Club assemblies are meetings where we convene to discuss important issues for our club. We covered multiple topics at this meeting. Harry started us out with membership issues (image above). He reviewed a list of prospective members and announced that we are planning to have an open house for prospective members (likely in March) and that we already have a District Grant to help support the open house. He reviewed his new initiative to have two club members serve as greeters at each meeting to welcome everyone, especially new members, speakers, and visitors who may not have been to our meetings in the past. Because we meet upstairs at Maldaner's Restaurant, it can be confusing when visitors and others enter the front door on the first floor and see that the restaurant is closed on Mondays. One of the greeters will be positioned at this entrance to welcome them and direct them to the second floor. The other greeter will great individuals on the second floor and direct them to the registration table.
We also use the assemblies to help members get to know each other better. To that end, Sergeant at Arms Ross Hodel led members in a a round of brag-a-bucks (see image in Presidents Message). We were happy to see and hear from Dave Fowler (image below) and learn about his daughters continued military recognition during inspections at Camp Lincoln. Numerous others shared heartwarming and sometimes heart rending stories about kids and grandkids. Proceeds from brag-a-bucks support scholarships to Lincoln Land and UIS.
Ross also led us in a rousing 50/50 game. We continued our club tradition of picking the wrong card during the 50-50 game. The evening's gracious losers included Jim Theis (image to left), Vicki Megginson (first image below), and John Webb (second image below). Thanks to them, the pot continues to grow.
Harry then announced that our club had donated $996,885 to The Rotary Foundation. After we collect the donations from our Paul Harris Fellow Giving Circles, we will reach $1 million in giving. We will need to celebrate being a "million dollar club."
On behalf of Kay, our Youth Services Director, who could not attend the meeting, Ashley Dillingham announced that the Community Interact Club had a completed a service project for Pure Haven, which serves survivors of domestic violence. She also noted that outbound exchange student Thien got top performance awards in language and math from his school in the Philippines. She reiterated the need for our club to find host families for an inbound exchange student. Finally, she noted that there will be an Interact Conference in conjunction with the District Conference.
Brandy Zanger gave an update on community service projects. She thanked members for donating candy to The Outlet for their Trunk or Treat event. She reported that the Clothing Drive for RISE Springfield collected 3,000 lbs. of clothing (see the story below on October Service Projects)..
Bill Smith reminded members that there are only two weeks to go for selling citrus!
Ken reminded members that the Holiday Party is on December 15 and will be catered by Randy Williams. He closed the meeting by reading us an inspirational children's book that asks the question Why Not? (by Kobi Yamada). The book advocated ethics like those advanced by Rotary. He drew the names for the drawing, and the educational game books went to Sheila and Vicki (image below). It was an informative and engaging evening.