"If you don't believe in yourself, no one else will either." -Club President Ron Auxier
The Rotary Club of Saint Joseph met today at the beautiful Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art.
There were around 26 Rotarians in attendance, and 1 guest, former member Sara Wilson.
The spread this week was a Mexican-themed salad feast consisting of tortilla chips, small flour tortillas, lettuce, taco ground beef, some kind of other meat, and fixins' to include olives, jalapenos, sour cream, guacamole, taco sauce, and shredded cheese. Some chose some, and some chose all!
Vice President Oakley Coleman distributed packets of 20 Spaghetti Dinner tickets to everyone in attendance today. If you sell or donate each of these and turn in the money, more tickets are available. The tickets are $15 for all you can eat spaghetti, breadsticks, salad, and delicious desserts. Kids are $7, 5 and under are free.
We will also be having meatball sub lunches with chips and a cookie for $8 available for pickup. Oakley will have lunch order forms next week.
Volunteer assignments have begun and Oakley will have a sign-up sheet at an upcoming meeting for everyone to get involved in some way with the Spaghetti fundraiser.
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 for 1/22 are Ron Auxier with Mary Beth Revels and Barb Burns with Matt Porter.
Meals on Wheels delivery assignments for 1/29 are Kelly Morris (solo) and Brendon Clark with Nick Gertsema.
Ralph Schank shared that long-time Meals on Wheels recipient Francis Bremer, who lived next to Mount Mora cemetery, died recently.
Local (club) Foundation Chair Julie Walker shared that the scholarship applications for each of the 5 local high schools have been given to the guidance counselors. Each of Central, Lafayette, Benton, St. Joseph Christian, and Bishop LeBlond High Schools will select 1 recipient for a $1,000 scholarship. The club will then host the school staff along with the scholarship recipients and their families at our meeting on May 6. The scholarships are funded through our club's local foundation. This has been a tradition with the downtown club for many years, and is in addition to the endowed Eastside Rotary scholarship at MWSU.
Upcoming Key Rotary Dates:
Wednesday, January 28: Regular club meeting at Noon at the AKMA... PDG Hod Symes will share his Rotary story
February TBA: Fun committee's monthly club social
February 18: First wave Rotary Blend candle orders due (Shoes for Orphan Souls fundraiser)
February 21: Tentative work day for the Life Unlimited garden beds district grant project at Spaeth Construction (on St. Joseph Avenue)
Friday, March 6: 43rd Annual Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser at Ashland United Methodist Church- carry out lunches and dine-in or carry out dinners
Saturday, March 7: Sleep in Heavenly Peace lumber cutting and staining work day at MWSU at 9 a.m.
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
Ron for his 56th year wedding anniversary with Pat on Saturday, which is on the same day as his 78th birthday!!!
Hod for his health issues being cleared up
Erik for Henry the dog's 3rd gotcha day today
Jeanne for Emma running her first 1/2 marathon
Ralph didn't pay but he is happy to be going to Marathon, FL with Barb Burns soon
Josh for his father-in-law's picture of his wife Shanen being on display at the AKMA
Sam for January 12 marking 40 years of being in the USA and for his wife's immigration status being approved recently
Marci for the taco feast that Ross Woodbury allegedly would have loved and for her daughter being selected as the lead ref in the NCAA basketball championship
We also heard from 2 members about their lives and Rotary stories.
Ray Sisson:
Ray is a graduate of the University of Kansas and has been involved with real estate and commercial development for many years. He currently serves as the Director of Commercial Sales for Berkshire Hatheway. Their office recently moved downtown, across from the Trail Theater, in one of the new parking garages. Ross was sponsored into Rotary by Russell Peck and his first Rotary meeting was at the old Camp Geiger Dining Hall (now the Siemens Training Center).
Dianne Dewey:
Dianne Dewey:
Dianne grew up in St. Joseph but now resides in Andrew County, on her husband's farm that Corky's family has had since 1845. Together they have a son and a daughter and have been married for 62 years!
Dianne is a graduate of MWSU and had a successful career in banking. She was the 3rd female to join Eastside Rotary, after Connie Martin and Heather Shearin. Dianne serves on the boards of MO-KAN Development, Specialty Industries, and the Open Door Food Kitchen. She even worked with Ray Sisson for a time.
Shoes Cheerleader Amy Spaeth shared that the club is up to around 803 pairs of shoes (counting the 70 that Tim Curry has to get turned in). She was able to find some good deals over the weekend.
