President's Comments
 

 

 

 

At our June 2 Club Meeting at Maldaners Upstairs, we celebrated the 50 Year Rotary Career of Bob Stuart. Bob illustrated the positive impacts of Rotary in his life over the past 50 years. He has served as a Club President, District Governor, and Rotary International Director and has played important roles in many Rotary initiatives including national and international disaster relief, the international distribution of polio vaccines, international grant projects for clean water and schools in Nepal, and so much more. I hope you did not  miss this meeting. I was happy to present him with a cake recognizing the three Club members who have served in Rotary for over 50 years: Bob Stuart, Rod Buffington, and Tom O'Brien. For more information see the story in this Newsletter,

 

 

At our June 2 meeting, Rotary International Foundation Chair Hair Mitchell and I presented Rod and Rosemary Buffington with Major Donor Awards. They were recognized as a Major Donor Level 2 for the donation of $25,000 to the Rotary International Foundation. Rod accepted the awards, including a beautifully engraved crystal recognition piece and two pins. Past Rotary International Director Bob Stuart and District Governor Elect Bill Knake joined us for this important presentation. For more information, see the story in this Newsletter.

 

 

Please join us at Maldaners Upstairs for one of our favorite meetings. Our Springfield Rotary Foundation will present community grants to local nonprofits. See Bill Smith's Foundation Update and John Webb's story in this Newsletter. 

 

President-Elect John Webb will present plans for the upcoming Rotary Year when he will served as our Club President. Join us to see what a bright future lies ahead.

 

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.