Blue badges. John Warfel and Angela Neal recieved their Blue Badges at the October 19 meeting. New member Dave Vespoli was inducted into the club on Friday, October 12.

25 Gs. Savor the Savor Chair Bartley James said the annual fundraising event raised revenues of about $25,000. The net proceeds from the event are expected to be about $16,000, he said. Proceeds from the event will go to food banks in Strongsville, Berea and North Royalton.
 
Dikshenaries. We will do our annual dictionary distribution to Strongsville's third graders following the October 26 meeting. If you want to volunteer to help deliver the books to local elementary schools, contact Dan Sage. Alls you gotta do is take the dictionaries to a school, lay the Rotary pitch on the kids for a few minutes and pass out the books. It's not that hardm unless the kids scare you.

New members. Val Tocci will hold a New Member Orientation on Wednesday, October 24, at 7:30 at the Senior Center. The meeting is mandatory for new members, so you may as well get it over with.

Connections. Angel House will host a special program for Strongsville High School kids in the Connections program on Friday, November 2, announced Paul "Cream" Psota. Club volunteers are needed to help out from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The Connections program is for kids who experience a variety of problems that impact their education.

Business Expo. Table space for the Strongsville Business Expo will be released to the public starting Thursday, Oct. 27. Until now, Rotarians got first dibs for the discounted price of $100 per table. Past president Bruce Keenan said 75 of the 90 tables were gone as of October 19, and they are expected to sell out. The annual event, hosted by the Strongsville Department of Economic Development, the Strongsville Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club of Strongsville and the Strongsville High School DECA Program, will be held from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the Recreation Center.

The event is free to the public - that's how we get them to come in and look at your stuff. The special guest master of ceremonies will be Bill Wills. of WTAM 1100AM.

Breakfast with Santa. Jack Miaskowski said we'll need 15 to 20 volunteers to help serve at the city's annual Breakfast with Santa Claus, on Saturday, Dec. 1, from 9:00 to about 11:00 a.m. This is the event where parents bring their kids to eat pancakes, eggs and sausage and tell Santa what they want for Christmas. Contact Jack if you want to help out.

Christmas music. George Tomko announced the dates of December 15 and 22 for the club's annual trips to see the Cleveland Orchestra perform holiday music. Music, George opined, is one of the best things about the Christmas season. Contact George for more information.

Blankets. Sheila Dunn said a bunch of Rotarians will open their homes during the first week of December for blanket making parties. The blankets are easy to make, even if you're inebriated, which is good since some of the parties might have alcohol. You'll need to bring your own scissors and stuff, but contact Sheila for complete details and a schedule of who is having the parties.

Grand prize. Each year some great stuff is raffled off at the Chili Open Golf Outing - like loges at Progressive Field to watch the Indians try to hold their own against real ball clubs. This year we're lacking for a grand prize, so if you can get your hands on something good that will sell a lot of raffle tickets, contact Grandpa Bob Schmieler. He wants to get the tickets printed by Thanksgiving, so hurry up and come up with some ideas.

Words of Wisdom

After being with her all evening, the man couldn't take another minute with his blind date. Earlier, he had secretly arranged to have a friend call him to the phone so he would have an excuse to leave if something like this happened.

When he returned to the table, he lowered his eyes, put on a grim expression and said, "I have some bad news. My grandfather just died."

"Thank heavens," his date replied. "If yours hadn't, mine would have had to!"

Quotable

"Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done and why. Then do it." - Robert Heinlein

"Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws." - Amschel Meyer Rothschild