This is the time of year lots of people like to head out of town, kick up their heels and seek different scenery. Our club is no different.

Actually, due to renovations taking place at our usual meeting venue we have some fabulous off-site programs the next two weeks.

March 11th -- Centre Ice Arena Continental breakfast followed by tour of facility 1600 Chartwell Drive, Traverse City	March 18th -- Cordia at Grand Traverse Commons Breakfast, program overview and facility tour 600 Cottageview Drive, Traverse City -- north end of Bldg 50 @ State Hospital

We'll return to our Elks Lodge location Wednesday, March 25th.

Guests: Rebound exchange students Emily and Maddy; Adam Beers (prospective member) and Olivia Strom

Visiting Rotarians: Tom Power and DG Al Bonney (TC Noon)

50/50: Gary Brown was the lucky winner

Announcements:

1. Laura wants Rotary Moments to share with TCBN. Just a couple sentences. Email to Laura by EOD 3/5.

2. David announced that backpacks will be coming in soon and he will need help unloading them. Contact David if interested.

3. Tim reminded us about Rotary ad sales. Deadline is fast approaching. Our club benefits directly via net proceeds profit sharing.

4. Emily (rebound from Turkey) and Maddy (rebound from India) gave a life update.

5. Al Bonney made an appeal to host dinners on May 1 during District Conference (May 1-3).

6. Nancy inducted Jay Buckmaster as our newest member.

7. Craig let us know that next week’s meeting will be at Center Ice. Meeting the following week will be at Cordia. Back at Elks on 3/25.

Guest Speaker

Jay Buckmaster, our newest member (and former Rotarian) gave his classification talk. He's originally from Wisconsin and has a long history of being active in sports (football, track & swimming). He was a collegiate swimmer at University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point where he studied Elementary Education and Coaching. Upon graduation he traveled around the country with various engagements as a swimming coach before, as he puts it, the YMCA found him.

Jay has held leadership positions with YMCA in Wichita, Kansas and, more recently, in Tampa, FL. He's only been here since December and is already telling funny stories about bumping into people that know him all over town. He was happy to move back to the Midwest where he's closer to his family and away from the heat! Jay is married to Megan and they have three young children, including a set of twins!

District Governor Al Bonney dropped in to speak briefly about the upcoming District Conference. He recalled having visited the three Traverse City Club Boards of Directors 3 years ago (yes, being DG is a VERY long on ramp). He felt strongly that this conference should be a Traverse City Rotary conference, not a Rotary Club of Traverse City conference. He wanted (and received) the support of the clubs knowing he'd need everyone to pitch in via sponsorships and/or volunteer assistance. Note: Details forthcoming re: conference sponsorship programs. 

The conference itself is focused on attracting and engaging a younger demographic to Rotary to serve as its future leadership. Al has enlisted some great speakers and expects it will be a terrific event. It all takes place right here in Traverse City at the Park Place Hotel.

What do Amy, Peter, Kathi, Jay (Berger), Linda, Nancy, Laura, Becky (Ewing) and Tom Gilbert have in common? They're volunteers for the 2015 District Conference.

Some of our members are hosting dinners in their homes for small groups of Rotarians. These are not expected to be elaborate dinners, and they are 'extended' only to the extent that the host allows it. That's the understanding with the transportation folks (some of our other volunteers). Hosts are reimbursed expenses up to $25pp.

We have some people that are being assigned to our visiting speakers to help make sure they get to/from airport and have what they need. These are low maintenance people, Cherry Capital isn't exactly O'Hare, and it's minimal time commitment. Not all speakers are covered at this point.

Laura is coordinating the movie at State Theatre on Sunday at 11am. She'll need people to help as greeters and ushers, and to help coordinate involvement of youth exchange kids if they're available to serve as they did in October.

If you can be available in any capacity please let Nancy (nthornton@centos.net) know so she can pass that along to the right people on the conference committee.