Mandi Genord is from Beaver Dam, WI. In May of 2024, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Alabama, where she triple majored in dance, political science, and communication studies on the pre-law track. She aspires to become a family lawyer with a specialization in adoption. Her initiative is Connecting Lives: Adoption Resources and Advocacy, where she strives to aid all families in the adoption process. She has been a dancer for 20 years and loves to fish, travel, and eat squeaky cheese curds!
Last Week: Ed Futa, The Often Overlooked Magic of Rotary
Mr. Futa's findings and thoughts on what really drives Rotary and Rotarians to undertake life and globally impactful goals and projects.
Ed Futa is the past CEO of Rotary International and our current Rotary representative at the UN.
Mr. Fuda encourages us to ask ourselves the question, "What's your magic in Rotary?"
Lunch this week: Chicken Parmesan w roasted baby red potatoes and haricot vert
Coffee, ice tea, and water available.
Guests are ALWAYS welcome! RSVP in advance to Niki Pohnl if know you are bringing guests but last minute invites are also welcome!
Club Information
Pictures from last week's Cooking Fellowship!
STAR Meeting, September 17th at Noon
Our next STAR Meeting will be Tuesday, September 17th from 12-1pm. Location: The Parenting Place, 1500 Green Bay Street, La Crosse. Hosted by Jodi Widuch and Todd Restel.
STAR - Specialized Training for Action in Rotary....you will meet other new Rotarians from the area. We will provide programs on the Avenue of Service, The Rotary Foundation, and the Rotary Works Foundation, along with other aspects of Rotary. This is a great time to ask questions you may have about our club or Rotary in general. Hope you will be able to join us.
The following community member has been proposed to become members of our club: Gary Walth, Retired Music Director, UWL
According to club procedure, applicant names are to be published in our weekly email bulletin for two weeks. If there are no objections from the current membership, these applications will be approved. Please contact the Club Administrator if you object to these applications by Oct. 1.
As President Jolivette talked about in his Hot Takes last week, he is encouraging everyone to sign up for My Rotary account. This is a chance to dig a little deeper into Rotary, explore their learning center, track your donations, etc. Please follow these screenshot instructions to set up an account: MY.ROTARY INSTRUCTIONS. I am happy to help if you have any issues or questions. To register, go to my.rotary.org
Youth Exchange Information
Rotary is accepting applications for outbound Rotary Youth Exchange students for the 2025-26 school year. Students who are interested in being outbound exchange students should complete the Outbound Preliminary Applicationright away.
Please share the attached brochure and note that the Coulee Region rotary clubs will hold an informational meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 17th at 6 pm at the Children’s Museum in La Crosse. Questions may be directed to Julia Behrenbeck, Youth Exchange Officer, jbehrenbeck@gmail.com.
Climate Change Committee
Almost all of us are aware of the threat posed by climate change. Rotary International and its Environmental and Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG)recommends that clubs become active in the fight against climate change. Given this, the Downtown Rotary Club and its Environmental Committee are exploring the creation of a Climate subcommittee.
Prior to forming such a committee, we want to pull together a short-term planning group to decide what would be the work of such a climate subcommittee-what would be it's goals. At this point, we are looking for 4-5 volunteers who would be interested in joining such a group (probably 3-4 meetings). If interested, please email Tom Schlesinger
Meeting Tech Team
Would you be interested in helping to set up technology for our weekly meetings and making any last minute changes if needed to the power point? Team is on a rotating basis and ends up to be approximately once a month. If interested, contact Niki Pohnl.
SAVE THE DATE - TriCon
TriCon is set for April 25-27, 2025. Registration opens in early December. Watch for more details coming soon.
Al's Musky Challenge In Full Swing
Al’s Musky Challenge is a Rotary Beneficiaries Club of La Crosse Project that provides opportunity and support
to youth throughout the Coulee Region!
From July 25 through September 30, Rotarian Al Louis will be fishing Lake Vermilion in Northern Minnesota. This Summer, Al will fish with his fishing partners, both named A.J., as well as multiple sponsor guests and fellow Rotarians.
2024 recipients are the Boys and Girls Club of Greater La Crosse and the Family and Children's Center.
Al’s Musky Challenge continues to be dedicated in memory of founding member David Amborn.
Please consider pledging and paying later or donating now.
Help us CELEBRATE WORLD POLIO DAY! Pickleball for Polio takes place at the Blue Zone Pickleball, 2500 Rose Street, La Crosse on Thursday, October 24th, which is World Polio Day.
There are four ways to participate in this fundraiser, all of which include a donation to Polio Plus:
Attend the event - $15 (includes one drink ticket)
Open Pickleball Player - $20
Join in the Pickleball Tournament - $25
Donate!
Items available for purchase at the event: Beverages from Blue Zone. food from Food Truck in the parking lot, bucket raffle tickets, other raffle drawings.
Hosted by: Holmen Area Rotary (Kelly Dunn), La Crosse After Hours Rotary (Marissa Dickinson), Rotary Club of La Crosse (Eva Marie Restel), Onalaska Hilltoppers Rotary (Ramona Lisowski)
Welcome to Week TWO of RI’s Month of Basic Education and Literacy.
Countless schools in many parts of the developing world register a very high percentage of absenteeism among their female students. The reason…? They are menstruating, have no menstrual pads and must stay at home until the period is over. In an online report published in The Park Record of Park City, Utah, Brandi Christoffersen explains how in Rwanda, “when a girl reaches puberty, she often finds it impossible to afford disposable pads or tampons, due to their high cost --- around 90 cents a pad. And many schools and public areas only offer communal latrines, which can make the entire menstrual process awkward and embarrassing. Because of this absenteeism among Rwanda teenage girls is at a precarious level, which leads to a high percentage of school dropouts, which then results in lower-paying jobs, limited opportunities and ultimately affects the entire community.”
Since the object of Rotary includes advancing world understanding through the improvement of health and provision of better education, the Park City Rotary Club (Utah) spearheaded the formation of BWIZA. A Kinyarwanda word for “Beautiful” the BWIZA Initiative is a $58,000 collaboration of TRF, RID 9150 (Rwanda), RID 5420 (Utah), The Rotary Club of Kigali, The Rotary Club of Salt Lake City, and the University of Global Health Equity. The president of Park City Rotary Club, Timothy Higdon, explained the benefits of the project. “We are providing sewing machines and fabrics to the schools, along with an education program that will train high school girls and cooperative groups can make the pads, sell them for a low cost,
and use the profits to replenish supplies. We are also making sure we have maintenance contracts on the sewing machines, so they can be repaired as needed.”
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