• 5,000 raffle tickets sold;

• Cuernevaca outreach;

• Co-hosted the very special three district centennial conference;

• Participated in Shoes for Orphan Souls;

• Helped many area youth with scholarships, and

• Strengthened our ties with the Rotary club in Cuernevaca, Mexico with a visit from our club members.

• FUND RAISER:  The club is now actively selling sterling silver bracelets with a pawprint charm as a fundraiser. 20% of the profits go to the local community and 80% to projects in Mexico.  Check out the flyer for additional details, or see Janice, Darlene or Phil.
  

ROTARY YOUTH LEADERSHIP AWARDS (RYLA)

Each summer thousands of young people are selected to attend Rotary-sponsored leadership camps or seminars in the United States, Australia, Canada, India, France, Argentina, Korea and numerous other countries. In an informal out-of-doors atmosphere, 50 to 75 outstanding young men and/or women spend a week in a challenging program of discussions, inspirational addresses, leadership training and social activities designed to enhance personal development, leadership skills and good citizenship. The official name of this activity is the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards program (RYLA), although the event is occasionally referred to as Camp Royal, Camp Enterprise, Youth Leaders Seminars, Youth Conferences or other terms.

The RYLA program began in Australia in 1959, when young people throughout the state of Queensland were selected to meet with Princess Alexandra, the young cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. The Rotarians of Brisbane, who hosted the participants, were impressed with the quality of the young leaders. It was decided to bring youth leaders together each year for a week of social, cultural and educational activities. The RYLA program gradually grew throughout all the Rotary districts of Australia and New Zealand. In 1971, the RI Board of Directors adopted RYLA as an official program of Rotary International.

ABCs of Rotary" by Cliff Dotchterman - reprinted with permission).
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Cindy Sheltmire introduced John Hall. 

John is the author of many books, but the one that John spoke about today was “Mickey Mantle:  Before the Glory”.   John’s obsession with baseball started in his youth when he was a batboy in the KOM League for the Carthage Cubs, a Class D affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.  He says that his reason for working this job was to earn access to free baseball equipment.  After College, John pastured in numerous Nazarene churches, worked for the state governments of Kansas and Missouri.  Joe Teasdale appointed him as State Medicaid Director but was later “unappointed” by Kit Bond.  He worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Virginia, Electronic Data Systems (Ross Perot’s first company), and later Unisys.  About a decade ago, he returned to his childhood obsession and began writing.  He wrote two books prior to the Mickey Mantle book:  “Majoring in the Minors”, and “The KOM League Remembered”.

His research about Mickey Mantle started in 1999 when a group of players from the Joplin Miners approached him and wanted to spend some time telling stories about Mickey Mantle’s time in Joplin.  At first, John was not too enthusiastic because he wasn’t a huge Mickey Mantle fan, but as he gathered information through the years, he became fascinated in the story.  As he was researching, he quickly learned that many of the books out there about Mickey Mantle are factually incorrect.  That was one reason why John purposely avoided reading any of the other material published about the legend.  Source material for his book came from family and friend’s accounts of stories.  He was given photographs and scrapbooks from those family members and friends.  The family was so grateful to John for his efforts because they were given stories and photographs that they didn’t know existed.  In fact, Mrs. Mantle was so impressed that she offered to write the foreward to the book which was finished in December of 2004 and recently went on bookstands in April. 

If you are interested in purchasing “Mickey Mantle: Before the Glory”, visit any local bookstore.  The retail price is $29.95 and is available in hardcover.

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If interested, please e-mail Tony St Romaine, or see Kristen Smarr, Jane Phillips or Paige Scott for additional details.
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 Web Editor:  Tony St Romaine

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