Val was welcomed back. AJ reminded everyone that the district would match donations to Houston and Florida for flood and hurricane relief. He also encouraged members to greet each other at each meeting.
Clent was Sarge and Josh toted the pot. Since there were no anniversaries this week, everyone who had an anniversary this year got fined. It also cost a buck for everyone who did not attend the DG’s reception.
Happy Bucks -Sarge paid for the pleasure of early morning beetle hunting with Josh. Several paid happy bucks for Ray’s continual slide show of
Club activities each week. Ben Hansen suffered an identity crisis and paid for not being able to find his badge. Lots of sympathy bucks were paid again this week for the victims in Houston and Florida as well as happy bucks for being high and dry here in Prescott. Stan Steiner won the pot.
Our Speaker - Eric Moore, owner of Jay’s Bird Barn located in Prescott, Sedona, and Flagstaff, entertained us with slides of the common birds of the Prescott area. He described identifying characteristics, the vegetative habitat they occupy, the seasons they occur in Prescott, their feeding habits, and how to attract various species to your back yard.
Jay’s Bird Barn offers a wide variety of birding supplies for the birder as well as custom seed mixes for backyard bird feeding. The bird seed is all mixed and packaged at Yavapai Exceptional Industries here in Prescott. Eric moved to Arizona as a child for health reasons and began developing his birding interest while recuperating in Tucson. He is very active in Audubon Society who distributes seeds to care centers in Prescott each year so the residents can attract and enjoy the local birdlife.
He collaborated with the Highlands center in publishing a local bird guide featuring the most common 73 species in area. The website for Jay’s Bird Barn also features an online bird guide as well as a listing of local birding events and an exhaustive list of links to other birding resources. Eric also writes a birding column for the Courier. He wound up his presentation by fielding a host of specific questions from members about birds in the Prescott area.
Last Saturday morning the Prescott Boy Scouts turned out in force to take down the Flags after Labor Day and 9/11 commemorations. Six Boy Scouts and two Scout leaders handled the entire chore. One scout leader said "they do the navigating while I do the driving. Soon they will be driving so its good experience." At least a couple of the boys are working toward Eagle Scout Status. They have even volunteered to go door to door to get sign ups. Will they out perform our Rotarian members?? It's an honor to have these young men working with us.
President's Corner
A.J. Sheridan
Good Day All!
So, after all the excitement with the DG visit, this week has been fairly tame.
The 5495 District RYLA committee met on Sunday and things are shaping up for our 2018 RYLA. There have been some more improvements at the camp and one or two new initiatives that will add to the Delegates experiences. Also, for the first time in the two years I have been involved, we have an applicant from Northpoint Academy. So perhaps this year we will be sponsoring at least one local student. Hopefully more. I am seeking two or our FINEST Volunteers to help out with interviewing candidates after October 31 when the application period closes.
In support of RYLA we will soon launch our drive to elicit donations to Manzanita Outreach: Kids Against Hunger. This is the service project for our program that packs meals to help fight hunger. This is one of the state tax deductible options, so be sure to talk about this with your tax people.
I look forward to seeing everyone again this Wednesday morning. I encourage each of you again to make the rounds during our social time and shake hands and greet as many as you can.
Help Spread Sunshine: When you know of a member's loss or hospitalization, please alert Par Wood at 928-777-0500 ext 207 of the Sunup Sunshine Committee, or email parnisi@msn.com