Congratulations to our newest Bequest Society members Ed Krol and Stan Rankin as well as our Paul Harris +5 Fellows John Ady, John Calderon and Steve Hamburg. Special recognition to our Paul Harris +2 Fellow Terry O'Neill and our newest PHF +1 Bob Atkins, Dean Cavey, Pat Kovar, Bud Leister, Harold Moe and Mella Roderick. Thanks for your tremendous support.
Turkmenistan: The club has received a thank you from the 570 students who benefited from Champaign Rotary's support of the Turkmenistan Junior Achievement program.
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Dear Rotarians,
Similar to our annual day at Busch Stadium, The St. Louis Rams have invited us to hold a "Rotary Day with the Rams" in conjunction with their game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, November 15, 2009. The event will supplement our fundraising for the Gate's Polio Plus Challenge. The Rams are matching funds that we raise in conjunction with ticket sales. In essence, we will raise about $10.00 per ticket sold to the game for the Challenge. Tickets for the game will be $55.00 each.
In addition, the Rams will give each club that sells 50 tickets or more, an autographed Rams replica jersey and scoreboard recognition. We have also acquired one of the "Sergeant's Select" Jack Daniel's Single Barrel bottle of Tennessee whiskey. Every Rotarian that purchases one of the first 100 tickets will have their name entered into a drawing for the bottle of "Sergeant's Select".
Click on the "Rams tickets" to the right of this page under "Downloads"
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President Joan presented Bill Stallman the Rotarian of the Year award. He
is the first Champaign Rotarian to receive the award twice—the first
time in 1990. Bill was honored for his hard work and reliability. Not only
does he make sure we have greeters, invocators and introducers every
week, he also handles the cashier responsibilities and makes sure our
"lunch money" is handled properly.
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President Joan presented Bethany Hearn the Robert Eisner, Jr. New
Member Rotarian of the Year award. "Bethany jumped right in whenever
she saw a need" the perfect Rotarian right out of the box," President
Joan told the Club. Congratulations Bethany!
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We reached our required 850 requests for a plate in about October. It has been designed and passed through the State Police inspection and the R.I inspection. It has also now passed through the Secretary of States' office.
Each Rotary plate will have a surcharge of $25.00.
The first year $10.00 goes to the State to make the plate and $15.00 will go to the Rotary Foundation to be put into a DAF.
In the subsequent years, $2.00 will go to the State for the sticker and $23.00 will go to the Rotary Foundation to be put into the same DAF. The proceeds of this fund will be shared with all of the Districts in Illinois based on the number of Rotary plates in that District. There will be a minimum requirement of 100 plates in a District to participate.
There will be five digits or letter spaces. Any combination of up to five numbers and/or letters will work.
There is no penalty when you purchase a Rotary plate before your currant plate expires; the State will supply a sticker based upon your expiration date. To view picture of plate and get a copy of the request go to downloads.
Dave Bernthal presented a check for $25,000 from the Joseph H. Cannon Memorial Grant Trust Funds to Rotarian Bobbie Herakovich, Executive Director of the Champaign Park District. The grant will be used to support improvements to Skelton Park, at the corner of Washington Street and First Street. The history of the property is very interesting. Art Skelton's father owned a house on the property, and when he died, it went to his caretaker. After the caretaker died, the property went to the City of Champaign, which in turn gave it to the Park District. The Park was named and dedicated to the Skelton family a couple of years ago, and a little work was done on it. This grant will help the Park District build a plaza and memorial plaque and add some flowers and trees. You will be hearing more about this later, as the Park District may come back to Rotary members for the tree part of the project.
Dave Bernthal presented a check for $6,200 from the Joseph H. Cannon Memorial Grant Trust Funds to Andre Arrington, Executive Director of the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club. The grant will be used to upgrade the Computer Lab in time for Summer Camp. Last week employees from Comcast painted the room, so it is ready for the new computers to be purchased with this Rotary grant-the computers were 8 years old, and as we all know, that means they were basically unusable.
Elizabeth announced that the Club has collected a total of $7,767 to date for the campaign. If you have not given yet, please write a check to Rotary Foundation and note "Polio" on the check. Elizabeth told those gathered, "We'll keep taking donations if you keep giving".
Dave Bernthal presented a check for $6,000 to Rotarian Tim Manard from the Joseph H. Cannon Memorial Grant Trust Funds. The money donation will be used to upgrade the computer network at the Boy Scout headquarters. Tim told the Club that he and the Scout headquarters staff are excited about getting a network overhaul that will allow them to update the way they serve the Scouts and Scout leadership.
Vicki Harber-Wheeler, Regional Operating Officer, Girl Scouts of Central Illinois Champaign Regional Service Center, received a Joseph H. Cannon Memorial Grant Trust Funds check for $5,700 from committee chair Dave Burnthal. The donation will be used for the GS project "Baby, think it over". The 'babies" are computerized full-care dolls that help teach young people what motherhood, or fatherhood, or even the job of babysitter is really all about.
Past President David Bernthal, chair of the Champaign Rotary Joseph H. Cannon Memorial Grants, presented a check for $15,600 to Stephanie Edwards, Children's Services Manager of the Champaign Public Library, to be used for the "A Gift for Your Baby" project. The project gives out 3,000 packets a year to new mothers at the local hospitals as one way to promote literacy.
Joseph H. Cannon Memorial Grant Trust Funds are typically solicited during the months of July and August each year. The committee meets once the application submission period is closed, to review the potential applicants. Cannon Grants are $5,000+, and come from interest earned on the trust, which is approximately $75,000 a year. The grants are selected by the committee, which recommends them to WGRC, Inc. for final approval.
Congratulations to the following recipients of this year's Cannon Grants. Presentations to the organizations will be made at Champaign Rotary meetings throughout the rest of the year.
The Rotary Club of Champaign, for the Skelton Park project $25,000
The Girl Scouts of Central Illinois, for equipment for "Baby Think It Over" program $5700
The Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club, to upgrade the teen computer lab $6,200
The Developmental Services Center, to update the client computer labs $8,000
The Boy Scouts of America Prairielands Council, to upgrade the network at the headquarters $6,000
The Champaign Public Library, for a program aimed at newborns and their families $15,600
The Habitat for Humanity, for improvements to the ReStore $8,500
Eileen Gebbie from Habitat for Humanity thanked Champaign Rotary for the check for $8,500, presented to her by Past President Dave Bernthal, Chair of the Cannon Committee. The funds will be used for capital improvements at the Habitat Restore, which will in turn help raise funds for Habitat projects.
John Hecker introduced the winners of the Rotary Investment Challenge, part of a partnership with Champaign Rotary and the University of Illinois Securities Exchange Simulation program in the local high schools, under the direction of Professors Elisabeth Oltheten and Kevin Waspi of the University of Illinois Department of Finance. In the Investment Challenge, students participate in a portfolio management simulation, in which they invest a hypothetical $1 Million, under the direction of their finance class teachers. Student Winners of this semester's Challenge are: First Place: Lyle Jackson, "Fortyniners Corp", with +32.48% rate of return. His teacher is Dave Snyder from Centennial High School. Second Place: Kenesha Hairston, "One Love", with +3.89%. Her teacher is Judy Roegge from Centennial High School. Third Place: Quinton Pryor, "Pryor Inc., with +1.03%. His teacher is Dave Johnson from Central High School. Fourth Place: Marissa Caston, "Caston Inc.", with +.68%. Her teacher is Dave Johnson. Fifth Place is Ryan Grey, "Grey Inc.", with -0.56%. Teacher Winners this semester are: First Place: Judy Roegge with -4.64%. Second Place: Dave Johnson with-6.72%. Third Place: Dave Snyder with -11.65%. The School Winner this semester is Centennial High School with -5.58%. FYI: The S&P 500 performance over the same period was -26.55%.
President Joan presented a check to Jim Hires for $2,000 to the Food Bank for the second of three years of support from Champaign Rotary for the Food Bank Backpack Buddies Program. The Food Bank Backpack Buddies Program gives needy kids a backpack of healthy food each Friday so they will not go hungry during the weekend when the school meals program is not available. The Food Bank Backpack Buddies Program began three years ago with 50 students from Garden Hills School. It now serves 185 kids a week from three separate schools.
Marjorie Williams and Steve Main of the Champaign Rotary Literacy Committee presented a check for $2,000 to Sarah Clyne, the principal of Booker T. Washington school in Champaign, to be used to help support their summer reading program. The results from last summer's reading program are clear, as the students who participated retained or increased their reading levels and their test scores at the beginning of this semester.
Rotary Club of Champaign
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