The meeting was called to order by Chair Norton at 12:15 PM. There were 18 members present. Laura Cunningham gave the “thought of the day” that sometimes we don’t appreciate what we have at our disposal until it’s no longer available—like toilet paper!
We had plenty of birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate—Bill Johnson, Patti Van Cleave, Sylwia Pacyk, David Grant and Laura Cunningham all had birthdays and Fred Schwimmer announced that his birthday was coming up next week but requested that there be no singing in his absence! Connie Berman has been in our Club 19 years and Sally Gotaas has been an honorary member for 5 years.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Barb said that someone had donated a bottle of wine for our June 4th benefit but did not leave a name on it—everyone was reminded that it was important to leave their names with their donated items. Robert reported that Schaefer’s Liquor has donated a bottle of Winston Churchill’s favorite wine; that Club members were forming teams to help with the Benefit’s auctions and trivia events; and that he would give $10 for each person who signed up for a team during this meeting—Marie and Rich so volunteered. Barb and Bob Baker have already signed up for the dog walkers’ team! Rich announced that we have 6 weeks to make our donations to the Rotary International Foundation; that there were no worldwide polio cases during the past year; and if two more years pass without a worldwide case Rotary can end its polio program.
HAPPY BUCKS: Barb announced that her daughter’s surgery was successful and that she has returned to her home. Laura Cunningham was happy because of an “on line favor” that Marie had done for her. And Robert was happy in anticipation of receiving phone calls from John Thomas and Fred Schwimmer having something to do with the upcoming benefit!
DIG N GRIN: David Birkenstein tried to confess to the sin of playing April Fool’s Day jokes on his past and present spouses, Merrily and Mary. He confessed that for one day of each year he was untruthful, mean spirited, deceptive and not charming in the least bit. But after listening to his 10 minute heart felt confession, there was no one in the room who actually believed a word he said or that he could ever be anyone other than the good hearted, charming and thoughtful gentleman we have all known during his 90 years of life. Any attempt by David to appeal this determination will undoubtedly be denied!!
SPEAKER HOWARD BERG: Howard is a motivational speaker on the subject of speed reading and increased reading comprehension. He is currently President of his Rotary Club in Texas and resides in Florida. He served in the military, has authored books on the speed reading topic, and grew up in Brooklyn where the “safest place for a child” was in the local library!
He has read thousands of books and has discovered that the more you practice reading fast and comprehending what you read, the better you get at this activity, just like any sport. He believes that most people can easily get to the point of reading and comprehending 200 words a minute. The same technique can be used to increase math skills as well, which is important in today’s educational environment where only 38% of high school graduates can do fractions.
He has developed ways of improving people’s memories by concentrating on objects rather than numbers. He gave as an example how much easier it is to remember a telephone number or zip code by replacing numbers 1 through 5 with objects such as a pole, a pair of shoes, a tricycle, a car or a glove.
Howard has made a career out of giving speed reading programs to various organizations, Rotary clubs, student groups, high school and college faculty meetings. He cited many cases of helping young students achieve excellent grades and advanced college degrees at young ages by not only studying hard, but by learning how to read and comprehend at fast speeds.
Howard’s presentation was recorded so you can review his comments.
There being no further business, Chair Norton closed the meeting with the Rotary 4-Way Test.