Our Rotarian of the Day today is Josh Butts, one of our newer members. Josh served five years in the United States Army, where he spent two years in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and two years in Korea, where he was a member of the 8th Army and All-Army Track and Cross Country teams. Josh then was deployed directly to Iraq from Korea, serving one year as a Chaplain assistant and sergeant of an air assault Infantry Unit in Anbar Province in 2004.

Josh then moved to Tulsa and started training to re-gain his athletic scholarship at the University of Tulsa in track and field, a scholarship that was lost after a one-year involuntary extended service in the Army. After 18 months of training, Josh earned his scholarship back at TU, where he went on to graduate in 2 1/2 years with honors with a degree in graphic design and advertising. During this time, he also met his future wife. Erin and Josh were married in June of 2009.

Currently Josh owns, manages, promotes, and operates a small but successful illustration business called JB Creative out of his home, and has recently accepted a teaching fellowship in the Masters of Fine Art program at TU in hopes of becoming a professor at the University Level.

This Week’s Program

John Gaberino
John Gaberino went to undergrad at Loyola University in New Orleans, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 1998. Upon graduating, he followed his lovely then-girlfriend, Margarita, to El Salvador, her home country.

After learning Spanish in the first three months, he began working as a IT manager for Unilever in El Salvador. Margarita and John married in 1999 and moved back to John’s home town of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2000.

He continued to work in the computer science field, working for a technology startup called Mercury International until 2002, when he enrolled in the MBA program at OSU. Upon completion of his MBA in 2003, he started what is now the only family-owned Seed-to-Cup coffee company in the U.S., based here in Tulsa.

John, thank you for being with us today. Tulsa Southside Rotary welcomes you!

Southsider Quick Notes

Last week…
- Our ROD was Steve Glenn, and our speaker was photographer Mike Klemme.

- Happy birthday to Steve Stephenson and Steve Glenn! Steve Stephenson delivered his birthday check in the form of cash: 92 one-dollar bills. Somebody will be able to pay for fines for a long, long time.

- If you want to pick up some Topeca coffee for the fundraiser, see Josh Butts. We’re supposed to buy or sell 20 bags apiece.

- We did the Medical Supplies Network last Saturday. Thanks to Donna Petty, Billy Ward, Keith James, Lynn Fesperman, Steve Haas, and Michelle Pierce for helping out!

- Remember to deliver your dictionaries. Fines will be starting soon, so get in touch with your schools!

- Be sure to check the Upcoming Programs for our speaker list through March 2010. Information on it is subject to change, but we’ll do our best to keep it updated!

- Next week we’ll have Dana Murphy, the Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner, as our speaker!