Friday’s Meeting                                                   30 May 2025
 
President “no tie” got us started a little early because we had a full agenda.  Kirby, “the magic melody singer”, led us in singing and the pledge and Worthless Smith led us in the invocation.  Please keep the following K members and their families in your thoughts and prayers: Phil Harris Sr, Le Warren’s daughter, Tammy, Debbie Best’s sister Kara, Kali Zigler’s brother Paul, Robbie Talton’s wife Deanna, Bobby Bleeker, and Barbara Porter’s daughter in law Nicole.
 
We had quite a group of guests assembled for this meeting: George Hendrix’s father, Kenny Baker, two clerks from The Hammer’s office, and our DA Billy West. 
 
Announcements:
  • Terrific Kids-Diane Parfitt offered a year end wrap up for this busy committee.  The 2024-2025 season has been completed, and all awards have been presented. Kudos to those who stepped up and volunteered to present many awards Russ Jones presented 5 awards and Mark Rice presented 4 awards.
  • Family Fun Day is coming up. June 8, from 2-5 pm don’t miss this fun time.
  • Splash Pad Challenge- Father John Malzone reported we had 9 participants last week so the goal of 30 this year is certainly doable. He even challenged the DA visitor to walk under the frog and said he would donate more.  That started a friendly bidding war with the total bounty for a wet DA which reached $1000.  Not a bad start for the endowment.
  • Membership- Cheryl Gleason updated Membership with a report of more than 40 members at the social last week.  The next social is June 19 at 5:30pm at Bahama Breeze
  • Mark your calendars for the Golf Tournament Oct 3.  The goal is to have every member participate with an entry, hole sign or raffle prize.
  • Congratulations to CSM Ret Roger Blackwood for being inducted into the *@nd Airborne Division Hall of Fame
Did You Know- Jim Ammons presented a satirical look at how our club’s raffles got started in the past and how he had to approach them in the spirit of obeying the North Carolina Statutes that pertain to raffles.  Don Price, Rick Booth and Charlie Rose were all mentioned for influencing our raffle history in the early 1990’s.
 
Program:   Whitaker Grannis presented a fascinating program on the care and nurturing of honeybees in the Fayetteville area. He has been keeping bees for more than 13 years and is the President of the local Beekeepers Association. He explained how Bees and Humans have had a relationship for more than 10,000 years and that bees are responsible for pollinating 30-40% of the food we consume. Honey if sealed correctly will never grow bad as evidenced by honey being found in the tombs of Egyptian Kings more than 3000 years old.  Bee venom therapy has been effective in treating joint disorders and working with Bees has been effective in mitigating the effects of PTSD in veterans.
 
Russ Jones won $58 in the clubs “illegal” 50/50 raffle.