Date: November 16, 2022
President Daniel Gibbs called the Club meeting to order. Rotarian of the Day Brian Douglas opened the meeting. Emmett Hudgins led the club in the invocation, Brian led the Pledge of Allegiance and the recitation of the 4-Way Test.
Announcements
The Rotary Christmas Party is next Thursday, December 8, 2022, 6:30 pm. Our Rotary Club will ring the bell for the Salvation Army at Walmart on December 16, 2022. There is still time to sign up.
Guest Speaker
Brian Douglas introduced his speaker. Sara Jenkins has been the Veterans Cemetery Programs Administrator at the new Veterans Cemetery in Ardmore since November 2022. She retired from the National Guard as a Major. Sara provided an overview of the operation of the new cemetery. It has a columbarium with 600 niches, 434 cremains sites, and 1,098 in ground crypts that are double decked. Even though the cemetery is operated by the State of Oklahoma there is no residency requirement so anyone can be buried at the cemetery. There are conditions to qualify for burial in the cemetery so it is always preferred for veterans to plan and complete an application. Sara and her staff help with the process. There are situations where veterans pass without a next of kin or there is no money for their burial and every effort is made to qualify the person so they can be buried here. There are a number of plans in place for future upgrades and expansion of the cemetery. Some of this will occur using land made available after the new VA center in Ardmore is constructed.
Magazine Report
Emmett Hudgins provided the magazine report. In the new magazine the feature articles is about Malaria. There were 241 million cases in 2021. 95% of Malaria cases are in Africa with 627,000 deaths worldwide with 96% in Africa. 80% of the deaths are in children under the age of five. The Anopheles mosquito transmits the virus from person to person via the blood. Rotary International as donated $2,000,000 towards the testing program. The tests use blood with a kit that is much like the at-home COVID tests that we use in the United States.
Another article was about a glass recycling program where it is pulverized and turned into glass sand for reuse. Emmett also mentioned an article about an exchange student named Sarah Laughton and the life she led afterwards. She now works for the World Food Program. The UN World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization working to reduce hunger and promote food security. The organization has 5,600 trucks, 30 ships, and nearly 100 planes to deliver food and assistance.
20 members, 2 guests, for a total of 22, were present.
Guests
Sara Jenkins, Speaker, guest of Brian Douglas
Kent Tucker, guest of Keith King