Join us at Maldeners on May 12 for a Membership Club Assembly
This will be a follow-up to our important Club Assembly on April 14! Harry Mitchell (image on left) reviewed members who terminated their membership from 2019 to January 2025 and discussed some of the reasons given for the departures. He also reported that we had 23 new members from January 2020-April 2025, and the fact that only 4 members from this group are still active. He summarized the known reasons for departures including passing, moving away, job changes, family obligations, and financial issues. He challenged all of us to select some members who departed and make a personal contact with them to find out why they left and to invite them to join our club again. See Harry's story below for more information and what we need to do to rebuild our membership. April 28 presentation on Downtown Springfield!
Carlos Ortega, DSI Executive Director gave a great overview of the programs and services of Downtown Springfield, Inc. at our April 28 Club Meeting. I was happy to present him with his Official Rotary Mug (image below) and to invite him to consider becoming a member of our club. For more information on his presentation see John Webb's story in this Newsletter.
May 5 Off-Site Social Night at Top Cats Chill and Grill was a Blast
On May 5, we gathered in the party room at Top Cats (3211 E. Sangamon Avenue, Springfield, IL). This social night resulted in great conversations over good food. See John Webb's story in this Newsletter for more information.
Social Justice Sewing Academy Quilt Premiere Rescheduled for June
At The Outlets request, we are rescheduling the opening event featuring the results from our joint Social Justice Sewing Academy quilt project (lead image) to June. Stay tuned for the date for the event, which will occur at the Outlet (3306 South Sixth Street Road, Springfield in the former St. Joseph's facility). We hope your schedule will accommodate this change, and we will let you know as soon as we have a new date in June for the event. We want you to be among the first to see the powerful quilt (image below) made with quilt squares created by Springfield youth and family members. It will be a great opportunity to meet some of the youth and learn more about the meaning of the images they created for their quilt squares. The revised information on this event is included in this Newsletter, and you will also receive a new invitation through ClubRunner email when the date is set. We are inviting other Rotary Clubs and dignitaries in our area to participate in this event. Please bring a guests. For more information on this project, see the revised information and Jim Applegate's story below.
