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The Amarillo Rotary Club History - 2005 to 2006
Summary of Significant Events
The Rotary Club of Amarillo continued to have available top-grade talent to provide leadership during the 2005-2006 Rotary year. Wes Knapp (Building Construction) served as the 89th Club President and was ably assisted by the following officers and members of the Board of Directors:
John Kanelis – President Elect, Gary Stevens – Past President, Paige Carruth – Secretary, Guyon Saunders – Treasurer, Pam Rushing – Director, John Early – Director, Mary Emeny –Director, and Renee Wilson – Director.
Major Committees and chairpersons:
Club Service – President Elect John Kanelis
Attendance – Gay Chalfant, Bulletin – Walter Johnson, Check-In – Dale Bippus,
Classification – Bart Boxwell, District Affairs – Paige Carruth, Fellowship- Donna Weber, Holdup – Walter Johnson/Bill Archinal, Red Badge Program – Paul Strouhal,
Music – Jess Ghormely, Recruitment – Mollie Barney, Programs – Jeff Neely, Head Table – Lea Ann Fulton, Website – Trinity Prescott.
International Service – Renee Wilson, Director
Hunger Plus – Kristi Mahoney, Polio Plus – Woody Wood
Community Service – Pam Rushing, Director
Bell Ringers – Gary Stephens, Diabetic Camp – Mark Haworth, Shrimp & Catfish – Lea Ann Fulton/Bill Archinal, RYLA – Bob Russell/Mary Stephens
Vocational Service – John Early, Director
4-Way Test – Valerie Fulkerson, Mentoring – John Early, Rotary After Hours – Mollie Barney, Foundation/Paul Harris Fellows – Paul Borchardt.
The year was kicked off with a luncheon Wednesday June 8, 2005 at the Amarillo Club hosted by President Wes Knapp. The entire leadership of the Club including the Board of Directors and all committee chairpersons were invited to this lunch to hear from President Wes, the direction he wished to guide the Club as well as the goals of Rotary International for the year including: Service Above Self, Membership +1 growth goal, and foundation giving. Each person attending was given a Club calendar which gave the major dates of functions for the coming year.
The Rotary Club of Amarillo’s membership has stabilized and we started and ended the year with 147 members. This is after several years of membership drop in the 10-15% range per year – which has been a phenomenon throughout many Rotary and other civic clubs. We gained 19 members during the year and lost 19 members.
Our club grieved the loss of several long time members. Those members who died this year were Past President John Colvert, Past President Charlie Ball, Past President Sam Stennis, and Barbara Miller.
President Wes Knapp presented Eddie Melin, Past President 1955-56, with his 60 year member pin at our July 21, 2005 regular meeting. Eddie, a member of the Rotary Club of Amarillo since 1946, is the only club member who was a member when Paul Harris was still alive. Eddie received a standing ovation from the club.
On August 18, 2005, a Family Fun Picnic and live auction was held at members Eddie and Madison Scott’s Mulberry Canyon Ranch. A bus brought members to the edge of the canyon and 4-wheelers and 4-wheel drive vehicles including a hale bail covered trailer made the trip to the bottom of the canyon to the location of the picnic. A live auction was held and funds were raised for Club activities. Thanks again to Pam Rushing and Lea Ann Fulton for their hard work in making this event a success. Also, thanks go to Madison and Eddie, who worked hard clearing sand that was in the road from recent rains. Cattle Call catered burgers and hot dogs for the event.
District Governor Ted Holder visited the Club on Thursday August 25, 2006 and gave the club a great report on his expectations for membership and club and district activities for the coming year. This event began with a 1 hour meeting with the DG prior to the regular meeting. This pre-meeting was an opportunity for all committee chairpersons and Board Members to describe their committee's plans and activities for the coming year. The DG was the headliner speaker for our regular meeting which followed. DG Ted Holder gave a very moving story of his service to the impoverished people who live in Copper Canyon region of Mexico and the work that the District 5730 does for those people during the year.
On October 13, 2005, a "Rotary After Hours" was held for at the Amarillo Club in place of our regular meeting to foster good will and fellowship amongst members in a setting outside the normal Thursday noon meeting time. This event was a great success due to the hard work of Gina Rodriguez, Donna Weber, Molly Barney, Pam Thomas, Lea Ann Fulton, and Bill Archinal. There was no charge for members and a small charge for guests. The turnout was great and everyone enjoyed the hors devours and beverages.
In December, PP Gary Stevens organized this year's Club participation in the Salvation Army Kettle Ringers. Many club members participated by signing up for several hours of Bell Ringing at Westgate Mall. Members also participated in the annual Christmas "suit" fund drive for Boys Ranch. Approximately $600 was raised to contribute toward the purchase of new Sunday dress for boys and girls living at Boys Ranch.
The annual Christmas party was held on Dec 8 at Amarillo Club. President Wes, Pam Rushing and Donna Weber decorated for a Caribbean theme party. Costumes included grass skirts, colorful "Hawaiian" shirts. Mojitos were served as the special drink of the night and dinner consisted of shrimp and other tropical salads and seafood served buffet style. PP John Huffaker served as Master of Ceremonies and did his usual outstanding job. This year's party also featured "member sponsors" who defrayed the cost of the meal to members by sponsoring the wine table service. Sponsors included Guyon Saunders, Clayton Knapp, Ed Fancher, Eddie Scott, Renee Wilson, Bill Archinal and John Huffaker.
The Club’s annual “sweetheart” Valentine banquet was held at the Amarillo Club on Thursday February 9, 2006. Donna Weber and Pam Rushing were in charge of decorations and planning for the party which was attended by over 120 members and spouses/dates. The steaks were perfect, the wine delicious and a special chocolate desert that has become known as “Gina Rodriquez desert” was served to everyone’s delight.
Our 13th annual Shrimp and Catfish Roundup was held Saturday, May 6, 2006 at the Tri-State Fairgrounds – Rex Baxter Building. Funds to benefit YMCA “Rotary Park” baseball park funding commitment and Life Challenge. This year’s event was co-chaired by Lea Ann Fulton and Bill Archinal. The event featured a silent auction, live auction, live music and a reverse draw for a 2 year lease on a choice of one of three Street Toyota vehicles. Approximately 1,200 people were served a delicious meal of shrimp and fried catfish. $20,000 in proceeds from the event was given to the YMCA Rotary Park project with another $3,000 in proceeds paid to Life Challenge. Life Challenge is a non-profit under the direction of member Bob Dunstan and they are extremely involved in the set-up and cooking for the event. Many club members participated with food serving, clearing tables, taking tickets, and cleaning up after the event.
After Shrimp and Catfish, the offices of the Rotary Club of Amarillo were moved to empty office space at 2200 West 7th at the Canyon’s Retirement Community after many years on West 34th street. Special thanks to member Charles Shelton, Executive Director of Craig Methodist, who made this new office space available. Member Mary Stephens and Gina Rodriquez selected carpet and office colors for the new digs and the new office really shines.
While visiting with Ken Abbott, former President of our club and currently a member of The Albuquerque Rotary Club, President Wes Knapp and Paul Borchardt planted the seeds for a new fund raiser. Pam Rushing, Community Service Chair agreed to coordinate the planning of the new fund raiser with the YMCA. The new event is in partnership the YMCA to assist in paying off our commitment to Rotary Park. This fund raiser will be a Single Pitch Softball tournament in conjunction with a Mud Volleyball tournament with community wide appeal and involvement. This will be held at Rotary Park on Hillside in Amarillo. The Mud Volleyball tournament will be similar to the one held by The Albuquerque Rotary Club each year. This event is scheduled to kick off in the summer of 2007.
The 4 Rotary Clubs in Amarillo including The Rotary Club of Amarillo and the Canyon Club received the Outstanding Community Service Organization Award at the Texas Plains Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professional’s National Philanthropy Day Program. The Rotary Club of Amarillo was specifically cited for raising $25,000 in the year to give the local YMCA for its development of a new baseball park in south Amarillo.
The District Conference for District 5730 was held jointly with District 5520 in Ruidoso, New Mexico from April 20th through April 23rd. Awards given at the District Conference included an award to Bill Archinal for Outstanding Club Project – “Holdup”. Wes Knapp received an Outstanding Club President award and The Rotary Club of Amarillo received the Presidential Citation Award.
The Rotary Club of Amarillo continued its literacy project of having our meeting speakers sign a book given to the AISD public elementary school library’s in lieu of a speaker gift. In addition, The Rotary Club of Amarillo joined with the other 3 Rotary Clubs in Amarillo to jointly apply for a District Simplified Grant. This project was the brainchild of the 4 Amarillo club presidents and the idea arose from a joint meeting held at PETS in Dallas in March 2005 prior to the 4 club presidents taking office. Our project was to purchase books and distribute them to kindergarten students in underserved schools in Amarillo. The books were a story about “Fun at School” and each book was personalized with the student’s name, school name, teacher’s name and names of two friends. The Rotary Club of Amarillo distributed out books to approx. 120 students at Glenwood and San Jacinto Elementary Schools. Each club contributed $500 which was matched by a District Simplified Grant of $500 giving a total of $4,000 to purchase the books to be distributed. The Amarillo Independent School District directed the Rotary Clubs as to which schools were to be served and provided the names of the students and teachers to be published in the books that were ordered. The 4 clubs then distributed the books to assigned schools. Members of our club who participated in the book distribution included: John Zimmerman, Pam Rushing, Paul Strouhal, Wes Knapp and others.
The Rotary Club of Amarillo sponsored 5 high school students at $375 each to the summer 2006 RYLA camp. This committee was co-chaired by Mary Stephens and Past President, Bob Russell. The students sponsored included Cindy Cisneros, Palo Duro High; Elizabeth Carter, Tascosa High; and Karissa Gonzalez, Mark Everett Knapp (son of President Wes Knapp), and Parker Nettle all from Amarillo High School.
The Rotary Club of Amarillo sponsored 2 students to the summer 2006 Diabetes Camp. Past President Mark Haworth did another outstanding job of coordinating and chairing this committee. The two children sponsored this year were Corey Hart and Taylor Holmick.
The Rotary Club of Amarillo has had great attendance (ranging 65% - 75 %+) again this year and our programs have been of a very high quality. We have continued the practice of primarily using Past Presidents as “monthly speaker chairpersons” to obtain quality meeting programming. The attendance chairperson was Gay Chalfant. Overall program chairperson was Jeff Neely. Jeff was responsible for obtaining each month’s speaker chairpersons. Jeff and Gay did a super job.
Our Rotary year ended with the planning of the visit in July by the incoming Rotary International President 2006-2007, William Boyd and his wife Lorna. Lots of planning and organizing took place by a committee lead by Paige Carruth and members of The Rotary Club of Amarillo and others from the various Rotary Clubs in the Panhandle area. Paul Borchardt led the way in obtaining 114 Paul Harris Fellows in our club to be presented at the event. PDG Doyle and Doris Moore served as aides to the Boyd’s who reported that they were very impressed by their hospitality. Club President Wes Knapp hosted two events at the Amarillo Club, a noon luncheon for club presidents and visiting dignitaries plus their spouses, and an afternoon meeting recognizing charter members of the District 5730 Paul Harris Society. RI President Boyd was in his element at these functions. The dinner event took place on July 29 at the Amarillo Civic Center and was attended by over 530 Rotarians and guests from all over the District and two adjoining states. Our Club had never before hosted a sitting RI President and the event was a huge success.
Sincerely,
Wes Knapp
President 2005-2006
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