Happy Tuesday, Rotarians.

Need to Know:

1. We are in the home stretch in preparations for our Romance Raffle. Our 3^rd Annual Romance Raffle will be held on Friday, February 12, 2016. ****Tickets are still available – contact Don Stockton if you need any!!!!**** They are $140.00 per couple again this year. Checks should be made out to “Romance Raffle”. Please turn your ticket money or unsold tickets immediately if you have not already done so. We need all unsold tickets back before Friday. Also, if you sold a ticket to someone who will not be attending the event, we need the perforated portion of the ticket stub (with the name/address filled in) so the ticket will be included in the drawing.

****Thank you to all who solicited sponsors for our event! If you have not turned in sponsorship information to me yet, please contact me by noon tomorrow. I am happy to pick up items from you if needed. If the donated item is a gift certificate/card/tickets, please turn it in with the sponsorship form by tomorrow at noon (Wed. Feb 10^th). Larger items should be brought to the event site at Holy Trinity Catholic Church on Friday the 12^th between noon and 3:00 PM. If you cannot bring items on Friday afternoon, please contact me before Friday to make other arrangements. Please, please do not wait until the night of the event to bring auction items or I will scowl at you. I need all sponsorship information by noon on Wednesday, February 10^th.

We need volunteers to set-up (beginning at noon on Friday), to work the event on Friday evening, and to clean up on Saturday morning. Please sign up on the club website: http://www.marshfieldrotary.com/

2. Upcoming speakers: On February 16^th, a representative from RYLA will be discussing the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy. We need speakers for the rest of February and March. Contact Scott Jones if you can line up a speaker.
3. Our next board meeting will be Wednesday, February 10th at noon. It will be held at Southern Missouri Bank. All members are welcome.
4. We will be having two new fundraisers this Spring/Summer and we are looking for people to help organize them. We will be doing Marshfield’s first “Color Run” as a joint project with Marshfield Schools. It is tentatively scheduled for May 21, 2016. Adam Blanch is heading up this fundraiser committee. We will also be doing an ATV raffle this summer. Debbie Wiese is heading this fundraiser committee. Naturally we will all need to get involved later in selling tickets, working events, etc; but Adam and Debbie need help in planning these projects, so please contact them to get involved.
5. Go ahead and put this on your calendar now: the Marshfield Easter Egg Hunt will be held on Saturday, March 12, 2016, with a rain date of March 19^th.
6. Niangua Interact Club will be sponsoring an Easter Egg Hunt for Niangua kids on Friday, March 18^th at 1:00 PM at Niangua Schools. It would be nice to see several Rotarians there to support our Interactors.

Meeting Recap

As you should all know from a previous email, one of our club’s charter members, Dr. Bob Bareis, passed away this week. Friends and family gathered this morning to celebrate his life at a funeral service. Dr. Bob was a huge supporter of Rotary and its mission to end polio. Memorials can be made in his honor to Rotary’s Polio Plus program. Don Stockton challenged all members to make some sort of donation this Rotary year to the Polio Plus program as a tribute to Dr. Bob.

We had terrific attendance by membership today, and we had several guests: Bill and Neva Schroeder brought their son, Wayne Schroeder. Bolivar Rotarian Kelly Coffey visited the club today. Mike Frazier with Webco Custom Industries and Marshfield Assistant Superintendent David Stewart were also guests today.

Our speaker today was Marshfield Superintendent Alan Thomas. Mr. Thomas is a proud native of Marshfield. Having a strong school is an essential part of having a strong community here in Marshfield. There are approximately 3,000 students in the school district, plus approximately 350 full-time and 50 part-time staff. Marshfield School District has tried to not only prepare students for college but also provide opportunities for vocational training, with its welding and culinary arts programs. There are improvements needed to the schools, especially for building maintenance. This April there will be a ballot issue for a 50-cent operating levy increase for the school district. Marshfield’s current levy is in the bottom 18% of the state. With the increase, Marshfield would still be in the bottom half of the state. If it passes, the increased revenue would be used for the following: 1) roofing; 2) paving and other driveway/traffic issues; 3) technology upgrades; and 4) staffing/salaries.

Final Thoughts

“If there were no schools to take children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers.”

Edgar W. Howe (1853-1937)

https://youtu.be/dkHqPFbxmOU

Marshfield Rotary Club: Raising the bar through leadership, giving and education.

Yours in Rotary Service,

Kristin Grace Krebs