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Rotary Club of Southwest Durham

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southwestdurhamrotary

Service above self. We're a service organization located in southwest Durham, NC. Part of Rotary District 7710.

Fun time at Families Moving Forward for dinner and Fun time at Families Moving Forward for dinner and game night.
Member Steffen Bass gave us a quantum leap into qu Member Steffen Bass gave us a quantum leap into quantum computing at our lunch meeting. Wow! It's going to have an amazing impact in the future. We'd love to have you join us at our lunch meetings or variety of service projects.
Folks on hand for the Southwest Durham Rotary’s me Folks on hand for the Southwest Durham Rotary’s meeting yesterday got the lowdown on North Carolina’s present-day demographics and politics, with a little bit of history, from a fellow who knows a lot about all three. 

Former Durham City Councilman and N.C. State Senator Mike Woodard was our guest speaker, fresh from leading his Thursday-morning OLLI class on the state’s political character titled “Red, Purple, and Blue.”

“Our history is baked into our DNA,” said Mike, whose family roots in North Carolina reach back to 1693, pointing out that North Carolinians have been a rebellious lot since Royal Governor William Tryon built Tryon Palace at public expense. Among his other points of interest:
• Ours is the ninth-largest state in the Union, with 11.3 million residents – almost one million more than when the 2020 census was taken. 
• “Unaffiliated” voters outnumber both Republicans or Democrats and they are on average younger than either, represent a plurality in 25 counties, and are less likely to have lived here very long.
• The top three states North Carolina is gaining population from are Florida, South Carolina, and New York. 
• 34% of North Carolinians are over 65, and 90% are at least high-school graduates.

“We ain’t Mayberry anymore,” Mike said. But – 4.5 million North Carolinians live in the 78 predominantly rural counties – a higher proportion than any other state except Texas. “The urban-rural divide,” he said, “is a real thing.”
A Durham venture capital executive gave an uplifti A Durham venture capital executive gave an uplifting and, in a way, reassuring presentation Thursday at Southwest Durham Rotary’s meeting. Nate Byrd, introducing speaker Jackie Lipkin, described his program as “an exciting local story.”

 Jackie is a managing director at SJF Ventures, a 26-year-old Durham-headquartered investment firm that puts money into rising companies “whose positive social or environmental impacts are part of their business model,” she said. (The “SJF” originally stood for “Sustainable Jobs Fund.”)

Formed in Durham in 1999, SJF Ventures has expanded its investment horizons, added offices in New York, San Francisco, and Seattle, and grown to manage several hundred million dollars’ worth of investments in clean energy, education, sustainability and climate resilience, health and so forth, “leveraging what works,” Jackie said.

All in all, it was testimony that you can make profits by doing good, which is something awfully nice and refreshing to hear these days.
Questing for opportunities, human beings have inve Questing for opportunities, human beings have invested more than half a trillion (that’s TRILLION) dollars in the future of Artificial Intelligence. “Low-quality” companies – those having little track record, low incomes, and a whole lot of debt – are outperforming the blue chip old reliables. The stock market is “really frothy” now, our own Nate Byrd (an investment advisor by profession) told Southwest Rotary members at the club meeting yesterday in his presentation on the Market Outlook. 
 “Investors tend to get caught up in the moment,” Nate said. A lot of expectations, results TBD – much like the dot.com days of the late 1990s, when a good many high hopes never delivered.
 As for the labor market, if you’re a recent college grad or a senior who’ll be needing a job in June – you better hope your parents haven’t rented out your old room yet. “One of the worst job markets in a long while,” Nate said.
 Uncertainty rules was one of the takeaways from an engrossing and enlightening talk, much appreciated by the assembled Rotarians who can look forward to next Thursday when the scheduled topic is “Sustainable Investing.” Y’all come.
 On happier notes, dollars were donated by:
 • Joyce McKinney, because all the bins of female sanitation supplies have been finally filled at Jordan High School.
 • Dave Harlow, because the U.S. men’s hockey team beat Canada.
• John Rasmussen and Brent Blaylock, the former because N.C. State beat UNC in basketball, the latter to show he could be a good loser.
• Craige Summers, because member Sara Abrons was able to get away from her Caterpillar duties to attend a club meeting.
• Jim Wise, because, he said, he had four quarters burning a hole in his pocket.
So it was. Best wishes for everybody’s week ahead and remember: Service Above Self.
Twenty-two Southwest Durham Rotary members got an Twenty-two Southwest Durham Rotary members got an inspirational, and interesting, rundown this afternoon on a couple of clean-water projects in progress in Guatemala with the aid of Engineers Without Borders’ Research Triangle chapter and, in part, grants from our own District 7710.

Chemical Engineer Mike Tomasik, who is headed back to Guatemala this weekend, delivered the program, setting the context by pointing out that, worldwide, 748 million people are going without access to clean water and 2.5 billion without access to adequate sanitation. The regional EWB (members are actually from all over the Carolinas and Virginia, Mike said) is doing its bit by helping two remote mountain villages build solar-powered systems to pump fresh, chlorinated water uphill (90 meters in one case, 180 in the other) from natural springs to water tap stations where people live. To find out more, make a donation, or maybe volunteer yourself, take a look at https://ewb-rtp.org.

Preceding Mike –

• Foundation Chair Jim Hoke presented a Paul Harris Fellow pin and certificate to new Southwest Rotarian Gianni Lake, and two pins to Nate Byrd – one of them representing a Fellowship Nate earned as a member of a previous club.

• Club President Craige Summers announced that the club board had approved donating $9,000 to the Emily K Center, the money to be used for gap-funding grants to college-bound students.
 
With best wishes to the Engineers, and delight in the intimations here and there that spring really, truly is coming, you all have good weekends, you hear? And we’ll see you same time, same station next week.
Southwest Durham Rotary’s first regular meeting si Southwest Durham Rotary’s first regular meeting since before the ice + snow + generally miserable weather arrived turned out to be a sweet occasion thanks to Club President Craige Summers. Craige, who means to improve meeting attendance, followed a “carrot” (as in “carrot and stick”) approach yesterday: paying, out of his own pocket, for a specialty dessert or specialty coffee for everyone present, as thanks for their being on hand. 

 Fifteen club members and one guest enjoyed his thanks. (And thank you, Fearless Leader.) The 24 members absent were out of luck.

 “It was nice to see the chosen few,” said Sergeant-at-Arms Brent Blaylock, who, by the way, could use some volunteers to serve as sergeants-at-arms in the future. “It’s so easy to do,” Brent said.

 James Govier, a pleasant lunch guest, chef and Rotarian with the Cary MacGregor Club, who recently relocated from Hawaii to the Triangle, came along with Teresa Montiero, who briefly enlightened her table on Portuguese maritime history. Very interesting!
Craige, wishing also to encourage Happy Dollar sharing, offered to match, dollar for dollar, anyone who would get up with something to say. Several members took him up, including Nate Byrd, who expressed pleasure over several members’ excursion to an N.C. State Ice Pack hockey game, and the “really fun time had” at the club social last week at the Velvet Hippo.

Member Jim Wise provided the hour’s amusement, discoursing on how Durham is home to both a Duke Chapel and a Duke’s Chapel, and the man whose legacy is honored by the latter. Hint – it’s a Duke you likely never heard of.

It was good to be back at the University Club for lunchtime Thursday. Looking forward to some basketball this weekend and seeing you all next week!
Out of all the high schools in the country, Durham Out of all the high schools in the country, Durham’s own Jordan High next week becomes the first to stage and present a high-school version of the hit Broadway musical Water for Elephants.
 So Joyce McKinney announced during Happy Dollar time at today’s meeting of the Southwest Durham Rotary Club. (Her daughter is in the cast.) 
  That was one high point of a meeting that also brought:
• A reminder from Nate Byrd that the Holiday Party is Dec. 4 at the University Club (four entree choices, cost for guests is $60);
• New member Marge Nordstrom, who ably performed her first assignment at Sergeant at Arms duty, filling the Rotary Minute with memories of her own career in the organization. (It began in 2012 at the Downtown Club, where then-president Newman Aguiar lost no time asking her to co-chair Crayons to Calculators – with Joyce McKinney.)
But the afternoon’s main attraction was Rae Marie Czuhai, CEO of the Green Chair Project, describing the work that Wake County nonprofit does in providing “gently used” and reconditioned household furnishings and utensils for families getting over hard times – such as homelessness, domestic violence, natural disasters, and other big-time catastrophes.
Clients have told her that, thanks to the agency, “Now we have something to come home to.”
 So far, Green Chair just serves clients in Wake County, but Czuhai hinted it might like to expand to Durham. Here’s hoping they do.
 And congratulations to Jordan High, which is one of just three schools nationwide licensed to produce the high-school Water for Elephants, and the first to open the show. Performances are Nov. 13-15 and 20-22 at the school’s auditorium off Garrett Road. Tickets for grownups are $20.
District Governor Lisa Higginbotham highlighted th District Governor Lisa Higginbotham highlighted this week’s Southwest Durham Rotary meeting, illustrating her own passion for the organization with accounts of her own experiences since joining what she described as “the family of Rotary.”
Lisa also brought up the good works Rotary performs around the world and close to home – supporting Alzheimer’s research and helping rebuild western North Carolina, for example – along with the ways individuals can find and serve interests of their own through membership.
 “Embrace your passion,” Lisa said, is her theme for the year. “There are so many different things we do.” 
In closing, she encouraged Southwesters to come to next year’s District Conference (April 17-18 at Atlantic Beach) and attend the Rotary Leadership Institute – it’s a benefit for every Rotarian, she said, not just club leaders.
 Earlier in the proceedings: 
• Stephanie Byrd reminded of the social event convening at the Durham Hotel’s rooftop bar at 5:30 next Thursday (no regular meeting next week). 
• Sean Dotzauer had happy dollars for learning he’s going to become a grandfather soon (Tony Hopp added his own donation for Sean’s joy).
• Chris Abrons was happy for daughter Sara, who was attending a Caterpillar Inc. function at Churchill Downs in Kentucky, and pointed out that early voting is under way in Durham’s City Council and Mayoral elections.
• And John Rasmussen, Joyce McKinney, and Callie Ramsay reported that the Oct. 18 service project, renovating rooms at Families Moving Forward, was a rewarding experience for the Rotarians and that, when the homeless families saw the freshly brightened spaces they were moving into, they were “just overjoyed.”
Neat. 
Please accept our apologies for the late posting. We’ll just let whatever happens at the Durham Hotel stay at the Durham Hotel and next recap Nov. 6, when our guest speaker is Catherine Amos of the Green Chair Project (a novel and most beneficial enterprise, from what we’ve been told). In the meantime, you all stay safe and enjoy the fall.
We had a great time doing a big service project th We had a great time doing a big service project this past Saturday at @familiesmovingforwardnc in downtown Durham. We worked with @alottaloveinc again to make over two family apartments and the shelter’s family kitchen. Most of these photos are the “after” versions of the rooms. Thanks to all our members who came out to volunteer!
This being the evening the Carolina Hurricanes ope This being the evening the Carolina Hurricanes open their 2025-26 season, perhaps it is only fitting (ironic? purely coincidental?) that the Southwest Durham Rotary enjoyed a presentation on hockey today. Far from the NHL version, though, our speaker was Tim Healy, head coach of the North Carolina State Icepack, a collegiate outfit that has been skating, checking, and scoring since 1976.
 Operating as a student club outside NCSU’s varsity structure, the Icepack is its own nonprofit corporation with its own ESPN contract, Tim told us. The team plays a 30+ game schedule from Chapel Hill to Portland, Oregon, with home games at the Wake Competition Center in Morrisville (next home date is Oct. 24 vs. UNC).
The Icepack even holds a record for the largest crowd ever to watch a college hockey game: 26,000+ at Carter-Finley Stadium vs. the Tar Heels in 2023 (State won 7-3) as part of the NHL Stadium Series stop in Raleigh. (That record, Tim said, is likely to fall this season – the Stadium Series’ college game is at the University of Michigan.)
Aside from hockey, Past President Chris Abrons brought a festive touch to remind us Halloween is coming – passing out tangerines, explaining that they were the closest thing she could find that looked like pumpkins. Jim Hoke was happy about the past weekend, when he and Eva went to Wilmington to hear a guitar concert, ate dinner at a favorite French restaurant, and, as they were having such a good time, decided to stay the night and spend the next day on the beach.
Joyce McKinney showed off one of the new rectangular name badges ordered for the new members (the card she used was for Gianni Lake, who missed the meeting), and Sergeant-at-Arms Brendan Griffin shared some more Rotary lore, e.g.: A club in Curaçao once held a meeting under water. (They were trying to bring attention to a threatened coral reef).
There was one sad note, though: Brent Blaylock announced that Jean Holleman, widow of the late Southwest member Bill Holleman (of Spaghetti Dinner fame), has passed away.
That’s Recap for tonight. Next week, our own Sean Dotzauer has travel tales to tell. …
“A very poignant day for the Pledge,” was Sergeant “A very poignant day for the Pledge,” was Sergeant-at-Arms Brent Blaylock’s comment when he invited Southwest Rotarians to stand and pledge allegiance to the United States flag.

It was an apt comment, for a day our club devoted meeting time to writing notes of appreciation to first responders on the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Afterwards, Southwesters Chris Abrons, Jeff Blass, Teresa Monteiro and Judd Staples delivered the notes, along with baskets full of snack food and drinks, to the crews at four area fire stations.

Not to say the occasion was all somber. At Happy Dollar time, Jeff Blass made note of his granddaughter’s seventh birthday; Stephanie Byrd, of her and Nate’s approaching 10th wedding anniversary; and Raymond Raedy, ofnhis grandson’s first game for the N.C. State hockey team, during which the young man was called for the team’s first penalty – a cross-check.

And our innovative Sergeant-at-Arms came up with a twist on the Rotary Moment – dropping clues to see how long it took for someone to identify a particular club member. This individual had tended bar at a Rotary event; gone on a mission trip to Central America; and became club president under unusual circumstances. If you were at the meeting, you know who it was; if not, ask Joyce McKinney.
Southwest Durham Rotary carried boldly on with Thu Southwest Durham Rotary carried boldly on with Thursday’s meeting, in the face of absences byPresident Craige Summers (reportedly in Greece), Past President Chris Abrons (elsewhere obligated), and (Master) Sergeant-at-Arms Brent Blaylock (recovering from shoulder surgery).

Joe Jernigan, himself a former master of sergeants-at-arms, filled in with assurance, getting those raffle tickets sold and, for the Rotary Moment, quoting from an old hymn: “Let there be peace in the world and let it begin with me.” Filling in for Craige, former President Joyce McKinney reminded members about the Sept. 11 service meeting to recognize first responders; and Jim Hoke and Jim Cappola chipped in Happy Dollars in honor of impressive wedding anniversaries: 54 and 58 years, respectively.

The group then heard about a project called “Durham Next” (https://durhamnext.org), developed by Discover Durham (formerly Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau). Discover Durham CEO Susan Amey and Durham Next Executive Director Tara Kenchen outlined the need and plan for making Durham “the most welcoming, inclusive, innovative, and vibrant destination in the United States” by 2044, while preserving and building on the qualities that make Durham a great place to call home. Sounds promising, sounds ambitious, so do stay tuned.
Report from our meeting this week: Rotary spirit w Report from our meeting this week: Rotary spirit was manifest in an all-around upbeat gathering, from warmly welcoming prospective member Nathan Niles, to Jim Hoke’s inspiring Rotary Moment on the power of contact, to formally inducting new members Judd Staples and Gianni Lake, to a spontaneous response for two teenagers’ initiative for service.

Speaking today, Jordan High sophomores Amelia McKinney and Katie Taylor outlined their project to provide feminine sanitary products, at school and free of charge, to their fellow students. They made a case for the need, laid out a plan for supply and distribution, described an organization to keep the program going after they graduate, and said what they needed to get started: about $500.

At that point, Southwest Rotarian Tony Hopp stood up, announced that he would help them out, tossed some cash into a blue bucket, and went one table to the next taking contributions. His round finished, and after several careful counts, he announced that Katie and Amelia now had $582 toward the cause. The girls were grateful and surprised – but this was Rotary, after all.
We were back at @caring_house this week providing We were back at @caring_house this week providing dinner to the Duke cancer patients and their families staying there during treatment. This time we cooked up hamburgers and hotdogs and all the fixins’! #serviceaboveself
We had a fun social at Clouds Brewing last week! T We had a fun social at Clouds Brewing last week! Turnout was quite good but we forgot to take a photo until many people had left already. Thanks to everyone who came out!
Tonight was @rotary7710’s installation banquet for Tonight was @rotary7710’s installation banquet for incoming club presidents, district officers and our new DG Lisa Higginbotham. Congratulations to our own @blassjeff, the outgoing district governor!
We partnered with @sunrisechapelhillcarrboro Rotar We partnered with @sunrisechapelhillcarrboro Rotary Club this year for their annual duck race fundraiser on the Eno River. Thousands of rubber ducks raced down the river (don’t worry, they are cleaned up and reused every year). Our club ended up with four winning ducks out of 20 prize winners! Woo! Fundraisers like this help fund all our projects throughout the year. #servicesboveself
Our own Raymond Raedy is a hobbyist WWII historian Our own Raymond Raedy is a hobbyist WWII historian, and today he’s doing a program about D-Day. Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Raymond!
Today our speakers are Bravin Troy and Brandon Bea Today our speakers are Bravin Troy and Brandon Beaty, who entrepreneurs who started @scramblesbooks with the idea of a new kind of picture book for kids with interchangeable pages to inspire their creativity. #bullcity #durhamnc
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