Former Rotary Youth Exchange Student KaiMook McWilla is our featured speaker for our September 20 meeting. Join us to hear about her amazing experiences from a Rotary Youth Exchange student to her career in Neuroscience.
I wanted to remind everyone that the 1st annual Rotary Chicken Dinner that all 5 Springfield Rotary clubs are participating in is this weekend. You have done a great job at committing to and selling tickets for each day. We ended up committing to 101 tickets on Saturday and 146 tickets on Sunday out of the 300 total tickets. Please bring your money that is owed for these tickets to our meeting next Monday if possible or mail your checks.
We are still in need of a couple of volunteers on Saturday so please help if you can. Please show up a half hour early if you are a volunteer for either day. Great job again and thanks for all you do.
Springfield Rotary Presidents Meeting and Update
On September 14, all 5 Springfield Rotary Club presidents met for our monthly meeting with Assistant District Governor Tate Hartman. At this month’s meeting we looked at other ways that all 5 clubs can continue to work together to show Springfield the power of Rotary. Topics that we discussed included the 1st Annual Chicken Dinner, the new member engagement session and orientation, the Cards-Cubs game on October 3, putting together a database of speakers that could be shared across our clubs, the Pints for Polio fundraiser (image above) that would occur in conjunction with World Polio Day (October 24), Rotary day at UIS basketball, and possibly participating in a city-wide Blood Drive in January for national blood month. The momentum to stay in touch and work on shared projects is growing and we will keep you up to date on where we are at on all of these plans at our weekly meetings and through the newsletter. Please let us know if you have any ideas or would like to work on any of these projects.
Hear Randy Erford and Speaker KaiMook McWilla on September 20
President Elect Randy Erford will lead the meeting this coming Monday while I am out for the week at the Gold Star 500 bicycle ride. Randy is always entertaining and brings a unique sense of humor to make the meetings a fun time.
At this meeting, we will hear from KaiMook McWilla (lead image). She is a former Rotary Youth Exchange Student from Thailand who lived with a family in Pleasant Plains 15 years ago and is leading a very interesting life. She just received her Doctorate in Neuroscience and has studied and lived in many countries. She is currently working in the Department of Cognitive Science with the Faculty of Medicine, Health, and Human Sciences for the Australian Hearing Hub at Macquarie University in Australia. Don't miss this presentation.
Join by video system, application or Skype for business Dial 25770720938@webex.com You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number. From the Cisco internal network, dial *777* and the 9-digit meeting number. If you are the host, enter your PIN when prompted.
If you are a host, click here to view host information.
Now that we are back to full capacity, we will no longer announce the menu for dining at Maldaners Upstairs or for curbside pickup. The meal will be Chef's Choice as it was prior to the pandemic.
Please continue to make reservations for in-person meals so we can estimate our seating needs and for curbside meals so Maldaners knows you are coming. The deadline for reserving dinner for the September 20 meeting is Sunday, September 19 at 5:00 p.m. Meals are $15 each. Please use the following link to make your reservations for the meal for indoor dining or curbside pickup by clicking:
For curbside users, please place your meal tickets or cash in an envelope with your name and “for Sheila Mack” on the outside of the envelope and give it to the Maldaners staff member that gives you your food. They will get the envelopes to Sheila Mack. Curbside pickup is between 4:45 and 5:15 p.m. To pick up food, turn into the alley behind the building and pick up the food at the back door. It's easy to pick up your food an the food is delicious!
September 20: KaiMook McWilla, former Rotary Youth Exchange Student and current Faculty Member in the Department of Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Australia (see Lead Image and President's Message story).
September 27: Chris Rys (image below), Systems Engineering Manager at Cisco; Cisco Public Sector. Chris will present on STEM & Girls in IT: Outreach Opportunities. She has worked with and helped head up CISCO's interactions with STEM schools. She is a big promoter of girls in IT.
At our September 13 club meeting, in-person and online participants had the opportunity to meet Julie Vahling, who has applied for membership in our club. She lives in Lincolnshire in Springfield and is a new Policy Advisor for the Illinois Department of Labor. She grew up in a small town in Effingham County and raised her three daughters there. She was a member of the Rotary Sunrise Club in Effingham. She served as President and Secretary for her club and is a Paul Harris Fellow. She loves community service and would like to be part of our club. We are looking forward to seeing her again soon.
Our club'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.
You can help us by sharing this newsletter or our Facebook Event post. You can also direct people to the lead story on our website homepage (www.spirotary.org).
Please join one of the committees that we have established. Those who are already serving on or want to volunteer for a committee are invited to join us at an upcoming committee meeting. We need a volunteer to take pictures of runners holding the signs with the name of the individuals they are honoring for our collage. Images taken with a cell phone would be fine for this purpose.
The committee will meet on September 20 at 4:30 p.m. at Maldaners before our club meeting.
The seven planning committees are:
Registration
Publicity
Sponsors
Race Technology
Honors Collage
Shirts and Awards
Race Day
Please let me know if you can’t make the meeting but want to be a part of the planning group - dkromphardt@yahoo.com or 815-488-2787.
The Central States Rotary Youth Exchange (CSRYE) has announced it will be accepting applications for students interested in going to school in a foreign country during School Year 2022-2023. Applications from interested students must be submitted no later than November 1, 2021. The Board of Directors for our Club has voted to sponsor both an Outbound and Inbound student for the school year. Sponsoring and hosting an exchange student is a rewarding experience. The image to the left shows the delightful Sabrina Paez, the last Inbound Exchange student that our club co-sponsored. As the Youth Exchange Officer for our club, I need the membership’s assistance for 2022-2023 Exchange Students.
First, we need a minimum of two families willing to host a foreign student, and both families must live within the same school district, and in Springfield, within the boundaries for the same school. We will not be considered for an Inbound Student until we have the first host family recruited. If you know of any family that would be interested in hosting a foreign exchange student, please let me know their contact information or have them contact me (bkemp1100@hotmail.com).
Second, if you know of any high school student, preferably a sophomore this coming school year, that you think would be interested in becoming an Outbound Student, also please let me know or have the family contact me at my email address so I can meet with the entire family to cover the requirements with them. Applicants can be between the ages of 15 and 18.5 years old, but must complete the program by the time they reach 18.5 years old.
I would appreciate any assistance you can provide in this effort. Additional information for a prospective student/family can be found at the Central States Rotary Youth Exchange website, www.csrye.org. Thank you for any assistance you can provide.
We still need two more volunteers for the Springfield Rotary Clubs' chicken dinner fundraiser on Saturday, September 8. Meal pick up is from 4:00-7:00 p.m. and volunteers should come about 30 minutes early. For more information on this event see the article on the chicken dinner in the President's message.
Volunteer for our 5K
Numerous volunteers are needed for the 5K, For more information on the 5K, see article by Dave Kromphardt (above).
Ridgely School Food Pantry
Vicki thanked Jim Applegate for stocking the micro-pantry for the last two weeks and for including diapers, which are in great demand. She noted the continued need for volunteers to help monitor the micro-pantry. You can choose the first or second half of a month. You will need to check the pantry each week and help round out the supply with dry and canned goods and other items. Inclusion of hygiene and cleaning products is greatly appreciated. Adding a few treats for children is also appreciated. As it cools off, but before we hit freezing temperatures, it is possible to stock the pantry with fresh produce.
Volunteers are currently needed for: November 16-31, and for shifts in December.
Flag Service
Special thanks to all of the Rotarians and Volunteers who helped pick up flags after Patriots Day (September 11) (image below). This was our last flag pick up for this year! Please consider volunteering for our Flag Service Project. There are many maintenance activities that will take place before we will install flags in 2022. For example, we will be replacing the faded flags with new flags. Contact John Loftus (jlloftus@aol.com) if you are interested in helping.
Update on Little Library Installations
At our September 13 meeting, Nicole Kinkelaar (image to left) reported that the Little Libraries, built with support from a District Literacy Grant, have been delivered to Ridgely School, Enos School, and St. Johns Breadline, and two boxes of donated books were delivered for each little library. The location for the fourth Little Library has been determined, but not yet announced. A firefighter is installing the legs for the Little Library at Ridgely School. The St. John's breadline library will be deployed so that it can be rolled in out of their facility. Barry Tobias is building the legs for this Little Library and indicated that he could use some help with task. The Enos Little Library is currently set up indoors, but the school wants to move it outside. Nicole indicated that she needs volunteers to help her better sort the books to serve these Little Libraries. For example, she plans to primarily stock Ridgely and Enos libraries with books appropriate for Pre-K to 5 students, and include a larger assortment of books for the broader audience for the St. Johns Breadline Little Library.
Have an idea for a new service project? Contact Vicki Megginson.
To volunteer for any and all opportunities, contact Vicki Megginson at megginson.vicki@gmail.com.
We are thrilled to announce that we will have another Rotary Family Day at the Ballpark on October 3, 2021 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. We will watch the 2:15 p.m. game between our favorite rivals -- the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs. It may or may not be for the pennant! We have reserved right field loge seating in sections 234-228. Your discounted price for the tickets is $55.00.
You can download the ticket order form from our Website Home page by clicking on the highlighted link. Order your tickets before they are all gone! Please share copies of the order form with your friends and colleagues. Please remember that proceeds from ticket sales support our District Literacy Grant Program. It's a Win for Literacy! Stay tuned for details on transportation to the game.
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:
Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all concerned?
Will it build Good Will and Better Friendships?
Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?
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 Membership Application in a new window. You can also download a 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 illinoisdelta@hotmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Please email images of service activities to Bonnie Styles at bonstyles@yahoo.com. It's easy to take pictures if you have a smartphone, but even an old style camera works just fine. Send me an email (bonstyles@yahoo.com) to let me know when you will be volunteering for a service project, and I will come out and take some images. The image on the right shows Rotarians assisting with street clean up in Downtown Springfield on August 21 in preparation for the Downtown Open Streets Day.
I wanted to remind everyone that the 1st annual Rotary Chicken Dinner that all 5 Springfield Rotary clubs are participating in is this weekend. You have done a great job at committing to and selling tickets for each day. We ended up committing to 101 tickets on Saturday and 146 tickets on Sunday out of the 300 total tickets. Please bring your money that is owed for these tickets to our meeting next Monday if possible or mail your checks.
On September 14, all 5 Springfield Rotary Club presidents met for our monthly meeting with Assistant District Governor Tate Hartman. At this month’s meeting we looked at other ways that all 5 clubs can continue to work together to show Springfield the power of Rotary. Topics that we discussed included the 1st Annual Chicken Dinner, the new member engagement session and orientation, the Cards-Cubs game on October 3, putting together a database of speakers that could be shared across our clubs, the Pints for Polio fundraiser (image above) that would occur in conjunction with World Polio Day (October 24), Rotary day at UIS basketball, and possibly participating in a city-wide Blood Drive in January for national blood month. The momentum to stay in touch and work on shared projects is growing and we will keep you up to date on where we are at on all of these plans at our weekly meetings and through the newsletter. Please let us know if you have any ideas or would like to work on any of these projects.
President Elect Randy Erford will lead the meeting this coming Monday while I am out for the week at the Gold Star 500 bicycle ride. Randy is always entertaining and brings a unique sense of humor to make the meetings a fun time.
Now that we are back to full capacity, we will no longer announce the menu for dining at Maldaners Upstairs or for curbside pickup. The meal will be Chef's Choice as it was prior to the pandemic.
For curbside users, please place your meal tickets or cash in an envelope with your name and “for Sheila Mack” on the outside of the envelope and give it to the Maldaners staff member that gives you your food. They will get the envelopes to Sheila Mack. Curbside pickup is between 4:45 and 5:15 p.m. To pick up food, turn into the alley behind the building and pick up the food at the back door. It's easy to pick up your food an the food is delicious!
The Central States Rotary Youth Exchange (CSRYE) has announced it will be accepting applications for students interested in going to school in a foreign country during School Year 2022-2023. Applications from interested students must be submitted no later than November 1, 2021. The Board of Directors for our Club has voted to sponsor both an Outbound and Inbound student for the school year. Sponsoring and hosting an exchange student is a rewarding experience. The image to the left shows the delightful Sabrina Paez, the last Inbound Exchange student that our club co-sponsored. As the Youth Exchange Officer for our club, I need the membership’s assistance for 2022-2023 Exchange Students.
Ridgely School Food Pantry
At our September 13 meeting, Nicole Kinkelaar (image to left) reported that the Little Libraries, built with support from a District Literacy Grant, have been delivered to Ridgely School, Enos School, and St. Johns Breadline, and two boxes of donated books were delivered for each little library. The location for the fourth Little Library has been determined, but not yet announced. A firefighter is installing the legs for the Little Library at Ridgely School. The St. John's breadline library will be deployed so that it can be rolled in out of their facility. Barry Tobias is building the legs for this Little Library and indicated that he could use some help with task. The Enos Little Library is currently set up indoors, but the school wants to move it outside. Nicole indicated that she needs volunteers to help her better sort the books to serve these Little Libraries. For example, she plans to primarily stock Ridgely and Enos libraries with books appropriate for Pre-K to 5 students, and include a larger assortment of books for the broader audience for the St. Johns Breadline Little Library. 
We are thrilled to announce that we will have another Rotary Family Day at the Ballpark on October 3, 2021 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. We will watch the 2:15 p.m. game between our favorite rivals -- the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs. It may or may not be for the pennant! We have reserved right field loge seating in sections 234-228. Your discounted price for the tickets is $55.00.
Please remember to report your service hours and related contributions. Just follow this link:
