Many people reflect on the past year and think about what they can change in the new year. As Rotarians, let’s make a special effort to do our best in serving others. How many of you set goals for the new year? We are halfway through our 2024-2025 Rotary year and at our January board meeting we will be revisiting the goals we chose last June, checking on our progress, and making any changes as needed. You are all welcome to join us on Tuesday, January 14th at 5 pm. If you would like to see a copy of our goals, please send me an email, sharon.bradish@gmail.com.
Are you familiar with a Vision Board? I recently made my vision board for 2025 including the most important aspects of my life. I chose Inspiring as my theme word. Who and what inspire me and how do I inspire others. If you are a crafty person, you can make a paper creation or you can use the free app Canva. I am going to share my Vision Board with you and of course Rotary is one of my inspirations. I hope it is one of yours as well. If you make a vision board, please share it with me.
Congratulations to our fellow Changemaker LeRoy Kemnitz who inspires all of us. LeRoy just received his Paul Harris Fellow +2 award. He has a received a pin with two sapphire stones. To achieve this award, LeRoy has contributed $3,000 to the Annual Fund, Polio Plus, or an approved Foundation grant over his lifetime. LeRoy you are an inspiration and thank you for your service and loyalty to Rotary International.
Rotary established the recognition in 1957 to encourage and show appreciation for substantial contributions to what was then the Foundation’s only program, Rotary Foundation Fellowships for Advanced Study, the precursor to Ambassadorial Scholarships. 
We recited the four way test to remind us of our Rotary ethics of truth, fairness, goodwill, friendships and beneficial to all. 
Committee meetings are usually the 4th Tuesday of the month. With the holidays, December's meeting is being moved up one week to December 17th. We encourage you to find your passion, enhance your Rotary experience, and join or create a Rotary committee.
This is the time of year when we count our blessings and look for ways to share with others. We also think about giving to charities by the end of December to get tax deductions. There are many worthy causes; however, I would like to remind you of “Every Rotarian, Every Year”. An annual campaign that encourages all members to donate to the Rotary Foundation. The goal is for each club to average $100 per member per Rotary Year. Our current year began on July 1st, 2024 and will end on June 30th, 2025. District and Global Grants for the 2025-2026 year will be awarded through the Rotary Foundation to those clubs who meet this goal. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to anyone of our club officers. I hope you all have a My Rotary account with the International Rotary site, rotary.org. It is easy to set up and you are able to donate to the foundation online or to find information on how to mail a check.
I hope you can all join us for the December 6th monthly meeting starting with social time at 7:30 and business meeting from 8:00 – 9:00. Our guest speaker is Susan Holding from The Little French Bakery between Baraboo and North Freedom. I visited Susan at the bakery and we taped an interview. You will learn how she evolved from nurse to pastry chef and bakery owner. Susan also will show you how to make a tart shell. If you cannot make the meeting in person, Val will post a link and it will by on changemakersrotary.org for you to view at your convenience. You might want to have head phones or earbuds in order to hear the interview better over the bakery noises.
The Midwest President-Elect Training will be from February 28th through March 2nd at the Westin Hotel Chicago Northeast near Schaumburg, Illinois. For more information go to midwestpets.org. Our club pays for your registration fee but not for your lodging. I attended PETS last year and it was an incredibly rewarding experience. We also are looking for a treasurer for next year. Reach out to any board member for more information.
We recited the four way test to remind us of our Rotary ethics of truth, fairness, goodwill, friendships and beneficial to all. 
Please remember that in order for our club to apply for district matching grants we need every member to donate $100 to the International Rotary Foundation. Donations to Polio Plus also count toward this. You can make a donation or set up ongoing donations through My Rotary 
We are always looking for new members. Please invite people you think might be interested to join us for a monthly meeting.
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, October 22nd at 5 pm via Zoom. If there is something that you are passionate about that would help Rotary to advance its mission, let a club officer know, and form a committee and set a meeting time if the fourth Tuesday doesn't work.
Operation Pollination: Pollinator season is drawing to a close, but remember that the insects over winter in sticks, leaves and garden refuse. So you have an excuse to not clean out the garden until Spring.
The executive board has voted to raise our quarterly dues to $75 starting on January 1st, 2025. If you are only receiving the online version and would like to get the magazine mailed to you, email data@rotary.org or call the circulation department at 866-976-8279.
Rotarians from the Philippines District 3850 were here for two weeks in September. They spent a couple days in Chicago, six days in the Madison area and another week in the La Crosse area. This is the Exchange from our District 6250 trip in May. Sharon hosted one of the guests in exchange for Cathy's trip last Spring. Everyone had a great time and couldn't say enough about how great the Rotary Exchanges are. District 3850 is the FUN district with a heart for SERVICE.
District 6250 Governor, Todd Restel, spoke to our club. His advice is to be a great story teller and get people's heads nodding. He spoke to us a lot about toilets. For instance, Chicago had the first city sewer plumbing in the USA. November 19th is World Toilet Day. The World Toilet Organization - WTO - is working to provide clean, safe toilets around the world. A lack of clean safe toilets keeps girls from attending school. 
Teegan Davis, our Speaker and the Sun Prairie East Interact Club president started the meeting off with a recap of her International youth exchange in July. She had an exciting trip full of activities every day. Watch the team meeting link to see all her exciting adventures.
Please remember that in order for our club to apply for district matching grants we need every member to donate $100 to the International Rotary Foundation. Donations to Polio Plus also count toward this. You can make a donation or set up ongoing donations through My Rotary 
Congratulations us! We were awarded the 2023-24 Rotary Citation for meeting the majority of our goals that the club set and worked towards last year. 
We are continuing to fundraise for the Ukrainian Hungarian Bilingual School in Budapest. Our district will match any donations 1:1. Donations can be made directly to the District 6250 foundation on line, 
Operation Pollination: Our club has signed the pledge backed by Rotary District 6250 and we would like you to send any photos of what you are doing to promote pollinators in your yard or neighborhood to wac7158@gmail.com.
Changemakers Rotary@Changemaker_Rotary
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Service Above Self
La Crosse, WI 54601
United States of America