Club News

Some of our members had a tour of the Lake County History Center. The History Center building was built in 1876. The building has been an infirmary, a hospital, a jail, a mental institution, and most recently a poor house. Benjamin Morse designed the building for $250 and Colonel McAllister built the home with 22 bedrooms for $30,000. One of the interesting things about the building is that there are 3 cells in the basements that may have confined the insane or epileptics when in use. There are several rooms on the first floor that hold historic articles from the past of Lake County.

 

One room is filled with doll houses. Here are Christy Magyar, Secretary and Chris Price showing the general store which is on display. 

 

Jerry Walker and John Miller standing by a period piano in the James Garfield room.

 

Christy Magyer standing in the sitting room of the family who ran the poor house. When families couldn't afford rugs during that time period, they painted them on the tiles on the floor.

 

Maureen Conway, President and Jerry Miller looking at the not so politically correct sign in sheet for the poor house.

 

Chris Price standing by the portrait in the Garfield room.

 

Dale Smith, District Governor came to speak at our meeting. He praised our club and all of the district clubs with their commitment to the Rotary. He said that he has seen great things going on all around the district and was pleasantly surprised with all of it. He spoke about the Magic of Rotary and passed pins out to some members. We as Rotarians create the magic with every project completed, every dollar donated, and every new member welcomed. The phrase came from a Rotarian working in the Dominican Republic. He was showing some kids how dirty water goes into an area and then turned on the faucet to clean water coming out. The kids he was speaking with said "make the magic again". Magic isn't a dream but a reality for all of us.

Dale spoke about his work with Rotary with joy. He actually was a new member in 5 different clubs because he had worked in several places. In one of the clubs he felt through his service and fellowship he actually changed from being a member of the Rotary, to a Rotarian. 

At one of the clubs where he was a new member, the club asked survey questions about why he and others joined Rotary and why they stayed. He chose to and now wants to ask those survey questions of new members. One statistic that came out of the survey he worked on locally was when new members first answered the question about why they joined about 68% said for the service and 10% said for fellowship and friendship. When those people were asked the same questions later, 30% said for the service and 70% said for fellowship and friendship. 

Dale has several goals as District Governor. One being membership and growth, the Endowment Fund, and Disaster Preparation. He will be providing the local clubs with a lot more information about the Disaster Preparation in the coming weeks, watch for his emails. 

He also facilitated the start of the Lake County Sunrise Satellite Club a companion club for Mentor Rotary is for people who want to help their community and enjoy morning fellowship with like-minded people. He encouraged anyone to reach out to him if they have questions or would like to start a satellite club.