Greetings, Changemakers. The new Rotary year starts on July 1st and this is like our New Year’s Eve, time to look back on our 2024-2025 year. Julie Zillmer and Rita Wachuta-Breckel joined us this year and in May we welcomed our newest member Hannah Roberg. Last fall Changemakers along with the Rotary Club of Jefferson each donated $500 for the upgrade of equipment for a mobile dental clinic sponsored by the Rotary Club of Metro Kalibo in the Philippines. In September Cathy Statz and I were part of the Madison contingent that hosted our Philippine friendship exchange partners for a week of Rotary fellowship and touring before they headed to a second week with their La Crosse hosts. Changemakers continues our support of the Ukrainian-Hungarian Bilingual School in Budapest. Plans are being made for a fall celebration of the global grant for which the Changemakers and other clubs in our district have raised funds. Our third service project, to raise $500 for Shelter Box by June 10th, will be completed soon. A big thank you to all who have donated this year. The Sun Prairie East High School Interact Club had an active and successful year and Changemakers sponsored a student to attend the District 6250 Rotary Youth Leadership Award camp in May.
Our fellow Changemakers are busy this month, LeRoy Kemnitz is on a bike ride with fellow Rotarians. They started May 23rd at the Rotary International Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois with their destination being Calgary, Canada site of this year’s Rotary International Convention.Cathy Statz will also be attending the conference. She is not biking to Canada because she and I will be on the District 6250 Friendship Exchange to Sweden from June 4th through June 15th. LeRoy, Cathy, and I will be sharing our experiences with you in future club meetings.
After being awarded an Illinois DNR grant, Julie Zillmer and her third grade students have built their pollinator garden. Julie is launching a new initiative Peace Gardens Global to establish a network of international schools that are creating peace and pollinator gardens. Julie’s goal is to “foster cross-cultural awareness, environmental education, and student-led conservation through hands-on learning and global sharing”.Our new year starts July 1st. Due to the first Friday being the 4th of July, our regular monthly meeting will be on Friday, July 11th starting at 7:30 am for fellowship with the meeting starting at 8:00. Our 2025-2026 Governor Mike Kloss will be speaking to us as we are the first of his visits to every club in the district. Please make it a priority to attend this Zoom meeting in person. Let’s show our new governor that we may be small but we are mighty. Please invite your friends and colleagues to join us via the Zoom link on our changemakersrotary.org website.
I want to thank all of our current board members who will be continuing their roles into 2025-2026. Treasurer LeRoy Kemnitz, Secretary and Operation Pollination coordinator Valerie Wachuta, Public Relations/Social Media Peter Groth, and Service Committee Co-chair Cathy Statz, Youth Protection Officer and Co-Liaison to Sun Prairie East High School Interact Club.
Changemakers needs a President-Elect for the next year who will be President in 2026-2027. We also are open to new committees. If you would like to create a committee about something that interests you, let a board member know. Please consider these opportunities to serve our club.
Lastly, we mourn the recent loss of Dwight Heaney, one of the founding members of the Changemakers Rotary Club. Dwight was a driving force and a generous donor to this club until he was no longer able to actively participate due to his cancer. Dwight was a Paul Harris Fellow who generously donated to the Rotary International Foundation and distributed his remaining Foundation Recognition Points among our active members. Before he passed, Dwight and I exchanged several emails. He said he was watching our meetings and keeping up on our activities. His messages with his words of encouragement will always be with me as I continue as a proud member of the Changemakers Rotary Club. Dwight’s Rotary career is a true inspiration for us all. Thank you, Dwight. Memorial donations may be made to the Rotary International Foundation.
Fellow Changemakers, let’s go out and conquer our world this new Rotary Year!