PROGRAM this Wednesday, August 3rd, will be brought to us by Scott Landa and will feature his Rotarianne, Sue Newman Landa, and Laura Gaboardi who are volunteer puppy raisers for Canine Companions for Independence, an organization that trains and provides service dogs to people free of charge. Special guest speaker will be Mortimer, a puppy-in-training.

PROGRAM last week was brought to us by Bill Bowling and featured his son, Mark Bowling, who told us about his rather unique company Black Sheep Productions, that produces and conducts conferences and training sessions for corporations, especially Annual Meetings. One of their special features is they look for the positive qualities of their clients and help them bring this out in the meetings. Bill described Mark as a geek with a passion to change the world and using his talents for God's glory. Mark, who is actually William Bismark Bowling, III, and his wife founded the company. Mark was born in neighboring LaFayette, Alabama and grew up in West Point, graduated from Springwood and Presbyterian College. He lived in West Point working with InterCall and PowerTell before it sold to TMobile. He worked at PreSolutions in Atlanta before founding Black Sheep Productions about 2005. They have a very impressive list of clients. Mark told us they are driven to be the best they can. They work on a philosophy with six basic goals. These are the ones they try to find in their clients and then help them promote to their employees at the conferences. The six are: Trust; Vision; Selection; Empowerment; Embracing Change; and Delivering the Wow Factor. He said the first, trust, is the cornerstone and they get across how hard it is to build between a company and its clients, and how easy it is to lose. The vision is the collective goals of the company. Selection deals with learning to hire people who meet the culture of the company not just those whose resumes match the job descriptions. Empowerment deals with letting the employees come first, a rather novel concept, but that it actually translates into better customer satisfaction. He said a company can either embrace change, because it will come, or submit to those who do. Delivering the Wow Factor is hard to maintain, as it becomes an expectation once delivered, but is what a company must strive to continually do and actually becomes dependent on whether or not the company embraces change. They help companies identify their goals and to evaluate how well they are meeting them. He said goals are determined by looking at where a company wants to be versus where they are and have to be set so the company can hold itself accountable for meeting them. For more information, visit them at blacksheepproductions.com .

We also had with us last week our 2016 RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) student Reese Miller. He attended the conference and wanted to talk to us about how much he appreciated this opportunity to meet new people who are interested in service too. [His list of services is impressive and extensive for one so young, from working with literacy and foster children to Beta Club and Fellowship of Christian Athletes] He said they learned leadership skills, team work, conflict resolution and it has helped prepare him for college and life.

NEW MEMBER: We were pleased to recycle another "new" member last week. William Oliver "Bill" Hunnicutt, IV. Bill is a graduate of LHS and UGA and has worked in professional lending and is now Vice President of Sales and Operations for file and Records Management. He is a member of First Baptist Church and has gone on Mission Trips. He is also Executive Director of the Troup Titans Soccer Club, that has 8 teams for ages 9 through 15. His Rotarianne, the former Karyn Livingston, is a pediatrician with LaGrange Children's Clinic. They have three sons: Will, Harrison, and Davis. BIll belonged to our club from 2001 to 2005 previously. He is a second generation Rotarian, his father, Dr. "Pat" Hunnicutt was a member of our club 1971 -1986. Bill is also a brother-in-law of Kyle Crawford (who is married to Bill's sister, Kim). Kaye MInchew did the Four Way Test presentation. Welcome Back, Bill.

HAPPY DOLLARS last week came from: Ed Biggs for his safe return from 3 weeks in Europe, mostly in Ireland; Bill Stump to compliment how John Asbell ran his campaign for school board using the Four Way Test; and Regenia Andrews to mark her and Arnold's 38th wedding anniversary.

Last week we had another sing-along led by our Rotary Singers including Ed Biggs, George Henry, Brian Germano, Bill Bowling, Sondra Bowie, Jim Killebrew, Louis Lester, Jerry Fulks, and Bill Stump.

The budget was on the table last week and approved by vote.

President Jake Jones reminded us about the International Convention Registration for 2017, which is being held in Atlanta.

VIce-President David Fowler told us our GRSP (Georgia Rotary Student Program) student will be arriving last Friday (so guess he is actually here now as of this writing) and is from Edinburgh, Scotland. There will be a welcoming reception cookout in Columbus to meet him and the other area GRSP students, August 13, for those who would like to go please contact David for details BEFORE August 8th. David and his Rotarianne Betsy, are the Host Family this year, their third time doing so, so our club owes them a great debt too.

Guests and Visitors last week (thanks to Regenia Andrews for handing us the list ) were: Libba Bowling, guest and Rotarianne of Bill Bowling, as well as mother of the speaker; Bismark Bowling [William Bismark Bowling, IV] and Brooks Bowling, both guests of Bill Bowling and sons of the speaker; Karin Krafka Thompson and Rod Thompson, both guests of Shirley Pennebaker; James Van Shoor, guest of Sondra Bowie (and son-in-law of Taylor Merrill); Leon Childs, guest of Zsa Zsa Heard; Dominika Johnson, guest of Edna Foster; Charity Miller, club guest and mother of our RYLA student; and Patricia Striplin visiting again from the Rotary Club of Harris County.

We send our deepest condolences to Shep and Betty Phillips in the passing last week of their son, SSG (reitred) Shepperd Hardy Phillips, III. He served our nation 20 years in the United States Army and later was an Information Technologist for the Troup County Schools. Those desiring may make a contribution to Dallas-Dodd Presbyterian Church, 1244 Ware's Cross Road, LaGrange, 30240.



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"All the Rotary News that Fits, We Print”


Reported by your Bulletin Editor, Clark Johnson.