District Governor International President
Gary Benmark John Kenny
Springfield, TN Grangemouth, Scotland
Today, we turn our attention to tourism, one of the major sources of income for the State of Tennessee, as Marty Mabry visits.
Marty is West Tennessee regional Manager for the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, a position she has held since 2005. In this position she works with 21 counties developing tourism opportunities, creating and implementing strategic marketing plans, works with local, regional and national media to inform of the importance of tourism to the local and state economies and serves as the department liaison. Prior to joining the state she spent nearly 10 years in retail-tourism as marketing/tourism director for Wolfchase Galleria.
Marty graduated with a B.S. In Communication from the University of Memphis. She currently serves on the Memphis convention and Visitors Bureau Tourism Foundation board of directors and was recently appointed to the Southeast Tourism Society board. Outside of professional interests she loves to cook, shop and spend time with her husband Greg.
Next week,
due to last minute cancellations we do not have information for May 28th program.
In two weeks, we are back to the business of the youth of our community, as the Verhine Scholarship program highlights the June 4th meeting.
2010 marks the 9th year this program has been in existence, thanks to a very generous endowment set up by the Verhine Estate in 2002. That year, $3,500,000 was put into an account, with proceeds from the monies to be used to help graduates from Union City High School, who have completed at least one year of advanced education in one of our colleges or universities to further their education. Union City Rotary was entrusted to distribute these proceeds.
Since that time, the income from this trust has generated some $821,000, with a total of $140,000 to be added this year, which will be distributed to 84 deserving Union City Graduates.
The long history of the Rotary Scholarships (since 1982), and the Verhine Scholarship program is fast approaching the $4,000,000.00 mark in scholarships being distributed to the youth of our city and county, proving Union City Rotary, the Community of Union City and Obion County, take an exceptional interest in our youth.
Last week,
Rotarians and Guests were out of pocket, as the weekly meeting was held at the First Baptist Church’s Family Life Center, for the purpose of distributing more than $128,000 to 122 seniors and graduate students from the three high schools in Obion County.
Both School Systems were well represented, with Administrative Personnel, Guidance Councilors, and Teachers who received special recognition during the ceremonies.
Roger Williams, Chairman of the Scholarship Committee, began the ceremony by reminding the audience of the history of the program which began 29 years ago with a $1,000 gift being donated to begin the program, which has grown to what it is today, with a total of $3,855,000.00 being distributed to deserving students during that 29 years.
He spent a few minutes speaking to the the students in attendance, encouraging them in whatever field they choose and reminding them of the community help they were receiving, also encouraging them to give back to whichever community they find themselves, as they pursue their adult career.
After recognizing people responsible for organizing the banquet, Roger introduced the school officials in attendance, then turned the podium over to Steve Vaughn, member of scholarship committee. Steve discussed the interview process of the committee, saying one of the questions asked was, which teacher in the system had the most influence on you as a student. This brought him to the awarding of the teachers who had their names brought up the most, they were, Mr. Ricky Conner of Obion County Central, from Union City Ms. Andrea Byford, and from So. Fulton Mr. Greg Barkley.
President Barnes returned to the podium introducing Union City Mayor and Rotary Member, Terry Hailey, who did the honors of presenting the scholarships to the recipients.
Coming Attractions
