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The Monday "Messenger" contained a picture of Rotarian Casey Johnson awarding the trophies to four winners in the Fort Dodge Fort Lincoln Toyota Champions Golf Outing. In the picture the wife of another Cub member, Roxanne Kuhlman is the winner of the women's Senior Section.

Brandon Hansel and Size of Fort Dodge School District

Posted by Jesse Ulrich on Jul 15, 2019

Jesse Ulrich and Brandon Hansel met with the Club to provide a perspective on the size of the district and some silent challenges. Statistics of interest are:

TRANSPORTATION:

165 square miles to cover
38 yellow buses and 27 support vehicles
392,096 route miles
109,802 other miles
1,506 kids transported daily
12,600 gallons of gas
41,000 gallons of diesel

FOOD

2 primary production kitchens
6 service kitchens
504,000 meals yearly
33,750 gallons of milk
14,000 lbs of chicken
6,500 lbs of beef
7,500 lbs of pork
10,300 lbs of cheese

PHYSICAL PLANT

699,157 sq ft of space
$160 million insured value
2,952,000 of of toilet paper
63,300 trash bags
62 cans of gum remover

WOW - the last three items say much.

Picture of Two Rotarians in "The Messenger"

Posted by Todd McCubbin on Jul 14, 2019

Todd McCubbin and Cheryl O'Hern appeared in the Sunday "Messenger" for the same purpose. Todd and Cheryl are the recipients of participation in the Goldman Sachs Program that provides access to education, capital, and business support services to the top 10,000 Small Businesses. Eighty Iowa businesses were chosen to participate in the ten week program, with graduation being held at the State Fair on August 9th.

Picture of Rotarian in the "Messenger"

Posted by David Flattery on Jul 09, 2019

Rotarian Flattery appears in the Tuesday "Messenger" as he served as Mayor Pro Tem in the absence of Mayor Matt Bemrich. The Council was discussing potential governmental help to solving what is now dilapidated property in the former Sears Building.

Picture of Rotarian in the "Messenger"

Posted by Jesse Ulrich on Jul 09, 2019

Rotarian Jesse Ulrich appeared in the Tuesday "Messenger" as it was reported the Fort Dodge Community Schools will soon renovate the Dodger Tennis Courts within the Dodger Stadium complex. The costs will be shared between ICCC and the Fort Dodge Community Schools.

Flat Paul Meets the Bulls of Pamplona

Posted by Stephen Hoesel on Jul 08, 2019

Today an article appeared on a back page of the Fort Dodge "Messenger" stating that yesterday was the first "running of the bulls" in Pamplona, Spain. The article also outlines how quite a few who ran in front of the bulls came up gored, stomped, etc. Several are still in the hospital in serious condition. What the article did not say was that during the last week of May Flat Paul Harris also was in Pamplona and attempted to navigate the bulls through the streets. He too came up trampled and was unable to continue the rest of his trip to Sarazossa and Barcelona. As you now know he has fully recovered and met with the Club members today to ask that he be taken and photographed in other venues. Please help Paul tour the world.

Ronald McDonald Houses

Posted by Stephen Hoesel on Jul 08, 2019

Monday's guest speaker was Brenda Miller, Executive Director of the Ronald McDonald House of Central Iowa. This facility in Des Moines serves families of children who are admitted to one of five medical facilities in Des Moines, including Blank Children's Hospital and Mercy One, and Child Services in Johnston. The concept is that families with sick children should be able to concentrate on their children's health and not on where or how to pay for temporary housing. Webster County and Polk County are nearly equal in number of clients served by the facility (1,200 per year), but the Des Moines hospitals and houses serve clients from all of Iowa. Another McDonald house is located on the University of Iowa Campus in Iowa City. The concept is a communal housing arrangements for families who must spend unexpected time in Des Moines while their sick children receive medical care. The houses (2) contain a common kitchen, living room, dining room, and laundry facilities which are stocked with all things needed, including food and supplies. Each of the bedrooms contain private bath facilities. The original house is an 18 bedroom apartment style unit located on the campus of Methodist Hospital. A new 14 unit facility is being constructed into the fourth floor of Mercy Hospital.

Funding comes primarily from donations (47%), service fees (21%), McDonalds collection units (11%), and United Way (8%). Families are asked to contribute a $10 per nite donation, but are not required to do so if their finances do not permit. What happens is that families who use the facilities often return to help clean and cook meals for the current clients. There is also a developed bond between the families and their children who stay anywhere from less than a week to as much as a year. Testimonials were given in the presentation that were concurred by several within the Rotary Club who have used the facility. Because the facility operates on donations all are urged to leave coins in the McDonald's collection boxes and to provide direct support. Major fund raisers are held throughout the state in the form of races, rides, walks, etc.

Flat Paul Harris Attends Meeting on Monday

Posted by Elizabeth Stanek on Jul 08, 2019

Flat Paul Harris attended the meeting on Monday to greet the members present and to ask their help in transporting him around to their functions. Please take a picture of Flat Paul at your family functions (such as vacations), place of business, etc and forward the pictures to Elizabeth Stanek who will upload them to the Club's Facebook Page. Exposing others to Flat Paul is a way to bring publicity to Rotary, in particular the Polio Plus initiative. It is an ongoing initiative of our District Governor, Michelle Bell.

Introduction of New President Elizabeth Stanek

Posted by Elizabeth Stanek on Jul 01, 2019

Elizabeth began by reintroducing herself to the Club. She is a native of Northwest Iowa and now lives with her farmer husband near Calendar. She has three children, a Junior son, and Freshmen twins (boy and girl). All attend Saint Edmond High School. The family also owns a portable toilet business (Jeff's Jons). In her professional life Elizabeth is the Executive Director of "Linking Families," a very successful program to provide information and life skills to a wide variety of clients.

In regard to Rotary, Elizabeth stated that she envisions some changes to occur, but any change will come slowly with club discussion before. She conducted a very professional survey of club members and the results of that survey was available for viewing (if you missed the meeting and would desire a copy please contact Elizabeth for same). Some general comments reviewed by the members present:

Agreement is that Willow Ridge has excellent food and is a quality meeting venue, but its "out of the way location" is a problem to attendance for some. The modern Rotarian is limited in time away from work to close to 60 minutes and the drive distance requires some lateness or early leaving from work;
The meeting format is generally acceptable, but ongoing tweaking would be accepted. "God Bless America" received support to continue. Many clubs no longer sing or have an invocation prayer because of religious sensitivity issues;
Many would like to see the Club become more active in service - this may involve a greater emphasis upon service activity committees and periodic reporting to the whole club;
Periodic assemblies of the Club would be encouraged;
Social outings would be encouraged;
Rotary must become more than just a come for dinner club - i.e. service opportunities;
The mechanism of informing members of actions of the Board of Directors must be tweaked and improved (i.e. periodic Club Assemblies for questions, answers, and discussion, copies of minutes available at meetings, President's message before speaker, etc.);
Establish alternative types of membership, such as family and corporation to encourage participation when a member can not come;
Many more good suggestions.

If you have not done so please contact Elizabeth and put in your two cents worth.

Historic Attendance Record:

7/1/15 to 6/30/16 - 44.81%
7/1/16 to 6/30/17 - 42.67%
7/1/17 to 6/30/18 - 38.45%
7/1/18 to 6/30/19 - 36.88%

Passing the Gavel

Posted by Elizabeth Stanek on Jul 01, 2019

The first meeting in July is the traditional date of the Rotary Year when the gavel is passed from the past to the future president. On Monday Joe Tofilon introduced incoming President Elizabeth Stanek, who then presented the following thank you gifts to Joe: 1) New membership badge that reflects a term as a past president; 2) a lapel pin indicating Past President status; and a 3) Wood wall plaque and gavel indicating a thank you to Joe and listing the term of service as President.

The Club thanked Joe for his year of service to the Club.

Status of Polio Eradication

Posted by Stephen Hoesel on Jun 30, 2019

At the Clear Lake Rotary District 5970 convention recently an update on the status of Polio Eradication was given. So far this year there have been nine reported cases of new "wild polio" in the hill country of Afghanistan and Pakistan. I believe last year the total number was in the low 30s, all in Pakistan/Afghanistan/Nigeria. Further distribution of the vaccine continues, but is made difficult because of the ongoing growth of radicalism in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Rotary has assumed a back base support system with local tribal members/leaders doing the immunizations to eliminate any Western influence on the front lines. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is solidly on board with a $2 match for every Rotary raised $1 to be applied to this effort. In addition, UNICEF, UNESCO, and the World Health Organization are also on board and are devising the "End Game" strategy for containment of any random outbreaks. A key problem is that with Polio "out of mind" as an issue in much of the World the effort of childhood immunizations are not always completed due to family preference and an immunized child is subject to the disease if they visit suspect areas for up to three years after the last new case was discovered. It has been estimated that the cost of stability may be as much as that raised to date to eradicate the disease. Good Work Rotarians, and keep up the good work to rid the World of this once dreaded disease.

Invocation Leader for July 22nd is Elizabeth Stanek

Posted by Teresa Naughton on Jul 16, 2019

The following have volunteered to provide the weekly invocation as our meetings start. If you are unable to make your assigned schedule please contact a substitute that will then check-in with the President prior to the meeting.

July 22 -. Elizabeth Stanek

July 29 - John Garton

August 5 - Rhonda Fitchett

August 12 - David Beekman

August 19 - Steve Hoesel

August 26 -Teresa Naughton

Minutes and Financial Reports

Posted by Stephen Hoesel on Jun 30, 2019

Minutes and/or Financial Reports for the 2019-2020 Rotary Year have been posted to the members only section of the Website and are available for viewing by accessing the Members Only Section.

The latest addition is minutes for the June 17th Board of Directors meeting.

Club's Application for Funds for Various Projects

Posted by Stephen Hoesel on Jan 01, 2017

Rotary is a service organization comprised of community leaders of various professions dedicated to humanitarian causes locally and throughout the world. The club budgets funds annually for a variety of local causes that may be made available for requests made throughout the year for which the Board of Directors may want to support. To make application for funds please use the following application format found over two sections of this applet. When completed please scan your application narrative and send to Fort Dodge Rotary, Box 935, Fort Dodge, Iowa 50501 . The first page of the application appears below and the second is found by clicking on the "read more" applet.

please use

Welcome to Fort Dodge Noon Rotary

Service Above Self

Elizabeth Stanek, President