GUESTS: Jack Gibson, Keith Neill and Michelle Waln with the Ulster Project.
FINES: Troy Thode our Sergeant-at-Arms collected the usual Presidential fine from Jeff Brewer. Jeff Roberson was fined for being late. Those who did not purchase a Lucky Ace drawing ticket were also fined.
Katie Hass was awarded a club sponsored scholarship from National AMBUCS for $800.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Board Meeting 6:15 AM THIS Friday 7/14
Note on your calendar that on July 28 the Town Club will be closed and our meeting will be held at the T.E.C.H. building at 1300 E. Avenue A. More details in our next newsletter.
Richard (Rich) Shelton was installed as our newest member. Congratulations and welcome to the club!
Duke Wiggins is home recovering from multiple heart bypass surgery.
Don Grossardt is in the Newton Medical Center with a muscle enzyme deficiency problem.
PROGRAM: Kathy Hanks introduced Jack Gibson, Keith Neill and Michelle Waln with the Ulster Project. Michelle spoke first about her involvement in 2011 when her daughter hosted a teen girl. She liked the program so much that she became a local volunteer. The Ulster Project was started in the US in 1975 by an Episcopal reverend and an Irish priest and began in Connecticut. Since the year 2000 14 teens, 8 girls and 6 boys half Catholic and half Protestant, come to Hutchinson from Portadown Ireland to meet and discuss issues back at home. They are each hosted by a local family whos son or daughter participates with the teens from Ireland in many local activities such as the 4th of July parade, going to the Cosmosphere, Wesley Towers, T.E.C.H., the Courthouse, City Hall and the library. They also visit a Catholic, a Protestant, and their hosts church service while here. They also participate in a time of discovery to learn more about each other with assistance from Bethel College. Keith Neill was one of the teens who came to Hutchinson in 1975. He returned home, later married and began a family and because of the local connection returned to Hutchinson and is now a Director of Youth, C.E. and Mission at First Presbyterian Church. He was also able to attend the 40th anniversary of the Ulster Project held in Connecticut. Jack Gibson was a youth from Ireland who came to Hutchinson in 2012 and returns with this years group as a counselor. He said that he was a protestant at home and had catholic teen friends but came to know more about the catholic religion because of the Ulster Project experience. He said that it also gave him leadership skills that he would not have learned otherwise that allowed him to stay involved with the project. Education and religion in Ireland is still divided but the gap is narrowing each year because of the success of the Ulster Project. You can catch up with the local group before they leave at the Pretty Prairie Rodeo July 19th or July 20th at Third Thursday at Avenue A Park.
Lucky Ace Drawing: Steve Conard drew the Queen of Hearts for $5. The pot is $??
Newsletter Drawing: None since no newsletter last week.
Newsletter question: For $? In what year did the Ulster Project start in the US and in what year in Hutchinson?
Next Meeting: Senator Ed Berger will be our program.
Editor: Steve Conard