Continuing an effort begun by the La Crosse Tribune, our club will honor recipients from local high schools with the "Extra Effort Award". They will receive a financial award donated through the generosity of many club members. The students will be joined by administration, staff and fellow students from their schools. This is an ongoing project of our Youth Committee and the leadership of Tom Berkedal.
This Week: Jaakko, A Year In Review
The Rotary Club of La Crosse is sponsoring Inbound Youth Exchange Student Jaakko for the 2023-2024 school year!
Jaakko is a student at Central High School in the School District of La Crosse.
Jaako shared his reflections upon life in La Crosse as a Rotary International Friendship Exchange Student from Finland.
In addition to his trip to La Crosse this year, he's traveled to Mexico, Vietnam and Iceland.
Lunch this week: TWF entrée Pear and Gorgonzola Salad with dinner roll.
Coffee, ice tea, coffee, and milk available.
Guests are ALWAYS welcome! RSVP in advance to Niki Pohnl if know you are bringing guests but last minute invites are also welcome!
Rotarian Spotlight
Service Opportunities
Service Above Self....Looking for Opportunities!
Rotary Club of La Crosse partnered with Great River United Way this weekend by sending out two Rotary teams to collect food in the annual Letter Carrier Food Drive.
We also had a team out this weekend volunteering for the Great River Clean Up, cleaning up Pool 7 on the Mississippi River in Trempealeau, WI.
It is great to have these opportunities to service together.
Watch for more opportunities to collaborate with other organizations in the community!
If you have a service opportunity a group could participate in, click below to submit this form.
Did you see a "Rotarian in the News"? Were you in the news? CLICK HERE to send us that information. Pictures and/or screenshots are always welcome!
2024-2025 Duty Roster Coordinators
Richard Strauss, our upcoming Program Coordinator is looking for volunteer Duty Roster Coordinators for the upcoming Rotary year. Here is the description of responsibilities:
This commitment is for a month and includes filling all of the volunteer positions for that month. The DRC is given a link to the online sign up to follow as members choose position and to update as they, themselves, solicit for volunteers. The sign up MUST
be filled before Monday morning of each week before publication of the club newsletter. You will be notified by the Club Administrator of any cancelations.
Thank you for considering! Reach out to Richard with wish month you are available to volunteer and monitor the sign up.
STAR Meeting - Tuesday, May 21st
Our next STAR Meeting will be Tuesday, May 21st 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.
Save the date! The Avenues of Service Event will be held on Wednesday, August 21st. This is a yearly Rotary event, celebrating ALL area Rotary clubs and all the good we do in our community and world. Registration will begin soon!
The AoS Committee is now accepting nominations for the following recognitions:
Rising Star
Club Volunteer of the Year
Lifetime Achievement
Club Service
Vocational Service
International Service
Community Service
New Generations
All forms can be found on our website and needs to be submitted by June 1st.
Welcome to Week TWO of RI’s Month of Youth Activities.
It’s the middle of May and very soon children in K-12 schools will be taking time off for the long-awaited summer holiday. Some lucky ones will go on vacation with their family members and loved ones; some will end up in camps and yet others will find themselves seated behind long benches at city parks for donated lunch bags provided by charitable organizations like Rotary International.
The Minute this week, by Brad Webber, is culled from the current Rotary Magazine (May 2024) and is a testimony to how Rotary, through its Foundation, improves the
lifestyle of all people, especially the underserved in poor communities of the world. According to the report, “a community kitchen built by the Rotary Club of Nuevo Santander at a local school is ensuring hundreds of children have meals in low-income neighborhoods of Nuevo Laredo, a city on the U.S. border. “Most of the houses in this area do not have running water or electricity,” says Club President Jorge Tello.
The club launched the $150,000 project in 2018, and the kitchen at the Comedor Santa María school began operating in August 2020; meals were first served to-go due to the COVID-19 pandemic before the dining room opened in May 2021. “Operation costs for providing breakfast and lunch for 230 children every day is $9,300 a month,” Tello says. The funds are donated by businesses and individuals.
Club members supervise the operation, and Rotarians are providing solar panels to the facility.”
Comedor Santa Maria School served more than 30,000 meals in 2023.
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