Announcements
(notes provided by the striped-tie-wearing Allan Penwell)
All those who attended enjoyed the 25th anniversary dinner. Thanks to all of those who put it together – We need to do this more often.
Congratulations to our club from our club on meeting our goal of completing 500 volunteer hours in the past year. There should be a special thanks to Ed Perry who spearheaded this effort and to all of the volunteers who participated. Ed could not be at last Thursday’s meeting because he was volunteering in Vieques, Puerto Rico to pick up exploded fragments of bombs from the U. S. Navy’s target practice range.
On a more serious side as to our volunteer accomplishment, several years ago it was Molly Delaney who charged our club with meeting a higher standard of volunteerism. She attended our most recent meeting and was presented a Paul Harris Fellow by President Jeff for her many contributions to the community. Molly has promised to come back to the club, and her announcement received raucous applause.
Jack announced that annual dues will be the same $210.00 as last year for regular members. The irregular members (like Neal and Penn) get a special discount. Meals remain at $8.00, or less if you pay in advance.
Rod announced that our Habitat for Humanity work project will be August 24th. So far, 12 have signed up, but we need 15 to have a fully staffed building crew.
The Champaign County Freedom Celebration is looking for volunteers, and Jeff sent out an email to all of us. Most needed are set-up and clean-up crews.
Special Note
Andrew Kerins and Rod Roberts dressed up to celebrate the club’s success in reaching our goal of 500 volunteer hours. Chuck Reifsteck (not pictured) was also supposed to participate by wearing his red blazer, but rumors are that he is finally taking life seriously now that he will be the President of C-U Sunrise Rotary.
Program
Benny Lapid showed a slide show tour of Jerusalem interspersed with his charming wit and low-key brand of humor. Most of us stayed later than usual because it was interesting. Jerusalem is a complicated, historical place which is an intersection of the world’s major religions. Your notetaker could not read his notes very well from Benny’s presentation so here is a brief summary with acknowledgement to Wikipedia.
Jerusalem? is the capital of Israel internationally recognized as such, and one of the oldest cities in the world. It is located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern edge of the Dead Sea. It is Israel’s largest city in both population and area, if East Jerusalem is included, with a population of 801,000 residents over an area of 48.3 square miles. Jerusalem is also a holy city to three major religions— Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times. The oldest part of the city was settled in the 4th millennium BC. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent. Today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond its boundaries.
Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Jewish tradition since, according to the Hebrew Bible, King David of Israel first established it as the capital of the united Kingdom of Israel in c.1000 BCE, and his son, King Solomon, commissioned the building of the First Temple in the city. In Christian tradition, Jerusalem has been a holy city since, according to the New Testament, Jesus was crucified there, possibly in c. 33 CE and 300 years later Saint Helena identified the pilgrimage sites of Jesus’ life. In Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina, whereas Shiite (Shia) Muslims consider Najaf in Iraq the third holiest city followed by Karbala. In Islamic tradition in 610 CE it became the first Qibla, the focal point for Muslim prayer (Salah), and Muhammad made his Night Journey there ten years later, ascending to heaven where he speaks to God, according to the Quran. As a result, despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometers, the Old City is home to many sites of tremendous religious importance, among them the Temple Mount and its Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque.
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| June 27th | July 11th | July 18th | July 25th | |
| Introductions | Andrew Kerins | Tod Satterthwaite | Mitch Schluter | Jen Shelby |
| Invocation | Jim Gould | Patrice Grant | Bruce Hatfield | Mary Hodson |
| Greeters | Andrew Kerins | Tod Satterthwaite | Mitch Schluter | Jen Shelby |
| Reuben Chambers | Paul Conforti | Ata Durukan | Jim Gould | |
| Song Leader | Curt Anderson | Oktay Baran | Eric Batsie | Alan Chalifoux |
| Notetaker | Penwell | Hodson | Lintner | Conforti |
| Decker Weeding | Shelby | Abbott | Nelson | Chamberlain |
| Next Weekend | Jen & Maggie | Cody & Candy | McDaniel | Neal & Bernie |
| Decker Garden | Simpson | Reifsteck | Reifsteck | Van Buren |
| Watering |
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Upcoming Schedule
June 27th – Pass the Gavel, reign of Chuck the Terrible begins
July 4th – No meeting – talk to Chuck about pancake breakfast at his house
July 11th – Steve Shoemaker, President of Urbana Rotary, will discuss his radio show Keepin the Faith
July 18th – Charlie Linville, Ploughman Associates
July 25th – TBD
August 1st – Mike Thomas, Director of Athletics, UIUC
August 8th – Christine Catanzarite, Director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), UIUC
August 15th – TBD
September 12th – Dr. Peter Schiffer, Vice Chancellor for Research, UIUC
