Bladensburg Rotary Club

We will hold our regular meeting at Woodmore this week - on March 27th, at the usual time. Theresa Gardner-Williams, Executive Director of the Prince George's Volunteer Center, will explain what the center does and talk to us about volunteerism in the county- another good speaker brought to us by Mary Dudley and Joanne Goldsmith. See you there!

Attention all Board members: There will be a Board Meeting at 11 AM, preceding the regular meeting.   Board meetings are open to all members, so anyone who arrives early is welcome to attend.

CHARTER NIGHT will be Saturday, March 29th at 6 PM (for cocktails, with dinner to follow at 6:45 PM) at The Courses, the clubhouse of the Andrews Air Force Base golf course. This is a new location for us - see directions below. Be sure Eolia knows whether you're planning to attend and has the names of any guests - and remember, your Club dues have already paid for you and one guest. Eolia says she needs your guests "driver's license names" - since to enter the base , everyone must be on a list left at the gate to show ID. There's still time to ask Eolia to provide invitations for past Club members you' like to invite.

From the Beltway, take Exit 7 (Branch Avenue / Route 5 South / Waldorf).

Follow Route 5 to the Coventry Way exit.

At the traffic light off the exit ramp, make a left and get into the right lane.

Make a right at the next traffic light, into Old Alexandria Ferry Road.

At the 2nd Traffic light, make a left into the Virginia Avenue Gate.

Proceed to the Gate Guard for clearance to enter. You'll see the golf course on your left.

Traditionally Club history is included in materials prepared for Charter Night, and this year we are distributing it to everyone with the Blade - in a message to follow this one, since the file is a large one (due to the picture it contains - don't miss it!). 

President Eolia opened by asking Russ Maske to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then led us in prayer. March High Sheriff John Wilkerson failed to collect much money by asking when our Club was Chartered, and resorted to asking anyone happy to be there to give him a dollar, with much more success. Wallis auctioned off a porcelain Rotary Easter bunny, which he managed not to drop, to Dr. Bill DuBoyce, and a gold Easter egg containing a Rotary golf club key chain, dropped three times (Beyhan, where were you?) to Judy Cappuccilli - each for $15. Madeline and Zarah DuBoyce attended the meeting along with Dr. Rita, and presented President Eolia with a book for our elementary school library project. (Keep bringing in those books, folks! Our local school libraries need our help in encouraging students to read.)

Joanne Goldsmith introduced our speakers, Jeff Swilley, Deputy Director of the Workforce Investment Board for Prince George's County, and staff member Yolanda Stewart. When Jeff graduated from the University of Miami with a BA in Business Management, he began work as a Job Developer for the Private Industry Council of South Florida. moving to Maryland in 1962 to work for the Workforce Services Corporation. He has belonged to the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals since 1992 and is an NAWDP-Certified Workforce Development Professional. Yolanda is a Prince George's County native and graduate of Bowie State University. She was in radio sales for 20 years before taking a job with the Prince George's County Summer Youth Employment Program, and now works to provide training grants to employers through the Prince George's One-Stop Career Center. Jeff and Yolanda described different services of this center, a quasi-governmental agency providing assistance to local businesses not only in recruiting staff, but also in providing staff training. Local business can be reimbursed for half the cost of training or half the salaries of employees being trained on the job - with common training needs including computer or language (including ESL) classes. Their business services focus on businesses with 50 or fewer employees. People seeking employment in the County (whether residents or not) can also use their services to prepare resumes, search job databases, obtain help with such things as interview skills, and get free access to computers, fax, and copy machines. The agency's main office is in the Largo 95 Office Complex at Lottsford Road and Apollo Drive, near Kaiser Permanente - 1100 Mercantile Lane, Suite 120 (301-618-8407, rowens@dllr.state.md.us ) - with a branch office in Laurel (301-362-9708, 301-618-8409, or lrogers@dllr.state.md.us).