West Jax Rotary

Dr. Walker Blanton
Professor of History, Jacksonville University
Thanksgiving Program

Notes
President John called the special Veterans Day meeting to order and called on Dale Crisp to give the invocation. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Charlie Wilson

Bill Howey reported that he still has tickets available for the December 13th Jacksonville Jaguar game. The club has committed to sell fifty tickets.

John Bickerstaff thanked President John and the other members who supported the Blood Drive on November 11th..

Ike Sherlock encouraged the members to sign up for the afternoon and evening shifts of our Salvation Army “bell ringing” on December 5th.

Bill Holyfield asked for help and support for our Dictionary Project at Jacksonville Heights school on November 19th at 9:30 am. The project is intended to provide dictionaries to third graders.

Bob Smith reminded the membership that we would be collecting toys at our Christmas Party on December 15th (Florida Yacht Club) in support of the Toys for Tots program.

Marty Sack gave his Family of Rotary report and announced several birthdays and gave most of the ages. He also relayed the sad news that Bill Schmidt’s mother had died. The funeral will take place at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church at 11:00 am on Monday, November 23rd.

Our Sergeant-at-Arms, Nina Sasser, introduced our guests, and visiting Rotarians.

David Dunston introduced our speaker, Dan Murphy, who, among other commitments, is presently the Chairman of the Gator Bowl Association. He began his speech by recognizing Bill Gay and his valuable contributions to the Gator Bowl.

Dan emphasized the three major goals of the Gator Bowl Association:

1. To bring the best in college football to Jacksonville
2. To engender community pride and to improve Jacksonville’s national image
3. To promote economic development in our town

During his speech, Dan commented on the importance of the Gator Bowl to Jacksonville’s past, present and future. He spoke of the long history of the Gator Bowl and told us that the 1955 Gator Bowl Game was the first college football game to have a “coast-to-coast” broadcast on television. Presently, the Gator Bowl Game has an estimated 40 to 45 million dollar economic impact on our city. Starting next year, January 2011, the Gator Bowl Game will host one team from the SEC and one team from the Big East Conference.

The official close of the meeting was the Four Way Test.

Visiting Rotarians
Larry Gill — Athens, GA
Percy Rosenbloom — Downtown
Ed Witt — Downtown
Fred Seely — Riverside

Rotary Guests
Capt Joe Foster — Guest of Phil Voss
LeAnne Runion (Gator Bowl Assn intern) — Guest of John Runion
Chris Snoap — Guest of Kathy Cold

Birthdays
Michael Corrigan, Jr. — November 30
Jimmy Kelly — November 30
Ron Roberts — December 1

Next Meeting - December 2, 2009
Speaker: John Bracey, Fire and Rescue Department
Greeters: Jerry Portnoy and John Green
Invocation: John McCorvey
Pledge: Vince Coyle
Four-Way Test: Andy Hariton

Quick Links:
You can now report make-ups online.

Submit “Family of Rotary” information online.

Please review the 2009 - 2010 Duty Roster and mark your calendar with your responsibilities for the upcoming year.