Happy Tuesday, Rotarians.

Need to Know:

1. It’s pecan time again. Part of the shipment has arrived so there are bags of both halves and pieces available at MFA.  Pecans will be $10.00 per bag of either halves or pieces.   Amy Wilkerson has fliers and display boxes for anyone who needs them.

2. Thanks to Amy Wilkerson and Michelle Cologna for presenting the Don’t Meth With Us program at Logan-Rogersville this morning. There are opportunities to expand the reach of the program but more help is needed.  If you would like to assist the Don’t Meth With Us committee, please contact Amy Wilkerson.

3. Our next board meeting will be Monday, November 23^rd at noon. It will be held at Southern Missouri Bank.  All members are welcome.

4. If you are behind on dues or are not sure if you are current, please get with our treasurer, Jason McKnight.

5. Speaking of dues, there have been a couple of members who wish to remain nameless who are under some financial constraints. The board is exploring the creation of a scholarship program to help with dues for active members who are having financial difficulty.  We want to keep active participating members in the club but understand that club dues might be the first to go when tightening the financial belt.  The scholarship would run for a limited time (possibly 6 months) and any recipient would have to meet attendance and service requirements still to be determined.  If you are interested in helping fund the scholarship, please talk to Scott Jones or Jason McKnight.

6. Upcoming presentations: On the 17^h, Stella Harrison will be talking about Legal Shield.  On the 24^th, Rotary District 6080 Polio Committee chairperson, Dr. Ted Groshong, will be speaking to us about Rotary’s polio eradication efforts.  On December 1^st, our club will have its annual meeting to elect officers for the next Rotary year.   Additional speakers are needed for December.

7. Go ahead and put this on your calendar now: our 3^rd Annual Romance Raffle will be held on Saturday, February 13, 2016.

8. 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.

Meeting Recap

We serenaded Karen Stevens for her birthday this month.

Our speaker today was Courtney Furgerson with the American Cancer Society.   American Cancer Society funds cancer research and provides support to cancer patients and their friends and families in numerous ways.  American Cancer Society provides a patient kit to help the patient know what questions to ask their doctors, helps obtain rides and lodging for patients without means to get to treatment centers, provides a hotline to ask questions, etc.  Part of funding for these projects comes from the Relay for Life.  The tentative date for Marshfield Relay for Life is June 11, 2016.   The planning committee is working on having the event moved to the Square but that is still to be determined.   In addition to the walk and luminaries, the committee plans on having vendor booths, a kid’s zone, live music and a car show.  Volunteers and sponsors are needed.  Any amount of volunteer work would be appreciated.  If you can help with your time, talent or dollars, please contact Courtney at Courtney.furgerson@cancer.org or call 417-447-1476.

You can also personally fight cancer by reducing your chance of getting it.  Eating right, exercising, getting regular health screenings and refraining from tobacco use will all help reduce your chances of getting cancer.  If you or someone you know uses tobacco, November 19^th is the Great American Smoke Out – an initiative to help people quit smoking and tobacco use.

Final Thoughts

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Tomorrow, November 11^th, is Veteran’s Day.  Many of our members will have the day off from work.  I hope that we will all take a moment tomorrow to reflect on the sacrifices made by our veterans, as well as the veterans of our allies.  Veteran’s Day was originally “Armistice Day” to commemorate the World War I armistice between the Allies and Germany declared on “the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month” of 1918.  Armistice Day became a legal holiday in the USA in 1938.  The name was changed to Veteran’s Day in 1954 to honor the veterans of all wars.  For more info on the history of Veteran’s Day, check out: http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/history-of-veterans-day.

During WWI, Lt. Col. John McCrae of the Canadian Expeditionary Force wrote one of the most famous poems ever about war.  He was a surgeon and he allegedly wrote his poem in an ambulance on May 3, 1915, after the funeral of a close friend who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. The poppies referred to in the poem covered the battlefields and burial sites in that area during WWI.  Poppies are used a symbol of WWI and Veteran’s/Armistice/Remembrance Day, particularly in Canada and Great Britain.  Lt. Col. McCrae died of pneumonia on January 28, 1918, and is buried in France.

“In Flanders Fields”
In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Lt. Col. John McCrae, MD, Canadian Expeditionary Force (1872-1918)

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

Yours in Rotary Service,
Kristin Grace Krebs