President's Message
July Successes
We got off to a great start in the new Rotary Year! The articles in this Newsletter capture our July activities including the excellent July 6 presentation by Outbound Exchange Student Thien Beatty on his upcoming year in the Philippines. I was happy to present Thien with our traditional Rotary mug and a ceramic Rotary Tile that I created for presentations to speakers (lead image). On July 20, President-Elect Ashley Dillingham presided over the meeting and spoke about our Rotary Zone's Summer Leadership Seminar that she attended, and club members participated in brag-a-bucks and a thrilling 50-50 game. On July 27, members enjoyed a relaxing social Night at Obed and Isaac's filled with lively conversations and lots of laughter.
August Opportunities
I am excited to share the Rotary experiences happening in August, and I hope you and a guest will join us. The lineup for August features the following presenters and opportunities.
August 3-Our lunch meetings begin at 11:50 a.m. and we promise to have you out the door by 1:00 p.m. We welcome Adam Gurski (image below) as the presenter for our August 3 club meeting at Maldaners Upstairs. He is an educator and consultant and will share his knowledge of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Some of you might remember him from attending our meetings or have attended his session at the downtown library. How do AI tools work in and affect your own life? He will show you!
August 10-It will be red carpet time! The new District Governor, Dr. Musonda Kapatamoyo (image on left), will be attending our meeting. You will have an opportunity to meet him and also hear his motivational message and goals for the upcoming year. We are honored to welcome him as our featured speaker. Dr. Kapatamoyo is a past president of the Edwardsville Rotary Club. He is currently a professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He is a three-time Paul Harris Fellow. His dedication to Rotary over the years is highlighted by his advocacy to the Rotary Youth Exchange, where he was an officer for 10 years.Additionally, the evening will offer an opportunity to donate much needed school supplies to the students at Ridgely School (see article on Volunteer Opportunities in this Newsletter). Without Rotary’s annual support for Ridgely School, many students would start school without the needed tools for learning. Because of your generosity, their year will begin on a positive note. Please mark your calendar for this event and bring your school supplies for our adopted school.
August 17-No Rotary meeting, enjoy the Illinois State Fair.
August 24-Hot off the press! We welcome the CEO of the Illinois Times, Kate McKenzie (image below) as our featured speaker. The newspaper, founded in 1975, has a current distribution of 20,000 copies in over 400 locations with a 94% pick-up rate. Go Kate! We are pleased that we were able to reschedule this presentation.
August 31-Our club holds four club assemblies each year. We involve our members in discussions of how to improve our work in the community and how we can better support each other. Assemblies are an upbeat way to share ways to help our club grow and thrive. In addition, the students from RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) will be presenting on their experience at the annual RYLA assembly and will be accompanied by their their leader, Jill Friday.
