Happy Tuesday, Rotarians.

Need to Know:

1. We will be doing Marshfield’s first “Color Run” as a joint project with Marshfield Schools on May 21, 2016. Please encourage people to sign up to participate in the Color Run through a link through the club website. All paid entrants to the event will receive a t-shirt and goodie bag. Volunteers are needed for the event. Volunteers should arrive at 7:30 AM at the school track for work assignments. Contact Adam Blanch with any questions about the event.
2. Upcoming speakers include: on May 24^th there will be a presentation by the Marshfield Community Foundation. May 31^st is a fifth Tuesday, so there will be no meeting on that date. Speakers are needed for the month of June.
3. Speaking of our 5^th Tuesday: We are having a 5^th Tuesday social event at Rotary Park on Tuesday, May 31^st at 6:00 PM. Everyone is welcome to bring family/guests. Brian Drane would like input on whether to grill hot dogs or have a catered meal. Contact Brian with any feedback. For anyone who can come early, Don Stockton needs help installing a few protective boxes around new trees at the park. If you can help, please meet at the Park at 5:00 PM on that date.
4. Our next board meeting will be at noon on Thursday, June 16th at Southern Missouri Bank.
5. Scott Jones is still looking for photos of the Romance Raffle and Easter Egg Hunt. If you have any, please contact Scott.
6. If anyone would like to contribute to our membership scholarship fund (which helps pay dues of members who are temporarily experiencing financial struggles), please contact Scott, Amy Wilkerson or Jason McKnight.
7. If anyone would like to help organize the Installation Banquet next month, please contact Scott.

Meeting Recap

Danny O’Neal brought two of his grandsons to today’s meeting: Zackary and Aiden Mitchell.

The club “sang” Happy Birthday to Scott Jones and me (Kristin Krebs). You guys sounded amazing.

Happy Rotary anniversary to Janie Sartin (14 years), Scott Jones (5 years) and Amy Wilkerson (4 years).

Adam Blanch announced that he intends to start fining folks for cell phones that ring during meetings, and that members are encouraged to share good news with “happy dollars”. It is still TBD whether the extra fine money will go to foundation, polio plus or a particular club project.

Our speaker today was Michael Dove. Mr. Dove is the music teacher at Marshfield for grades 4-6. He has been at Marshfield for four years. He would like to start a new guitar curriculum for his sixth graders next term. Sixth grade is the most difficult grade to engage in music class because of the transitional nature of the grade. Most kids feel that they have grown out of playing the recorder, and some boys experience voice changes and feel self-conscious about singing. Other schools have had great success with sixth graders by introducing a guitar curriculum. Mr. Dove would like to purchase 15 student guitars with hard cases. This would be one ¾ size guitar per two students in each class. It has been shown that kids learn better in pairs/groups so each pair of students would take turns playing and assisting at a guitar. Each guitar should have a life span of 10 years. The total cost of funding 15 student guitars, 15 hard cases, replacement strings, and 1 full size teacher guitar with case is $2,293.77, or $143.36 per guitar. There are no funds available in the music budget for this project, so Mr. Dove is seeking sponsors to help purchase the guitars. Labels on the new guitars will acknowledge guitar sponsors. Any amount of contribution to this project is appreciated. Per Mr. Dove, studies have been done both at the state and national level that show that schools with the greatest support for the arts also have the highest testing scores in math, science and reading.

Our board met after the meeting and agreed to sponsor five guitars. Funds will be paid from some of our Romance Raffle proceeds. If you or your business would also like to assist in sponsoring a guitar, I have attached a sponsorship form. Or you can contact Michael Dove at 417-827-9162.

Final Thoughts

“The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake.”

Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), A Man Without a Country (2005)

https://youtu.be/nr7v5lLQhHQ

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

Yours in Rotary Service,

Kristin Grace Krebs