Please join us for our next Rotary Club meeting on August 9 at Nona's Restaurant in the Best Western on West Highway 50. The change in venue is due to the Disc Golf Pro Worlds at the Emporia Country Club.
Ken Buchele has arranged an interesting program in which Judge Joe Pierron, a judge on the Kansas Court of Appeals, will speak on the US Constitution and the US Supreme Court. Judge Pierron is a member of the Topeka Downtown Rotary Club and has been giving programs for the past 20 years on this subject.
We welcome Ed Bashaw as a new Rotary Club member. Ed was inducted by District Governor Chris Ford. Don Miller and Ken Weaver proposed Ed for membership. Thanks for joining us, Ed!
Our club was honored to have District Governor Chris Ford as our guest. He said that our club is the 9th club in our district that he has visited, and he has 36 more. He keeps a busy schedule!
Chris quoted from Paul Harris: Rotary has to be evolutionary, and think outside of the box...meaning that times change, and we must do things differently and not fall back on doing the same things all the time.
Other things brought up by District Governor Ford:
Rotary is the largest service organization in the world.
1.2 million members
Located in 217 countries
We are located in Zone 27 out of 34 zones
35,362 Rotary Clubs
$115 million raised annually by Rotary with a low 6.8% administration expense.
District 5710 matching grants:
$80,012 in 2013-2014
$48,394 in 2014-2015
$62,115 in 2015-2016
$151,604 in Global Grant Funds available for 2016-2017
Three keys for Rotary Clubs are:
Growth
Retention
Attendance
Our District's growth goal for July through June is growing from 2,467 member to 3,000 (+20%)
A 20% increase for our club would be 15 members.
A big push for attendance at our next District Leadership Conference on May 5-6, 2017 at the Overland Park Sheraton.
Our Rotary Club raised money for several years and reached our goal of donating $25,000 toward a new Lemur exhibit at the David Traylor Zoo. This fantastic new exhibit opened to the public with a "vine cutting" on July 23 with our club members among the large attendance. Our club is displayed as one of the major donors to the exhibit.
If you have not yet seen this exhibit, it is a "must see".
We can be proud of our work toward a significant addition to our community's zoo.
Barbara Wry was recently recognized by the Rotary Foundation as a Paul Harris Fellow + 4. District Governor Chris Ford presented the recognition to Barbara. Thanks, Barbara, for your generosity to the Rotary Foundation!
Sam Purohit was recently recognized by the Rotary Foundation as a Paul Harris Fellow + 3. District Governor Chris Ford presented the recognition to Sam. Thanks, Sam, for your ongoing contributions to the Rotary Foundation.
Rotary Club meetings start at 11:45. All members are encouraged to be at our meetings by 11:45 to gain the maximum networking opportunities. Meals will be served at 11:45, and our business meetings will begin by 12:20 in order to leave sufficient time for our business meeting and program.
The remainder of our summer meeting schedule is as follows:
August 9
August 23
Our weekly club meetings will resume on September 6.
Rotarian Richard Duncan presented a video showing the priorities of the Rotary Foundation, which emphasized the importance of continuing Rotary's number one goal of ending polio in the world. Initiated by Rotary, the goal of eradicating polio in the world has been joined by several other organizations. Unfortunately due to technical difficulties, the video was not able to be viewed in it's entirety at our club meeting. Anyone wishing to see the video can view it by clicking HERE.
It was reported by Richard Duncan that a total of $11,438.72 was given to the Rotary Foundation by our Rotary Club membership during the last Rotary year. This giving is equal to $136.94 per member and 120% of our $8,200 giving goal. Great job everyone!
New Rotary Club President Harvey Foyle presented Past-President Teresa Maley with a recognition award for all of her work this past year as Club President. Thanks for all of your hard work and accomplishments, Teresa!
Outgoing Club President Teresa Maley provided our club a recap of the activities for the past year, and she revealed that 20 out of 24 goals that she set at the beginning of the Rotary year have been met. What a great job!!! Her goals that were reached were as follows:
Continue dictionary project
Continue Happy Bucks donations
Work with the EMS Interact Program
Keep Rotary Club Central informed of our accomplishments
Keep Rotary Club website up to date
Keep giving to End Polio Now
Keep greeters informed and reminded
Go to Rotary.org frequently and keep updated
Expand membership to include a variety of business leaders and manufacturing leaders
Maintain signature events - DK 200, clock tower planting, Main Street corner beautification
Keep donating to the Rotary Foundation
Keep 6-month reserve based on annual budget (50%)
Keep sending two students to RYLA each year
Start working on 100-year celebration
Update our local directory of members
Keep programs interesting, full of variety and out by 1:00
Continue with scholarships to ESU & FHTC
Continue sponsoring children's summer ball teams
Prepare for the District Governor's visit
Continue with Chamber Bucks
Goals that had fallen short:
Increase membership
Begin an ESU Rotaract Program
Sponsor and incoming student in the Youth Exchange Program
Honor members with perfect attendance certificates