Home Page | Rotary Club of Springfield

Installation of 2022-2023 Officers and Board

Before the official installation ceremony, Barry Tobias presented Randy Erford with an official Rotary baseball hat (image above). The hat is emblazoned with the new Rotary International Theme logo (Imagine Rotary). The new logo is shown to the left.

We were honored to have the outgoing District Governor Ryan Byers and his wife Amy and the new District Governor Bill Durall at our event (image to right).

The following dignitaries assisted with the installation ceremony: Past RI Director and Past District Governor (PDG) Bob Stuart, PDG Rod Buffington, District Governor-Nominee Neal Miller, Past Assistant District Governor Harry Mitchell, and District Treasurer and our Foundation Treasurer Bill Smith (image below). All spoke during the ceremony. In the image below, Neal Miller is asking if Randy pledges to fulfill the duties of president, lead the club following the highest principles of Rotary, and conduct the service business of the club following the bylaws of the club and Rotary International, and Randy pledged to do so.

Rod presented Randy with his President's pin (image on left), and Bob Stuart presented him with his President's badge (image below)

Then the other officers, who are continuing in their roles, Secretary Loretta Meeks and Treasurer Sheila Mack were officially installed and pledged to perform the duties of their offices (image on right). Finally the the whole Board was called forward to be installed and pledge to fulfill their duties following the highest principles and the Constitution and Bylaws of the Club and Rotary International (image below). From left to right, the new leadership team includes Youth Services Director Dave Fowler, Club Service Director Ross Hodel, Community Service Director Megan Norman, President Randy Erford, International Service Director Bob Stuart, Foundation Treasurer Bill Smith (not on Board), Membership Service Director Tony Williams, and Board Member at large Vicki Megginson. Board members not included in the picture are Board Members at Large Bill Kempiners and Marty Michelson, and Sergeant at Arms Kirk Kellus.

Finally, Bob Stuart asked Club Members to pledge to support Randy and all the officers and Board members to achieve the goals of the club and Rotary International during the coming year. We enthusiastically responded in the affirmative with a sounding round of applause. Bob announced that the President, Officers, and Directors were officially installed for the 2022-2023 year.

Randy then presented some of his plans for the coming year with major goals to increase membership, enhance support for the Springfield community, and have fun (image above).

Barry then presented Randy with a helmet that will help him fulfill these goals (image on left).

In appreciation of Barry's service, Rod Buffington presented him with a print of his quilt painting of the 2021-2022 Rotary Theme logo: Serve to Change Lives, and then Randy again thanked Barry for his service and accomplishments (lead image for Newsletter and image below). Barry received a Club President's Plaque, a president's Rotary pin, and a past president's badge to recognize the important role that he played.

Special thanks are do to Tony for hosting us at his home. There are many wonderful images from the event, and we will put together a photo gallery for the website.

August 6 Family Day at the Ball Park

Posted by Rod Buffington

Rotary's Family Day at the Ball Game is offering a game on August 6th between the Yankees and the Cardinals at Busch Stadium beginning at 6:15 p.m. The seats are in Sections 271 and 272 (Big Mac Land). The price of the tickets is a real bargain (a $ 90.00 face value ticket for $ 45.00). Go to the front page of the Rotary District 6460 Web page and print out the ticket form and follow the directions for ordering and receiving your tickets.

WE ONLY HAVE 200 TICKETS FOR THE GAME. ORDER NOW!

If you can’t attend the game, then help sell tickets to your Cardinal friends!

You can also sell them to Yankee fans as well!

Community Paul Harris Fellows Named

Rotary Club of Springfield Recognizes Teresa Haley and Katie Spindell as 2022 Paul Harris Fellows

The Rotary Club of Springfield selected Teresa Haley (on left) and Katie Spindell (on right) as 2022 Community Paul Harris Fellows. The recognition is named for the founder of Rotary, Paul Harris, a Chicago lawyer who started Rotary International in 1905. The Rotary Club of Springfield has a tradition of awarding Paul Harris Fellow Recognition each year to individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the community.

The Club recognized Teresa Haley because of her outstanding contributions to the Springfield community as a passionate civil rights activist and leader and her strong advocacy for public policy that promotes social justice. She lives her motto of “keep it movin” through her service to her church, family, community, and the state. In 2015, she became the first woman president of the Illinois NAACP State Conference and she is currently serving her sixth consecutive term as president of the Springfield Branch of the NAACP. She led the establishment of the first Springfield Branch NAACP Office and Education Center. She worked with local officials on the commemoration the 110^th Anniversary of the 1908 Race Riots in Springfield. She serves on the Governors Justice, Equity, and Opportunity Initiative Transition Committee and the Governor’s Commission for Environmental Justice. Her numerous honors include receipt of Springfield’s First Citizen Award (2019), the first NAACP Activist Image Award in 2020, the Community Service Award from the Frontiers International Club (Springfield Chapter) in 2020, and the Alumni Humanitarian Award from the University of Illinois Springfield in 2022.

The club selected Katie Spindell for outstanding leadership and service in the Springfield community. She started her career in Springfield as a City Ambassador for the International Visitors’ Commission. Throughout her career she has promoted Springfield’s favorite son, Abraham Lincoln. She has served as a Greeter at Union Station, and was responsible for the installation of the Lincoln monument at the AMTRAK station, which commemorates Lincoln’s return to Springfield after his assassination. She coordinated the 2015 events for the sesquicentennial of the Lincoln Funeral including the effort to re-create Lincoln’s Funeral Hearse. Thousands of people came to Springfield to be part of this event and see re-enactors in full Civil War attire participate in the funeral procession from the Old State Capitol to Oak Ridge Cemetery Receiving Vault and the concluding ceremony. She actively works with veterans groups and has coordinated many events at the War Memorials Site in Oak Ridge Cemetery. She was also responsible for the renovation of the Third Street Gate, which served as the original entrance to the Cemetery. She is an ardent supporter of veterans and VFW posts in Springfield.

To recognize the two Paul Harris Fellows, the Rotary Club of Springfield made donations of $1000 to Rotary International’s Rotary Foundation in the name of each recipient. The funds support Rotary International’s Annual Fund, the PolioPlus program to eradicate polio worldwide, and approved Foundation grants. The Club recognized the extraordinary achievements of these two community leaders and presented each with a Paul Harris Fellow certificate and pin at the club’s annual Rotary International Found Night gathering and dinner on Monday, March 21 at the Inn at 835.

Rotarians across the country have a long tradition of supporting the Rotary Foundation by honoring others. Many notable individuals have been named as Paul Harris Fellows, including Mother Teresa, entertainer Pearl Bailey, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Astronaut James Lovell, UN Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, and Jonas Salk. Barry Tobias, President of the Rotary Club of Springfield, commented “We are honored to add Teresa and Katie’s names to this prestigious list.”

Community Service During the Pandemic

We follow the Rotary Mantra of Service Above Self!

Covid 19 has changed the way we interact with each other and our community, but it has not changed the Rotary Club of Springfield’s commitment to improving literacy and eradicating hunger in our community. We have had a full year of service in 2021 and we are not done yet. A few highlights for our service over the past two years are provided below.

In 2021, we have been busy stocking the Micro-pantry we established at our adopted school, Ridgely Elementary (image above). We built four little libraries with support from a Rotary District 6460 Literacy Grant (image below).

We acquired a large donation of books to stock the Little Libraries we provided to Ridgely and Enos Schools and the St. John's Breadline. The images below show the sorting of the donated books for our Little Libraries and the fully stocked Little Library near the Micro-Pantry at Ridgely School.

In 2021, we also helped clean up Downtown Springfield twice (image on left below). We continued our popular Flag Service Project, which installs flags throughout our community through a subscription. The proceeds support grants to nonprofits that serve community needs (image on right below).

We are wrapping up our John Montgomery Memorial citrus sale (see article above), which provides monies for literacy grants for nonprofits. We are working on creating "Bags of Hope" and providing a meal to Homeless individuals in our community with three other Rotary Clubs, Rotary Youth Leadership Award High School Students, and the Salvation Army with support from a 2021 Rotary District Club Grant. We are preparing to participate in a Blood Drive with all five Rotary Clubs. Before the end of the year, we will provide Angel Tree Gifts for the Rutledge Youth Foundation, work with Home Alone to provide holiday cards and gifts cards for seniors, and ring the bells for the Salvation Army.

Here are just a few highlights for 2020 service projects during the pandemic. We continued to work on many of these projects in 2021.

In the Summer of 2020, Club Member Neal Miller built and helped install a Little Library for ImagicNation (image to left), and club members continue to provide it with books for children to enjoy.

In 2020, white boards were distributed to four elementary schools in Springfield that helped children learn from home or school through a District 6460 Club grant we wrote jointly with the other local Rotary Clubs.

To help reduce hunger, our club joined with United Way Days of Action to stock micro-pantries throughout Springfield, and we provided cans, cartons and cases of food items on September 26, 2020. Our Club provided a dinner meal through the Meal Train on October 29, 2020 for 55 homeless men and women staying at the Cooling & Warming Center on 1015 E. Madison Street. We provided the meals, desserts, beverage and disposable service items. For many, it was the only hot meal they had on that day.

In November 2020, Vicki and Norm Megginson filled and delivered 50 bags of essential supplies to the Springfield Police Department for distribution to homeless individuals in our community. Club members donated new hats, gloves, handwarmers, warm socks, hand sanitizer, masks, kleenex packs, lip balm, toothbrushes, tooth paste, shampoo, soap, hand lotion, and healthful treats for the bags.

In November 2020, Vicki Megginson arranged for the installation of the micro-pantry at Ridgely School, and Club members are stocking the pantry with nutritious food.

We also made the 2020 holiday season a bit brighter by partnering with Home Instead to provide gift cards and cheery cards to isolated seniors. We continued to provide holiday cheer for youth as well through our long-term partnership with Rutledge Youth Foundation. Club members purchased angel tree gifts for Rutledge youth, and we joyously rang the Salvation Army bells at Schnuck’s on Chatham Road.

Don’t forget to log your service hours. Just click on this link: https://airtable.com/shr4cB7BpJjpwXDEr

If you need to record your hours at another time, you can go to the “Download Documents” on the left side of the Home Page Website (www.spirotary.org), click on the “Record Your Rotary Volunteer Hours” file, and then click on the link. The form is easy to fill out!

Our club has a long-term volunteer relationship with the Central Illinois Foodbank. The image to the left shows rotary volunteers in 2021. Through our annual citrus sale, Rotary Clubs in Springfield and our customers also donate cartons of oranges to the Foodbank for distribution to food pantries throughout their region.