Newsletter - Archive  Mar 4, 2010

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Rotary Club of Villa Park Newsletter

Club Assembly

Today's meeting was an opportunity for the club members to see everything that our club has accomplished in our areas of service and  expenditures  in the first half of the year to date. 

We saw some incredible presentations particularly by Vocational Service Chair  Linda Bartrom-Olsen, and International Service Chair Jane McDonald- both with very comprehensive Powerpoint presentations.  President Joe Brand apologized for the delay in having this special meeting and promised a second Club Assembly later in the new year.

We opened our meeting with an invocation by  Kirk Parker, Pledge of Allegiance by Linda Bartrom-Olsen and our song "God Bless America.  Greg Mills led the group in reciting the Rotary "Four Way Test" and it sounds like we're beginning to almost remember it without reading the banner.

Guests:

Fred Whitaker - guest of Bob Meyer

Ken Caplin- Assistant District Governor

Brett Drolet- AV coordinator for Dr Bartrom-Olsen's Powerpoint

Lisa Stepanski - up for membership-

Steve Lopushinsky- regular visitor from the Orange Club

Birthdays:

Pam Dunn and her Twin Sister celebrated with a trip to Napa

                   her best gift she says was her Medicare Card

Announcements:

Ken Caplin  reminded us that district awards write-ups are due in April.  There won't be booklets this year so use the club's website to help you keep track of your projects.  Ken also let us know he is working on coordinating the next level of the Speech Contest with the Orange North and Orange Sunrise Clubs.

Jay Applebaum let us know that the tickets and posters for our upcoming Harlem Ambassadors Basketball Fundraiser have arrived and are ready to sell.  Pam Dunn will coordinate the ticket sales.  Pam and Jay let everyone know that if someone wants the $30 Sports Lovers Package which includes: dinner, VIP seating and  opportunity tickets for the basketball autographed by the Harlem Ambassadors to put a Donated by Villa Park Rotary Sticker on the back of the ticket at the time of purchase so we can distinguish them from the general admission tickets.  We have 1500 tickets and intend to have posters at the local schools, Saturday ticket sales in front of the Ralph's Market, connections with the local Boyscouts, Indian Princess/Guides, Little League and Interact Groups.  Paul Hudson generously volunteered to help create additional posters and larger posters that can be put on the street corners in Villa Park.   Jay asks that everyone do what they can to spread the word so that we can have a large turnout for what looks like  an exciting and fun filled event.  This is a  great opportunity to showcase our club to the community.

Club Assembly

Vocational  Service- Chair Dr. Linda Bartrom-Olsen

budget = $20,00

This was a very thourough and  comprehensive presentation that had been prepared in a PowerPoint format by Dr. Bartrom-Olsen and went project by project with a description of the project and the amount of funds allocated.   She addressed  the current status of the Interact Clubs at both local high schools, upcoming Camp RYLA,  Recent Song and Speech Contests, Camp to Belong and Rotaract among other projects.

She reminded us that  May 13th  will be our Rotary Club Recognition Day featuring

Teacher Recognitions & Mini-Grant Presentations,  Above and Beyond and Business of the Year recognition. 

May 22nd will be an Interact Recognition and Awards Dinner at Rockwells featuring Interact Clubs from both Villa Park and Lutheran High Schools.  Award certificates and scholarships will be awarded to the Interact Presidents from both schools.  Parents and Faculty will also be invited to attend.

International Service- Chair Jane McDonald

Budget= $16,826

Not to be outdone, Jane also gave a very thourough report in a PowerPoint format. Discussing the many projects that had been accomplished by her group.  In particular she discussed the backpacks and this year we sent 300 to Tecate and 500 to Liberia.  She applauded the efforts of the group who helped stuff the backpacks.  There are plans to donate another 500 backpacks in the future.  The delay is due to the fact that the "Containers of Hope" are not available.

Jane also mentioned the 20 sewing machines that were donated to the "Graceworks Program"  that supports children in Kenya who have been orphaned by the AIDs epidemic; the 12 DVD players that were purchased to help support the troops overseas who are recieving DVDs from the "Operation a bit of Home " program run by Bob Meyer; educational school supplies that were sent to an orphanage in Sigasoara, Romania via Veritae, a program that is affiliated with Douglas College and provides support for disadvantaged children. Monies were also donated to Baja Crippled Children to support a group of podiatrists who travel to Mexico to treat children with foot deformities and to the Rotary Foundation to provide relief in Haiti.  Bob Meyer added that we also sent 200 boxes to the troops.

Upcoming International Speaker Programs:

April 8th Alex Mora- our liaison to the Tecate Rotary Club

April 15th Dr. Susan Njemanze, Ed.D. of Graceworks

Jane will travel to New Brunswick, NJ on May 8th where our club will be  honored for helping the Veritae program.

Community Service-Chair Teri Foster Brooks

budget= $15,000

Programs: 

Ronald McDonald House monthly dinners-  alloted $180/meal

   John Broussard overseas this project and thanked those members who participated.

Meals on Wheels

Tree Farm

Elderly services- yard work to help those older Villa Park citizens who can't do it themselves

Jogathon

Marines for Thanksgiving.

Club Service - Chairperson Millie Alexander- Presenter Jay Applebaum

Jay Applebaum explained that the role of Club Service is to provide the basics for our weekly meetings. These include:  Breakfast, room set up, supplies(name badges, rotary packets for new members, pins,etc.), assignment of weekly jobs( invocation, pledge, song), attendance, and weekly speaker programs.  Fellowship/ Parties; Membership;  Sgt-at-Arms- Happy Bucks, Opportunity Drawing, Newsletter and Website are also provided by Club Service.

Rotary Foundation- Chairperson Jeannie Hankins- Presenter Jay Applebaum

Jay pointed out that thanks to Jeannie Hankins our club is now  a 100% Paul Harris Club. He went on to explain how a member becomes a Paul Harris Fellow and pointed out that $30 per member is donated to the Rotary Foundation each quarter.  Once the member has donated a total of $1000 they become a Paul Harris Fellow.

The Rotary Foundation is what helps Rotary provide programs on health, literacy, job training and education in mostly developing countries.  Rotary is also dedicated to the eradication of Polio worldwide and has given over 1 billion innoculations against Polio to date.  Bill and Melinda Gates have donated $358 MIllion to help accomplish this goal and Rotary International is more than half-wayy towards matching this donation.

The 'Foundation also supports Ambassadorial Scholarships,sending students and teachers to foreign countries to study and learn to understand and appreciate cultural differences.

Money ultimately returns to the club via District Grants allowing the donations made at the club level to be matched.

Treasurer- Steve Kawa

Steve did a presentation  on our overall budget status.

Here's how he broke it down:

Club Service

Income- Dues, Happy Bucks,Opportunity drawing, monies from cooking at boat parade, Halloweenfest etc.                         $ 38,669        Actuals (2/9/10) money spent $19,684

                                                                         Difference( budget- actuals)= $18,985

Expenses- Breakfast, RI, District, Parties

                      President to RI Conv, etc

                                                    $34,586          Actuals(2/9/10)  money spent $22,497

                                                                          Difference(budget- actuals)=$12,089

Oktoberfest

Income          $47,419

Expenses        24,718

Net Income    = 22,701

Avenues of Service

community Service   budget = $15,000    Actuals(2/9/10)  $4924            Difference $10,076

International Service             = $16826                               $ 15087                        $ 1,739

Vocational Service                = $20, 200                             $ 6,654                        $13,546

Total Projects                       =  $52, 026                            $26,665                       $ 25, 361

Projected Year End Balance              $39,989

Bank Account Balance(2/9/10)           $64,507

President- Elect Greg Mills then presented his incoming board for 2010-2011

President-    Greg Mills

Pres-elect- Eddie Nash

Vice Pres-  Pam Dunn

Treasurer    Milt Stamos

Secretary    Steven Pollack

Club Serv.    Craig Beinlich

Commun.      Jill Kuli

Foundation    Jeannie Hankins

International   Jane McDonald        Also liaison to Interact at Lutheran High

Membership    Pete Moriarty

Vocational     Linda Bartrom- Oslen   Also liaison to Interact at Villa Park High

Website/Newsletter Jay Applebaum

Sgt-at- Arms  Eric Sense

Tree Farm- To be determined

Promotions- To be determined

Greg also talked about some of the ideas he had about meetings/ service chair presentations and new potential fundraisers.

Coming Next Week:

Induction of new members