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 The Rotary Club of Springfield's "Go the Extra Mile 5K" will premiere at Southwind Park, 4965 S. 2nd St in Springfield, IL on Saturday, October 30. This family-friendly event honors frontline workers. Online pre-registration is required. To register, click on this link: The registration link is also provided on our Facebook page as an event and a post. Please share the Facebook Event with your walking and running friends! Runners and walkers of all ages are welcome to pre-register and will receive a free t-shirt if they register before October 10. Registered participants may pick up their packets at Hope Pavilion near the Rotary Sunflower Sundial in Southwind Park on Friday, October 29 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. or at check-in on race day. All runners and walkers will check in at 7:30 a.m. at Hope Pavilion on October 30. The 5K will start at 9:00 a.m., and a separate race for children 10 and under will also be held. The top 3 finishers for each age class in the 5K will receive medals. All participants in the Children's Race will receive medals. Planning for this event, was supported through a Rotary District 6460 Club Grant. Please join us for this event and help us honor our frontline workers. Runners and walkers will be asked to identify a frontline worker that they will run/walk for, and we will take their picture with that person's name. We will create a collage with all the images to celebrate the event and the workers. |
Thanks to the Rotarians who attended the annual "Rotary Family Day at the Ballpark" on Sunday, October 3 (image to left). It was also a celebration for Mike Shannon as he ended his 50 years of being a player, an administrator, and most of all his career as the Cardinals lead announcer for KMOX. As Rotary baseball coordinator, I had the privilege of three interviews with Mike about Rotary Days at the Ballpark. For the October 3 event, Bill Smith and I were field guests of the Cardinals along with Past District Governor Maura Donnelly (image above) who nailed throwing out the first pitch. Ross Hodel captured the image below of her getting advice prior to her perfect pitch.
The Cubs won this game although it was shortened by three different rain stoppages. We all had exercise climbing up and down the steps from the second row of seats in Section 232. Congratulation to the Cardinals and their fans for the team playing on Wednesday, October 6 in the MLB playoffs. I tried to sell more tickets to the October 3 game by predicting that the Cardinals would have a great August run. Nobody throughout our Rotary District took the bait, therefore we had lower sales of tickets for Rotary Family Day than in previous years. Next year, we will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Rotary Day at the games in St. Louis, therefore hopefully many tickets will be sold for the game. Over $520,000 has been raised to support literacy in our Rotary Districts in Central and Southern Illinois over the years through ticket sales for the Rotary Family Day games.
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 On February 1, we returned to our hybrid meeting format for our weekly club meetings. You may chose to participate in the meeting in person at Maldaners Upstairs or online through Webex. If you participate in person, please wear your mask and continue to practice social distancing. Barry Tobias (image above, left front) will continue to provide online service and provide the meeting link in the Newsletter. For those participating online, curbside meals are still available for order using the link in the Newsletter. Now that meeting in person is again possible, it is a great time to invite a friend or acquaintance who has a heart for serving others. That's the essence of what we do. Bring them along to see if Rotary is right for them! |
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. Here are just a few highlights for 2020 service projects during the pandemic. We continue working 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 September 2020, white boards were distributed to four elementary schools in Springfield that will help 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 a micro-pantry at Ridgely School, and Club members are stocking the pantry with nutritious food (image to right).We made the 2020 holiday season a bit brighter by partnering with Home Instead to provide small gifts and cheery cards to isolated seniors. Home Instead provided us with wish lists in November, and our gifts and cards were delivered in early December for the seniors to enjoy. We continued to provide holiday cheer for youth as well through our continued partnership with Rutledge Youth Foundation. Club members purchased angel tree gifts for Rutledge youth.
On Saturday, December 5 we joyously rang the Salvation Army bells at Schnuck’s on Chatham Road between 11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.
The article below provides more information on service projects in 2020. They provide great examples of the work our Club does in the community. Club members are hard at work on numerous service projects in 2021 including volunteer work at the Central Illinois Foodbank (image below), stocking the Ridgley School Micro-Pantry, buying books for the Little Library and so much more.
Don’t forget to log your service hours. Just click on this link: https://airtable.com/shr4cB7BpJjpwXDErIf 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!
Kiwanis Lions Optimist Rotary join for week of service to Celebrate Community
Kiwanis, Lions, Optimist, Rotary, join for week of service to Celebrate CommunityEVANSTON, ILL.: October 7, 2021 – Celebrate Community, a joint initiative of the four major volunteer service organizations, will launch
