Club Services Director John Webb has lined up a great series of speakers for our meetings. See the Upcoming Program and Events section of this Newsletter to see the lineup of speakers through October 2. We will be trying some some off-site social night meetings in August and September.

 

We enjoyed learning about the Illinois Conservation Foundation from their Executive Director Steve Ettinger (image above). He gave a detailed review of their programs that foster and support ecological, educational, and outdoor experiences for public benefit. We also inducted two new members to our club (see story below), and Bruce Strom led us in singing happy birthday to Ross Hodel (image below).  

 

 

At our Springfield Presidents meeting on July 27, we explored the possibility of forming an international club partnership with SIU School of  Medicine. We also discussed the Chamber of Commerce membership. If we continue this membership, then we need to become more active and use it as a membership recruitment tool. I asked if anyone in our club was interested in volunteering to be a regular attendee of Chamber events. If you are interested, please let me know. We discussed moving the annual Chicken Dinner Fundraiser to spring instead of having it at such a busy time in the fall. Finally, we are considering having a special program for our annual All Club luncheon or dinner. John Webb is working on having this event at Lincoln Land Community College in the Ag Center building and scheduling a program on the Illinois Rotary Vocational Training program for the Zambia Corn Project with Rotarian Eric Dolbeare as the speaker. More information on the dinner and this program will come later. 

When we meet at Maldaner's, please submit your reservations for dinner! Click on the link embedded below and enter the date, your name, dine in/carry out and number of meals being consumed in the restaurant and/or carried out prior to each meeting. Preferably, everyone will fill out the form by noon on the Friday before the upcoming meeting. I have given Jesse at Maldaner's access to the view, so it will help him with planning. As always, we will direct him to have a few additional servings available for members who forget or last minute guests. 

 

Here is the link:

 

 

The same link will work for the entire Rotary year and will be shared within each Newsletter, so do not delete the Newsletter until you have submitted your dinner information. Please remember that the three most recent Newsletters can also be accessed from the Website Home Page (www.spirotary.org) so you can also access the link for reservations from the Website Home Page (www.spirotary.org). 

The Peace Committee has spent several months reviewing local opportunities to engage our Rotary Club in work that, in the words of Rotary International, promotes peace “by addressing the underlying causes of conflict, including poverty, discrimination, ethnic tension, lack of access to education, and unequal distribution of resources.” We are committed to work that provides sustainable solutions to these issues in Springfield. Based on conversations with community leaders and site visits, we focused on partnership with two outstanding efforts in Springfield: the collaborative effort to eradicate homelessness in Springfield in the next 5-7 years and the work of The Outlet, a fast-growing organization providing multiple forms of support to young African American men. The Outlet’s programs help these youth address the challenges they face coming from poverty, systemic racism, violence, and addiction in their communities by developing the considerable talents and grit they bring to our community.

 

 

The Committee has already applied for a district club grant that includes matching local funds to provide computing access to clients of Helping Hands, a primary partner in the effort to eradicate homelessness. We learned that a computing lab is a priority for Helping Hands so clients in their facility can search for jobs, write resumes, and connect with resources and family. It also will help their children access school and education resources. The Committee will bring its other top priority recommendations for club work with both Helping Hands and The Outlet over the next year to the club in the next month.

 

 

We hope the active work of the Committee will lead the club to become a Rotary Peace Club. This will bring recognition and access to additional resources from Rotary International to continue our efforts to promote peace in our community through service.

 

Please remember that we are trying our new schedule with fewer club meetings each month and some social night meetings at locations other than Maldaners. Please pay attention to the meeting schedule listed the Newsletter, on our website home page (www.spirotary.org), and on our Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram pages for the dates and locations of the meetings. I am in the process of scheduling speakers now and will provide more details as soon as they are available.

 

On June 26, I was honored to be installed as our Club's new Community Service Director (shown standing in image above). I am working with my predecessor in this role, my sister Megan Reynolds (shown seated in the image above), who has become our President-Elect. I will provide volunteer opportunities soon. We thank all the volunteers who gave and are giving generously of their time on service projects in May, June, and July. If you have ideas for service projects, please contact me at fryemadeline@gmail.com. 

 

 

We are repeating a list of suggestions of foods and other items to stock in the Ridgely Food Pantry. These suggestions came from people who use food pantries to help feed their families. 

 

1. Everyone donates Kraft Mac and Cheese in the box. They can rarely use it because it needs milk and butter, which is difficult to get from regular food banks.
2. Boxed milk is a treasure, as kids need it for cereal, which they also get a lot of.
3. Everyone donates pasta sauce and spaghetti noodles.
4. They cannot eat all the awesome canned veggies and soup unless you put a can opener in too or buy pop tops.*
5. Oil is a luxury and needed for Rice a-Roni, which they also get a lot of.
6. Spices or salt and pepper would be a real Holiday gift.
7. Tea bags and coffee make them feel like you care.
8. Sugar and flour are treats.
9. They fawn over fresh produce donated by farmers and grocery stores.
10. Seeds are cool in Spring and Summer because growing can be easy for some.
11. They rarely get fresh meat.
12. Tuna and crackers make a good lunch.
13. Hamburger Helper goes nowhere without ground beef.
14. They get lots of peanut butter and jelly but usually not sandwich bread.
15. Butter or margarine is nice too.
16. Eggs are a real commodity.
17. Cake mix and frosting makes it possible to make a child’s birthday cake.
18. Dishwashing detergent is very expensive and is always appreciated.
19. Feminine hygiene products are a luxury and women will cry over that.
20. Everyone loves Stove Top Stuffing.

 

* At our November 29 club meeting, Ross Hodel reported that he followed this advice and stocked numerous can openers in the Ridgely Pantry. He noted that they were quickly snapped up.

Do you know or are you someone who has a passion to give back to your community? The Rotarians in this image are helping pack essential items for the Illinois Police Department to give to homeless individuals in our community. As a Rotarian, you adhere to the principles of the 4-way Test., which are:

If you find value in these ideals and want to be part of a great organization, right click on the attached link to open our online Membership Application in a new window. You can also click on this link to download an electronic copy of the Membership Application from our Club's website Home Page (www.spirotary.org) in the Download Files section. You can send the completed application to the Membership Committee at hmitchell11@comcast.net. We look forward to hearing from you! 

 

Regards, 

Downtown 2023-2024 Rotary Membership Chair

 

Harry Mitchell