We thank all the volunteers who gave and are giving generously of their time on service projects this Rotary Year. Work on our ongoing service projects continues, and we thank all who have stepped up to help coordinate these activities and especially Ken Gilmore, our Community Services Director for the 2024-2025 Rotary Year.
Volunteer Opportunity for Real Men Read! Program
We are encouraging members of our club to volunteer for the Springfield Public Schools' Real Men Read! Program. See article by Ken Gilmore in this Newsletter.
Successful Bed Building for Sleep in Heavenly Peace
The bed-building event on September 14, sponsored by Sleep in Heavenly Peace, was successful!
October 7 Book Drive for Club Members
Thanks to all the members who brought in books for our Little Libraries.
October 4 United Way Fall Day of Action
Thanks to all who participated in this service project. We received a thank you note from the United Way (image below).
Stocking our Little Libraries
Allison Montney (onedirtymartini@gmail.com) and John Webb (jwebb.dr@gmail.com) are coordinating the stocking of our Little Libraries. We previously built a series of Little Libraries with a support from a District Club Grant and secured a large number of books that were donated by a group in St. Louis. The books are stored in the Computer Banc warehouse. To keep the books up-to-date, they have requested that club members bring in books to supplement the donated books stored in the Computer Banc warehouse. Contact them if you would like to donate books and/or stock Little Libraries.
The image of the Little Library at Ridgely School (to the left) clearly shows that this little library needs to be regularly stocked. Thanks to Allison and John for coordinating this project and ensuring that it is well stocked. Let them know if you would like to help. 
Stocking of the Ridgely School Micropantry
We previously installed a Micropantry at Ridgely Elementary School (our adopted school) with support from a District Grant. At our October 23, 2023 meeting, Allison Montney volunteered to coordinate the stocking of this micropantry with food, cleaning, and toiletry items. She maintains a schedule of volunteers to stock the pantry for a two week period, and John Webb has also volunteered to help with this project. If you would like to volunteer to stock this important and regularly used pantry, please let Allison know (onedirtymartini@gmail.com) and check out her article on micropantry volunteers for more information on this service project.
Flag Service Work Continues after the last Deployment
We have completed removing of flags following the commemoration of Patriots Day. The flags are now being stored in the warehouse.
The work on the flag project continues after the last deployment for the year. Bill Sturm needs at least two volunteers to assist with repairs for flags with bent poles and torn flags. Please contact him at SturmDMD@hotmaill.com to volunteer. John Loftus also has a small project that requires a few volunteers. Please contact John Loftus (jlloftus@aol.com) if you would like to help with this project or any aspect of our Flag Service project. It's rewarding work and raises lots of money for our community grants program!
John Montgomery Memorial Citrus Campaign
We launched the 2024 John Montgomery Memorial Citrus Drive at our September 30 club meeting. At this meeting Bill Smith launched the campaign and provided background on the outstanding Rotarian that the campaign is dedicated to (see Bill's articles in this Newsletter). If you would like to volunteer for the citrus committee, let Marty know. All members should be selling healthful oranges and grapefruit to raise monies for our community grants program!