While Montgomery College Professor Emeritus Paul McDermott was scheduled for a talk and slide show about the geography of the State of Maryland, his computer crash the previous evening prevented this presentation. Instead, he gave a very timely talk about catastrophic hurricanes—specifically the USA’s very recent presentation from SANDY.

Mr. McDermott pointed out that while modern technology is sufficient to warn of the severity of hurricanes headed towards the East Coast (usually emanating from the Coast of Africa), few USA coastal inhabitants are able to comprehend a truly dire report. The last hurricane comparable to SANDY was in 1938.

People cannot fight nature-they always lose. Our biggest concern should be allowing people to build on beaches. Berms with trees along the East Coast should be the buffer for hurricanes-with buildings behind. Creating such building codes in various states can be unending and arduous with the involvement of the government and many environmental organizations witness the “Save the Chesapeake Bay” project in Maryland.

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Last week’s breakfast speaker was James Brunger, a Chartered Financial Advisor in Philanthropic Giving with the New York Life Insurance Company.

James pointed out that Americans remain the most generous nation. During our 2008 Financial Crisis, we gave to charities more than $3 billion, and his assessment of why we do this is in the following order:

• Giving to an institution that is meaningful to the donor;
• Leaving a person a legacy of giving;
• Vanity—Giving sufficiently so as to have one’s name in a hospital museum;
• Tax benefits.

We do our “gifting” in three ways:

1. Cash,
2. Appreciated stocks, and
3. Legal legacy (in a will).

Of these three, donating appreciated stocks is by far the least disruptive to personal financial portfolios. All of which raises the question “Which one will you use when gifting the Rotary Foundation?”

When the last-minute inability of the scheduled speaker was announced, Lyuba Hubbard volunteered to give an impromptu talk on Georgia, a Soviet Socialist Republic, and her home for many years.

Lyuba was born in Moscow but subsequently moved to Georgia, an incredibly beautiful country with the Caucasus Mountains to the North and bordering on the Black Sea in the west., where the climate can be fairly temperate. Russian Georgia is about half the size of the State of Georgia in the USA but has approximately the same population. It is the southern most tip of the Soviet Union. International Monetary Fund meetings were held in Georgia during the 1990s for which Lyuba was one of the interpreters.. Their presence in Georgia was a mixed blessing of serious intent and over indulgence.