50-50 RAFFLE
POT SIZE: $249.00
Dick Moore and Christine Sullivan had the raffle numbers, but there was no winner!
CALENDAR RAFFLE
SOLD BY: Rinus Oosthoek
SOLD TO: Maria Morello
Calendar #1092
VISITING ROTARIANS AND GUESTS
John Neely's guests were Stuart West and Christine Sullivan.
Mike McLaughlin's son, Collin, was his guest.
BIRTHDAYS
Happy birthday to Jim Bailey on October 15th!
FINES AND RECOGNITIONS
Randy Burba went to San Francisco, took the red eye flight home, drove to Kingston, NH, and then drove to Martha's Vineyard.
Bruce Whear said the Marblehead Little Theatre Production of "Violet" will be shown this Thursday-Sunday.
Brenda Smith said she has 6 weeks to go to Cozumel. She road 224 miles this weekend.
Dick Moore said the Topsfield Fair did well, about the same as last year. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Kelli Pickler from American Idol, and Danielle Bradbury from The Voice were part of the entertainment. There was no world record for the giant pumpkin which weighed in at 1,900 lbs.
Rich Eisner gave his son's hockey report. They won 1 game, and lost 1 game.
John Neely said that the hotel staff set up the AV equipment on short notice.
Victoria Davis is heading to Colorado to visit her daughter on parents' weekend, and to attend the college football game.
Viktoria Talebian is taking the money for the calendars. Also, there will be a Lifebridge dinner on November 5th, and one again on January 7th. Volunteers thus far are Jason, Adria, Ean, Rich, David, Viktoria and her son.
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND CLUB BUSINESS
There was a joint meeting with the Marblehead club last Thursday. We are planning another one in Salem in the future.
Dr. Hannah West, a wildlife search and rescue tracker, was our guest speaker this week. She appreciates the friendly nature of the people of Salem, and gave many thanks to the Neelys and the great works of Rotary.
She has had many run-ins with Job, and she used to believe we that we would find ourselves based on the challenges of life.
Hannah was born in southern Mississippi, and grew up in The Church of God. A week before her 5th birthday, she raised the question, "Why did God have to be so mean to somebody who loved Him?" Her birthday party got postponed and she was preached at by the church. She then wrote a letter to God. Her mother made her erase the letter to God, and Hannah rewrote it. Writing is how she understood the world and kept a record of all the happening, injustice, and unfairness of life.
She kept all her writings hidden in the studs of her childhood home.
Hannah always helped those who were being threatened or persecuted. She would travel 60 minutes one way to attend church, 3 days a week. She looked like a "church freak" to her peers and was bullied in school. Hannah thought school was easy, and she got straight A's. She thought that everyone else was a knucklehead, and had few, if any, friends. She was chosen to be in a debate about "unconditional love," and was found in favor, and won the debate.
Hannah always wanted to make a family and have a home. She got married to a man who was tormented as a child. She made a vow to show him "unconditional love." During her 6 1/2 years of marriage, she stood up to him in order to protect her children. He beat her, not the children. He eventually left her, and took the children with him. Unfortunately, three judges in three states took the children and gave them to her husband. He then turned around and abused the children.
After that, she wanted to be away from humanity and people. She held 3 full time jobs, spending some time being homeless and hungry. She moved to the desert and took up rock climbing and became trained as a tracker. She went to college and studied tracking, and how it related to violence. She got a call from a magazine, and they wanted to publish an article featuring her and her children.
Hannah then went to Africa and wrote a book. Now instead of running and hiding, she and her children were out in the public eye. Her son was diagnosed with a brain tumor when he was 20. Because of his illness, they were in need of money for medical expenses, but were waiting for money from the book, which put them in a desperate financial situation. Hannah wrote a second book. She unfortunately was stalked by one of the readers of her books. Her professor told her she was like Job.
Hannah met and married her now husband, Stuart. While she was attending grad school, Hannah had a desire to go back to writing. She began a blog that had many followers. Hannah's message to others is that there is pressure to conform around us all of our life, and we need to connect to the soul of each person. We are part of the human community - we are all one.
