Club President Ron Auxier
"Your anxiety is never worth it."
District 6040 Governor Jodi Sundaram
Zones 30/31 Director Brian Hall
Rotary International President Francesco Arezzo
April 1 is here. The attendance at the Rotary Club of Saint Joseph continues to be strong. I hope that this bulletin is enough in the spirit of the late Judge Bill Roberts to be interesting.
The Rotary Club of Saint Joseph today at the beautiful Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art.
There wasn't time for Happy Bucks, but Hod Symes gave a Happy $20 for his successful gallbladder removal last week, and he was in great spirits, and happy to be back at Rotary.
We had a good crowd of around 20 in attendance this week. Prospective members Micah Carter and Joan Brewer were present, as were visitors the Honorable David Bolander and Greg Smith (2nd time attending, guest of Louie).
The lunch this week was a plentiful pasta bar that was not too shabby. Ralph taught Spanky's how to cook pasta, and they provided a tray of spaghetti noodles, a tray of sauce, a tray of meatballs, a tray of chicken penne alfredo, garlic bread, and salad. Someone even had the foresight to move the table out from the wall so that we could form 2 lines to get our food more efficiently:
Oakley Coleman was on hand to recap the Spaghetti Dinner and to thank everyone for making it happen. Our net profit on the event was about $8,400. This is about the same as 2025. Sponsorships were up, lunches were up, and dinners were down a bit.
Black Bowls donations for this quarter (4/1 to 6/30) go to Camp Geiger Scout camperships. These support Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA Scouts to attend summer camp, with campership awards reviewed by a committee based on financial need. Members can contribute on our Square site online or bring the cash to meetings.
World Immunization Week is coming up 4/24-4/30. Why? For every generation, vaccines work. We are so close to eradicating polio worldwide. Your support makes a big difference, whether large or small.
Our club is participating by offering Purple Pinkie Donuts for purchase (we have through 4/8 to collect orders) for $12 per box, with all proceeds going to PolioPlus.
Members and the public may also contribute online through the month of April and get member/club credit for their donations through our club's Raise for Rotary page through the Rotary Foundation at https://raise.rotary.org/Erik-McGuire/fundraiser746. If you are passionate about Rotary's promise to eradicate polio, please consider sharing the page on social media or through email to others who may be able to amplify our impact.
Meals on Wheels delivery assignments:
April 2 will be Will Woods with Faith Parker and Kelly Morris (solo).
Club's web assets:
Club's website is stjosephrotary.org ... https://stjosephrotary.org/.
Also, saintjosephrotary.org and stjosepheastsiderotary.org all point to this website. We are working on continued content updates.
Do you have ideas for a possible district grant community project- involving $5,000 in spending and some sweat equity? If so, please reach out to Oakley Coleman. Our application is due 7/15.
Upcoming Key Rotary Dates:
April 8: Regular club meeting at the AKMA... speaker is Matt Porter and his recent trip photos from the Hutchinson salt mines
April 15: Regular club meeting at the AKMA... speaker is Dr. Elizabeth Kennedy, Missouri Western State University President
April TBA: District grant work project dates to assemble gazebo and install the garden at Life Unlimited
Thursday, April 23: Shoes for Orphan Souls Caravan stops in St. Joseph at the East Hills branch library... 3 - 5 p.m. and our club is making this our April "fun" event... please mark your calendars and stop by if you can even for a few minutes as we will be visited by our Rotary International President Nominee Larry Lunsford at this event... which will be followed by further fun at the Hi-Ho after 5 p.m. (Ralph thinks he can find the Hi-Ho if he uses GPS)
Friday, 4/24 and Saturday, 4/25: District Conference at the Rotary Youth Camp (Shoes for Orphan Souls Roll Call on 4/25)
Wednesday, 5/6: Rotary scholarship luncheon for our 5 high school scholarship recipients at Noon at the AKMA... you won't want to miss this special meeting... District Governor Jodi Sundaram will also be on hand for a special presentation
Wednesday, 5/13: Offsite club meeting at Life Unlimited to see the District Grant project
Thursday, June 18: Rotary Club of Saint Joseph Anniversary Party (details TBA)
Every dollar makes a difference and funds district grants, global grants, and more.
Or if you prefer to send a check, we can assist with the details of this.
This week's program was a "getting to know you", featuring 4 members of the club.
Oakley Coleman
Oakley is the club's President Nominee/Vice President and is an attorney. He graduated from UMKC Law School and has worked in both private practice and as a prosecutor. He is starting a new job shortly with the Missouri Housing Development Corporation.
Oakley is married to Katie, who is a CPA, and their daughter Erica is 3 1/2 years old. Oakley notably has been to 43 different countries and 46 states. He still has not been to Arizona (the Phx airport doesn't count), Hawaii, Vermont (Hod can fix this!), or Alaska.
Jim Ingle
Jim has been married for 55 years to his wife Rosalie, and they live in Gower in a house he built in 1971. He grew up on a farm, where he learned about construction. He attended NWMSU and later became a builder. Jim has built hundreds of homes throughout Northwest Missouri, and also commercial and medical buildings. He and Ron Auxier worked together professionally on several projects. Jim has retired from building.
Jim has 2 sons and some grandchildren, which gives him and Rosalie a lot of joy. He enjoys being a member of Rotary.
Faith Parker
Faith grew up on a farm in Fayette, Missouri. Her son is now 5 years old. Faith's first experience with Rotary was going on a Rotary Youth Exchange for a school year to Switzerland when she was 17-18 years old.
The 4 "don'ts" of Rotary Youth Exchange that the Americans said she had to follow were not to drink, do drugs, date, or drive. She reported to us that the Swiss said that drugs were bad for her health and that driving wasn't necessary because of public transportation access. Not so strict on the other 2.
Faith started as a teller at Equity Bank but is now the Bank Manager.
Jodi Flurry
Jodi grew up on a dairy farm right outside of St. Joseph, near Word of Life Church. She joined the United Way through a Rotary connection, when former member Brenda Shields was the United Way board chair.
Jodi lives in Smithville and her son is a senior there; he is attending Auburn in the fall. Her boyfriend's name is Joe.
Jodi's position at the United Way includes overseeing the annual allocations process, educational initiatives, the volunteer center, and the homeless continuum of care.
Shoes Cheerleader Amy Spaeth and her warehouse assistant Conrad will have some fun sorting and counting the shoes that members brought in today. We look forward to an updated count soon.
Our goal is to exceed 2,000 pairs this year.
Thank you to everyone who ordered Rotary Blend Candles to support Shoes for Orphan Souls, or who contributed funds directly to the club for the purchase of shoes.
We have collected $1,306 from candle sales and $525 from donations to give us an additional $1,831 to go towards purchasing even more shoes... The candles should be ready for a few folks who are waiting in about 2-3 weeks. Some folks already have theirs, but we are putting in another order.
All members are encouraged to bring in a pair or several of shoes each week between now and 4/23.
