I am pleased to announce that Neal Miller, of the Rotary Club of Springfield, has been nominated as the District Governor Nominee Designate-Nominee (who will serve as District Governor for Rotary year 2023-2024) by the District Nominating Committee. This year's committee consisted of Past District Governors Doug Huff and Ron Riggins, Assistant Governor Harry Mitchell, Assistant Governor Jack Freiburg, and Past Assistant Governor Kevin Dewaele. In accordance with our bylaws, Neal's nomination will be voted on at our next substantive gathering of current Club Presidents, which will take place at District Conference virtually on 1/23/2021.
A brief bio: Neal was a commercial banker in Missouri and Illinois, starting as a management trainee and expanded with financial and leadership responsibilities to regional bank president. As a commercial banker, Neal assisted the bank employers achieve financial business objectives. Neal was in the banking field from 1981-1992. Neal had a second career as a serial entrepreneur where he founded or co-founded five companies. Four of the five entities leveraged information technology tools to meet services requested by customers. One unit was sold to a fellow Rotarian, one failed with a small loss to the shareholders, one discontinued operation when servers were no longer needed, and the final two were sold in 2017 and 2018. For all the five developed businesses, Neal’s responsibilities included the finance, accounting, sales, marketing and management. Neal retired in 2018. Neal enjoys golfing, woodworking, and backpacking. Also, Neal has been very fortunate in his Rotary career to have leadership experiences at the club, district, and zone levels as well as at Midwest PETS.
Please join me in congratulating Neal.
Best,
DG Maura
District Governor Maura Donnelly posted this announcement on the Rotary District 6460 Facebook page on Thursday, November 19. We are pleased to share this news with all the members of our Club. Neal has been a major leader in our Club, and we are proud of his accomplishments.
We had a wonderful meeting on Monday night (November 23). Randy Erford brought a lot of smiles and laughs with his observations of life from The Crown to Archie, the cat who selected him. Thank you, Randy!
We also received many reports about all the service our Club provides to our community. This is the time of year for Santa for Seniors, Bell Ringing, the micro-pantry at Ridgely (image to right), and books for the little library at iMagicNation (Vicki Megginson), gifts for Rutledge Youth (Marty Michelson), supporting Literacy grants by purchasing baseball souvenir tickets (Rod Buffington), and Citrus sales and distribution (Bill Smith). Our Club serves in many ways!
We welcomed Jon Garland-Sutter into our Club. Travis Magoulias performed the induction ceremony. Sheila Mack is serving as Jon's mentor. Jon commented that he hails from California and has lived in Springfield since 1997. He joined Rotary because he wants to serve the community. He revealed that his favorite movie is The Prestige.
Thank you also to those who provided Thanksgiving themed backgrounds. While I enjoyed watching Vicki walk through her pumpkin pie, others of you enjoyed seeing my head on top of Harry Mitchell’s turkey (top row, right corner). My personal favorite was Ross Hodel’s turkey suggesting ham for Thanksgiving (fourth row, center). Thank you, Barry Tobias, for setting this up and offering lessons.
Tim Granzeau also sent a note to me this week about coats for Ridgely School children. More information will be coming next week.
Bill Smith asked that everyone get their John Montgomery Citrus Sale monies in to him as soon as possible. They can be dropped off at his home or through the drive-up at Peoples Bank & Trust. The year has been surprisingly successful given the pandemic, and we anticipate another delicious crop.
To wrap up the month, our November 30 speaker will be Mindy Melton (image to right), Business Development Coordinator for the Gateway Foundation. She will share information about the drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs they provide. We also will be doing Brag-a-Bucks, some committee reports, a Polio Update, and perhaps even a toast!
Our December 7 meeting will be a Club Fun Night. We invite everyone to set a festive background (contact Barry if you want a private lesson). We will also have a 50/50 drawing to benefit our Scholarship program, and perhaps will play a few games.
On December 14, we will have our annual holiday party, and Rod Buffington and committee will be sharing more details about this virtual event in the coming week. He already announced that Ed Clark will be the featured entertainment for the evening. This will be a unique gathering, and we invite all members to join the meeting.
Finally, I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. For many it will be very different from what we are accustomed to, but we still have much to be thankful for. Included on my list are all of you. This group has been a blessing as we moved here a couple years ago, and I thank you for your welcome and warmth.
Join by video system, application or Skype for business Dial 1627831845@webex.com You can also dial 173.243.2.68 and enter your meeting number. From the Cisco internal network, dial *777* and the 9-digit meeting number. If you are the host, enter your PIN when prompted.
The menu for curbside pickup for the November 30 meeting is:
Roast Pork Loin
Vegetable Lasagna
Chef Choice of Salad and Dessert
Please use the following link by Friday at 2:00 p.m. to make your reservations for the meal for curbside pickup: https://airtable.com/shrqKNwjEJx7xVQQw. This link has worked very well. Contact Dave Kromphardt at dkromphardt@yahoo.com only if you have a late change.
For curbside users, please place your meal tickets or cash in an envelope with your name on the outside of the envelope and give it to the Maldaners staff member that gives you your food. They will get the envelopes to Sheila Mack. Curbside pickup is between 4:45 and 5:15 p.m. To pick up food, turn into the alley behind the building and pick up the food at the back door.
Last year’s excellent citrus was hoped to be the impetus to increase sales this year; then the Pandemic came. This year sales started slow but increased to the point that they were comparable to last year. With slightly lower cost for citrus and increased cash donations, this year’s campaign should result in a profit in excess of $10,000.
This year for the first time, the other four Springfield Rotary clubs participated in our Citrus Campaign. Sunrise has been a partner for many years. Midtown used to be a full participant and when they discontinued participation, a few members continued to sell citrus. One of those members switched to Westside and continues to sell citrus. South has for many years had their own independent citrus sales. This year, because of the pandemic, they decided not to sell citrus. Some of their members continued to sell by participating with Sunrise and Midtown.
Our Citrus Campaign’s donation to the Central Illinois Foodbank continues to be a success. This year, Sunrise, Midtown and our club donated 150 large cartons of oranges. This is an increase from last year’s donation of 108 cartons. These cartons have smaller oranges than we sell in order to provide a broader distribution of the oranges. This year’s donation of 150 cartons provides over 16,000 oranges for the foodbank to distribute.
The citrus is scheduled to arrive at our warehouse next Monday. On Tuesday, at 2:00PM, we will have a small crew of five volunteers to create the cartons of half orange/half grapefruit for the mixed cartons we sold. On Wednesday afternoon, the foodbank is tentatively scheduled to pickup the 150 cartons of oranges donated to them. Friday from 8:00AM to 5:00PM and Saturday from 8:00AM to 1:00PM, the warehouse will be open to the public.
Anyone working or visiting the warehouse will be required to wear a mask and maintain social distancing. The warehouse is an open space which should provide a safe place to distribute the citrus. Work crews will be reduced in size to increase social distancing.
As we count our blessings one by one this November, let's not forget those in our communities that benefit from our District Literacy Grants. As we all know, we were unable to host our customary baseball game this year. However, we have 2,000 unsold tickets that we would like to sell as bookmarks or mementos of the event. The tickets are being sold for $20 with a notation on the back that reads “COVID CANCELLED.” We really want to encourage members to purchase these tickets because even though the event had to be cancelled, the need for funding is ever more pressing. COVID-19 has had a major impact on so many aspects of our lives and especially our schools and not-for-profit agencies that serve our children and adults who benefit from Literacy Programs. Please take a minute to view the video below that expresses this need.
Remember, November is a month of giving thanks and opening our hearts. Please consider making a purchase for this very important cause. We have ten days left in November. If our district sells 2000 tickets, we will meet our goal of $40,000, which would equal the proceeds that we would have received if the game had been played. We can make this happen if all of the District Clubs work together. Please click “Read More” below for a note from Rod Buffington on how to participate in this fundraising drive. We encourage you to place your order and to do your part in promoting a worthwhile cause.
Last year, Wynne Coplea and Sheila Stocks-Smith of the Urban Action Network in Springfield spoke to our Club about the online Sustain Springfield Green Map that they created to guide visitors to environmentally friendly services, parks, community gardens, and other sites and amenities in Springfield. After their presentation, we helped promote the online website and map. They have completely redesigned the map to make it easier for visitors to find resources such as recycling locations, community gardens, car charging stations, and they have recently added little libraries and micro-pantries. Our Club is proud to be listed as a promotional partner for this project, which helps support Rotary's new Environmental Area of Focus. For more information on this wonderful project and a link to the website and Green Map, click on "Read More" below to see their Press Release.
We also received many reports about all the service our Club provides to our community. This is the time of year for Santa for Seniors, Bell Ringing, the micro-pantry at Ridgely (image to right), and books for the little library at iMagicNation (Vicki Megginson), gifts for Rutledge Youth (Marty Michelson), supporting Literacy grants by purchasing baseball souvenir tickets (Rod Buffington), and Citrus sales and distribution (Bill Smith). Our Club serves in many ways!
Thank you also to those who provided Thanksgiving themed backgrounds. While I enjoyed watching Vicki walk through her pumpkin pie, others of you enjoyed seeing my head on top of Harry Mitchell’s turkey (top row, right corner). My personal favorite was Ross Hodel’s turkey suggesting ham for Thanksgiving (fourth row, center). Thank you, Barry Tobias, for setting this up and offering lessons.
To wrap up the month, our November 30 speaker will be Mindy Melton (image to right), Business Development Coordinator for the Gateway Foundation. She will share information about the drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs they provide. We also will be doing Brag-a-Bucks, some committee reports, a Polio Update, and perhaps even a toast!
Last year’s excellent citrus was hoped to be the impetus to increase sales this year; then the Pandemic came. This year sales started slow but increased to the point that they were comparable to last year. With slightly lower cost for citrus and increased cash donations, this year’s campaign should result in a profit in excess of $10,000.
As we count our blessings one by one this November, let's not forget those in our communities that benefit from our District Literacy Grants. As we all know, we were unable to host our customary baseball game this year. However, we have 2,000 unsold tickets that we would like to sell as bookmarks or mementos of the event. The tickets are being sold for $20 with a notation on the back that reads “COVID CANCELLED.” We really want to encourage members to purchase these tickets because even though the event had to be cancelled, the need for funding is ever more pressing. COVID-19 has had a major impact on so many aspects of our lives and especially our schools and not-for-profit agencies that serve our children and adults who benefit from Literacy Programs. Please take a minute to view the video below that expresses this need.
Last year, Wynne Coplea and Sheila Stocks-Smith of the Urban Action Network in Springfield spoke to our Club about the online Sustain Springfield Green Map that they created to guide visitors to environmentally friendly services, parks, community gardens, and other sites and amenities in Springfield. After their presentation, we helped promote the online website and map. They have completely redesigned the map to make it easier for visitors to find resources such as recycling locations, community gardens, car charging stations, and they have recently added little libraries and micro-pantries. Our Club is proud to be listed as a promotional partner for this project, which helps support Rotary's new Environmental Area of Focus. For more information on this wonderful project and a link to the website and Green Map, click on "Read More" below to see their Press Release. 
