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Bulletin Editor
Mary Denton
Your feedback is welcomed. We are always striving to improve.
December 2018
Oak Hills Rotary Club has had a packed calendar this month!  Thanks to everyone who worked hard to organize our offsite meetings! A big thanks goes to all the members who took advantage of these great events and joined in the fun!
Executives & Directors
President
 
President Elect
 
Secretary
 
Treasurer
 
Vice President
 
Immediate Past President
 
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Birthdays & Anniversaries
Member Birthdays
Allyson Hamlin
February 13
 
Anniversaries
Bruce Richter
Gloria Duke-Richter
February 8
 
Gloria Duke-Richter
Bruce
February 8
 
Russell Hampton
National Awards Services Inc.
ClubRunner
Stories

Bulletin for Dec 12, 2018
 
Prayer, Pledge and Visitors
The meeting began with the ringing of the bell by President Fred Timmons who led us in a word of prayer and the pledge.
 
Today's offsite meeting was held at The Ecumenical Center and was coordinated by our own Dr. Barry Abrams.  Dr. Abrams is a Board Member of The Ecumenical Center and very actively involved. The broad range of services that The Center provides is simply amazing.  The administration and staff were gracious and informative as always.  We all appreciate their willingness to educate us about the services that The Center provides. Play therapy, art therapy, and music therapy are just a few of the effective tools that are utilized.
 
Barry explained that the spirit of ecumenicism is "service to all." He feels a strong affiliation to the center and how it relates to the tenets of Rotary International. The Ecumenical Center offers services to individuals and family: spiritual, emotional, and intellectual. The Center offers ethical training, professional training, and certificates for clergy and those in the healthcare practice.
 
Mary Beth Fisk, CEO/Executive Director of The Ecumenical Center shared even more about The Center and led us on a tour through the facility.  Mary Beth has more than 30 years' experience in the nonprofit sector as a visionary, executive, clinical research scientist and community builder. Among her many achievements, she was named Health Care Hero in 2009 and again in 2012 in the areas of innovation and administrative excellence, respectively by the San Antonio Business Journal.
 
Also with us was Lejia Cenanovic, Special Program Coordinator who handles logistics and communications for The Center’s special events throughout the year.  She always extends warm hospitality to us and shares enthusiastic passion about the work being done at The Center. Lejia shared with us that The Center is designed to be warm and inviting and lends itself to the clients feeling more relaxed. This atmosphere makes the client feel included and more open to therapy.
 
We learned that The Ecumenical Center has an experienced staff that has implemented and coordinated the opening of 21 satellite locations around Bexar County, in the Corpus Christi area and in Laredo and McAllen, Texas. The counseling staff includes men and women, who are Licensed Professional Counselors,
 
The beautiful piece of art that you see on top is offered for sale at The Ecumenical Center located at 8310 Ewing Halsell in the Medical Center.  There are many other pieces that really spoke to me and thought you might enjoy this one!  There are many other works of art on display and available for purchase as well!  
 
If you missed the tour and want to know more you may visit their website click here
Our Special Guests
Our Special Guests
 
Today we welcomed District Governor Dr. Kathryn Hubbard and Assistant District Governor Dr. Jackie Parsons. Also joining us was Ken Donouhue of Med Center Rotary Club and his guest Sharon Barber. Also from the Med Center was Rich Lounsbery.  Marilyn Ward, mother of Brett Ward was also with us. 
District Governor Speaks
After our tour of the facility, President Fred turned the meeting over to District Governor Dr. Kathryn Hubbard who we all know as Kathy. Kathy reviewed the history of our Club, our ongoing projects,  the successes that we have achieved and the future of our Club.  She talked about our Club's beginnings, charted in 1977 beginning with 35 members and grew to a high of 90 members during our history. The Club was originally sponsored by the San Antonio Rotary Club. The Club's history includes the wildly successful Shrimp Fest held at UTSA for 15 years beginning in 1989. During these events the Club sold 500 tickets making $30,000. The Shrimp Fest then moved to Helotes and was held there for 5 or 6 years.
 
Currently the Club is working on a merger with Med Center Rotary Club.  Kathy recommends completion of the merger by the end of December because of RI dues. 
 
She reminded us the Rotary Day is March 23. She proposed that we plan a project for that day.  She stated that "Success in planning is key."  Her thought provoking challenge to us was, "Would our community notice if our Club left?"
 
She shared with us that donations to Rotary Foundation may be made thru myrotary.org and can be made as a direct donation.
 
She was excited to announce the Million Dollar Dinner planned for January 2020. More information will be shared when it becomes available.
 
She asked if we had considered applying for a District Grant.  District grants fund small-scale, short-term activities that address needs in our community and communities abroad. Each district chooses which activities it will fund with these grants.
 
She touched on the tragedy of human trafficking.  Our Club featured two speakers within the year who shared this reality with us.
 
She mentioned the community service of the San Antonio West Rotary Club member Chief Master Sergeant Dwayne Hopkins (Ret.), currently the Executive Director of Fisher House.  He was a recent speaker with our Club with his though provoking "Why you should be a Rotarian".
 
Thanks to our District Governor and Assistant District Governor we were all inspired and challenged to get involved in our community.  We appreciate their leadership and look forward to seeing them again at our meetings in the future!
Humor
As a change of pace, Brett Ward provided humor for today's meeting. We may know that a group of cows is called a "herd" and a group of sheep a "flock" or "herd" and a group of chickens a "flock" and puppies a "litter".  Did you also know that a group of squirrels is called a "dray" or "scurry", hedgehogs a "prickle", mice a "mischief", foxes, "skulk", cats "clowder"?  President Fred didn't say it out loud but he was thinking that a group of Rotarians at any given time could be called a "clowder" or "scurry".  You may draw your own conclusions....
Hidden Hero Bruce Richter 
District Governor Dr. Kathryn Hubbard presented the "Hidden Hero Award" to our own Bruce Richter.  Bruce was honored today because he has been our long time "go to" person.  He works tirelessly for our Club to lead, organize, research, serve on committees, create slide shows, run the AV for our meetings, fill in for the current Secretary and Treasurer, make presentations during our meetings, provide humor, volunteer for service projects, organize and deliver donations to the Girl Scout Headquarters' Daisy Pantry, deliver books to Haven for Hope and who knows what else? Bruce and Gloria have been our Rotarian Ambassadors around the world for many years making it a point to visit Rotary Clubs wherever they travel and bringing back pictures and stories to share with us!  Bruce said that he has been a Rotarian for 40 years. His positive attitude, good nature and heart of service are a perfect reflection of what a Rotarian should look like.  We all appreciate you Bruce and we're so glad that you're here! Wishing you many more years of good health and ability to serve for as long as you wish!