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La Crosse Area German Relations Association (LAGRA) and a presentation from Inga Rottmann
We will be hearing from our exchange student, Inga, and also The La Crosse Area German Relations Association, Inc. (LAGRA)!
LAGRA's mission is to foster a productive international relationship with our Partner City, Friedberg, Germany, to increase awareness of our area’s German heritage, and to promote the study of German culture and language in area schools. Their vision is to be recognized as a leading organization honoring La Crosse’s German heritage, and facilitating the many relations between the Greater La Crosse Area and Germany.
Some of their activities include:
Welcoming &/or hosting Germans from Friedberg, our Sister City in Bavaria
Assisting with setting up tours for visiting Germans
Adult delegations to Friedberg
German Heritage Day activities for students at the Northside Oktoberfest grounds
Lincoln Middle School’s annual Oktoberfest dinner & entertainment
3rd graders at Northwoods Elementary International School have a partner class in Friedberg
Fundraising & supporting both Central’s and Logan’s high school German exchanges
Helping in the German Garden at Riverside Park
Providing La Crosse area products for the annual Christmas Market in Friedberg
We need your help this year. The way the calendar falls in 2019, we only have 33 nights of operation compared to 39 last year. That means we have 6 fewer nights to collect food and cash to help the less fortunate. We ask for your consideration to help sponsor Rotary Lights 2019. Rotary Lights is a non-profit 501(c) 3 corporation. All gifts are deductible to the full extent of the law. Link to 2019 Sponsorship! (may state 2018 but we are using same sponsorships for 2019). Here is the list of sponsored nights as of September 16th.
Other opportunities to support Rotary Lights: is to have a food driveat your place of business. If your business wants to sponsor a night for our 25th anniversary or sponsor a food drive, contact Pat Stephens for more information. AND Advertise in the 2019 Rotary Lights Booklet. The full-color book will feature a history of the project, maps, schedules, photos and much more! 30,000+ will be printed and will be personally handed out to each vehicle and to groups of walkers that enter the park and can be viewed on the Rotary Lights web site. AD FORM LINK
With your help, Rotary Lights 2019 will again light up Riverside Park!
iFeed is aiming to be the largest food drive in the history of La Crosse. Held on November 2nd, 2019 from 8:00 am - Noon at Logan High School, it is organized by the local area high school Rotary Interact Clubs.
The iFeed day consists of two parts: Part 1) Teams will pack over 100,000 highly nutritious, vitamin-fortified soy-rice meals that will be shipped to Nicaragua to be feed malnourished children in schools and churches. Part 2) Food items collected from the hundreds of food drives held from September-November at many local businesses, churches, schools, etc will be brought to Logan High School where we’ll sort, count and then give to the La Crosse Hunger Task Force for distribution to all local food pantries. Items will also be flown to Puerto Rico to help Hurricane victims. Cash and food donations will be collected the day of the event! iFeed Web Site
The Humanitarian committee is coordinating our 3rd annual Warm Feet, Warm Hearts campaign, now through November 14th. The purpose of the campaign is to provide comfort to those who need help this winter, by collecting warm clothing and other items which will be donated to Catholic Charities for distribution to those in need in our community. LIST OF SUGGETED ITEMS LINK
Last year area Rotary clubs collected over 848 items and $235 in cash & checks for Catholic Charities. This year, we'll again be collecting:
large sweatshirts, especially hoodies
tube socks
men’s white t-shirts
flannel shirts (especially large sizes such as 4X)
hats, especially those with earflaps
long underwear
sweatpants
coffee
laundry soap
hand warmers
new or gently used winter boots
new men’s and women’s underwear
Donations can be brought to our Rotary meetings between now and Nov 14th. Cash and check donations are also welcome; checks can be made payable to Catholic Charities.
The La Crosse Warming Center, run by Catholic Charities, provided services to 301 unduplicated guests amounting in 6,414 individual stays last year. This required over 6,700 volunteer hours by 291 volunteers just from our area! Each guest receives a hot meal, shower, a place to sleep, an opportunity to wash their clothes, and help accessing local resources. They are open from November 1st through April 30th.
Questions? Contact Sarah Arendt-Beyer at 608-406-7492 or email sarendt@digisage.com.
The Coulee Region's Youth Exchange Cultural Celebration will be Thursday, November 7, 2019 at 5:30pm at the La Crosse Club, 200 Harborview Plaza. This is a fundraiser event for our Rotary Youth Exchange students to help cover their cost of the East or West Coast trip at the end of their exchange. Your ticket price will include...hors d'oeuvres, dishes to sample from the students home country and you will here from each of the Rotary Exchange Students and get to know them better. There will also be a cash bar and a 50/50 raffle. Flyer Link with more information. We are also looking for sponsors ....see letter LINK for more information.
Razia's Bus Committee Meeting- Thursday, October 24th at 1:00: This is an ad hoc committee that will pursue the purchase of a bus to provide transportation for girls attending the Zabuli Education Center in Afghanistan. If you would like to be on the committee or learn more, please attend. Jodi Widuch and Bill Hoel will be co-chairing this committee. Razia's Hope Foundation Web Site.
Last week Rotarian Paul Mueller gave his classification talk. Members always enjoy hearing about their fellow Rotarians. Paul joined our club on December 13, 2018.
Dr. Mueller serves as a Regional Vice President for Mayo Clinic Health System, overseeing the 10 locations headquartered from La Crosse, Wisconsin. He has been a consultant in general internal medicine for Mayo Clinic since 1998 and has chaired that department since 2009. He is also a professor of medicine and biomedical ethics for the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. His appointment in La Crosse was effective October 1, 2018.
Classification Talk: Some have described the classification talk as a talking business card. But it is so much more than that! You can share vital and interesting information about your family, your interest and your business. The talk is not meant to embarrass you, but to let us get to know you as you want us to. You are not expected to present yourself as a professional speaker. Most of us are not. Contact Sarah Arendt-Beyer Program Chair for the year if you would like to give your classification talk.
Start time will be 8:00 am with a short orientation and safety run through. Lunch will be at 11:30 am and then the end time is 3:30 pm.
All volunteers should dress appropriately for the weather and wear closed toed shoes on the construction site. They won't have individual plastic bottles available, but they do have jugs of water ready. So everyone will want to bring a water bottle for the day. At the moment they’re not quite sure what we'll be working on yet, however we’ll find out the week before and let everyone know.
Please contact Dean if you have children, grandchildren, friends, etc. that would be willing to entertain us on Thursday, December 19th. They would need to be there between 12 and 1 that day. Contact Dean for more information.
FRUIT BASKET FUNDRAISER....Our Fruit Basket Fundraiser is to generate financial resources for our club activities and service projects. The fundraiser also provides an opportunity for all club members to participate in an annual activity through the assembly, distribution, purchase and sale of fruit baskets during the holiday season. This year our Fruit Basket assembly and delivery will be Saturday, December 14th and Monday, December 16th. Save those dates! Order forms and flyers will be available this week. Deadline to order is December 2nd.
You have two options:
Rotarians will need to purchase or sell 5 fruit baskets @ $23 per basket = $115 OR you can make a donation of $100 to the Rotary Club of La Crosse. It will NOT be a tax deduction because we are NOT a 501 (3) c. It will be your donation to our annual major fundraiser.
We want you to start thinking of how you can promote our fundraiser.....Does your business give employee gifts? Rotary Fruit Baskets are your answer! Each wicker basket contains 8 apples, 4 oranges, 4 pears and a bag of peanuts.
We have special rates for large orders: 200+ ($18), 100-199 ($19), 49-99 ($20), 1-48 ($23).
Help make a lasting contribution to the La Crosse area by volunteering to ring bells and raise funds for the Salvation Army. Greet holiday shoppers and help spread Christmas cheer while accepting donations in the Famous Red Kettle.The money raised stays in our community, supporting the Salvation Army Food Pantry, Meal Program, Emergency Shelter, Families in Need, Sending Kids to Camp, and so much more.
Our club will be ringing bells on Saturday, November 23rd. We will have sign-up at our upcoming meetings.
Happy Birthday Dean Dickinson - Oct 20 Mike Nickel - Oct 23
Happy Wedding Anniversary Matt (Mindy) Durtsche - Oct 21 Ben (Laurie) Lachecki - Oct 21 Mike(Cindy) Seichter - Oct 21 Steve (Sude) Tanke - Oct 23 Peter (Amy) Grabow - Oct 25 Jim (Lisa) Salmo - Oct 25
Rotary Anniversary Judy Kirkpatrick - Oct 21- 26 years Tom Thompson - Oct 21 - 20 years Don Zimmerman - Oct 22 - 32 years
PINTS FOR POLIO - Thursday, October 24th (WORLD POLIO DAY) - Pearl Street Brewery from 4:00 to 7:00 pm...Audio Jack will be performing. T-shirts available for purchase. Every pint sold $1.00 will be donated to Polio Plus. More details coming!
Save the date for our District 6250 Conference - ROTARYFEST - June 19-21, 2020.
BATTLE OF THE BEARDS - Holmen Area Rotary Club - La Crosse area Rotary challenge; Send your best NO-Shave November candidate to compete....LINK to more information.
Please note: Raffle, Fines, Birthday, Anniversaries and Scooters are all donations that will go to the club If you are making a donation and would like it to go to the Rotary Works Foundation or Rotary International Foundation, we ask that you write a check to the Foundation of your choice.
Oct 17th: Raffle: $39; Scrip $540; Fines $148; Scooters $6
ROTARY ATTENDANCE Oct 3rd - 54% Oct 10th - 54% Oct 17th - 59%
Rotary Attendance policy is to attend or makeup at least 50% of the club meetings They can be done by: • Attending regular club meetings • Making up meetings at other Rotary Clubs ( which includes E-Clubs) • Engaging in club projects/events/fellowship/board meetings. Make ups can be made up anytime during the year.
Josh Trust - Resignation John Morissey - Resignation Lewis Kuhlman- Resignation
Brian Serle - New Member
Honorary Members
22
Associate Membershipis a program to recruit younger members, millennials, to membership. Associate Membership is available to anyone who is proposed for membership who is 35 years of age or less. Associate membership will end when that member reaches the age of 38. They would pay for dues and $100 for meals per quarter no matter how many meetings they attend that quarter.
Corporate Membership is a program to allow multiple employees of a business Rotary participation under one primary membership. Each corporate membership is limited to a three-year term. After the three-year corporate membership term, the individuals are required to become individual members. View Corporate Membership Policy.
Family Membershipis a program to allow a second individual Rotary participation under one primary membership. View Family Membership Policy.
Honorary Membership is offered to members who have distinguished themselves by meritorious service in the furtherance of Rotary ideals.Unlike other membership categories that can be requested by the member, Honorary Membership is bestowed upon a member by election from the Board of Directors. View Honorary Membership Policy.
Excused Membership is offered to members if the aggregate of the member’s years of age and years of membership in one or more clubs is 85 years or more, the member has been a member of one or more clubs for at least 20 years, and the member has notified the club's secretary in writing of the member’s desire to be excused from attendance and the board has approved. Excused Members will pay the quarterly dues and only for meals when they attend a meeting.
Membership Proposals....we will no longer ask for three references when you propose a new member. This was a criteria that our club had set not RI. This will help us process new members into our club more efficiently. You can access the membership proposal form online, under the Club Information site page.
Benefits of sponsoring an ad on the Rotary Club of La Crosse web site: Enhance your business' public relations and image. Advertise an upcoming event. Opportunity to sponsor and support the Rotary Club of La Crosse and your community. Sharing with fellow Rotarians in our club and other local clubs who would like to know what you do.
Why advertise on the Rotary Club of La Crosse web site?The majority of visitors to our website are members and friends of our club. This makes our site's web sponsorship an ideal opportunity for small and large businesses to promote their products, services or an upcoming event in our community. Moreover 100% of the advertising revenue goes back to our club; this in turn supports the local community.
Cost is $20 per month up to $120 per year . . . . click here for form and more information. We will include your logo/link on our web site, send one email blast to all Rotarians and include an initial mention in our newsletter and on our Facebook page.
Click on the logos under Web Site Sponsors...located on right side of our home page and in each newsletter.
If you would like to volunteer for Rotarians in the News, be a greeter, a hospitality greeter, raffle ticket seller, scrip seller or announce guests, you can email the Monthly Duty Roster Coordinator that are listed above....just click on their name. If you would like to give your classification talk please contact Program Committee Chair Sarah Arendt-Beyer.