NOTES FROM THE
CLUB PRESIDENT
March 2010
We are especially honored to have General Duncan
and Mrs. Linda McNabb with us as our guests for the first meeting of
this month.
It is reassuring to know individuals of
such high caliber who not only talk the talk but who genuinely walk the
walk when it comes to not only getting the mission accomplished but also
taking time to take care of those who also serve our great nation and
their families.
Don’t forget our Ping Pong Tournament next weekend
on the 6th of March.
Again, we need your full support for this
event to be a success.
Please consider bringing out your entire
family to have some fun.
Again, I’d like to thank Lex White, Steve
Gregov, Steve Hellin, Matt Smallhear, and Whitney Wisnasky-Bettorf for
their hard work in organizing this event.
This will be the first year we will recognize
students graduating from each of the schools in O’Fallon and
Shiloh at our Students of Achievement Dinner on the 6th
of April.
Jennifer Filyaw
who serves as Superintendent
of Shiloh District 85
is heading up
our efforts for this recognition dinner (which is also a fundraiser for
Fontebella House) along with school
superintendents Steve Amizich of Central District 104, Darcy Benway of
O’Fallon Township High School 203, and Nancy Gibson of O’Fallon District
90.
If you would,
please let Jennifer know in what way you are willing to help.
Don Murdoch and I traveled to
Mt.
Vernon in
late February to learn more about the Rotary Foundation.
It’s amazing to know how well our
contributions are managed to ensure everyone receives maximum return on
investment.
If you have not yet contributed to the
foundation, please find it in your heart to do so.
Spring is just around the corner.
It’s hard to believe it’s March already!
Pretty soon we’ll be out playing sports and
planting home gardens.
While we are playing our favorite sport, we
must remember there are still those who are crippled by polio.
While we are freely watering our gardens,
we must remember helping those who do not have access to fresh water.
As Rotarians we need to be thinking
globally and locally.
Your contributions to the foundation help
people far and near.
If you have suggestions for local or world
projects, please let members of the Rotary Board know so that we can be
of service to even more people.
It is such an honor to serve with such great
individuals!
Thanks for all you do!
Yours in Rotary Service,
Cindy Doil
February 2010
PING
PONG FRENZY:
Thanks to Steve Gregov, Steve Hellin, Matt
Smallhear, and Lex White who have offered to help with the Ping Pong
Tournament that is scheduled for the 6th of March at St Clair
Tennis Club.
We need the support of each and every
Rotarian in our club to make this event a success.
If you don’t want to play, please at least
solicit other players.
DISTRICT DESIGNATED GRANT FUNDS:
Next year’s application for district
designated grant funds are for the Early Childhood Foundation.
This grant is local and it is a direct
contribution to the future of our community, our nation, and the world.
As part of our Club’s continuing efforts to support literacy, we will
support the O’Fallon Early Childhood Foundation Literacy Project providing
all three- and four- year old children residing within a local
elementary school district equal access to a quality pre-school
education to develop their readiness skills for entry into kindergarten.
Study after study indicates that pre-school attendance is tied to later
successes. The funds will
ensure equal access to quality pre-school education.
This year club and district designated grant funds were used to acquire
a
digital video camera, with a compatible microphone system and an
overhead projector for the O’Fallon Public Library.
The library staff intends to record story
hours in order to provide the first-time literary experiences to many of
the community’s children.
The library staff has also been exploring
ways to promote computer literacy, both for patrons and staff. By
recording five minute information “snipits” on specific tasks, the
library staff could provide a great service in this area.
These could be made available via the web
site, or for staff, during meetings or break times.
They could even be incorporated into the
initial training sessions for new staff members.
RECOGNIZING TOP LOCAL GRADUATES:
In April, we hope to have our first dinner to
honor local graduates of public and private elementary and high schools
in O’Fallon and Shiloh
schools.
Jennifer Filyaw, who serves as
Superintendent of Shiloh District 85 is heading up this effort along
with school superintendents Steve Amizich of Central District 104, Darcy
Benway of O’Fallon Township High School 203, and Nancy Gibson of
O’Fallon District 90.
More information will follow on this
effort.
Thanks for all you
do!
Yours in Rotary Service,
Cindy Doil
January 2010
A long time ago, in a place that may as well have been a galaxy
far, far away I was introduced to the following quotation attributed to
Calvin Coolidge who served as the 30th
President of our great nation from 1923-1929: “Nothing in the world can
take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men
with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence
and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved
and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
Welcome to a fresh new year full of new
opportunities to serve!
We’ve accomplished a lot –
our “club of overachievers” as we were so fondly referred to by a
Rotarian from another club in our district – but that is no reason to
rest.
We must press on to
identify the needs of our community, our nation, and the world, and then
press on doing our best to meet those needs.
This is no time to rest on
our laurels.
Instead, we must forge
ahead to meet new challenges!
Isn’t it GREAT to be a Rotarian – to KNOW
that you’re in a group of over 1.2 million individuals who are EACH
called to put service before self each and every day?
Can YOU feel it?
Is Rotary more than a
place to eat lunch every Monday at noon for you?
If you haven’t “caught”
Rotary yet, please make an effort to catch it today!
The fact is that unless
YOU get involved, YOU can’t catch it.
Perhaps you have an idea
of how we can better serve our community?
Perhaps you know how we
can make O’Fallon an even greater place to live and work?
Perhaps you know of a need
that we could meet through a project where we could help others? This
need could be local or worldwide, simple or complicated.
Share those ideas, please,
so we can make an even greater difference in the lives of many.
Prayers
for a blessed and wonderful 2010 to all!
Thanks for all you
do.
Press on!
Yours in Rotary Service,
Cindy Doil
December 2009
Hearty
thanks to all who took time this past month to make a difference in the
lives of so many families!
Thanks to all who gave time and talent to the
completion of the Rock Springs Park Rotary Dog Pavilion.
This project is certainly welcome by both humans
and our four-legged companions and will be enjoyed by generations!
Thanks
also to those who took the time to march proudly as Rotarians in both
the Veterans’ and Christmas parades.
Special thanks to Tom Sullivan who spent hours
picking up, driving, and then returning the float to storage.
Special
thanks to Don Murdoch for his successful efforts to keep up entertained
and in raising the bar again for citrus sales.
I’d also like to point out the special efforts
of Shirley Frost who did a wonderful job teaching us new and delicious
recipes and Greg Yank who walked us through invaluable feedback towards
an even more successful auction.
I’d also
like to thank Sparta Club Rotarian Bob Holloway, one of only 150
recipients of the Service Above Self award worldwide last year, for his
marvelous presentation about his fabulous work in
Malawi,
Africa.
I thought this was a very fitting presentation
for us as we celebrated Thanksgiving for us to realize how much we have
to be grateful for and how many families have to struggle to even get
water to drink.
s
we gather these two meetings before we celebrate Christmas, Col Edwards,
who meets with us on the anniversary of
Pearl Harbor, will remind us that
freedom isn’t free, and Jay Taddei will give us information about a new
treatment that is an alternative to surgery.
I pray you
will have a peaceful and Spirit-filled Christmas-Hanukkah holiday and
new year.
Please pray for those of our number who are
sick, that they may be well soon.
Thanks for
all you do.
Cindy Doil
November 2009
Thank you to everyone who was so generous with time to help with
the Rotary Auction!
It was really touch and go there for a while.
Thanks for rallying in support so we can
continue to do good things for our community, the nation, and the world.
I know there are many others who helped make the
auction a success but special thanks to Jill Pietrusinkski, Jerry
Albrecht, and Dick Glogowski who coordinated the event by taking
reservations, reserving the conference center, and coordinating the
donations.
I heard many say that they loved being at the
Regency and that the Rotary auction is “THE” place to be in O’Fallon.
Thanks to EVERYONE!
Greg Yank
is scheduled to lead us in a session on how we can do a better job
involving everyone in the auction process, get more donations, and, as a
consequence, do even more good throughout our world.
As I write
this, this weekend we are scheduled to work on the
Rock Springs
Park
Dog
Park area.
This is a great project and I’m grateful to John
Betten for his leadership in this endeavor for our community.
As we
gather with our families in this season of Thanksgiving, let us give
thanks for being Rotarians and the good that we can collectively do
throughout the world.
Thanks for
all you do.
Cindy Doil
THIS IS THE ROTARY CLUB OF O'FALLON -- NO RINOs ALLOWED
October 2009
Thank you to everyone who was so generous with time to help with
the wine tasting event at the Strange Folk Art Festival on the 26th and
27th of September.
Thanks also to everyone, for your warm welcome to to our
district governor Joe Miller and his wife Debbie during their visit.
Special thanks to Barb Carstens, Don Murdoch, Merrill
Ottwein and Tom Sullivan for their entertainment.
It
was a fun meeting and everyone had a wonderful time!
It’s crunch time.
There aren’t many items for the auction right
now at the Public Safety Building and the auction is only two weeks
away.
Remember, we don’t even have a meeting on the 12th
due to Columbus Day so you must get your items in now!
Your support decides if we will be able to
continue our generous support.
Just because you aren’t required to purchase
tickets, doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for not supporting the
auction.
You should make EVERY effort to attend yourself and bring
along your significant other and a couple of friends.
You like the fact that we give so much to
support our local community and world projects?
We can’t do that without your support.
You like the fact that we give scholarships to
high school students? We can’t do that without funds.
You like the fact that we sponsor Rotary Wheels?
We can’t do that without money either.
Again, we need EACH and EVERY Rotarian to step
up to the plate and sell tickets to the auction, attend the auction,
donate items, and help make the auction a success by volunteering to
help at the event.
Thanks for all you do.
Cindy Doil
September 2009
Here it is
September already and our level of activity shows no sign of letting up!
For the first time we will be participating as a Club in the Strange
Folk Art Festival on the 26th and 27th with a wine tasting event.
Thanks again to Casey Scharven for heading up this event for us.
Please be generous with your time and help make the wine tasting a
success.
Soon
enough we will be facing the deciding point of whether or not we will be
able to generously continue our great service to our community, to our
nation, and the world -- the Rotary Auction on 17 October. The
Rotary Board voted on some pretty drastic changes to our auction this
year and a number of firsts. For the first time we are having the
auction at the
Regency
Conference
Center
and for the first time we are not requiring members to purchase tickets.
These changes bring on even more responsibilities. We need EACH
and EVERY Rotarian to step up to the plate and sell tickets to the
auction, donate items, and help make the auction a success by
volunteering to help at the event. Please do not wait until the
last minute to reserve your tickets and donate items. Why
not set a goal of getting your reservations and items in by our 28
September meeting?
Finally, I hope each one us truly takes the time to think about
the service our club gives to our community, the nation, and the world
and realizes what a privilege it is to be a Rotary Club of O'Fallon
member. Realizing this, we would never ask to leave, and aside
from God and our family, we would never consider something else more
worthy of our time and our talents. If you haven't really "caught"
Rotary and Rotary isn't a part of you, I challenge you to live and not
just say the Four Way Test and the Rotary motto, to learn more about
Rotary and become more involved. Thanks for all you do!
Cindy Doil
THIS IS THE ROTARY CLUB OF O'FALLON -- NO RINOs ALLOWED
August 2009
Fear not.
As evidenced by the events of this past
month the Rotary Club of O’Fallon continues to stand fast in its
commitment to our community and “Service Above Self.”
Given the choice between saying “we’re too
busy” or keeping the tradition of the annual Rotary Children’s Parade
alive, once again our Rotary Club proved it has the right stuff when we
stepped up to the plate and said, “Let’s do it! Let’s keep the tradition
alive!”
Thanks to the support of our club’s Board
of Directors, the leadership of the Jay Taddei, the great sign-making
skills of Ned Drolet, our wonderful O’Fallon Township High School Band,
and the selfless support of 25 Club Rotarians who volunteered to help,
the tradition of service to our community was kept alive for yet another
year.
I don’t know how long the Rotary Children’s Parade
has been a tradition in O’Fallon but we did learn that our own Mary
Jeanne Wheatley participated as a child.
Last month we were glad to
welcome back Dorcas Cecil and Al Medford as they re-joined us after
extended illnesses.
We also welcomed our newest member, Karen
Sheesley who was sponsored by Whitney Wisnasky-Bettorf and learned more
about Lex White who joined us in June.
Again, each of us must make a commitment to
recruit more working hands, caring hearts, and inquiring minds to help
those in need.
As we look to the future, the
Rock Springs Dog Park grant has been approved and Immediate Past
President John Betten has graciously agreed to continue to lead us in
this service project.
Hopefully we’ll be able to start soon to
bring water to the thirsty – both human and canine – who frequent the
park.
Finding local contestants for
the Blanche Sloan Rotary Speech Contest is underway.
Dr. Darcy Benway is making contact with the
Speech Team coordinator at OTHS to get contestants.
Casey Scharven has generously
volunteered to help us serve the community during the Strange Folk Art
Festival to be held on 26 and 27 September.
We’ll be hearing more about this event and
what role we’ll be playing soon.
Three of our programs this
month are being presented by our own Rotarians.
Greg Yank will share his experiences from
the Rotary International Convention which was held in Birmingham,
England.
Susan Novak-Tibbet will share Asian-Pacific
Heritage information with us, and Dr. Nancy Gibson will enlighten us
about how we can help with literacy in our own town through support of
the O’Fallon Early Childhood Foundation.
Thank you for all you do!
Without you, we wouldn’t be as strong and
be able to make such a difference in so many lives.
“The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands.”
Proud to Serve,
Cindy Doil
July 09
Welcome to Rotary year
2009-2010!
Our theme this year is “The Future of
Rotary is in Your Hands.”
Certainly we have much to be grateful for,
as the astute leadership of John Betten has left the club in GREAT
shape.
The Board of Officers for the Club, sworn
into office on 29 June, has committed to doing their best in their
continued “Service above Self” to our community, our nation, and to the
world we serve.
We welcome Doug Distler to the board and
express our gratitude to Scott LePere for his many years of service.
Our Club was 84 years old on
the 25th of May this year.
We continue to grow stronger each year.
John Kenny, the new President of Rotary
International addressed this year’s Presidents Elect Training Seminar in
Lombard, Il and pointed out some profound truths if we wish to continue
to grow stronger.
He stated that Rotary can do nothing, but
Rotarians can do anything.
He further stated that if we wish to leave
our footprints in the sands of time, we cannot drag our feet.
We need to focus on retention and
mentoring.
We need to bring in amongst our ranks men
and women of quality who will bring even better fellowship and better
character – more working hands, caring hearts, and inquiring minds to
help those in need.
We must invite worthy persons to join us
and be ethical leaders who dignify Rotary.
We must emphasize the importance of
practicing high ideals in our business and private lives.
We must continue to work for the health and
well being of children and their families everywhere.
We must continue to bring water – essential
to all human life; we must increase health and diminish hunger.
We must be ambassadors of peace – but how
can there be peace when so many will go to sleep hungry?
And we must work towards increased literacy
because education is the key to banishing want.
We know that to everyone to
whom much is given, much will be required.
We are obliged therefore to make wise
decisions.
We must follow Henry Ford’s advice and
build our reputation on what we DO, not on why we SAY we will do.
President Kenny wisely said: “A term of
office is soon over, but a commitment to Rotary must last a lifetime.
We make a living by what we get; we make a
life by what we give.”
Each of us, therefore, must remember why we
are Rotarians and recommit ourselves to His service as we take our hands
to the plow.
Truly, the future of Rotary is in OUR
hands.
We may only be ONE club, but we are THE
O’Fallon Rotary Club and we DO make a difference in our community, in
our nation, and in our world.
I am truly humbled to serve as President and look
forward to serving with you.
Cindy Doil
JUNE 09
