Hello, and welcome to the ’23-’24 Rotary Year. As with Rotary’s theme for the year, I look forward to creating hope in our world TOGETHER with you this upcoming year. We got off to a rough start this year with Cheryl’s untimely death, but she would want us to carry on.
I plan to keep you updated monthly with highlights of our club’s and our district’s key initiatives for the month. District events are designed to make the Rotary experience more fun and more successful for club leaders and members. So far, from the district, we have:
Mental Wellness/Leadership Series: Coming Soon
Vibrant Club Workshop: October 28th – Virtual and in person option. Location TBD
World Polio Day – October 24
Tri-Con (our Multi-District Conference) - April 19-20, 2024, Green Bay
This Spring, our club executive committee set goals for the upcoming year, which I am sharing with you. I’m a very goal-oriented person, and like to know where I’m ultimately headed, although sometimes the route to get there can be an adventure. You may note the 14 social activities, having fun is a goal 😊
I am so very grateful for you, my fellow Changemakers. TOGETHER we can create hope in our world.
The Rotary Foundation is one of the primary tools for Rotarians to achieve peace in our world. The support we give to The Rotary Foundation provides grants that improve health, well-being, environment, and peacebuilding through humanitarian service across the globe. The Changemakers Diabetes Support Project with Family Health La Clinica is our own example of The Rotary Foundation at work.
Wequalified for a District Grant because of our personal giving. That made it possible to nearly double the amount we raised using donations from District 6250 Rotarians.
Aswe begin a new Rotary year, please consider making your commitment to supporting The Rotary Foundation’s Annual Fund. Your support will be combined with that of over 1.3 million Rotarians around the world to achieve this year’s goal of $500 million. That total includes funding for District Grants, Global Grants, Polio Eradication, Disaster Response Grants, and much more.
Givingis easiest by going online and donating when you sign in at My Rotary.org. If you would like to budget your giving, Rotary Direct allows you to designate the amount, frequency, and use of your donations. I like to give monthly. It brings a smile with each credit card statement!
If you have questions about supporting Our Rotary Foundation, I would be happy to walk you through the options that align with your goals for supporting Rotary. OUR donations to support the work of Rotarians around the world bring hope for a brighter future to people and communities around the world.
For those of you on vacation or otherwise unable to attend, here is a recap of our July club meeting.
We started off with a remembrance for Cheryl. She was very active in our club as a service committee co-chair, treasurer, and lining up speakers. She was well known throughout Wisconsin. She will be greatly missed.
We recited the four way test to remind us of our Rotary ethics of truth, fairness, goodwill, friendships and beneficial to all.
As of the first of July, the start of the Rotary year, Val will be president. A huge thanks to LeRoy for his service in getting the club up and running.
Check the district website for information on the Friendship Exchange to Croatia coming in September.
Dwight presented on the LaClinica service project. We have reached our goal and received a district grant. A huge thanks to those who donated. We received money from clubs inside and outside of our district. The money will go to diabetes blood glucose monitors. August 12th is the tentative Children's Day at the LaClinica headquarters. There are plans in the works to present the check to them at that event. Anyone wishing to participate, please contact Dwight.
Our assistant governor, Toni, from the Sun Prairie Rotary Club announced that August 3rd will be the annual golf tournament sponsored by Sun Prairie Rotary Club. Their club received a district grant for raised platform viewing area and memorial wall for their marsh, in memory of Bill Wambach. Check out their golf outing webpage. https://www.sunprairierotary.org/sitepage/golf-outing
Lisa was the winner of our 50/50 raffle. Way to go Lisa! Easy money.
Our speaker was Gary Muldoon from Madison Breakfast Rotary Club. He had two topics - Rotary Books for the World - Wisconsin Operations, and Portable Cabinet Libraries in Guatemala.
They need to relocate their packing facility, and are searching for a place in the greater Madison area. Currently they have 10,000 square feet, they may only need half that much. More info to come.
For the libraries, we can help by collecting gently used Spanish or Bilingual Spanish/English library books, sponsor a computer, some books, a cabinet or a fully-stocked library, or pledge our club's support an a contributing club for a future district grant.
Summers are super busy. Our Changemakers club will be taking a pause from the 6 pm third Tuesday Happy Hour for the months of July and August. Happy Hour will start up again in September.
We are looking for a co-host for the happy hour starting in September. It only takes one hour a month, and you get to pick the games and make the rules! If this sounds like a fun way for you to volunteer, please contact any of the club executives.
Books for the World needs to vacate the space they have been utilizing at MATC for the past nine years. Please see the attached video for a Wisconsin State Journal interview with Gary Muldoon.
In light of the recent front page article in WSJ, Ellen Cook wanted everyone to have the link to the United Way Volunteer page through which people can sign up for book packing. When they select the volunteer opportunity, they will have an option to choose dates. Thanks to you all.
Happy almost summer! As most of you know by now, we have been notified by Madison College that they need the space that we occupy by September. We have ceased accepting donations until we find a new space and we are looking to finish packing the rest of our inventory. We recently sent a truckload down to Houston and we will be sending another one shortly, so we are making great progress but there are still plenty of books!
I've set the following dates going forward at the usual Saturday 10-12:30 time: June 24, July 8, July 22, and August 5. We've had such good turnouts through United Way with several group sign-ups which have been fun! If we can keep up this pace, we'll get it done.
We're exploring options for a new space, so please contact Gary and myself if you have any ideas.
As a reminder, we have a packing scheduled this Saturday, June 3. In the last week we've had 8 United Way volunteers sign up. Several have Epic emails so I'm thinking it's a group from there. However, we have plenty of room for more volunteers!
Please respond to Ellen Cook - ellenburleighcook@gmail.com if you can make it on any of these dates. It helps to know ahead of time if we will have enough volunteers.
We started off with a remembrance for Cheryl. She was very active in our club as a service committee co-chair, treasurer, and lining up speakers. She was well known throughout Wisconsin. She will be greatly missed.
We recited the four way test to remind us of our Rotary ethics of truth, fairness, goodwill, friendships and beneficial to all.
Dwight presented on the LaClinica service project. We have reached our goal and received a district grant. A huge thanks to those who donated. We received money from clubs inside and outside of our district. The money will go to diabetes blood glucose monitors. August 12th is the tentative Children's Day at the LaClinica headquarters. There are plans in the works to present the check to them at that event. Anyone wishing to participate, please contact Dwight.
Our assistant governor, Toni, from the Sun Prairie Rotary Club announced that August 3rd will be the annual golf tournament sponsored by Sun Prairie Rotary Club. Their club received a district grant for raised platform viewing area and memorial wall for their marsh, in memory of Bill Wambach. Check out their golf outing webpage. 
Lisa was the winner of our 50/50 raffle. Way to go Lisa! Easy money.
- Wisconsin Operations, and Portable Cabinet Libraries in Guatemala. 
Summers are super busy. Our Changemakers club will be taking a pause from the 6 pm third Tuesday Happy Hour for the months of July and August. Happy Hour will start up again in September.
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