RCN eBulletin Banner
Vol. 60, No. 35                                    February 29, 2012                                                Rich Ahrens, Editor
Celebrating Our 60th Anniversary

Chalk Art


2011-2012 Officers and Directors

President:

Frank Fontana

President-Elect:

Paul Huber

President-Nominee:

Rich Kirschner

Treasurer:

Steve Stolz

Secretary:

Mia Delk

Past-President:

Jay Crandall

Director:

Rich Ahrens

Director:

Hal Atzingen

Director:

Ryan Blauch

Director:

Nancy Graham

Director:

Ron Gustason

Director:

Jennifer Hoy


Quick Links

Meetings


Membership
Club Roster (requires login)
Club Directory (requires login)
Featured Member, John Smarge
Smarge with Gates

John Smarge has been a Rotarian and resident of Naples, Florida since 1981. His classification is Moving and Storage. John and his wife Cindy are Major Donors, Bequest Society Members and Paul Harris Society Members.

 

John graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a degree in Entrepreneurial Management. At the age of twenty-two, John left his home state of New Jersey, moved to Naples, FL and purchased a year old struggling moving company. His multi-office operation handling local, interstate and international moving is now the largest relocation business in SW Florida.

 

Professionally John was named a National Moving and Storage Association Young Executive Fellow. He has served as a Board Member of the Florida Movers and Warehousemen Association, as a Regional Director of the Southern Community Bank. He has three (3) times been recognized as North American Van Lines Top Quality Agent.

 

John served as President of The Rotary Club of Naples in 1992-93 and as District 6960 Governor in 1995-96. He is currently Rotary International Director for 2010-2012 and serves as the Chairman RI Board of Directors Executive Committee. Additionally he is a member of both the Social Media and Rotarian Action Groups Committees.

 

Internationally, John has twice been a Delegate to the Council on Legislation and twice a Member of the RI Board of Directors Nominating Committee. Additionally, he has served as both a Rotary International Membership Coordinator and Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator. John served as General Chair for the Zone 33-34 Rotary Institute. He is a regular speaker around the world at PETS, Assemblies, TRF and Membership Seminars and has regularly represented the President at District Conferences.

 

John considers the most rewarding aspects of his many years in Rotary to be the opportunity to participate in the PolioPlus National Immunization Days in India, his medical missions to Ternopil, Ukraine and his multiple humanitarian trips to the Caribbean. John continues to initiate, write and assist with Foundation Matching Grants on a yearly basis, including visiting the project sites.

 

John has received numerous awards for his Rotary Service including the Rotary Foundation Citation for Meritorious Service, the Distinguished Service Award the Rotary International Service above Self Award and was recognized in 1999 as the District 6960 Rotarian of The Decade.

 

John and Cindy have three daughters, Jessica, Stephanie and Amanda. He is a past Board Chairman of the Naples YMCA, Boy Scouts of America and Shelter for Abused Women. John has coached girl's basketball teams for more than 15 years. In his most recent coaching job, John's team went three (3) years with only losing one game. In his spare time John is a competitive auto racer.


Find us on Facebook 

Join Our Mailing List

February Birthdays
Paul E. Huber - February 1
Tom Coppens - February 2
Mark Perry - February 3
Jeanette DeKort - February 4
Susan Suarez - February 9
Jerry Wynn - February 11
Ron Gustason - February 11
Nick Jaksich - February 18
Hank Caballero - February 20
Kimber Bosley - February 28

 

Rotary International Director John Smarge

Greetings!

 

Rotary International divides the world into zones, districts, and areas.  Zones are the largest of the three categories.  There are 34 zones spanning the globe, each of which has approximately the same number of Rotarians.

 

Rotary International's Board of Directors is composed of 19 members:  the president (Kalyan Banerjee this year), the president-elect, and 17 directors.  Each director is responsible for two zones.

 

The Rotary Club of Naples is located in Zone 34, which includes the states of Georgia and Florida, as well as 25 countries in the Caribbean!  Zone 33 includes the states of Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

 

The director representing Zones 33 and 34 serves for a term lasting two years.  If the director comes from Zone 34 for this two-year term, the one serving the next two-year term will come from Zone 33.  This alternating pattern repeats every two years.  In other words, we have a new director from Zone 34 only once every four years.

 

Consider how amazing it is that the director currently representing Zones 33 and 34 is John Smarge, who is a member of The Rotary Club of Naples!  This is a rare honor that few people get to experience.

 

John served as President of The Rotary Club of Naples in 1992-1993.  I have a copy of John's application for the RI Director position, which he completed during the 2008-2009 Rotary year.  So that I stay within my word limit for this commentary, let's just say that John has been extremely active at the district, zone, and international levels of RI since being Club President.

 

John, we are lucky to have you representing THE Rotary Club of Naples around the world!  Thank you for being a role model for your fellow Rotarians and for exemplifying "service above self".

 
Yours in Rotary Service,

Frank

Frank Fontana
President, 2011-2012

 


Rotary Logo Fancy 

This Week's Meeting

 

Speaker: John Smarge

Topic: Rotary in the Year 2025

Organization: Rotary International

  • After 107 years, is Rotary still relevant?  With the rise of the Internet, with texting, tweeting and instant messaging, isn't the value of human interaction more needed now than ever before?  The question is, how do we move our current top-down structure to meet the needs of the next generation(s) of Rotarians.  The Board of Directors is working diligently to answer those questions and more....

Invoices

  • January invoices will be 60 days past due on March 7.  Those who are on the Accounts Receivable report 60 days past due should expect a reminder email from our Executive Secretary, Sue Cobb, as well as a reminder phone call from our Treasurer, Steve Stolz.  The Board of Directors will also be made aware of the Accounts Receivable status of these individuals at our next board meeting. 
  • Our District 6960 leadership created a Strategic Planning Team to evaluate how the district advances the object of rotary in the clubs.  This team was made up of existing, future and past district governors, existing and future district trainers, membership chair, TRF chair, public relations chair, assistant governors, presidents or immediate past presidents of large, medium and small clubs. After a more than two years of visioning the District has created a Strategic Plan.  We will highlight some specific areas of focus each week.  Please review the document.  If you have any comments on the document or its direction for the future please forward them to our President- Elect Paul Huber. He will be voting on the acceptance of this documents at our District Assembly March 31st.
 

G&A Logo  

Grapes & Apes

  • Don't forget the remaining two volunteer orientation sessions at Naples Zoo!  Wednesday, February 29 at 6 PM or Tuesday, March 6 at 6:30 PM.  These are the only times that will be offered and we really need everyone to go for 30 minutes on a brief walk through of the property to best understand our 2012 event. The task specific training dates will be communicated directly to you after orientations are complete.
  • Please consider your volunteer shirt options for Grapes & Apes!  The club will provide all volunteers with either a short sleeved or long sleeved t-shirt FOR FREE.  The short sleeved shirt is also available in a women's style.  If you are interested in getting something a little fancier, you also have the following options which can be billed to your account. If you buy a shirt, you can wear it every year in the future!
  • A polo style short sleeved shirt in either black or white for $10 (men's or women's)
  • A moisture management shirt in either black or white for $20 (M or W)
  • A rhinestone short sleeved shirt in either black or white for $10 (women's)
  • A limited number of Tommy Bahama style camp shirts are available only in LARGE with the event logo in large embroidery on the back for $35 (men's)

 

Click on the following links for more project information:

Grapes & Apes     Bell Ringing     Collier Harvest     Gift of Giving     Past Projects

 

 

 

Click on the following links for more project information: 

The Rotary Foundation     Gift of Life     Mandeville Rotary Club     Past Projects

 

 

Click on the following links for more project information:

Dictionary Day     Interact Club     Rotaract Club     Scholarships     S4TL

  

 

Click on the following links for more project information:

Rotarians in Business     Vocational Day


Much of what you need to know is only a click away. Our club website is a wealth of information and resources for you to be more involved, to access important documents and to take your knowledge as a Rotarian to the next level.  Go ahead, CLICK!

To include information in the Rotary Club of Naples weekly bulletin, please email the editor not later than Sunday night of the week of publication.  The editor reserves the right to exclude items for reasons of space or inappropriate content.