These are exciting times at the Rotary Club of Farragut. Busy times. A 100-member milestone is near – for the first time since the club had its first meeting in 1980, it is about to reach the 100-member mark. But there’s much more.
A gaggle of about 20 of our members will be in Little Turkey Creek this coming Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. doing stream cleanup work. Later this month, first-term U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett will be speaking to us. Member Mansour Hasan is collecting teddy bears for the Knox County Juvenile Court’s kids. Farragut Rotarian Candace Viox of Water Into Wine fame sat down to talk with Hallerin Hilton Hill of “Anything Is Possible” fame. And Farragut Rotarians brought home six prestigious awards from the recent District 6780 Conference.
First, the awards. The conference was in Gatlinburg and ended this past Sunday. President Keith Bryson and the club were presented with six major awards:
- District Governor’s Citation
- Globe Club
- Super STAR Club +4
- YES Award Level 4 for youth service projects
- Reach Award (membership increase)
- 1st place, Lacy Bomar Electronic Bulletin (newsletters), PP Tom King for “The Flagship”
With Bryson at the conference at the Park Vista Hotel were president-elect Staci Wilkerson, past president Chris Camp, Patty Daughtrey, who is the District 6780 secretary, Bill Nichols and Dave Freudenberg. Camp graduated from the District Leadership Academy, and on July 1 she will become an assistant district governor.
Now, on to the rest of the Rotary happenings:
During the month of April, Hasan’s State Farm Agency in Farragut is collecting teddy bears and other toy stuffed animals for the children caught up in child-abuse, neglect or child-custody cases in Knox County Juvenile Court. You can drop them off between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. at Mansour’s office, 10811 Kingston Pike. He prefers new or almost-new stuffed animals.
Viox owns one of the big success stories in Farragut – her bistro/lounge Water Into Wine. Last week she sat down for a conversation with the “Big HHH” – radio talk-show host and TV personality Hallerin Hilton Hill – for his show “Anything Is Possible.” They talked about Viox’s life and how she ended up owning Water Into Wine. We don’t know yet the date the episode will run. The show airs at 11 a.m. Sundays on WBIR-TV.
Last week the club inducted Realtor Cindy Kraus, its 97th member, and it has three more prospective members in the pipeline, which would put the club at 100 members. That’s a major milestone in the club’s almost 40-year history.
The April 24 meeting should be very interesting. Our speaker will be U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett. We’ll be getting Burchett’s impressions of Washington politics and hearing his priorities. Our meeting will begin at 12:15 p.m. at Fox Den Country Club, if you’d like to come and hear Burchett.
Our friends at the Rotary Club of Knoxville will hear from UT interim president Randy Boyd at noon Tuesday, April 16, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel downtown.
If you’re interested in exploring membership in Farragut Rotary, drop me an email or call (865) 659-3562. We meet at 12:15 p.m. each Wednesday at Fox Den Country Club.