Happy Tuesday, Rotarians.

First newsletter of 2016! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.

Need to Know:

1. Last Tuesday night was our social event at Andy B’s. We had a terrific turnout and everyone seemed to have a great time. I know I did, although I am a terrible, terrible bowler. Thank you to Brian Drane for organizing the fantastic event.
2. Activity for our Romance Raffle is ramping up. Our 3^rd Annual Romance Raffle will be held on Friday, February 12, 2016. ****Tickets are now available!!!!**** They are $140.00 per couple again this year. Checks should be made out to “Romance Raffle”

****Start soliciting sponsors now! The donation receipt is attached. ***If the donated item is a gift certificate/card, please turn it in with the form. We need items for the live and silent auctions or cash donations to pay event expenses.

3. We need to know how many pecans have been sold so please turn in money or unsold pecans to Marlena at MFA.
4. Upcoming speakers: on January 12^th, Mayor Robert Williams will be here to discuss economic development; on January 19^th, Rayanna Anderson with MSU’s Small Business & Technology Development Department will be with us; on January 26^th, Connie Stockton will be talking about the City’s Tree Committee. There are lots of great speakers on the calendar, so invite a guest!
5. Our next board meeting will be Wednesday, January 13th at noon. It will be held at Southern Missouri Bank. All members are welcome.
6. Webster County Friends of the Library will be hosting a trivia night at the United Methodist Church on January 23, 2016 at 6:15 PM. The cost is $50.00 per table.
7. 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

Mary Bransfield from Central Bank has submitted an application for membership. The two-week comment period has now begun. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Scott Jones.

Sad news: Because of a family issue, Stella Harrison will be moving back to California and has resigned her club membership. We enjoyed having you in the club, Stella. Good luck.

Our guests today: Our Assistant Governor Rowland Geddie and Amy Wilkerson’s son Cameron.

Celebrating Rotary anniversaries this month: Chan Crooker (member 2 years), Dale Keenan (8 years), Lyndall Fraker (19 years) and Danny O’Neal (20 years).

Leslie Thomas let us all know Girl Scout cookies go on sale on Friday. They will be $5.00 per box this year.

Our speaker this week was Leslie Farmer, Executive Director of Harmony House. Harmony House is the domestic violence shelter for the Springfield area. About 68% percent of those helped by the shelter come from Springfield, the rest from surrounding communities. Harmony House opened in 1976 and was the first DV shelter in Missouri. It currently has 110 shelter beds for temporary shelter, and also supplies meals, clothing, hygiene items, case management, life skills classes, childcare and transportation for DV survivors. The shelter has purchased America’s Best Hotel at 65/Battlefield for a new shelter to open next fall. The new facility will help but will unfortunately still not meet the enormous need in this community. Last year, Harmony House had to turn away over 2000 women and children because of lack of beds. Springfield has the highest per-capita rate of DV cases in Missouri. Domestic violence is not an anger management issue, but one of power and control. The abuser wants power over the victim and abuse can manifest itself not just physically or sexually, but in other ways like isolation, intimidation, threats, manipulation of children, control of finances, etc. Places like Harmony House are important because without a safe place and assistance, many DV survivors will stay with their abusers, become homeless or enter into another abusive relationship. For more info on Harmony House, check out www.myharmonyhouse.org.

Final Thoughts

“Be at War with your Vices, at Peace with your Neighbours, and let every New-Year find you a better Man.”

Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1755

https://youtu.be/S6yVW3vn7yI

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

Yours in Rotary Service,

Kristin Grace Krebs