Rotary Club of Saint Joseph Bulletin #10 (Mar. 11, 2026)

The Rotary Club of Saint Joseph today at the beautiful Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art.

The streetcar must have taken back our bell, as this was the second week in a row it wasn't there.

There was a robust crowd of around 36 in attendance today. Prospective members Micah Carter and Skye Pournazari were present.

The lunch this week was ample and featured a taco bar complete with chips, flour tortillas, rice, refried beans that started out quite watery (thankfully Bill McCammon somehow fixed this so that by the time those at the back of the line dug in, the beans were ok), pork meat, beef meat, cheese, sour cream, guacamole, olives, jalapenos, salsa, and a few other fixins. We even had cookies for dessert.

Oakley Coleman thanked everyone for their help with last week's Spaghetti Dinner. We ended up with 172 lunches, 169 diners, and 107 take-out dinners.

Thank you to our sponsors for supporting the 43rd Annual Spaghetti Dinner:

Gold Level:

Gertsema Wealth Management
City of St. Joseph
Spaeth Construction
Lawhon Construction
Midwest Mobile Radio Service
Life Unlimited
Ellison-Auxier Architects
Patrick Lile, American Family Agent
Veritas Systems Construction
Midwest Data Systems
Ryan Jones, Edward Jones
Performance Plus

Silver Level:

E.L. Crawford Construction
Gina's Cafe and Catering
Meierhoffer Funeral Home
St. Joseph Public Library
Nodaway Valley Bank

Bronze Level:

Karen VanSickle, Remax
Grueb, Hulet & Schwichtenberg, PC

Be sure to turn in any additional sales money to Oakley. There is still time to bring money to Rotary next week.

Black Bowls donations for this quarter (1/1/26 through 3/31/26) go to the Care Portal. which connects churches with people in need to make a difference. Contributions to Black Bowls may be made at meetings with cash or check, or online at our club's Square site.

Meals on Wheels delivery assignments:

March 12 will be Erik McGuire with Don Gladhart and Heather Shearin (solo).

March 19 will be Bill McCammon with Susan Campbell and Heather Weddle with Barb Burns.

Club's website update:

Our new website address is live at stjosephrotary.org ... https://stjosephrotary.org/.

Also, saintjosephrotary.org and stjosepheastsiderotary.org all point to this website.

Thank you to Public Image Chair Amy Spaeth for making these updates.

The club's Facebook page has been updated and can be found at https://www.facebook.com/rotaryclubstjosephmo

Today's meeting once again had a full agenda, so President Ron again exercised his inherent authority to issue a $1 fine in lieu of the Sergeants.

Guest Staci Kerns did announce that the Apple Blossom 5k is coming up this Spring, if anyone wants to sponsor or race, please reach out to Susan Campbell for more info.

Rotarian Jodi Flurry shared that the United Way is currently building the allocations team of volunteers to review the agencies, so please let Jodi know if you have an interest in joining this committee.

Upcoming Key Rotary Dates:

March 18: Regular club meeting at the AKMA... speaker is Tonya Ball presenting about the Care Portal
March 25: Regular club meeting at the AKMA... Rotary Blend candle orders and money are due by 3/25
Tentative- may change- April 25: District grant work project to assemble gazebo and install the garden at Life Unlimited
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
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)

Contribute Online to The Rotary Foundation

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.

Today's program featured a presentation from Past Rotary International Director Elizabeth Usovicz.

Elizabeth shared some updates with us about the Peace Fellowships program of Rotary International.

There are 3 generally recognized aspects of positive peace- peace making (after conflicts, driven by governments), peace keeping (enforcement of the rule of law, often driven by governments), and peace building (prevention, this is where Rotary comes in).

Rotary Peace Centers started 23 years ago, and have now produced 1,887 alumni across 140 countries. There are 8 current peace centers worldwide. The newest just opened at Symbiosis University in Pune, India.

Peace Fellowships include 5 Masters-level graduate programs around the world, that each are very competitive and accept 10 students per year.

There are also 3 graduate certificate programs that each accept 40 students per year. We recently had a student from Liberty represent District 6040 in a certificate program. She works in Iraq.

Applicants have through May 15 of this year to apply for study next school year. It's always a great long-term goal to build relationships with local institutions to open a pipeline of quality applicants. Perhaps we can find someone from St. Joseph?

To learn more, please visit: https://www.rotary.org/en/our-programs/peace-fellowshipsvisit

Shoes Cheerleader Amy Spaeth reports that we have 1043 pairs of shoes so far in the warehouse (not including the shoes that Tim Curry has in his barn).

Our goal is to exceed 2,000 pairs this year.

Don't forget about the special Rotary Blend Candle Fundraiser available for anyone who would like to participate. Proceeds from the candle sales go towards the purchase of more shoes.

Members have through 3/25 to turn in their candle orders to Erik. Depending on volume, all candles should be ready by early April. We will have some candles as well as order forms on hand on Friday at the Spaghetti Dinner for anyone who would like to purchase any.

To purchase candles or reed diffusers, members may use the order forms or visit our online store here at to order online.

Members are challenged to all bring in a pair of shoes to the 3/18 meeting as part of the World Shoe Day (3/15) challenge.

Our Shoes for Orphan Souls drive lasts through the Shoes Caravan Stop that is scheduled for Thursday, April 23 between 3 and 5 p.m. in St. Joseph. Our club plans to use this as a social event, likely at the East Hills Library, but final details TBA.