Remember the second line of the test, he told his fellow directors, - “is it fair to all concerned?”

Club Aluminium’s future grew brighter and brighter and in five years had pulled itself out of the red. Perhaps, the test had real, practical benefits.

Read more here; another essay is at http://www.rotaryfirst100.org/presidents/1954taylor/taylor/storybehind.htm.

RING THEM BELLS

Members of Orangeburg Rotary Morning at Wal-Mart, December 1, 2007, ringing the bell for Salvation Army.

Howard Hill and yours truly.

Bill Barret and Brenda Austin were ready to put on that red apron, but Howard was too busy catching up with the two thirds of all Wal Mart shoppers who were his former students to notice.

Wendell Davis, in a shy mood. The Chief overcame his natural reticence to allow a picture to be taken.