December 21, 2004:  Today's guest was Catherine Tress, Press Officer of PennDOT District 11 (Allegheny, Butler and Beaver Counties.)  Catherine informed us about upcoming major construction on I79 and along Rt. 8.

December 14, 2004:  Buzz Pasquini spoke about the YMCA of Pittsburgh with its over 45,000 members and their programs for youth, swimming, camps, preschool and programs for special needs children - here the Pittsburgh Y has the largest camp in western Pennsylvania.  Bill Evans and Buzz Pasquini returned as potential new members.

December 7, 2004:  Club Assembly.  Jürgen Brune spoke about the D7300 Leadership Retreat that he and Pete Pearson attended on December 4.  Bill Erdman, Bill Evans  and Buzz Pasquini returned as potential new members.

November 30, 2004:  Vijay Nair and Brian Weller, seniors at USC High School, and their adviser Marjie Heins reported back to us from their recent day of studies with the World Affairs Council.  The topic was "Globalization" and they had discussions about international trade and also about terrorism and other worldwide phenomena.  Bill Erdman and Bill Evans returned as potential new members, and Buzz Pasquini from the South Hills YMCA also attended as a potential new member.

November 23, 2004:  Rotarian George Omiros, a member and of the Uniontown / Chestnut Ridge club, former District Governor of District 7330, and Maureen Durkin spoke to us about the work of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Funded by donations, the society has been effective in sponsoring research and introduction of experimental drugs into clinical trials.  A recent "Light the Night" fundraiser walk attracted 6,000 donors and raised over $285,000.  Leukemia is the #1 fatal disease for children and young people under age 35, and Lymphoma is one of the fastest-growing diseases.

November 16, 2004:  Nellie King, former Pirates pitcher and later radio announcer, was our speaker today.  He spoke to us about his career where he enjoyed every job he had.  Nellie had some great stories to tell about his life as an announcer in the early days of sports commentary on radio.  Bill Erdman returned as potential new member, and Bill Evans joined our meeting as a guest.

November 9, 2004:  We had Josette Fitzgibbons, Executive Director, speak to us about the Regional Environmental Education Center that opened in Boyce-Mayview Park in September.  The REEC serves schools as well as youth and adult groups in Allegheny County as a center for outdoor and environmental studies.  Presently, two classrooms and a nature lab are open.  Further expansion of the center is planned as the community needs increase.  Renee Brune and Bill Erdmann were our guests.

November 2, 2004:  Election Day!  Club Assembly - November 27 is our annual SHIM Shuffle.  Check with Mike Lloyd about details.  Barbeque money is still coming in.

October 26, 2004:  Brendon Costa gave us the wrap-up of the Chicken Bar-B-Que.  We raised over $27,000 - about $3,000 less than last year, so we need to make a better effort the next time.  Drive-through sales increased while there were fewer dining-room customers.  Brendon will work with Scott Churchill next year.  Great job and thanks to all the organizers and helpers!  We will have a dinner for all helpers soon.

October 19, 2004:  Our speaker was Dr. Carol Wooten from the University of Pittsburgh-Institute of Politics. Her presentation on “Accountability for the 21st Century, Today’s Students, Tomorrow Workers" showed that we have education deficiencies that prevent some of today's students from getting high-paying jobs.

October 12, 2004:  Martha Deeter was our guest speaker - she informed us about palliative care and the family hospital organization. President Susan Hicks presented her with a donation from our club. 
Leoni Jooste from South Africa and her Pittsburgh daughter, Leanne Meyer, spoke about Paul Newman's youth camps organization in Botswana.  This organization cares for children and youth with life-threatening diseases - this might become a Rotary International project for us.  Also our guests were Mickie Beyer as well as Ed Harmon and Tom Rohrich from the Evening Club.

October 5, 2004:  Pastor Richard Neumann from Etna spoke to us about the role of his church to support the community during the flood of Hurricane Ivan.  The Lutheran church was not flooded so it could be used to house flood victims.  Over two weeks Pastor Neumann and his volunteers served more than 10,000 meals with food items donated by local citizens and businesses.

October 2, 2004:  Our 16th Annual Chicken Barbeque was a success - every member and countless helpers behind the scenes did their share in contributing to raise the funds that our club will donate to charitable purposes.  Final counts are not in yet - still waiting for our statisticians and accountants to do the math.

September 28, 2004:  Club Assembly and final preparations for our Chicken Barbeque

September 21, 2004:  Allegheny County Councilman Vince Gastgeb was our speaker.  Vince gave us a first-hand report on the flood damage in his district that includes Upper St. Clair, Bethel Park and South Fayette Township.  Vince also reported on an initiative to publish arrest records on the DA's website.  Gerry Ferrara attended as guest and soon-to-be new member.

September 14, 2004:  Our scheduled speaker, Pirates former pitcher and announcer Nelly King could not make the meeting but guest and former member Marty Brocco pinch-hit and spoke to us about recent developments at the South Hills YMCA.  Bob Hackett's sister Nancy Lewis also joined us as our guest.

September 7, 2004:  Club Assembly.  We pinned Mike Mirchich as our 38th member.  Mike is a Nuclear Engineer turned Financial Adviser with Waddell & Reed and has spent many years volunteering with other Rotarians before finally taking the plunge of membership himself - Congratulations, Mike.  Also our guest was Gerry Ferrara from PNC Bank, prospective new member.

August 31, 2004:  Rotarian and Honorary Member Ron Pardini and his Deputy Chief Lt. Doug Burkholder spoke about emergency preparedness in Upper St. Clair.  The USC PD has done an exceptional job in preparing for emergencies and they now train other police departments in emergency preparedness.  Crime remains low in our township although the police call center answers about 14,000 calls each year.
Ed Harmon from the Evening Club and Gerry Ferrara were our guests.

August 24, 2004:  Our District Governor, Jon Maurer, spoke to us about the Rotary Centennial and his expectations for the clubs in District 7300.  There will be a centennial celebration of Rotary in Pittsburgh next February.  Ron is asking that all members attend the Centennial Convention in Chicago next June 19-22 and that members strengthen their clubs by proposing two new members each during this year.
We pinned Randy Quinn as our 37th member - Congratulations, Randy.
ADG Milt Hamel from the Evening Club and prospective new member Mike Mirchich also attended.

August 17, 2004:  Monica Gay and Wendy Moore from Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) spoke about their organization and their work as advocates for abused or neglected children. CASA is a nationwide volunteer organization that assists the courts in their work with these children and works towards providing them with a safe, permanent and loving home.  There are over 5,000 neglected and abused children in our county but CASA provides over 500 volunteer case workers to help them.

August 10, 2004:  Club Assembly.  Brendon Costa is right on track with preparations for the Barbeque - tickets are for sale and the team competition begins.  Watch the warrior team of two - Roy and Frank - they are ready to challenge the rest of us.

August 3, 2004:  Don Ross was our speaker.  Don recently returned from a mission to Venezuela with The Church of Jesus Christ.  He and three other missionaries conducted church services, visited the sick and dispensed food and clothing to the needy.  A truly Rotarian spirit, Don will leave our club since he is taking a new job with his bank in a different part of town.  Don, it was great to have you as a member - hope you find another Rotary club to join.  Come visit us again and help selling tickets for the Barbeque.  We will miss you!

July 27, 2004:  Our speaker was Cathy Clemens from Mellon Financial.  Cathy spoke about the use of 529 college tuition savings plans.  George Cahill from the Downtown club, Ed Harmon from the Evening club and potential new member, Randy Quinn, attended as our guests.

July 20, 2004:  Club assembly.  Randy Quinn, a potential new member, was our guest.  Preparations for the Chicken Barbeque are in full swing.  Last weekend, Mike Lloyd, Mike Giglotti and Jürgen Brune went to Camp Kon-O-Kwee to work on the nature trail.

July 13, 2004:  Joyce Lewis-Andrews, COO of the Girl Scouts Trillium Council, joined us for breakfast.  The Trillium council encompasses 12 counties in southwestern Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia and western Maryland and serves 22,000 girl scout members who are supported by 6,000 volunteers.  Joyce helped clear some common myths about girl scouting.  In Upper St. Clair, one in three girls is a girl scout.
Also our guest was Randy Quinn, a potential new member.

July 6, 2004:  Special guests today were Kimberly Waller and her parents Deborah and Rex.  Kimberly won the Service Above Self Award as a graduating senior from Upper St. Clair High School.  She has an outstanding community service record and completed several mission trips for Westminster Church over the past years.  Kimberly plans to attend the University of Pittsburgh majoring in Social Work and pre-law.  Congratulations, Kimberly!

June 29, 2004:  Our speaker was Kregg Heenan from PNC Bank - he spoke about the increasing threat of identity theft.  He recommended to check your credit ratings regularly and to shred all credit card applications and other documents that contain personal and/or account information before throwing them into the trash. Philipp Sirianni and his mother, Mary, joined us for breakfast.  Philipp was the winner of the Service Above Self Award from Bethel Park High School - he is involved in many community service activities and will attend Duquesne University in computer science this fall.

June 22, 2004:  The 17th annual "Changing of the Guard" dinner at Valley Brook Country Club was a success.  Guest speaker was Lou Piconi from the Evening Club.  Assistant DG Milt Hamel, incoming Centennial President Susan Hicks' mother, Mickie Beyer, her children Sarah and Dan Holliday and Kiri Rising as well as President Bob Hackett's son Robert and his wife Carrie, Barb Giglotti and her son Mike, a returning member, and almost all spouses attended our dinner. Congratulations to Roy Werner and to Jürgen Brune on their Paul Harris Fellowships!

June 15, 2004:  Lowell Rein gave a presentation about employee development and workforce management.  He explained how many companies and businesses have difficulties with poorly-performing employees that are a consequence of poor personnel management.
Our guests were John McFerran with West Penn Allegheny Health Systems and son-in-law of Alan Axelson and Frank Dankowski who thanked us for the contributions we made to his "Operation Neck Coolers", enabling him to manufacture 400 coolers and ship them to U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

June 8, 2004:  Joel Klein from Birch Tree Apparel spoke to us about present and future trends in fashion and apparel.

June 1, 2004:  Our speaker was Char Kinder, a personal coach and owner of Discovery Works. Char spoke to us about increasing personal energy levels, physical, mental and emotional energies.  We need to control these energy levels in order to function in our professional and family lives. 
Kathy Fitzgerald  attended as our guest and potential new member.

May 25, 2004:  Cindy Cooney, Board Secretary for the South Hills Chamber of Commerce, spoke to us about the missions and services of the chamber.  Memberships are available for individuals and business owners.  The chamber fosters professional networking and enhances business relationships.  Kathy Fitzgerald and Ed Harmon from the Evening Club attended as our guests.

May 18, 2004:  Our speaker, Kathy Fitzgerald with Senior Bridge Care, spoke to us about comprehensive clinical care for elderly patients.  Services go beyond home care and address times of stress and special needs.  Guests were Lou Picconi and President-Elect Tom Rohrich from the Evening Club and John Nave, President of the Bethel Noon club.

May 11, 2004:  Honorary Rotarian Ron Pardini was our guest.  Ron gave us an update on his granddaughter Gloria who is suffering from cerebral palsy.  Gloria has made progress through treatments in a clinic in Poland and will go there again soon.  The trips are made possible in part through donations from our club and individual Rotarians.

May 4, 2004:  Our guest was Bonnie Hassan, a licensed social worker and mental health therapist.  Bonnie introduces us to Reiki, an Asian technique that promotes life force energy and spiritual healing.  Bonnie has successfully applied Reiki to heal physical as well as mental ailments.

April 27, 2004:  Rotarian and resident mushroom hunting member, Mike Lloyd, spoke to us about hunting for Morels.  Several species of morels are in season right now.  Morels favor decaying or dead elm, tulip poplar, ash and maple trees and tend to come back to the same spot every year.  Some can grow several inches tall and they are a delicacy.  Morels are recognized by a hollow stem and have dark to yellow, uniquely patterned heads.  The only confusion comes with the false morel that has a reddish head and no hollow stem - false morels are eaten by some but cause adverse reactions in other people.  Make sure you show Mike your morels and tell him where you found them - in return, he will bless your finds for safe eating and give you a recipe.

April 24, 2004:  This year's Rebuilding Together (formerly Christmas in April) project involved a house in Brentwood.  The owner is in his 70s and just recently underwent surgery.  The house needed painting, new front stairs, a railing along the walkway to the back of the house, roof improvements, some work on the back stairs handrail and a good bit of yardwork.  Our club teamed up with the Bethel Park (Noon) club to sponsor the house, and we had a number of sorority sisters from West Virginia University lending a hand.  Patrick Findle had organized the event together with House Captain and Master Craftsman Bob Imblum.  Bruce Austin and son, Alan Axelson and son-in-law, Jürgen Brune,  Brendon Costa, Pat Findle and family, Larry Lehman and out Congressman, Tim Murphy, were at hand for the job, together with several members from the Noon club.

April 20, 2004:  Our guest was Lynette Brooks from the Greater Pittsburgh Women's Shelter.  Many of the women find peace, hope and safety in the "Quilt of Services and Programs" the shelter offers.  The shelter runs an emergency hotline, a Counseling Center for adults and children, education, medical and legal advocacy.  Our club presented a check for $500 to Lynette in support of the shelter's services.
Our guest was Jon Evans, a potential member.

April 16, 2004:  The annual Roadside Cleanup along Ft. Couch Road in Bethel Park was performed in routine fashion with the experienced help from Bob Hackett, Susan and Dave Hicks, Bruce Austin and Marshall Goldstein.  The picture shows the crew ready for the job.

April 13, 2004:  Rick Futrell from the Washington City Mission spoke to us about a successful year with the Mission which currently houses 32 homeless women and children and 59 men.  Rick thanked our club for our generous donation.  The mission continues to run over capacity so funding is needed for the expansion of shelter space.  The mission also operates four stores where the needy can obtain free clothing.  Rick invited all to donate unused clothing and furniture that is still in good shape.

April 6, 2004:  Club Assembly.  Mike Lloyd reported that the YMCA Partner With Youth Campaign netted over $2,000 in pledges for the "Y".  Susan Hicks reminded all to come to the Rotary District Assembly on April 13 at the Radisson Greentree.  Guests were Pete Vaughan and Jon Evans, potential new members.  Pete is a process engineer and Jon an attorney.

March 30, 2004:  Daniel Horgan, the founder and Executive Director of Allegheny County's Promise, spoke to us today about his organization.  It is part of America's Promise, a non-profit that helps young students to advance by offering them mentoring and guidance.  The organization has had excellent success but there are still thousands of kids in our schools who miss out on great opportunities like those sponsored by America's promise.
We pinned two new members today:  Don Ross and Larry Lehman - Welcome to both of you as new Rotarians.
Other guests were Ed Harmon from the Evening Club and Jon Evans, potential new member.

March 23, 2004:  Renée Farrow was our speaker today.  Renée is President of Decorating Details, LLC and has successfully built her business during the last 12 years.  A big driver in her success was her ability to utilize the media to earn name recognition and credibility for herself and company.  She won numerous awards and has volunteered in many organizations that promote small and women-owned businesses.
Our guests were Frank Marsh, Rotarian from the Washington club, Mike Mirchich and Larry Lehman, both potential new members.

March 16, 2004:  Our speakers were three students from Upper St. Clair High School:  Seniors Akshaya Kumar and Sam Hornak, who both aspire a career in public policy and want to attend Georgetown University, and Junior Brian Weller, together with their advisors Pat Palazzolo and Marjie Heins.  The students enjoyed the seminar which gave them the opportunity to discuss world affairs in a forum where each participant had a strong interest in the subject.  Russia is still struggling with the transition toward a democratic government, and there are many socio-economic difficulties yet to overcome.

March 9, 2004:  Doug Muetzel, CEO of The Wesley Institute, was our speaker.  Doug thanked our club for the generous contribution to his organization and spoke about the many areas where the Institute helps special need children with education and life skills.  Several hundred students from 60 school districts in southwestern Pennsylvania attend the Wesley Institute which is supported by public and mostly private funds.
Mike Mirchich and Larry Lehman attended as guests waiting to be pinned.

March 2, 2004:  Club Assembly.  Our guests were Mike Mirchich, Larry Lehman and Don Ross, all prospective new members. 

Saturday, February 29:  We had a successful construction day at Camp Kon-O-Kwee, where we built a maple sugar shack and tapped maple trees.  The party was led by Mike Lloyd and included Janet Lloyd and her Girl Scout Troop, Greg Peterson and his son Nick, Bob Hackett, Roy Werner, prospective member Mike Mirchich and Jürgen Brune.

February 24, 2004:  Rory Mullan, an Ambassadorial Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh, was our guest.  He is studying Political Science and gave us an interesting view about the improving relationships between Catholics and Protestants.

February 20, 2004:  We celebrated an Evening of Giving Party at Valleybrook Country Club where we invited representatives from charities such as South Hills Interfaith Ministries (SHIM), Camp Kon-O-Kwee/Camp Spencer, Southwinds, Inc, YMCA Camp AIM, Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh, Wesley Institute, Mission for Haiti’s Children, Appalachian Work Camp and the International Rotary Foundation..  We presented checks in totaling $17,500 to these charities.  View the Press Release

February 10, 2004:  Our guest speaker was Andy Hromoko.  Andy is a special agent with the IRS and spoke about common tax fraud schemes that businesses may get exposed to. 
District Governor Dick Beck attended as our guest.  Dick reminded and invited us to attend the District Conference April 22-24 at the Hilton Garden Inn at South Pointe.
Don Ross with PNC Bank visited us as a potential new member and "successor" to Jim Lyle.

February 3, 2004:  Wells Morrison was our speaker.  He retired from the FBI and is now a Supervising Air Marshal working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency that is part of Homeland Security.  Federal air marshals have very strict training requirements and are among the highest-skilled federal agents.  Our guest was Larry Lehman.  Larry was introduced by Mike Lloyd and works for a large company that sells equipment for dental practices.

January 27, 2004:  Rotarian and recent new member Deb Cecotti filled in today since the High School students from the World Affairs Council canceled due to bad weather.  Deb spoke to us about her dog training business.  She trains about 700 dogs a year and had valuable recommendations on dog nutrition, character, house and obedience training.  She thinks that herding group dogs are the easiest to train.  Great presentation, Deb - and thanks for helping with our program!

January 20, 2004:  Today our speaker was Susan Bluemling. Susan is a certified Internet Webmaster and has her own company, Web-Makeovers.com. Susan spoke to us about the importance of the Internet in today’s business community for advertising, customer relations and product information.
Also our guest was John Evans.

January 13, 2004:  Chuck Vukotich, Assistant Deputy Director with the Allegheny County Health Department spoke to us about the 65th Annual Pittsburgh Science Fair that will be held April 2 and 3, 2004, at Heinz Field.  The fair is part of the Pittsburgh SciTech Festival. For over 60 years, students from the region have competed in Western Pennsylvania’s largest science fair.  Chuck is looking for volunteer support and judges.  Check the website, http://www.scitechfestival.com/mainsf.asp and click the links to Become a Category Judge or to Become a Science Fair Volunteer. 

January 6, 2004:  Was club assembly:  The final total sales for the chicken barbeque amounted to $30,141 or about $1,800 less than in 2002.  This is not bad considering that several excellent sellers have left the club.  We will try to get back in to our old form this year!