District Governor                                                      International President

            Jim Springer                                                                      Ray Klinginsmith

            Columbia, Tennessee                                                        Kirksville, Missouri

Today, due to a bad scrape between Senator Roy Herron’s bicycle and some type of gravel road in Rives, Roy has had to postpone his scheduled appointment with U.C. Rotary today and will appear at a later date.

Next week, Christina Brown, who was here for the Distinguished Speaker event, will return as our featured speaker.

Christina is associated with KIPP Memphis. KIPP Memphis currently operates one middle school (KIPP DIAMOND Academy) serving 400 students form underserved communities in grades 5-8. They are a part of the nationally acclaimed Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP), which serves as the model for 99 schools in 20 states and the District of Columbia serving over 28,000 children. The mission of the organization is to provide high performing schools in the Memphis area that will equip all students, no matter their background, with the necessary academic and life skills needed to succeed in college and the competitive world beyond. Of the children they serve at KIPP Memphis, 93% qualify for Federal Free and Reduced Lunch programs and 99% are minority students. Despite enrolling 2-3 years below grade level on average, KIPP Memphis students outperform their peers nationally by the eighth grade.

Last week, President Houston opened the meeting reading a letter form Ken Ursery, thanking Union City rotary for the thoughtfulness of sending him cards of thoughtfulness during his health issues.

It was also announced that the club had endorsed Bob Carpenter as a new member, which will bring the number of new members to 15 for the current year, and brings the number of members on the roster to 155.

President Houston and President Elect Al Creswell then called Dr. Roger Lewis to the front, presenting him with the prestigious award of Paul Harris Fellow + 5.

There were several guests on hand for the scheduled program of the day which dealt with financial institutions in the state of Tennessee. Tennessee’s Commissioner of Financial Institutions, Greg Gonzalles was on hand, bringing us up to date on the condition of these institutions.

Greg had nothing but positive things to say about the condition of the financial situations and the banking industry in the state, saying the State of Tennessee’s Financial Institutions had not experiences the same difficulties which other states have, mainly because of the regulations the state puts upon the banking industry. He also had praise for the condition the state has put itself in, comparing the state with several bordering states and states across the nation.

He went into some of the responsibilities of his office and staff, pointing out the number of people the institutions employs, and the geographic area they cover.

He went on to say, even with the current state of affairs in our nation, he saw no problem in the future for the banking industry in the state and expected nothing but growth out of them.

April 22 - Christina Brown

April 29 - Bob Nichols, Creation/History of KY/TN Border Lines

Thursday, May 05 - Rotary Relays

May 13 - Rotary Scholarship Banquet

May 20 - Jo Ann Speer, Everett Stewart Regional Airport

Last year, due to poor track conditions, Union City Rotary was not able to hold it’s annual Rotary Relay Track Meet.

This is the first time in many years the event, which is know over the surrounding area as one of the top meets, was not held.

This year Randy Barnes is making every effort to make up for last year’s cancellation, so let’s get behind him and make this year’s event one to remember!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Birthdays

April 19 - Randy Barnes

April 20 - Clay Woods

Anniversaries

Again none to report.