Please join us in Maldaners Upstairs on March 31 to hear Springfield author and former teacher Kathy Lamsargis (image above) speak about her book, Marbles in a Fishbowl. The book is a tribute to her grandparents and the life lessons she learned while spending time with them. On March 7, Dan O'Brien will join us at Maldaners and speak about his goals and accomplishments as our District Governor.
March 24 Club Meeting Featured our Rotary Inbound and Outbound Exchange Students
We really enjoyed meeting our Outbound Rotary Exchange Student Elise Preston and hearing a presentation by our Inbound Exchange Students Kyosuke Kawaski at our March 24 club meeting. Our outbound student spoke briefly about her plans to be an exchange student in Denmark (first image below). Our inbound student gave a longer presentation illustrated with beautiful images of his home county, life, and family and described his experiences in Springfield thus far. I was happy to provide Kyosuke with our club mug and flag. It was a great opportunity to learn more about our Rotary exchange students and how the exchange experience is changing their lives and expanding their horizons.
Local Author Speaks at March 31 Club Meeting
I hope you will be able to join us for March 31 Club meeting to hear local author and former teacher Kathy Lamsargis (lead image) speak about her book Marbles in a Fishbowl.In the process, she will introduce us to her grandparents and her childhood experiences with them and the importance of these extended family interactions for children.
April 7 Club Meeting Features Dan O'Brien
Join us to learn more about activities and aspirations in our Rotary District District from our current District Governor.
Social Justice Sewing Academy Quilt to Premiere at the Outlet on May 15
At our March 24 Club meeting, I announced on behalf of Jim Applegate that our Club's Peacebuilder Committee and the Outlet are planning to have the opening event featuring results from our joint Social Justice Sewing Academy quilt project at the Outlet on May 15. Please mark you calendar for this event and be among the first to see the powerful quilt made with the quilt squares created by Springfield youth and listen to recording of the youth talking about the images they created for their quilt squares. For more information on this project, see Jim Applegate's story below.
Ukranian Banner Project in Springfield
Many of you will remember that several years ago Barb Malany of Rotary Sunrise helped raise funds for banners supporting Ukraine. Barb has informed us that she is hoping to have the banners in place again soon. On March 25, I sent all club members a ClubRunner email that includes a flyer with information about her campaign.
If, as an individual, you would like to donate to this project, please follow the instructions on the flyer. And if you have any questions, they should be directed to Barb. Her contact information is also on the flyer.
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. We 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.
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).
It was time well spent on Friday learning more about the ins and out of Rotary and the vast array of resources available to Rotary clubs at Rotary District 6460 Spring Training for President Elects at the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS).
The well-organized, informative sessions have me feeling better prepared to serve my club and our community when I become President of the Rotary Club of Springfield, Illinois in July!
District Governor-Elect Bill Knake (image on left), and District Governor Dan O'brien and our own Harry Mitchell (image below) were among the presenters for the President Elect Training.
Building upon Friday’s Spring Training for Rotary President Elects, Saturday’s Spring Training program provided the District’s Rotarians with the opportunity to learn, share ideas, and connect with other clubs in the district to enable us to deepen our understanding of Rotary.
This learning experience was cloaked with an element of fun as one’s favorite baseball attire was deemed acceptable in accordance with the Spring Training theme. Fandom of the Cardinals, Cubs, White Sox and various other teams was evident throughout the day.
Our Club was well represented at the training and some our our members presented break-out sessions. The day’s program featured informative, relevant breakout sessions that included, but were not be limited to, the germane topics of (1) Membership Challenge, (2) Strategies for Lasting Connections co-led by Barry Tobias (3) Grants: What is available and how to access, (4) President-elect Nominee Training: 15 month Calendar, (5) Scholarships and Peace Fellowships presented by Bonnie Styles, (6) Youth Exchange, (7) Club Management and Communication Tools, (8) Planning Your Club's Future co-led by Harry Mitchell, and (9) Expand your Perspective co-led by Bob Stuart. Other participants from our club included John Webb, Rod Buffington, David Fowler, Judith Pensoneau-Furer. David Fowler and Katherine Turner had a booth on Rotary collaborative projects with Baja Bridges and other groups.
Other highlights of the program included:
• Raising $872 for Polio Plus through the sale of Purple Pinkies and Purple Doughnuts (images below).
• Recognition of Rotary Inbound, Outbound, and Rebound Exchange Students, which included emotional testimonials from the Rebounds about the transformative nature of their experiences. Our Club’s Inbound Exchange Student, Kyosuke Kawaskai, was among the exchange students recognized (image below).
• Certificate presentations to Rotarians that participated in the Master Class sessions held at Spring Training. This special track of sessions focused on leadership training. Our Club’s very own Bob Stuart was one of the presenters for the leadership training (first image below), and along with District Governor Dan O'Brien, presented the certificates (2nd image below) to the Master Class participants (third image below).
• Rod Buffington and Brian Barstead advocated for the Rotary Family Day at the Ballpark (image below), which will be at the Ballpark in St. Louis on August 9. The tickets sold for this Cardinals-Cubs game help fund education and literacy grants for projects proposed by District 6460 Rotary Clubs (see article by Brian Barstead on Rotary Family Day at the Ballpark in this Newsletter).
Spring Training was an extraordinary learning event!
At our March 24 Club meeting, Vicki Megginson announced that Springfield Rotary Clubs are helping with a group of Lithuanian Dancers who are coming to Springfield. This group has come to Springfield in the past and Rotary Club members have helped with their arrangements. Volunteers will be needed to provide homes for the dancers to stay in and transportation to where they are going the next day. If you are interested in opening your home to one more young dancers, let Vicki know. She noted that she previously hosted three young women dancers and had a blast.
More information on the schedule is available now. The Lithuanian group will arrive in Springfield on the evening of April 29 and will depart on the morning of May 1 after breakfast with their host family. The Springfield Coordinators for the event are Viktoria Legge and Asta Wilder, and The Rotary Club World Citizens Alliance of Springfield (WeCARe), including Vicki Megginson, Sandy Bellatti, and Claire Manning, is coordinating host families for the group for the evenings of April 29 and 30. Several more host families are needed to accommodate the two adults with the group (the Lithuanian Director and the Program Coordinator) and the 6 young male and 7 female dancers, most of whom are 18 years old. Separate host families are needed for male and female dancers and for the adult coordinarors.
WeCARe is hosting a welcome dinner for the group on April 29. The Lithuanian group will visit Springfield attractions and give a community program on April 30 at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Springfield. There are opportunities for our Club members to be involved by serving as host families. We hope you will all attend the performance on April 30 and help bring Rotary Exchange students to the event.
If you are interested in participating, please let Vick know.
Our annual March Madness fundraiser raises money to eliminate polio. The games started with 68 teams. Participating members contributed $15 to have the names of two teams drawn for them. After the first round, 16 teams remained. At our March 24 Club meeting, members paid $10 for each team name that they drew from Bill Sturm's hat for the second round of play. In Bill Smith's update at our March 24 meeting (image above), he reported that all of the Sweet Sixteen teams had been sold. He reported that four club members, including Vicki Megginson, Ross Hodel, Mary Michelson, and Bill Kempiners, established teams for the drawing to try to pick the winner for the Final Four Teams. The prize to the team leader who draws the team that wins the national title is $75 for the team. The team leader who draws the second place team will receive $40 for the team. Team leaders will draw the names for the final four teams at our March 31 meeting.
We are doing this fundraising project for the betterment of humankind by helping eliminate polio, as well as having fun while we participate!
Editors Note: Jim Applegate, Chair of our Club's Peace Builder Committee (second from right in image below), spoke about our Peace Builders Committee and the Social Justice Sewing Academy at our July 8 Club Meeting. At that meeting, District Governor Dan O'Brien (second from left) and past District Governor, Bill Durall (far right), presented President Megan Reynolds and Jim Applegate with a Rotary International Certificate recognizing our Club as a Rotary International Peace Builder Club (image below). We are very proud to be recognized for our peace-building efforts.
Our Club's Peace Builders Committee secured grants from the Healing Racism in Illinois Program (https://fieldfoundation.org/healingillinois) and the Rotary Literacy Grant program to create a partnership with the Social Justice Sewing Academy (SJSA) (www.sjsacademy.org) and The Outlet (www.theoutletillinois.org) supporting an SJSA academy for the African American young men and boys (as well as some of their parents, grandparents, and young girls) served by The Outlet. The Outlet largely serves youth in families without present fathers.
For three nights about 25 participants (a) talked about what it means to be an African American male in Springfield and America (b) worked with SJSA staff and experienced quilters to translate the ideas and emotions sparked by those discussions into visual images imprinted onto quilt squares and (c) created artist statements expressing what their squares meant to them (images above and on left provided by The Outlet). Each of the young men were given a copy of the book “Stitching Stolen Lives” authored by one of our SJSA partners (image below provided by The Outlet) and a picture of themselves with their square.
The insights and high level of engagement of participants was amazing to hear and see. One retired veteran teacher/quilter called it “one of the most meaningful things I have ever done.” Everyone involved from SJSA organizers to Outlet staff, to Rotary and quilter volunteers came away in awe of the young men’s work as well as energized and motivated to make sure their message was heard far and wide to spark change.
These squares have been transformed into a beautiful full-sized quilt by SJSA. With support from a second Club Grant from Rotary District 6460, the Peace Builders Committee is organizing community events where the quilt will be displayed, and recordings of the young men talking about their work will be presented to leaders and citizens across Springfield. The goal of these events is to spark community conversations about what Springfield needs to do to address the issues raised by these young men and their quilt and build greater peace in our community. The first event will take place at The Outlet on May 15, which will be the ultimate home for the quilt. The finished quilt will be on display for the first time in Springfield at this event.
The Springfield Outlet-Rotary quilt will also be loaned for displays at national quilting expositions and museums along with the estimated 45 other community quilts created to date by SJSA to give voice to those who are often not heard by their communities and country.
Rotary District 6460 is offering four District Scholarships ($3000 each) for undergraduate studies in the United States and one international scholarship ($18,000) for undergraduate or graduate studies abroad for the 2025-2026 academic year. Encourage students to apply online for these opportunities at the web addresses provided below. The application deadline is midnight on May 31, 2025.
Rotary District Scholarships ($3000)
Apply online at https://www.rotarydistrict6460.org/foun.../districtscholars/. The scholarship provides $3,000 payable to a college, university or approved vocational school in or outside the District for tuition, fees, and/or books. Eligible students must live in, go to school in, or have graduated from a school in the District; have completed a minimum of 24 credit hours at college, university, or vocational school; must be pursuing a degree relevant to the seven Rotary International Areas of Focus; and meet all other criteria listed in the application.
Rotary William J. Menghini International Scholarship ($18,000)
Apply online at https://www.rotarydistrict6460.org/found.../global-scholars/. The scholarship provides $18,000 payable to an international college or university for tuition, fees, books, and other college expenses. Eligible students must live in, go to school in, or have graduated from a school in the District; must have completed a minimum of 48 hours of university credits; must use the scholarship for a full academic year of undergraduate or graduate residential study in a country that the student has not lived or studied in before; must begin studies within 20 months after receiving the award; must serve as ambassadors of goodwill in the host country and share experiences with Rotarians, and meet all other criteria in the application. There are no restrictions on the field of study, but preference is given to students pursuing degrees relevant to the seven Rotary International Areas of Focus.
Direct questions to Dr. Bonnie Styles, Rotary District 6460 Scholarship Chair, bonstyles@yahoo.com.
Please consider volunteering as part of the Rotary Club of Springfield Team for this event! Club members have enjoyed volunteering for this event in the past (image above and below)
The United Way Day of Action is always a great deal of fun and very well attended by Rotarians. The spring event will be on Friday, April 25, 2025, from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at various locations to be assigned closer to the day of service. This year, volunteers are invited to an appreciation luncheon beginning at noon at the Salvation Army. Participants will also receive a complimentary United Way t-shirt for volunteering. Please register as early as possible to designate on your form a t-shirt size allowing adequate time to have the shirts printed. In addition, your registration form also includes an action wavier which is the same as in the past. If you invite others to accompany you, a reminder the minimum age to volunteer is 8 years old for the day of service.
If you have had some difficulty signing up as part of the Rotary group, I have an updated solution. I was having difficulty as well creating the group so I reached out to United Way for clarification.
As for signing up a group, each individual volunteer will need to complete/”respond” to the Day of Action opportunity on the Get Connected site. I’ve linked the sign-up link; when you click that, scroll down until you see the blue “respond” button, and then click that. Once you’ve done that, you will be asked to answer a series of questions, including “Company” and “Team Leader”; that is where you indicate “Rotary” for the company question and then type Ken Gilmore for team leader. Each individual will need to do this as the sign up asks questions on volunteer’s contact information, t-shirt size, etc.! As long as you type “Rotary” on your sign-up, then the United Way coordinators will know to put all of us in the same group when assigning the volunteer site.
We are thrilled to announce that tickets for the highly-anticipated annual Rotary Family Day at the Ballpark XXII are now on sale! This exciting event will take place on August 9 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, where the Cubs will face off against the Cardinals. Not only will you enjoy an unforgettable evening of baseball and camaraderie, but also the profits from ticket sales support our District 6460 Rotary Club Literacy Grants. By attending this event, you'll be contributing to a meaningful cause that benefits our local communities. Nearly every club in District 6460 has received a literacy grant over the years, and, our only requirement is that your club or its members has to sell at least one ticket or make a donation directly to our District Literacy Fund to apply for a literacy grant. We think that is beneficial to all concerned.
To purchase tickets, please visit our baseball game article on our website at rd6460.org. You can either click the link to purchase online or the link to download and print a PDF or Word ticket order form to mail in a check. For your convenience, I also attached the pdf order form to this email. You can easily sell tickets by copying and sending a link to our website to your friends and associates in an email and they can buy tickets themselves. We use paper tickets, and I will personally send them via First Class Mail.
We have Left Field Loge Reserved Tickets (Sections 269-271) available for this game. Tickets are limited and sell fast. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE! Tickets are $60 per seat -- currently very competitive to similar seats available on MLB ticket websites. We can also accommodate people with disabilities, and we have a supply of ADA-compliant tickets (Busch Stadium has elevators and handicapped accessible seats near the sections where our group will be seated).
I would appreciate it if each club president would send me the name of a Rotarian in your group who will be your Team captain and will help me promote the ticket sales. I'm happy to come to your club and speak about the game promotion at one of your meetings. I will also send periodic updates of our ticket sale progress.
We encourage you to join us for a fun-filled evening in St. Louis. Your participation will help us sell out the event and have a significant impact through our literacy grants. Over $580,000 has been raised since PDG Rod Buffington started and supported this project since 2004. Thank you Rod all for your continued support! We look forward to seeing you at the ballpark!
If you don't want to sell tickets, but you still want to support the District Literacy Fund by making a monetary donation to our Rotary District 6460 Foundation, or if you have any questions and need some help - Contact me at bribaraxp@yahoo.com or phone 217-652-4371!
PS This year, I will personally donate $100 to the club that sells the most tickets and $100 to the club that sells the most tickets per capita. If we sell out and the Cubs win this year, I will also buy and wear a Cub cap next year. (I hope that my late mother forgives me). Now, TURN UP THE VOLUME ON YOUR PHONE/TABLET OR COMPUTER AND enjoy some music --Harry Sing along
Brian Barstead District 6460 Literacy Committee Chair Past District Governor (2018-19) Assistant Area Rotary International Foundation Coordinator -Zone 31 (2024-2027) member Rotary Club of Springfield Sunrise since 1990
The global grant application has now been submitted to the Rotary Foundation for its review. The preliminary steps were time consuming in, pulling the initial application together in Nepal and then submitting the application for review by the Water and Sanitation Rotary Action group (Wash Rag). Wash Rag came back with Several significant steps and suggestions. The project now is more than just providing water from a source over an hour to two hours away, but also includes a plan to impose a fee upon recipients to build sustainability of the system. The village will maintain the system using the funds received by the fees and train individuals in proper maintenance of the system itself. As to the users of the system, the school and the village will provide water and sanitation training and education. Nepal is part of the Third World countries where open defecation occurs. This sanitary system hopefully will be a driving force to educate the population in proper use of water and sanitation
In addition, the women and young girls will not be required on a daily basis to walk to the source of the water and carry it back to the village. This allows the women to engage in micro-credit business, and the young girls to attend school for the full day.
Examination of the proposal by Wash Rag allows them to issue an additional grant in the amount of $2000 to assist with the project
To put it briefly, after extensive review, we have now submitted a detailed application to the Rotary Foundation, which will be the final step in the process of securing the grant!!!
The drinking water problem in Nepal is a multi-faceted issue that affects millions of people throughout the country. After the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the problem of drinking water became more severe as many old tanks got damaged and were not suitable for use. In many cases, the water source has dried up, which not only created havoc in society but also forced many people to migrate.
The Rotary International Grant Application for this project was prepared by the Rotary Club of Dhulikhel in Nepal. We will be working as a U.S. partner with them on the Dhakalthok Drinking Water Project. This village is in Mandandeupur Municipality of Kavre, Nepal. After the 2015 earthquake, the water system was damaged. The people in the area have been transporting drinking water from a distance of 1.5 km. Women spend around 40-60 minutes to fetch the water. The goals of the project are to provide sustainable access to clean drinking water for underserved communities in Nepal, build and rehabilitate the water supply system that ensures the availability of safe drinking water, promote community involvement and education on water management and hygiene practices, and reduce the prevalence of waterborne diseases through improved water quality. The project will include infrastructure development including construction of 50 water tanks (each holding 1000 liters) to provide drinking water as per World Health Organization standards and pipeline and tap construction to bring water to 50 households with 326 members. It will also provide community education and training, monitoring, evaluation, and formation of of a Water User Group and Mandandeupur Muncipality commitments to ensure sustainability. As noted above it also includes a plan to impose a fee on water recipients to build sustainability into the system.
The Rotary Club of Springfield has agreed to host a Foreign Exchange Student for the school year 2025-2026. We are looking for at least two host families to serve one semester each of the school year, preferably with Springfield or Southeast High School boundaries.
At this point in time, we cannot tell what the student's gender or home country will be, but we can put in a request for a male or female if required by a potential host family. Preferably the family will have a high-school aged student, but that is not a requirement. Single family hosts are allowed pending approval by both the student and the student's parents.
Please think of family and friends you think may be interested in hosting a Foreign Exchange student, preferable three if you can think of that many. You or they may contact me for additional information. My email is bkemp1100@hotmail.com, or phone 217-494-7467.
Finding host families has become difficult, so I would appreciate any assistance you can provide. I am attaching a list of host family requirements. Please note that COVID inoculations are no longer required.
I sincerely appreciate any assistance you can provide.
Please remember that we are including some social night meetings at locations other than Maldaners. Please pay attention to the meeting schedule listed in 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.
March 31, 2025 Club Meeting at Maldaners Upstairs, 5:30-6:45 p.m.
Kathy Lamsargis: Marbles in a Fishbowl
Join us to hear this Springfield author and former teacher discuss her book, Marbles in a Fishbowl. This book is a tribute to her grandparents and life lessons she learned by spending time with them. Kathy Lamsargis has taught different grade levels over her twenty year career as a teacher. After she obtained her master's degree in reading, she provided title services as a reading specialist. Kathy has always been enthusiastic about reading. Long ago she recognized the importance of deep and lasting relationships, especially between grandchildren and their grandparents. Marbles in a Fishbowl is a tribute to her grandparents. She is thrilled to share a slice of their history, and the life lessons learned while spending time with them. Kathy remains a dedicated volunteer in her community and has travelled to Haiti and Nicaragua six times with International Assist Medical Missions. Kathy and her husband George reside in Springfield, Il. where she has lived since 1980. They have a blended family of four grown children and twelve grandchildren.
April 7, 2025 Club Meeting at Maldaners Upstairs, 5:30-6:45 p.m.
Dan O'Brien: District Governor, District 6460
Learn about what's going on in the District!
April 14, 2025, Rotary Club Meeting at Maldaners Upstairs, 5:30-6:45 p.m.
Membership Club Assembly Facilitated by Harry Mitchell, Membership Chair
April 21, 2024, Rotary Club Meeting at Maldaners Upstairs, 5:30-6:45 p.m.
Romi Trujillo, Former Inbound Exchange Student and UIS Psychology Major:
My Experiences at the Rotary International Peace Conference in Istanbul, Turkey
April 28, 2025, Club Meeting at Maldaners, 5:30-6:45 p.m.
Speaker to be determined
May 5, 2025 Rotary Off-Site Social Night, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Location to be determined.
May 12, 2025 Rotary Club Meeting at Maldaners Upstairs, 5:30-6:45 p.m.
Membership Club Assembly facilitated by Harry Mitchell, Membership Chair
May 19, Rotary Club Meeting at Maldaners Upstairs, 5:30-6:45 p.m.
Sonthana Thongssithavong: The Red Ball Game and Community Enhancement Efforts
Sonthana Thongsithavong is the United States Tennis Association’s (USTA) Community Development Enhancement Coordinator for the Midwest. Red Ball is a modified version of tennis designed for young children, older adults and tennis players looking to get back into the game. Red ball is played on smaller courts (pickleball sized) with shorter rackets and, larger, low-compression red balls to make it easier to learn and more quickly open to play. Sonthana will speak to our Club about both his community enhancement efforts and the Red Ball game and a planed Re ball social event for our Club in the fall.
May 26, 2025 No Club Meeting at Maldaners
Commemorate Memorial Day with family and friends
June 2, 2025 Rotary Club Meeting at Maldaners Upstairs, 5:30-6:45 p.m.
Rotarian Robert Stuart: My 50 Years in Rotary (image below)
June 9, 2025 Rotary Club Meeting at Maldaners Upstairs, 5:30-6:45 p.m
Distribution of Community Grants
June 16, Rotary Club Meeting at Maldaners Upstairs, 5:03-6:45 p.m.
Membership Club Assembly at Maldaners Upstairs facilitated by Harry Mitchell, Membership Chair
June 23, 2025 No Rotary Club Meeting at Maldaners Upstairs
June 30 Installation Picnic for New Club Officers
Stone Creek Club House, 2113 Brookstone, Springfield, IL 62711
Please join us at the Stone Creek Club House in Springfield for our catered, indoor installation Picnic. We will recognize our outgoing officers and install our new officers for upcoming 2025-2026 Rotary Year.
Little Libraries are free book exchanges that aim to expand book access within our communities. The prevailing concept of “take a book, share a book” reigns.
Our Club supports this literacy initiative and has helped build up the Little Library system in our community with support from a District Grant. We continue to help Little Libraries at five locations remain stocked with books. The locations are as follows:
1. St. John’s Breadline, 430 North 5th Street;
2. Springfield Firehouse No. 5/“The First Black Firehouse,” 1310 East Adams Street (shown in the image above);
3. Ridgely Elementary School, 2040 North 8th Street;
4. Enos Elementary School, 524 West Elliott Avenue; and
5. The Outlet, 3306 South 6th Street.
We have been visiting these Little Libraries and adding additional books to their existing stock. If you are interested in helping stock books, please contact Allie Montney at onedirtymartini@gmail.com. To keep the supply of books up-to-date, the club held a book drive to solicit book donations from club members on October 7, and a book drive for community members will be scheduled later.
Here's your chance to be a pantry superhero! Join John Webb and I in stocking the Ridgely Elementary School micro pantry for two weeks. Your commitment will ensure that families and children have access to essential items when they need them most. Whether it's a can of soup, a box of cereal, or toiletries, your contribution will brighten someone's day. Reach out to Allie Montney at onedirtymartini@gmail.com or call 217-494-6901 to become a beacon of hope for those in need. Every item you place on those shelves is a small gesture that collectively makes a huge impact!
March 4-17 Randy Erford (Thanks to Randy and see his article below)
March 18-31 Bill Sturm
April 1-14 John Loftus
April 15-28 Sheila Mack, Judith Pensoneau-Feurer
April 29-May 12 Jim Applegate
May 13-26 Harry Mitchell
May 27- June 9 OPEN
June 10-23 Ross Hodel
June 24-July 7 OPEN
July 8-July 21 OPEN
July 22- August 4 OPEN
August 5- August 18 Bill Kempiners
August 19-September 1 OPEN
September 2-September 15 OPEN
September 16-September 29 OPEN
September 30-October 12 OPEN
October 13-October 26 OPEN
October 27-November 9 OPEN
November 10-November 23 OPEN
November 24-December 7 OPEN
December 8- December 21 OPEN
I appreciate your help!
Thank you for signing up for a micro pantry volunteer shift. Your time and effort are greatly appreciated by the community we serve.
Below are the details including the location of the pantry, and suggestions on items to collect and distribute. If you are unable to complete your shift, please reach out and we'll work on a better period of time to meet your needs. If you have suggestions for future volunteers, please let me know and we'll adapt the program along the way.
Ridgely Elementary School
2040 North 8th Street
Springfield, IL 62702
Main entrance to the school (look for the yellow and purple pantry by the front doors).
The image below shows the location of the pantry at the entrance to the school.
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.
The image below shows a fully stocked pantry.
The image below shows me stocking an empty micropantry on June 4. Let me know if you are interested in taking a shift!
Micro Pantry Coordinator: Allie Montney with assistance from John Webb
Phone 217-494-6901 (for the quickest response, please text)
Things I've noticed that may be helpful: Stocking the pantry on a weekend or after 4:00PM during the weekdays means less people and easier to get a parking spot. Ask friends and family to donate unused household items for the pantry that you can collect. If purchasing bags of fresh fruit or veggies, stock them individually so that more in need can take what they need. It's going to be freezing outside soon, so consider if the items will no longer be good if frozen. ALDI grocery stores have prices that cannot be beat.
I filled up the food pantry again on March 16. I would note that it was almost entirely empty when I arrived, except for two cans of peas and a weird bag of beans (image to left). Those were there when I filled the pantry this past week. Everything I purchased was taken and presumably consumed.
So, everyone should understand that the food pantry is needed. Everyone should also understand that even people with food insecurity don’t like canned peas! I guess canned peas are just nasty. Apparently, people would rather starve than eat those. Not sure I disagree.
Here is an image of the pantry after I stocked it on March 16 (image below).
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.
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
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, Honor Flights, and other community projects!
The flag service committee has announced that in 2025, we will only have one deployment of the flags before Memorial Day and one retrieval after the Commemoration of September 11.
John Montgomery Memorial Citrus Campaign
The 2024 John Montgomery Memorial Citrus Drive is over! Bill Smith launched the campaign in September 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 Michelson know. Thanks to all members for participating in the 2024 campaign. The proceeds from the Citrus Sale support our community grants program!
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 online Membership Applicationin 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!
Please remember to report your service hours and related contributions. Travis Magoulias has added the 2023-2024 Rotary Year to the form. You will be able to enter your hours now and correctly assign them to the correct Rotary Calendar year. Just follow this link:
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.
Be sure to turn in your hours for any volunteering that you do on behalf of Rotary.
The image shows club members returning flags to the warehouse in September during the 2024 Rotary Flag Service Project.
These images show Rodd Hodel and his granddaughter Audra Hodel on the final 2024 flag pickup in September, 2024 (image on left) and clothing sorting for Safe Families for Children for the United Way Fall Day of Action on October 4, 2024 (image below).
It was time well spent on Friday learning more about the ins and out of Rotary and the vast array of resources available to Rotary clubs at Rotary District 6460 Spring Training for President Elects at the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS).
For three nights about 25 participants (a) talked about what it means to be an African American male in Springfield and America (b) worked with SJSA staff and experienced quilters to translate the ideas and emotions sparked by those discussions into visual images imprinted onto quilt squares and (c) created artist statements expressing what their squares meant to them (images above and on left provided by The Outlet). Each of the young men were given a copy of the book “Stitching Stolen Lives” authored by one of our SJSA partners (image below provided by The Outlet) and a picture of themselves with their square.
Dan O'Brien: District Governor, District 6460 
Romi Trujillo, Former Inbound Exchange Student and UIS Psychology Major:
Sonthana Thongsithavong is the United States Tennis Association’s (USTA) Community Development Enhancement Coordinator for the Midwest. Red Ball is a modified version of tennis designed for young children, older adults and tennis players looking to get back into the game. Red ball is played on smaller courts (pickleball sized) with shorter rackets and, larger, low-compression red balls to make it easier to learn and more quickly open to play. Sonthana will speak to our Club about both his community enhancement efforts and the Red Ball game and a planed Re ball social event for our Club in the fall. 
I filled up the food pantry again on March 16. I would note that it was almost entirely empty when I arrived, except for two cans of peas and a weird bag of beans (image to left). Those were there when I filled the pantry this past week. Everything I purchased was taken and presumably consumed.
These images show Rodd Hodel and his granddaughter Audra Hodel on the final 2024 flag pickup in September, 2024 (image on left) and clothing sorting for Safe Families for Children for the United Way Fall Day of Action on October 4, 2024 (image below).
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