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Mike, when it comes to American History, we do tend to take things for granted. To find out what Thanksgiving is really about, let's take a look at our first President's 1789 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation.
WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence  of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:
Read the rest here.......
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The Group Study Exchange Committee, under the capable direction of Frank McGinley as chair, met on November 18, 2006, at the Renaissance Center in Dickson, TN. A team leader (Rotarian) and four team members (non-Rotarians) were chosen from a pool of eleven outstanding applicants.
...two for team leader and nine for team members. Every applicant was exceptional. I especially want to thank David Condra (Nashville Club), Robert Fidler (Brentwood Club), and Doron Claiborne (Murfreesboro Club) for the time and effort they put forth in recruiting multiple outstanding applicants.
Team leader is PDG Jim Johnston of the Lawrenceburg Club.
Team members include:
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Lori Beth Jinkins, a French teacher at Franklin Road Academy in Nashville, sponsored by the Brentwood Club; |
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Charles Wheeler Hord, Jr., Marketing Specialist/Cattle Improvement Coordinator with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture in Nashville, sponsored by the Murfreesboro Club; |
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Michael D'Orio, Marketing Director with Hardin Medical Center in Savannah, sponsored by the Savannah Club; |
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Charles Wayne Wright, auditor with the Tennessee Department of Revenue in Shelbyville, sponsored by the Lawrenceburg Club; |
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alternate Michael Brandon Fisher, Assistant to the Director of International Education and Exchange/Study Abroad at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, sponsored by the Murfreesboro Club. |
The Group Study Exchange is an integral part of our District 6760 program, made possible by our donations to the annual fund of The Rotary Foundation. This year we are paired with Distrtict 1760, which is located in the Provence area of France. If your club wants to host the GSE team from France during the April-May timeframe, just contact Frank McGinley at (731) 925-2366 or e-mail him at
bingha@bellsouth.net. I really encourage you to participate in this exchange program, as your club will definitely benefit from the experience. I know all of you will enjoy meeting the team from France at our District Conference at the Doubletree Hotel in Murfreesboro during the first week-end in May.
Continue to Lead the Way! Slick.
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Family of Rotary
Nothing to report at this time.
Editor's note: You can also view or submit Family of Rotary information, prayer requests, etc., in the Rotary Blast! Family of Rotary Forum.
Foundation Giving Can Mean Tax Relief
Consider Making A Year End Gift!
Are you looking for a great dividend this year? Make a gift of appreciated securities – common stock, bonds or mutual funds – to The Rotary Foundation before year end and send a message of international hope. You may realize significant savings while serving others at the same time. By transferring securities to The Rotary Foundation, you avoid paying capital gains taxes on the appreciated value of your gift!
Good Tax News You Can Use! Good Tax News You Can Use!
Under the new Pension Protection Act, individual donors who are 70 ½ at the time of the gift may donate from $100 to $100,000 this year (
and next) from their Individual Retirement Account directly to The Rotary Foundation without increasing federal gross income for this tax year. It is a great way to become a Paul Harris Society member or make the gift of a lifetime in your lifetime.
Please note that contributions must be outright to the Foundation without any benefit to the donor. IRA gifts cannot be used to fund charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, donor advised funds or the pooled income fund.
The IRA assets must be transferred directly to the Foundation or it is recognized by the IRS as income. Please contact your IRA administrator and the Foundation to assist with the process of transferring the desired percentage or amount of the IRA.
Other IRA Options to Consider
This is a great time to ensure that valid beneficiary designations are on file for your IRA. If you have not already notified the Foundation that it is a beneficiary of your IRA, then you could become a Rotary Foundation Benefactor or Bequest Society member today!
Snowball Express Update
The Snowball Express is now featured on the Rotary International web
site at:
http://www.rotary.org/newsroom/programs/061115_snowball.html
We currently have 337 families with 574 children for a total of 911
coming to Southern California on the weekend of December 15-17 to
particpate in the event.
The part I am most excited about is that, so far, 83 families have
requested assistance from a local Rotary club and we've been able to
make those introductions. I'm confident that, after the families are
here and experience what Rotary can do, we will be able to help more
families through Rotary.
As you'll see from the article, each family will be given a gift
card for shopping at the Irvine Spectrum Center, incidental
expenses, gifts and food and beverage while at Disneyland. These
cards are can be used wherever American Express is accepted, which
means they can be used wherever the families live. If you have clubs
in your district who would like to help fund those cards, please
have them make their donations to:
The Rotary International District #5320 Charitable Foundation
a 501(c)3 Tax-exempt organization
C/O Jim de Boom, PDG
Rotary District 5320 Administrator
2245 N. Glassell Avenue
Orange, CA 92865-2701
714-921-1881
Email: Rotary5320@aol.com
Please mark checks with "Snowball Express Gift Cards"
Best regards,
Ray Sanford
President
Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club
P.O. Box 356
Irvine, CA 92650
www.irvinerotary.org
 District Membership, Attendance & Foundation Giving -- Email your club's statistics to the District
Secretary !! NEW EMAIL ADDRESS !! ( rotary6760@gmail.com ), !! or FAX to 615-893-7447
Next club reports due on December 10, 2006.
District 6760 September Attendance Report -
District 6760 September Foundation Giving Report -Download here
Congratulations on 100% of clubs reporting for September!
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PDG John Butler is featured in a Rotary Foundation Giving publication which you can download here. Great idea!
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DG Frazer is blogging his club visit (with a little help from Freda Sue)
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Several upcoming opportunities for club recognition were discussed in the last issue. Deadlines and descriptions can be found here.
Editor's Corner 
Tech Tips --
Are you using technology to your advantage? Today, email is the quickest and most convenient form of communication. It is quickly replacing the fax as the tool of choice for business, so why not use it in your club, too? With the advent of web-based collaboration and email like http://www.gmail.com, which offers free online email, spreadsheets, documents and more -- available from anywhere you have an internet connection, you are no longer tied to a desktop computer. Club business, websites, (yes, even this newsletter), can be worked on from the nearest Starbucks.
How about your club website? Do you have a club website? Today, it can be so much more than a static brochure! Many "Content Management Systems" can handle your newsletter, have online bulletin boards or forums, and can be edited and managed by someone with relatively little experience. You can see a few examples at http://www.RotaryBlast.com
and http://www.NoonRotaryClub.com. In fact, we're using our website to augment our club giving and Rotary Foundation funding by selling banner and directory ads to our members. You can see it in action here. A similar solution will be available for our main fundraising event, the pancake breakfast. Are you incorporating video? It's easier than you might think.
If you don't want to fork out the big bucks for the "Packaged" websites, you probably know someone in your club who could manage your site with a little help. Our club uses an Open Source solution and donated hosting! It doesn't get better than free! :)
- Club Projects - NOTE: Submit your Club's project information and photos to Ken Ivey for publication.
Lawrenceburg Rotary Club’s Middle Tennessee District Fair - Kudos to President Neal Beard for the great article and pictures of this very successful event. There is too much information and too many pictures to include in this newsletter, so go to The Rotary Blast! website to see how Lawrenceburg puts on a show! top
PET Project Adopted
The PET (Personal Energy Transportation) Project has been adopted by the Murfreesboro Noon Rotary Club, and is the main focus of this year's fundraising efforts. The club is in the process of certifying the charitable foundation, "Wheels From Rotary" as a 501(c)3 Tax-exempt organization.
 The PET is a device that enables people in remote areas who are afflicted with Polio, debilitating disease, or other lack of mobility to travel under their own power over rugged terrain - places wheelchairs cannot go.
PETS are assembled in Murfreesboro, and parts come from throughout the U.S. They are distributed to Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia, Brasil, Bulgaria, China, Columbia, Congo/Zambia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Eritrea, Gabon, Georgia (Russia), Gaza, Ghana, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mexico, Montagnon, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tajikstan, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, West Bank, Western Sahara, Zaire, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have all received one or more PETs. The PET International website is at http://www.petinternational.org/.
As I sit here in a small community farther north than many places, I am pretty insignificant. I may have an impact on a few people around me. I can help with community projects, but I can't change the world...but maybe I can.
By joining Rotary, I can rid the world of polio! By being a Rotarian, I can provide clean water to villages with none. By being part of this wonderful organization, I can save lives, feed children, make the blind to see and educate the poorest of the poor. By being a Rotarian, I can leave a legacy of help, caring and love to the entire planet...me, one insignificant person from a small town up north.
I am a Rotarian to leave the world a better place than I found it.
Betsy Demaray
DG 2000-01 D-6290
Rotary Club of Sault Ste. Marie,
Michigan, USA
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Breaking News
Honduras Project Needs Sponsors
The Honduras projects are scheduled to begin on January 13, 2007 and be completed by February 18, 2007. The projects consist of building an electrical and water distribution system for 66 homes at El Porton, Marcovia and building an electrical distribution system and wiring 58 homes at San Juan Cito and San Juan Arriba. However, due to a major increase in the cost of materials it may be necessary to drop the San Juan projects this year and concentrate all our resources and efforts to the El Porton project. In an effort to complete both projects as planned and scheduled, we are asking clubs and individual Rotarians in District 6760 to consider sponsoring a home and family at a cost of $250 which is the total cost of wiring and building a pila at each home. Sponsorships will be assigned to a home and a certificate and photo of the home and family will be presented to the sponsor. In turn, a certificate will be presented to the family to let them
know who their sponsor is. Your $250 sponsorship will bring clean potable water and electricity to a home for several future generations. Get your Interact Club involved. Sponsoring a family in Honduras would be a great International Project for your Interact clubs to get involved in. This will create a relationship that will carry on for years to come.
If you, your club, and/or your Interact clubs are interested in sponsoring a home and family make your $250 donation payable to the Franklin Noon Rotary Club. We need the additional funds by December 15, 2006 in order to purchase and ship materials to job sites by January 10, 2007.
Send your donations to:
PDG James L. Johnston
3010 Glenstone Drive
Columbia, TN 38401
(931) 380-3646 (H)
(931) 212-9226 (C)
jjohnston4540@hotmail.com
I’m Jim Johnston and I approved this message!
Official Call for Nominations 
District Governor for Rotary Year 2009-2010
This is the official call for nominations for the 2009-2010 Governor of District 6760. December 15, 2006 is the deadline for receiving the club resolution, data sheet, photo, and resume. The original application with photo and seven copies of the club resolution, resume, and data sheet must be received no later than December 15, 2006 by the Chair of the Nominations Committee, PDG Glen Vanderford, 182 Saddlebrook Drive, Jackson, TN 38305. The selection interviews will be held at the Renaissance Center, Dickson, TN January 6, 2007.
The 2006-2007 Nominations Committee members are: Chair, PDG Glen Vanderford (Jackson Old Hickory), PDG Jim Johnston (Lawrenceburg), PDG James Couch (Columbia), PDG Linda Rudolph (Clarksville Sunrise), PP Shirley Spiller (Ripley), PP Glen Baker (Covington), and PP Bill Jones (Franklin). If one of the above listed clubs has a Nominee, the Committee member from that club cannot serve. If such occurs, an alternate will be designated by DG Slick Frazer.
For more headlines, visit "This just in" news at the Rotary Blast website. top
 The next issue of the Rotary Blast goes out Wednesday December 6, 2006- The deadline for inclusion in this issue is Friday, December 1, 2006 at 6:00 pm. Please send your material to Ken Ivey. If you are
sending large files, please verify receipt! Your email provider may limit the size of files you can send. | top |
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In This Issue
Contacts
Governor
Editor
Rotary Links
Other Links
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