Capital Rotary Club members, spouses and friends celebrated Rotary Night with the Columbia Fireflies minor league baseball team at Spirit Communications Park. They were among more than 360 Rotarians from 17 different clubs in the district who signed up for an evening of food, fellowship and good sportsmanship, part of a fundraiser totaling over $1,000. Nearly 40 Capital members bought tickets for the event and sat along the first base line.
Columbia’s Capital Rotary has honored five members as new Paul Harris Fellows, signifying $1,000 donations to the Rotary Foundation in their names. They are (front row, from left) Denise Holland, Joe Reynolds, Abby Naas, Daniel Winders and Shane Lacaillade. Club members who assisted in these donations are (back row, from left) David Boucher, Bryan Goodyear, Chris Ray, Ione Cockrell, Craig Lemrow and Mike Montgomery. Rotary Foundation contributions help fund international programs promoting peace and world understanding.
Catherine Glen, a Global Grant Scholar for 2016-2017, is welcomed to Capital Rotary’s weekly meeting by president Tommy Gibbons. The 2011 University of South Carolina graduate taught special education students in rural Japan for the past three years. Her Rotary Global Grant scholarship funds a year of graduate study at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland, hosted by the Rotary Club of Belfast. Glen is seeking a master’s degree in the psychology of childhood adversity. She formerly worked with youth in treatment for substance abuse and mood disorders at the Medical University of South Carolina and was a Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteer.
Since 2010: 451 volunteer blood donations, potentially saving 1,353 hospital patients’ lives.
Matthew Pollard (left) and Harry Carter welcome a donor for Capital Rotary’s 2016 blood drive. The annual summertime event collected 61 pints, each helping to save the lives of up to three people. Over the past six years, the Columbia-area club has supported the American Red Cross with a total of 451 volunteer blood donations, potentially saving 1,353 hospital patients’ lives.
Columbia’s Capital Rotary Club has sworn-in new officers and board members for 2016-2017. They include (from left) directors Phillip Flynn and Gloria Saeed; president-elect Blake DuBose; secretary Katherine Anderson; sergeant at arms Ross Oakley; president Dr. Tommy Gibbons; director Ione Cockrell; and vice president/membership chair Ben Carlton. Not pictured are director Neda Beal, treasurer Craig Lemrow and past president David Boucher.
Dr. Tommy Gibbons (left), 2016-17 Capital Rotary president, presents a plaque to David Boucher to recognize his leadership of the Columbia-area club in 2015-16. As past president, Boucher now will be in charge of club donations to the Rotary Foundation that funds international programs promoting education, peace and world understanding.
We invite everyone to join the Columbia Capital Rotary Club for our annual blood drive.
Download Blood Drive Flyer Here
Time: Wednesday, July 27th, 10am-4pm
Location: CBRE Building, 1st Floor, 1333 Main Street, Columbia, SC
Instructions to sign up are on the flyer (see link above) and listed below. If anyone has any problems signing up online.
John Guignard (center) is the latest Paul Harris Fellow for Columbia’s Capital Rotary Club, signifying a $1,000 donation in his name to the Rotary Foundation in support of world understanding and international peace projects. Guignard has been serving as chairman of the club’s annual Christmas wreath sales fundraising effort. Capital Rotarian Chris Ray (left) assisted with Guignard’s donation. Also pictured is Mark Bokesch, the club’s Foundation gifts director.
Our speaker at our meeting Wednesday, June 8th was Senator and former Lt. Governor John Yancey McGill – a native of Kingstree, South Carolina. Yancey McGill was formerly a Democratic member of the South Carolina Senate, representing the 32nd District in Williamsburg and Georgetown
McGill became Lieutenant Governor after Glenn McConnell resigned to become president of The College of Charleston, becoming the first Democrat to hold the office since 1995. McGill chose not to run for election to a full term, in November 2014; Republican Henry McMaster therefore succeeded him as Lieutenant Governor on January 14, 2015, having won the November election. In January 2015, McMaster appointed McGill to be the State Director of South Carolina’s Office on Aging. He stayed at the position for 8 months before returning to his family farm in Kingstree. In March 2016, McGill left the Democratic Party and announced his intention to run for Governor of South Carolina in 2018 as a Republican. He had been a fairly conservative Democrat for most of his career; he opposed abortion and supported curbs on government spending and regulation. He admitted that he hadn’t changed parties sooner because his state senate district was too Democratic for him to be elected as a Republican.
Columbia Capital Rotarian Craig Lemrow (left) has received a Paul Harris ruby–decorated pin recognizing multiple contributions to The Rotary Foundation, the international service club’s charitable arm that funds programs for world understanding and peace. Lemrow is a member of the Paul Harris Society, signifying continuing donations of $1,000 per year. A former Rotarian in Lexington, he joined the Capital club in 2014. At right is Mark Bokesch, immediate past president and Foundation giving chairman for Capital Rotary.
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