Happy Tuesday, Rotarians.

Need to Know:

1. Our club-visioning event was held last night. It was amazing. We had a great turnout and many ideas were shared. We had a good time, too. We will be sharing the results at a “club assembly” during our regular club meeting on September 1^st. During that meeting we will discuss the visioning project ideas and how we can put those ideas into action. We want everybody on board this train, so please try to make it to this meeting. Thank you to everyone who participated last night: Scott Jones, Stan Whitehurst, Adam Blanch, Brian Drane, Leslie Thomas, Don Stockton, Barbara Carroll, Danny O’Neal, Janet Silvus, Kristin Krebs, Amy Wilkerson, and Chan Crooker.
2. Our next board meeting will be at noon on Wednesday, August 19th at DD Hamilton.
3. We have an impressive lineup of guest speakers for the next month: On August 11^th, our speaker will be Ellen Rohr from Bare Bones Biz; on the 18^th, Springfield Rotarian William Cologna will talk about the Rotary International Conference; on the 25^th, new Marshfield Schools Assistant Superintendent David Steward will be speaking. Our club assembly will be on September 1^st. Our speaker on September 8^th will be Steve Dulle, our Rotary District Governor.
4. Go ahead and put this on your calendar now: our 3^rd Annual Romance Raffle will be held on Saturday, February 13, 2016.

Meeting Recap

Jim Mayes brought his grandson, Nathaniel, to our meeting today. Nathaniel has been volunteering at the Webster County Food Pantry this summer.

We “sang” to two of our August birthdays: Don Stockton and Jason McKnight.

Happy Rotary anniversary this month to Brian Drane (member for 4 years) and Bill Schroeder (member for 47 years!!!!).

Our speaker today was Jerry Nehl from the Webster County Food Pantry. Our very own Neva Schroeder founded the Pantry in 1988. The Pantry serves more than 200 families each month in Webster County. Volunteers do all the work; the Pantry has no paid staff. Because they partner with at least 15 local churches and organizations, they have a tremendous base of volunteers. Part of the success of the Pantry stems from the fact that it is one of the only pantries in Southwest Missouri that is open on Saturdays. Being open on Saturdays provides more opportunities for volunteers and means that the Pantry is better able to serve the working poor. The Pantry is able to work with local retailers to put leftover food destined for the dumpster into the hands of hungry people. Every week, the Pantry picks up unsold food from KFC and Panera Bread stores, as well as food from the garden at the federal prison in Fordland. The Pantry has a deal with Gibson’s so that if someone wants to donate a cow or a hog, the Pantry will pay the processing fee. The Pantry also has a clothing thrift store. The Webster County Food Pantry is open on the first and third Saturdays of each month from 9 AM – 2:00 PM and on the Fridays that follow the first and third Saturdays from 9 AM – Noon.

Final Thoughts

“Without food, man can live at most but a few weeks; without it, all other components of social justice are meaningless.”

Norman Borlaug (1914-2009)

https://youtu.be/OuB4Jfw5n_8

Yours in Rotary Service,
Kristin Grace Krebs