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Meet Our 2023-2024 Leadership Team

Posted by Dr. Bonnie Styles

At our June 26 Installation Picnic, our outgoing club President Randy Erford welcomed President-Elect Travis Magoulias to the outdoor stage as well as the dignitaries participating in the Installation Ceremony: Bob Stuart, Past Rotary International Director, Past District Governor, and long-time member of our club; District Governor Elect Dan O'Brien; and our current and soon-to-be Past District Governor Bill Durall (image above). Dan O'Brien spoke about the fame and successes of the Rotary Club of Springfield and its leadership at the District level and above.

Bob Stuart conducted the installation of incoming President Travis Magoulias, including the Oath of Office (image below).

Randy assisted with the presentation of the President's Pin (image on left) and the Gavel (image below)

Bob Stuart installed the other incoming 2023-2024 officers:

Megan Reynolds, President-Elect (image below)

Marty Michelson, Secretary (not able to attend event)

Jim Theis, Treasurer (image below)

Bill Durall installed the other members of the Board of Directors (image on left) and asked each one to stand. The 2023-2024 Directors are:

John Webb, Club Service Director (image below)

Madeline Boner, Community Service Director (pictured on left in image with her sister and President-Elect Megan Reynolds)

Bob Stuart, International Service Director (numerous images above)

Harry Mitchell, Membership Service Director (standing on right in the image below)

Bill Kempiners, Youth Service Director (unable to attend event, not pictured)

Directors at Large: Ross Hodel (seated in above image), Loretta Meeks (shown in image below with her 2022-2023 Service of Above Self Award for her long-term service as Secretary), and Bonnie Styles (the photographer, not pictured).

Barry Tobias, Sergeant at Arms (standing on the left in image above).

Following the installation ceremony: Travis presented Randy with the coveted Past President's Pin (image on left), and Rod Buffington presented Randy with a print of his original artwork (image below) for the Rotary International Theme for Randy's Rotary Presidential year (Imagine Rotary).

Randy presented Travis with a gift of a special model car (image on right) and passed the microphone to Travis. Travis thanked all the members for coming to the installation picnic and for having confidence in him to lead the club (image below). He invited participants to continue enjoying themselves and to attend our upcoming club meetings and service events.

The Rotary International Presidential Theme for 2023-2024 is to Create Hope in the World (image below), and we know that our work helps contribute to that goal.

Buy Tickets for the July 29 Cubs-Cards Game and Support Literacy

Posted by Rod Buffington

Please buy tickets for our 20th Annual Rotary Family Day at the Ballpark. You don't have to be a Rotarian to purchase tickets. All proceeds support literacy grants in communities across our Rotary District. We still have about 400 tickets for the game. The game is on July 29 at 6:15 p.m. at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The Cubs are playing the Cards. Our discounted tickets are $60 each. All seats are in the Left Field Loge and Pavilion. Checks should be made out to Rotary 6460 Foundation and mailed to 2001 Barberry Drive, Springfield, IL 62704. A form for ordering tickets is available on our Club's Website Home Page. Just click Baseball Ticket Order Form here.

We are arranging for roundtrip bus transportation from Springfield (from White Oaks Mall, parking lot near the north entrance to Macys). The bus will depart at 2:00 p.m. and will cost $35 per person. We need to fill this bus! Please contact me as soon as possible (217-416-1245 or rotaryrod@comcast.net) if you are interested in reserving a seat on the bus, and you will need to pay for your seat ahead of time. The bus contract has a 30 day contingency with a no return of the deposit after the 30 days, and the 30 days started on June 29.

Please don't delay in buying your tickets for this game!

Grants Awarded to Nonprofits

We held our annual Springfield Rotary Foundation Grants Night (image above) on June 12, 2023. This is always a joyful and rewarding occasion where we see the fruits of our labor. Attendance of the grant recipients at our meeting offered our members an opportunity to meet and encourage these charitable organization who are making a difference in our community and to invite them to join our Rotary Club and participate in our community service projects (image below).

Vicki Megginson, who became our Springfield Rotary Foundation President in July, 2023, served as the Master of Ceremonies for the June event. Foundation President for 2022-2023, David Fowler, was unable to attend the meeting, but was with us in spirit. Vicki acknowledged all the work that Bill Smith does as Foundation Treasurer and for the management of the community grants program (image on left). She also acknowledged the work by all the members of the 2022-2023 Foundation Board, including David Fowler, Vicki Megginson, Bill Kempiners, Barry Tobias, and Randy Erford.

The club’s fundraisers for the current Rotary year provided $40,400 to be used for national and international club projects or donations, including an annual donation to the Land of Lincoln Honor Flights, scholarships, and grants to charitable organizations. The club’s foundation board of directors met during May to allocate $28,600 of these funds for our community grants program. There were 17 requests for grant funds; of these, 12 organizations were fully or partially funded. They also allocated some of the monies raised through the Flag Service Program for the annual donation to the Land of Lincoln Honor Flights.

At our June 12 meeting, Vicki and Bill presented checks to representatives of 11 of the 12 organizations, and a check for the annual donation to the Land of Lincoln Honor Flights (image on right). Representatives from the organizations receiving checks are shown in the image below. Each representative briefly described how they will use the grant or donated funds. The representative, organization, and the use of the funds are listed below following the order of individuals in the image.

Organization Representatives, Organizations, and Use of Awarded Funds for Front Row from left to right:

Brandy Stabler, Director of Development for Compass for Kids (for providing healthy snacks and well-balanced meals for low income students in District 186); Dan Way, Board Member for Land of Lincoln Honor Flights (to cover expenses for 5 veterans to visit memorials in Washington D.C.); Deana Corbin, Executive Director for Animal Protective League (for purchase of pet food for the pet food bank for struggling pet owners); Amy Voils, Executive Director from MERCY Communities (to buy learning materials for families with children experiencing homelessness); Peggy Dyson, Executive Director, Educational Center for the Visually Impaired (to support an orientation and mobility program for the visually impaired including accessibility devices and Personal Vision Coaches); Linda Laun, Executive Director, Beerlahai Roi Women’s Ministries (for providing nutritious meals for pregnant women and babies in their residence for individuals experiencing homelessness).

Back Row, from left to right:

Jane Locascio, Board Member for Wooden it Be Lovely (for purchase of food and other supplies for women struggling with addiction, poverty, and/or abuse who are living in the residence and/or working in the workshop); Michael Carson, Principal for St. Patrick Catholic School (for support for subscriptions for an online digital reading programs for improving grammar, phonics, and writing); Cindy Drum, Executive Director for Contact Ministries (for purchase of food for women with children in their emergency and transitional shelters and for new outdoor safety lighting); Laura Davis, Executive Director for Helping Hands (to provide breakfast in their shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness); Jennifer Butcher, Principal for Ridgely School (for purchase of food for Bulldog Care Food Backpacks to send home with targeted students on weekends and sometimes during the week as well); Stacy Kelly, Manager for Education and Community Volunteers, Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (for support of a free-of-charge conference to increase dementia literacy within the Black community in the Springfield area). The representative from the Youth Service Bureau was unable to attend, but they were awarded a check to provide food for low income families.

Shipment of Meals to Turkey and Ukraine

Posted by David Fowler

Small things can lead to big results!

In early February 2023, a devastating earthquake, followed by powerful aftershocks, struck Turkey. Rotary clubs in the Midwestern United States responded by partnering with Midwest Mission and North Star Foundation to ship a container of food, donated by Rotary’s partner, Baja Bridges in California, with the approval of the Turkish Consulate.

So far, 25,000 “Chef 5 Minute Meals” (image below) have been sent to Turkey, with 25,000 more to be sent on Friday, March 24 to Ukraine. As the war zone continues to escalate in Ukraine, so does the need for humanitarian aid.

It's common for Rotarians to visit other Rotary clubs when traveling or relocating. It's not so common for such a visit to lead to a complex collaboration impacting people in multiple states and countries. David Fowler, President, of the Rotary Club of Springfield’s Foundation, contacted Midwest Mission to see if they could get a donation of “Chef 5 Minute Meals” to Turkey. These meals were donated to the Rotary Club by Katherine Turner of Baja Bridges out of Clarksburg, California. Rotary was willing to pay the cost to bring them to Springfield, they just needed a partner to get them to Turkey. At that moment, there was no clear route.

About an hour later, Brad Walton, Midwest Mission Operations Manager, called North Star Foundation, one of Midwest Mission’s partners, to coordinate the details of an upcoming Ukraine shipment. While talking, North Star mentioned they had a contact through the Turkish consulate to get supplies into the country. Within an hour, the Rotary Club of Springfield’s Foundation, Midwest Mission, and Baja Bridges went from no way into Turkey to a clear route to get the meals into Turkey.

The first shipment of aid dedicated to disaster relief in Turkey left Midwest Mission on Friday, March 10. This shipment included 25,000 “Chef 5 Minute Meals”. The second shipment of 25,000 meals will be the first of many shipments containing meals and other requested relief items that will be sent to the region.

The shipment for Ukraine will take the same route as Turkey shipment. David Fowler stands with some of the boxes of meals that are headed to Ukraine (image on left). The donated supplies will leave Midwest Mission in a container on a truck to St. Louis on March 24, 2023 (the image below shows boxes being loaded into the container on the truck). They will then head on the railroad up to New York, and from there, will leave on a boat over to Poland. There is a warehouse set up in Poland as a distribution center for disaster relief. From this warehouse, they are able to get supplies to Ukraine, refugees in Poland, Syria, and Turkey. Because of this, future shipments full of aid have the potential of getting needed resources to people in four countries - based on need.

Midwest Mission Executive Director Chantel Corrie says, “Please remember disaster response, especially of this magnitude, is not a sprint but a marathon. If you assume what others need you can clog the transportation and storage of items that are more important or create a disaster within a disaster. That’s why we only work with trusted established partners, so we can be sure to send what is actually needed.”

This will be the first of many shipments of relief that will go to Turkey and Ukraine. The magnitude of the disaster in the region means there will be years of recovery ahead. Midwest Mission is continuing to respond to the effects of the war in Ukraine as well, sending Rice Meals, medical supplies, Personal Dignity Kits, and other requested items.

Monetary donations allow us to quickly buy supplies in bulk and buy what is specifically requested by our partners in Turkey and Ukraine. We never send items that are not specifically requested because we never want to create more chaos in their crisis.

If you’d like to help people impacted by the earthquake in Turkey and the war in Ukraine, the Rotary Club of Springfield, IL makes it easy. The Club’s Foundation partners with Midwest Mission, the North Star Foundation, and Baja Bridges to ship containers of food and needed supplies. The Rotary Club of Springfield works with other Rotary Clubs, Rotary International, and Rotary Clubs in Turkey and Ukraine to help families in need. The image below shows Rotarians from the Springfield Sunrise Club (on left) and the Rotary Club of Springfield (on right) with some of the meals that are now on the way to Ukraine.

Please send contributions to:

Springfield Rotary Foundation, P.O. Box 615, Springfield, IL 62702 Memo: Disaster Relief Fund

Midwest Mission, 1001 Mission Drive, Pawnee, IL 62558 Memo: Turkey OR Ukraine

Midwestmission.org / Tel. 217-483-7911

Baja Bridges, P.O. Box 14, Clarksburg, CA 95612

Bajabridges.org / Tel. 916-832-8965

About the Rotary Club of Springfield and their Springfield Rotary Foundation

https://www.facebook.com/RotaryClubOfSpringfieldIL/.

The members of the Rotary Club of Springfield are an active, diverse group of individuals with a common interest in making the community and the world a better place for everyone.

About Baja Bridges https://www.bajabridges.org/

Baja Bridges is a network of volunteers who provide equipment and supplies for EMTs and firefighters and other assistance for community services in Baja, Mexico. Baja Bridges builds community connections across the border and supplies the necessary tools for these dedicated individuals to perform their jobs with safety and pride.

About Midwest Mission

The mission of the Midwest Mission is to bring the hearts and hands of God’s people together to transform resources into humanitarian aid, so we can show God’s love in a practical way to those in need in their time of crisis.

Around the world and around the corner, people are lacking simple resources that could improve their circumstances. That's why Midwest Mission sends tangible resources to make an intangible difference in their lives through hope and empowerment. In times of crisis internationally and in the United States, Midwest Mission sends Disaster Relief, Health, Education, and Micro Business supplies distributed freely through trusted partner nonprofits.

In 2022, Midwest Mission sent $7.99 million of humanitarian aid in 299 domestic and 48 international shipments.

If you want to learn more about what Midwest Mission does and how you can get involved, visit www.midwestmission.org or visit our Facebook at www.facebook.com/midwestmission.

Oranges Donated to Central Illinois Foodbank

On December 7, the Rotary Clubs of Springfield donated oranges to the Central Illinois Foodbank as a part of the annual Citrus Sale Fundraiser. All five Rotary Clubs in Springfield participated in this year’s Citrus Sale. Three of the clubs—our club, Springfield Sunrise, and Springfield South—allowed Rotarians and their clients to purchase oranges specifically for donation to the Foodbank. This year, we donated 190 40-lb. cartons of oranges (image on left)—about 23,750 oranges. This is Rotary’s largest donation of oranges to the Foodbank since our club added the option to buy oranges for them in 2013.

Bonnie Styles and Bill Smith arranged for the Foodbank to pick up the donated oranges at Humphreys Market on December 7. Humphreys Market helps with the Rotary Citrus order from Florida, and Hope Humphrey joined the group (above image far right). Bill Smith (above image, second from right and image below), Warehouse Manager and overall logistics director for the citrus fundraiser, was interviewed for the Central Illinois Foodbank Newsletter by Tim Kirsininkas, Public Relations Manager for the Foodbank (above image second from left and image below). Ed Reynolds (above image, far left), truck driver for the Central Illinois Foodbank) also joined the group and helped load the oranges on the truck.

Bill Smith described the benefits of the program for Rotary, the Foodbank, and those in need of food. “It’s a win-win situation all around.” Customers buy nutritious citrus to eat and gift during the holiday season and also purchase oranges for donation to the Central Illinois Foodbank. The Foodbank delivers the oranges to other foodbanks who distribute them to those in need. The gift keeps giving because the proceeds from the sale of the oranges and grapefruit by Rotarians, including the oranges purchased for direct donation to the Foodbank, support Rotary community grants that help combat hunger, promote literacy, and meet other community needs.

Community Service in 2021-2023

Service Above Self is Our Mantra!

Under the leadership of Community Service Directors, Vicki Megginson (2021-2022) and Megan Reynolds (2022-2024) and our Springfield Rotary Foundation, club volunteers have been actively serving our community. Continuing issues with Covid have not changed the Rotary Club of Springfield's commitment to improving literacy, eradicating hunger, and helping meet other needs in our community and across the World. A few highlights for our service over the past few years are provided below. If you enjoy working with People of Action, we hope that you will consider joining our club. Links to Membership information and applications are provided on this Home Page!

Following three years of Covid Pandemic issues, we have re-established regular work events with the Central Illinois Foodbank that include packing food boxes for distribution, sorting and bagging donated foods, and labeling canned goods (images below).

We have stocked our micro-pantry and little library at our adopted school Ridgely Elementary in Springfield (images below). We also provided supplies and donated monies needed to purchase supplies for the school, and gave them a community grant for a literacy project.

We continued our work to assist homeless individuals in Springfield by teaming up with three other Rotary Clubs, local high school students who participated in the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Assembly, and the Salvation Army to pack Bags of Hope full of essential items (image below) and providing meals. This project was supported through a Rotary District 6460 District Grant that we helped write along with the 3 three other Springfield Rotary Clubs. As noted in the article above, we also provided ready-to-eat meals to central Illinois nonprofits that help feed the hungry.

We also secured a 2021-2022 Rotary District 6460 literacy grant that supported a partnership with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority to pack backpacks (images below) to deliver to Springfield agencies who work with preschool children who are experiencing homelessness. Our current Rotary District 6460 literacy grant purchased books for Black Hawk School so the Reading is Fundamental Program could be expanded to include younger students and Rotarians will participate by reading books to students.

We continued our popular Flag Service Project, which installs flags throughout our community (image below) to commemorate patriotic holidays, for a subscription fee. This project helps make our community red-white-and blue, and the proceeds support grants for nonprofits that support community needs.

Our annual Citrus Sale (image below from the 2021 sale) is a major fundraiser supporting charitable grants made by our Springfield Rotary Foundation. Our 2023 Citrus Campaign is again dedicated to the memory of John Montgomery, a member of our club for over 53 years who passed away in 2009. Over $1.4 million in grants have been provided to local charities through this annual event. Customers also purchase oranges for the donation to the Central Illinois Foodbank through this program so it's a win-win situation.

Our member volunteers annually purchase Angel Tree gifts for the Rutledge Youth Foundation, work with Home Alone to provide holiday cards and gifts cards for at-home seniors, ring the bells for Salvation Army (image below), and a whole lot more!

We also volunteer and donate to assist with disaster relief efforts in the United States and abroad and a wide variety of disaster relief, clean water, and other projects across the world. In August of 2022, our club partnered with Rotary District 6490, Midwest Mission in Pawnee, Illinois, to deliver 28,266 pounds of hand sanitizer and sanitizer wipes to Pikesville, Kentucky for distribution to Kentucky flood victims. Our club also donated funds to the assist in the delivery expenses for the products.

At the international level, we participate in fundraisers for the eradication of polio for the Rotary International PolioPlus Initiative. The funds raised from ticket sales for the 2022 annual Rotary Chicken Dinner were allocated to the PolioPlus Fund. Rotarians enjoyed serving up the delicious meals for customers (image below). Our club also contributes funds from our annual March Madness Fundraiser to Polio Plus.

At the International level, we are also contributing to Rotary International disaster relief in Ukraine, a Rotary International Grant project for increasing agricultural productivity in Zambia, and are participating in a Rotary International Grant project to bring clean water to a mountain village in Nepal. As noted in the article above, in 2023 we are assisting with disaster relief in Turkey and Ukraine.

We hope that you will consider joining our club. Service at the local and international level is rewarding.