How I Got Where I'm At
By Matt Joyner
            
Meg McElwain introduced Tuesday's program of three club members relating "How I Got Where I'm At." Joe Gass, Lynn Wheeler and Shay Merritt told their stories.
 
Joe Gass said he has been in the club for eight months, since January of this year, and was a Rotarian in Maryland before moving to Charlotte. In the last few years, he has been absorbing two major life lessons: 1) "It is not about me;" and 2) "I can't do this alone." Joe said that as hard as it is to stop and ask for help, he has learned through life experiences to depend on others. In 2003 he had been running his family's printing business for fifteen years and on the occasion of his 39th birthday stopped and took stock of his life. Influenced by Bruce Wilkinson's book The Dream Giver, he realized that he had always asked for God's blessing on his plans and that he needed to let go for God's will to emerge. In so doing he realized that southern Maryland was not necessarily what God wanted for his life and in 2005 he moved to Charlotte and established his current printing business. He challenged club members to let go and allow others to come alongside them to help them, and asked for the club's prayers for him, his business and his wife and four children.
 
"Oh, my, how did I get where I'm at?" Lynn Wheeler took the club through a PowerPoint presentation of her life, beginning with her birth as Lynn Murphy. Lynn grew up on a portion of Berkley Plantation outside Richmond, Virginia as the oldest of four children born to her mother and her father, a former U.S. Navy officer who ultimately retired as an Executive Vice President of Reynolds Metals. Describing her childhood as "idyllic," Lynn was educated at St. Catherine's school in Richmond and at Hollins College. She married, became Lynn Wheeler and moved to Charlotte in 1978, becoming the mother of daughter Lisa and son Gray along the way. In 1989 Lynn ran for Charlotte City Council for District 6, using for her advertising a Glamour Shot selected by her then-14 year old son. Whatever it was, it worked. Lynn won her election and in 1993 moved from District 6 to At Large and served on City Council for several years. After City Council Lynn worked for a year at WBTV news doing political reporting and analysis, and, most recently, has headed up Wheeler Communications Group, LLC, a public relations consulting business. Lynn credited her friends in helping her get where she's at, says she relishes her current role as grandmother to two year old twins and told the club to stay tuned because, "you never know what happens next!"
 
Second Harvest Food Bank Director Shay Merritt attributed how she got where she's at least in part to the fact that she came from where she's at. A Charlotte native and graduate of Garinger High School, Shay worked in television in college at N.C. State and then for 11 years worked as Manager of the Marketing Department of WBT. After her television career led her to posts in other locations, Shay returned to Charlotte in 2001 to help start Channel 14 and decided to remain in this area after that experience. Shay credits her friends in helping her get where she's at and said that an encounter with the book, The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren led to her current career as Director of 2nd Harvest Food Bank, tackling the issues of local hunger, homelessness and healthcare. Shay noted that it is "ok to teach someone to fish, but you also need to give them some fish because a hungry person can't learn anything." Shay is driven in her new career by the fact that Charlotte is home to offices of 350 of the Fortune 500 companies, headquarters to nine of the Fortune 500, but poverty, hunger and homelessness remains a significant community problem. She noted that over one third of children in Mecklenburg County receive some sort of public assistance, fifty percent of CMS students receive a subsidized lunch and that 3,000 CMS students are homeless. Thirty percent of the local homeless shelter population is the working poor. "Whether we take care of few or take care of all is up to us," said Shay.
   
  
Head Table: Lynn Wheeler, Joe Gass, Mac McCarley, Meg McElwain, Shay Merritt, Ryan Root, Chip Scholz;
Invocation: Cindy Wolfe;
Visitors & Guests: Bill Constangy; Song: Pam Jefsen; Piano: Thomas Moore; Photos: Bert Voswinkel

• Welcome new Rotarians Todd Hawks, Sandy Chambers and Jessica Graham. Todd serves as area commander for The Salvation Army and is sponsored by Catherine Browning. Contact Todd at todd_hawks@uss.salvationarmy.org. Jessica is director of public affairs for Time Warner and is sponsored by Natalie English. Contact Jessica at Jessica.graham@twcable.com. Sandy is a cost accountant for Delle Vedove USA, a woodworking machinery manufacturer and is sponsored by Bert Voswinkel. Contact Sandy at sandy@dv-systems.com.
 
• Charlie Williams and Anthony Foxx attended the Democratic Convention in Denver, Co. last week; Janet Fortner was featured on the cover and with a story inside the September issue of Lake Norman Woman magazine; Don and Jan Haack were featured speakers at the 2008 EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, the international air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin; Charlie Greer and partner Kevin Walker are featured in the September issue of Greater Charlotte Biz magazine.
   
• YES we still need……volunteers for the AV committee (Bob Brietz Robert.brietz@bankofamerica.com), 6 or 7 more to go to Peru in February (Paul Schmidt Schmidt@naviscentgroup.com) and host families for BOTH exchange students (Ed Wadsworth ed@wadsworthgroup.net).
 
• Group Study Exchange (GSE) 2008-2009 is with District 2450, which includes Egypt and several other Middle Eastern countries. The team is scheduled to be in our District during the March/April 2009 timeframe. Regina Patton will again coordinate the 4-day host opportunity for our club. The immediate need is to fill the outbound team, which will head to Egypt from April 5 to May 5, 2009. Team members must not be Rotarians, nor can they be lineal descendants, spouses, or siblings of any living Rotarian. They must be between 25 and 40 years of age, employed, and must live or work in our District. They must be outstanding individuals and good communicators. Please check with Regina (rpatton@managementinsites.com) if you have questions or a team member recommendation.

• Chip Scholz will coordinate upcoming Host Dinners. The schedule should be available on the website within 24 hours. Chip also announced a club dinner/social at SMS Catering on October 21. Details will follow.
   
• Thanks to Luther Moore for arranging an opportunity to meet Dwight Hartsell. Dwight, who devotes time and skill to the woodworking shop in Alto Cayma, Peru, shared photos of projects made in the shop and thanked the club for its donation to purchase new machinery.