Rotary, Three Days off of school for kids in Eastern Iowa and thoughts on College Sports ...

Well, our Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids on Monday had our District Governor speak. District 5970 Governor Gerald Retzlaff (Monticello) had some interesting comments about our Rotary Club and how Rotarians can expand Rotary. The message in Rotary for 2009-10 is "The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands."

Larry Christy's recap in Ripples From the Rapids:

GERALD RETZLAFF

DISTRICT GOVERNOR, DISTRICT 5970

District 5970 Governor Gerald Retzlaff (Monticello) paid
the annual required visit of the Rotary District Governor to Cedar Rapids Rotary
on Monday. District 5970 covers most of northern Iowa and extends as far south
as Cedar Rapids in Eastern Iowa. The District has approximately 3 thousand
Rotarians and Cedar Rapids Downtown Rotary represents approximately 10% of that
total.

Cedar Rapids Rotary has fallen out of the 50 largest Rotary clubs
worldwide because membership fell to 293 active members two years ago.
Currently, with the assistance of a successful membership drive, we have
increased active membership to 315 and should be back in the 50 largest clubs
worldwide when the list is published in July 2010. When we include our 31
honorary members, our total membership is now 346.

The District Governor pointed out that Cedar Rapids Rotary is the
fourth oldest club in Iowa; founded in April 1914. Oldest is Des Moines (August
1911) followed by Davenport (November 1911) and Sioux City (October
1912).

Governor Retzlaff touched on 5 of the 7 current priorities of Rotary
International:

1. The eradication of polio is Rotary International’s top priority. Polio
   began as a Rotary commitment twenty years ago. Hundreds of millions of dollars
   have been raised by Rotary. India, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan still have
   confirmed polio cases. In Nigeria things are getting worse. There were 400 cases
   reported in July 2009 and cases reported increased to 1,400 by September.
   Governor Retzlaff mentioned the End Polio Now event at Kirkwood last month and
   the example of Speaker Doug Olberman who led a successful life after contracting
   polio at age 8 and spending a lifetime sleeping in an iron lung.


2. Improving the image of Rotary. Events, like the one at Kirkwood, help
   Rotary’s image. Clubs need to improve the image of Rotary within their
   community.


3. Members need to spend more time and have a greater commitment to Rotary.
   Governor Retzlaff asked how many members had sponsored a new member in Rotary
   and few hands were raised.


4. Increasing membership. The Governor said our club has been doing a good
   job in this area. He mentioned that membership loss is increasing overall due in
   part to membership moving and more frequent changes in employment.


5. Emphasize the uniqueness of vocation in Rotary. We need to get to know
   other vocations and encourage more diversity.

He encouraged members to think about these five priorities and how they
affect each of us.

Well the Major Winter Storm that hit Cedar Rapids and Eastern Iowa has moved East. Now bitter cold has arrived in our community. The students at area schools are enjoying their third straight day of canceled classes though, due to the weather this week.
It's official, Iowa will meet Georgia Tech in the FedEx Orange Bowl on January 5, 2010. The BCS worked pretty good this year, despite five teams in the FBS undefeated for the 2009 regular season. The BCS bowl match ups are good and there are some other good non-BCS games on the horizon as well. 2009-2010 Bowl Line ups

ESPN is reporting Cincinnati Brian Kelly will become Notre Dame's next head football coach. I was hoping for Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. Well, maybe next time in South Bend, since Fitzgerald is still one of the better young coaches in all of college football.

By the way the BCS is good to Notre Dame and a lot of schools for that matter. Despite turning down a bowl bid for 2009, "Notre Dame is guaranteed 1 1/66 share of net BCS revenue, expected to be about $1.3 million. The Irish get $4.5 millions if they make a BCS game", the USA Today reported today.

One final note, our thoughts and prayers are with Iowa basketball coach Todd Lickliter and his family, as the coach recovers from surgery on his carotid artery on Saturday. Hopefully his health will get back to where a person of his age should be and that he can resume his full duties again very soon for the University of Iowa.

Robin Tucker