Photo: Shirley Williams pins a Rotary member badge on Kevin Holmes, the newest member of the Van Buren Rotary Club. Kevin is an attorney at the firm of Hopkins & Holmes.
August 22, 2009
Van Buren Rotary's newest Rotarian
Photo: Shirley Williams pins a Rotary member badge on Kevin Holmes, the newest member of the Van Buren Rotary Club. Kevin is an attorney at the firm of Hopkins & Holmes.
Comprehensive Juvenile Services covers six Western Arkansas Counties
Support services for troubled children as young as 10, teenagers and young adults and their families were the topic at the August 20th program at the Van Buren Rotary Club. John Furness, Director of Comprehensive Juvenile Services, Inc. and Janice Justice, the organization's Assistant Director, discussed the types of help available within the Western Arkansas area covered by CJS.Established in 1976, over 10,000 children and families have received assistance for problems such as runaways, family difficulties, abuse, delinquency and truancy. CJS operates an emergency shelter, provides mental health services, parenting classes, and a variety of other state contracted services. CJS counties include: Crawford, Logan, Montgomery, Polk, Scott and Sebastian.
More information about the CJS program is available at: http://cjservices.org/content/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=104
August 18, 2009
Flashback - The District 6110 Installation Dinner in Altus - 6/30/09
As you might expect with one of our own club Past Presidents, A.C. Moncrief, being installed as the new District Governor, Van Buren, Alma and Fort Smith were well represented at the District Installation Dinner on June 30, 2009 in Altus. Actually, Rotarians came from Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma and all over the district. Thanks to all the folks in Altus and to the Ozark Rotary Club who hosted the event.Thanks also to the Alma Rotary Club who arranged for an air-conditioned bus and Rotarians from all three neighboring communities enjoyed the fun and fellowship on the ride to Altus and the return trip.
The first stop was the Post Familie Vineyards and Winery at the bottom of St. Mary's Mountain. Several guided tours of the winery were conducted and members and guests had the opportunity to taste and purchase the fine Arkansas wines available in the gift shop.
The Installation Dinner was held in Lawrence Hall located on the grounds of historic St. Mary's Catholic Church on the mountain above the winery. The dining area has large windows showing a panoramic view of the Arkansas river valley which is spectacular at sunset. 2008-09 Dist. Gov. Ron Petersen first installed A.C. as the new District Governor for 2009-10, and A.C. installed all the individual Club Presidents who were present. Among those installed were Shirley Williams, President of the Van Buren Rotary Club and James McGhee , President of the Alma Rotary Club.
Shirley also introduced three proposed Van Buren Rotarians who had attended the dinner: Tifanie Weeden, Denise Hill and Travis Hill. All three were inducted into the Van Buren Rotary Club on July 1st, 2009.
The slide show below will give you a brief "taste" of all the fun that everyone had at the Installation Dinner in Altus.
HINT: You can move your mouse over the slide show to access the controls. You can click on the pause button (between the two arrows) and then use the arrows to advance the slide show manually. You can also click on the Picasa icon in the lower right corner and follow the link to the actual Picasa Web Album where you can download or print individual pictures.
The first stop was the Post Familie Vineyards and Winery at the bottom of St. Mary's Mountain. Several guided tours of the winery were conducted and members and guests had the opportunity to taste and purchase the fine Arkansas wines available in the gift shop.
The Installation Dinner was held in Lawrence Hall located on the grounds of historic St. Mary's Catholic Church on the mountain above the winery. The dining area has large windows showing a panoramic view of the Arkansas river valley which is spectacular at sunset. 2008-09 Dist. Gov. Ron Petersen first installed A.C. as the new District Governor for 2009-10, and A.C. installed all the individual Club Presidents who were present. Among those installed were Shirley Williams, President of the Van Buren Rotary Club and James McGhee , President of the Alma Rotary Club.
Shirley also introduced three proposed Van Buren Rotarians who had attended the dinner: Tifanie Weeden, Denise Hill and Travis Hill. All three were inducted into the Van Buren Rotary Club on July 1st, 2009.
The slide show below will give you a brief "taste" of all the fun that everyone had at the Installation Dinner in Altus.
HINT: You can move your mouse over the slide show to access the controls. You can click on the pause button (between the two arrows) and then use the arrows to advance the slide show manually. You can also click on the Picasa icon in the lower right corner and follow the link to the actual Picasa Web Album where you can download or print individual pictures.
August 14, 2009
CASA helps Crawford County Children
Debra Rieske, Program Director for the Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA) of Crawford County was the guest speaker at the August 13th Rotary Luncheon. CASA volunteers are trained to monitor the care of abused and neglected children in the custody of the state. In an underfunded and over-burdened child welfare system, CASA volunteers help make sure abused and neglected children have a voice in court. For more information about how you can volunteer or support the important work of CASA of Crawford County contact: Debra Rieske at 479-474-8502.
August 10, 2009
Catching up with June and July...
It may take a while to catch up with all the changes and events that occurred in June and July. In June, the Van Buren Rotary Club Board of Directors took steps to convert our club's member records to the new district-wide data system. The district's goal was making record keeping much easier for clubs and improving communications with all our members. Part of the package includes a new "permanent" web page for the club that we'll be working on through the Fall. I'll be sure to have links from this web log or "blog" so that everyone can see what's happening within the club. You can already see the link to the District and Club data base (DaCdb - usually pronounced Dak-dee-bee).so that committee chairs and members can share information with their committees. Members can even use the new DaCdb system to update their own member information as it changes with a new phone number or email address.
In the meantime, I'll post pictures from the district installation banquet in Altus and several special programs that occurred while I was concentrating on the conversion process. While all of us are catching up, officers and committee chairs can still send me an email and we'll pass along the announcements and post committee meeting dates in the calendar section.
On a personal note, thanks for all the prayers and encouragement while I've been recovering from a few complications from what started off as minor surgery. I'm doing fine now and getting a little stronger with each day, but it feels even better to get back to work. See you at Rotary!
BR549 - Chief Blogger
In the meantime, I'll post pictures from the district installation banquet in Altus and several special programs that occurred while I was concentrating on the conversion process. While all of us are catching up, officers and committee chairs can still send me an email and we'll pass along the announcements and post committee meeting dates in the calendar section.
On a personal note, thanks for all the prayers and encouragement while I've been recovering from a few complications from what started off as minor surgery. I'm doing fine now and getting a little stronger with each day, but it feels even better to get back to work. See you at Rotary!
BR549 - Chief Blogger
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