Happy Wednesday, Rotarians.

Need to Know:

1. Thank you to Brian Drane for organizing a fun 5^th Tuesday event at Rotary Park last week. And congrats, too! Brian and his wife found out that they are expecting a girl.
2. Upcoming speakers include: On June 14^th, our own Janet Silvus will be speaking to us about 911; we are looking for a speaker for June 21^st. On June 28^th, Scott Jones has requested that all club committee chairs prepare a 5-minute presentation about their respective committees.
3. Our next board meeting will be at noon on Thursday, June 16th at Southern Missouri Bank.
4. Scott Jones sent out an email recently about new “Membership Agreements”. If you did not receive Scott’s email, or have questions or concerns, please contact Scott. Otherwise, please return the agreement as soon as possible.
5. Don Stockton and Sara Herren stepped up and volunteered to plan the Installation Banquet next month. It will be a fish fry in Rotary Park on June 28^th. Sarah’s husband Champ will be manning the fryer. More details will follow.
6. Reunion Fest will be held on July 2^nd.

Meeting Recap

Barbara Carroll’s guest this week was Joanne Moore.

Happy Rotary Anniversary to: Doug Andrews (3 years); Teresa Housholder (7 years); Jason McKnight (3 years); and Janet Silvus (3 years).

Our speaker yesterday was Chuck Replogle, current president of the Marshfield Area Community Foundation. Chuck gave a presentation on the Grow Grant, a $300,000 economic development grant, to be paid over three years, which has been awarded to the City of Marshfield by the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. Only three communities (Marshfield, Salem and Sarcoxie) in the area were chosen to receive such a grant out of many applicants. The grant provides $300,000.00 in services from Jump Start, Inc. a nationally recognized economic development-consulting firm. Jump Start representatives have begun data collecting through compilation of statistical data and surveys. By fall an economic development plan should be created, which Jump Start will aid Marshfield in implementing over the next 2 ½ years. The plan will start with promoting entrepreneurship and expansion of existing businesses. Once the business environment of Marshfield has improved, and then Marshfield has a better chance of attracting new businesses to Marshfield. Jump Start has described this process to Chuck as “making Marshfield’s grass greener” so as to make businesses want to come here. This may mean making improvements to infrastructure, improving worker training, etc. Businesses are not going to come here if there is not a sufficient labor force to meet their needs or if there are access issues, etc. This project is an exciting opportunity for Marshfield and will be greatly aided by community support. The community can participate now by filing out a survey, which can be found on MACF’s Facebook page.

Final Thoughts

“Without continual growth and progress such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.”

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

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

Yours in Rotary Service,

Kristin Grace Krebs