“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
May is Rotary’s Youth Service Month, and our youth are living up to the challenge.
The Sun Prairie East Interact club that we are sponsoring is up and running, with president Teegan Davis and Changemakers liaison Sharon Bradish. They held a Book Drive and sorted the books to give to grade school children over the summer months. They will also be holding a bake sale in the near future with proceeds going toward our Ukrainian school supply project. See the article on our website and in the current bulletin.
We are sponsoring a student, Reagan Lewis, also from Sun Prairie, to attend the district RYLA camp at Upham Woods May 17 – 19. Sharon Bradish and Gayle Lunder are our Changemakers RYLA contacts. RYLA participants experience a life changing weekend full of strong connections, inspiring activities, an introduction to Rotary and a weekend of memories.
Scheduling announcements – Links to the meetings are on the club website ChangemakersRotary.org, scroll down on the left side:
Our Happy Hour is moving again starting in May, back to the third Tuesday of the month at 5:00. All are encouraged to attend. Based on turnout, we may suspend the monthly happy hour.
The regular July meeting will be held on July 12th instead of the 5th so we can enjoy the holiday weekend with our families.
The Service Project monthly meeting is moving from the last Tuesday of the month to the fourth Tuesday of the month, still at 5:00. Come and see what our club members are working on.
District New Member Orientation will be held at 7:00 a.m. on May 29th. See the related article on our website and in the current bulletin.
Projects:
Work continues on the Ukrainian school supply project. Our friendship table at Tricon last month promoting the project was successful.
Changemakers has signed the Operation Pollination – Pollinator Resolution and Pollinator Activity Pledge Form. We have pledged to plant or enhance pollinator space, add value added features such as nesting, no-mow etc., and promote or publicize our project. See the related article on our website and in the current bulletin.
It is an honor to create HOPE in our world together.
May 28th is the deadline to sign-up to attend the June 12th RI President’s luncheon at the Madison Marriott West Hotel hosted by the Rotary Club of Madison.
Join Rotarians from around Wisconsin as we get inspired by President Gordon.
Spread the word to support the Verona Hometown Days event while having fun. This event helps us provide scholarships, donations to local food pantries, and other local support. We are looking for help on Saturday June 1st.
The Fitchburg Verona Horizon Rotary Club has a weekend sign up going May 31st to June 2nd that we sell beverage tickets. During Friday and Saturday evening there are music venues that require a cover charge. We also sell the wristbands to enter the music/beer tent for the night. On Friday and especially Saturday evening this can become busy and extra support is invaluable.
This volunteer is in a Park Shelter that sells tickets and wristbands. Verona Chamber has provided water and other beverages while volunteering.
Parking is available for volunteers at the City Hall lot on Lincoln Street.
Verona City Hall
111 Lincoln St
Verona, WI
Please use this link if you are interest in helping Saturday June 1st.
Our Happy Hour is moving again starting in May, back to the third Tuesday of the month at 5:00. April’s is right around the corner, this Thursday April 18th at 5:30.
Come and have a drink with us and meet the other club members!
The Sun Prairie East High School Interact Club, sponsored by the District 6250 Changemakers Rotary Club, collected children’s books during the month of April. An enthusiastic group led by Interact President Teegan Davis sorted the books by grade level.
The books are headed for Northside Elementary School in Sun Prairie where students will receive a bag of books to take home for the summer.
Changemakers has signed the Operation Pollination Resolution and Pollinator Activity Pledge, sponsored by ESRAG – Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group.
THEREFORE, we declare that it is our goal to support the goals of Operation Pollination, and to collaboratively and strategically protect and enhance pollinator species and their habitat on public and private lands throughout our geographic area.
Operation Pollination Goals
Increase and improve pollinator habitat by identifying existing pockets of pollinator habitat and helping develop a nectar corridor for migratory and non-migratory pollinator species.
Develop strategic partnerships for improving or creating habitat for pollinators and providing educational opportunities.
Encourage action through voluntary, collaborative, and locally led conservation actions such as planting pollinator gardens, building bee blocks and avoiding or limiting pesticide use.
Provide education to those interested in increasing their knowledge of pollinators and improving pollinator habitat.
Promote citizen science opportunities to track key pollinator species populations and share research and resources about restoring pollinator habitat.
Our club is pledging to Plant or enhance pollinator friendly areas, maintain value added features such as nesting or no-mow areas, and promote or publicize what we are doing.
This is something that I have been actively pursuing. I have been slowly adding pollinator friendly plants to her back yard, so this project is a perfect fit.
This Spring, I cleared an area, and killed the existing grass.
Since the area is on a slope, raised beds were added to keep the “clean” dirt in.
Next came the plants, ox-eye sunflower, rattlesnake master, red milkweed, lavender hyssop, and black-eyed susan. A few wood violets were added for groundcover. These plants were all transplanted from other areas of my yard, they were kept close to the house their first year for easier weed and water management.
A few objects were added to protect the plants from deer.
These plants will require maintenance until they are established.
Additional projects include a nesting area, which will remain undisturbed so the insects can flourish, and an small unmowed open area for native plants to flourish. More on that later.
For those of you on vacation or otherwise unable to attend, here is a recap of our May club meeting.
We recited the four way test to remind us of our Rotary ethics of truth, fairness, goodwill, friendships and beneficial to all.
We are looking for members of Service committee, if you are interested, let anyone on the board know, or just show up. Meetings are on the last Tuesday of the month at 5:00, and can be accessed from our website. We are also always looking for service projects, if you have any ideas, come to the service committee meeting or contact a board member.
We are looking for more club members, if you know of anyone who may be interested, please get in touch.
Tri-Con (our Multi-District Conference) - was April 18-20, Sharon gave a short update, including the friendship table that they manned during breaks to spread the word about the Hungarian Ukrainian school project.
Happy Hour will be the third Tuesday of the month at 5:00 p.m. This is a change from the past few months of the third Thursdays at 5:30.
Reminder - For a Rotary club to be eligible for district grants, there is a requirement of an average $100 per capita to be given to the Rotary Foundation.
There will be a Friendship Exchange with Rotarians from District 6250 going to the Philippines May 17 - 22. Cathy from our club is going.
Our 50/50 raffle winner was Peter Groth.
Sharon updated us on our current service project of supporting a Ukrainian-Hungarian Budapest school. She will present to the Prairie du Chien club, and was at TriCon with a friendship table spreading the word to other clubs.
Our speaker was Valerie Wachuta, who spoke about the Operation Pollination project.
District 6250 has partnered with nine other organizations for an Operation Pollination Partnership. The Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG) is leading the initiative for Rotary, and held webinars in March, which Val attended. ESRAG has two goals, habitat restoration and pollinator education.
In addition to ESRAG's discussion about what groups are currently doing, a bee-friendly gardening coordinator spoke on making areas bee and pollinator friendly. This included taking care of nesting and overwintering, insect foraging, and integrated pest management.
Preparing a site, methods of gardening, access to water, choosing plants and plant layout were all covered.
Pollinator spaces are needed in all sizes, from container gardening to home garden, community gardens, or acres of restoration sites. Back yards and patios help. Ideas of things that can be done include
1. Plant a pollinator garden
2. Hand out seed packets to school children
3. Stop/reduce pesticide use
4. No Mow May
5. Present educational programs in a community
6. Paint a mural
7. Help other organizations restore land
8. Support a pollinator organization.
Rotary clubs are encouraged to sign the Pollinator Pledge. This is something that we can do, Val has been slowly adding pollinator friendly plants to her back yard, so this is pledging to do something she was going to do anyway. Others are encouraged to help our pollinators.
District Rotary Orientation gatherings occur every fifth Wednesday. The next orientation is scheduled for May 29 at 7 a.m.
The district-sponsored orientation shares what all Rotarians, everywhere in the world, have in common: Who we all are, what we all do, and how we all do it. The time together gives new members a chance to learn with other 6250 Rotarians - a view outside of the individual club.
Anyone interested in attending should contact Karen Hebert karenrotarian@gmail.com prior to May 29 for the link to establish interest, connection, and ownership.