The meeting was called to order by President Rick who led us in the Pledge of
Allegiance. Garry led us in prayer. Rob Hasty (Ottawa Noon) was our guest.
Linda Malley announced that Katie Bugelholl was the Marquette Academy
scholarship winner. The Garden Walk will be June 24th, so sell those tickets! Jane
has more. Sunrise After Hours will be May 23rd at Tracy’s Boat House (later moved
to JJ’s) from 5:00 on. The April event was a lot of fun and well attended. We also
celebrated Eldon’s birthday with a rousing (and surprisingly melodious) rendition
of Happy Birthday. We voted for someone from Minnesota for something, sorry I
was not paying attention, but he was from Eden Prairie, I remember that. The $19
BIP went to Julie F. That’s the last time Daniel gets to draw! Some notable May
18th events included Dracula published in 1897, Mt. St. Helens historic eruption in
1980, Don Martin (’31) and MAD Magazine and Reggie Jackson turned 66.

Jim Carlson introduced Chris Dvorak, his assistant at
the ROE and Brent Thomas, a teacher at the Safe
School in the old Roosevelt school in Peru. Students
who have faced multiple suspensions or expulsions need a place to finish their
education and the school is open to students in grades 6-12. There are 100 Safe
School Programs across Illinois serving about 4,000 students. Locally they serve
29 school districts and 80 students with 2 high school and 2 junior high classes.

These schools (once referred to as Alternative Schools) meet the educational needs of
disruptive students and work to reduce disruptive behavior, achieve regular attendance,
complete coursework, advance in grade levels, and even return to their home school and
graduate from elementary and/or high school. Not just does the ROE face funding
challenges for their offices, but this funding damages their programs as well, with major
funding challenges being technology and keeping up-to-date. The school offers
encouragement for overcoming adversity, help in anger management, conflict resolution,
bullying, life skills, career development and substance abuse. The students also have
contributed to the Food Pantry, items to the Homeless Shelter, provided needy students
with gifts for the holidays, contributed financially to the American Cancer Society, and
donated food and supplies to Pet Project. To date the RSSP has served 860 students since
1997. If you are not currently saving box tops for education, you might consider saving
them for this program as well as watching out for fundraisers conducted by local
restaurants.

President Rick opened the meeting and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and
Garry led us in prayer. Rick introduced our guests, Don Lockas (Marseilles), Bob
Kuhn (Ottawa Noon), and our AG Kent Terry (Marseilles) whose term ends 6/30/12
and our new AG, J. Burt (LaSalle—7 AM the Maples, Thursdays) who will assume
duties July 1, 2012. The $26 BIP was won by J. Burt who donated it towards the
Foundation. Thank you! We had some Mother’s Day trivia and it was good to
know men spend more money on mothers than “other women”. Club News: All
spots are filled for the Garden Walk June 24th
. Sell those tickets and Jane has
more if you need any. Gene was looking for volunteers for the Wed. evening
trivia contest hosted by the Marseilles club. (More on that later). He also was
hawking tickets to the Peru club’s Beer Tasting event. Judy and Jim were fined
because of the lovely pictures in the paper about the change to St. Elizabeth’s.
Jim’s wife was actually the one immortalized in the photo, but Jim had to pay
anyway. Jenny Rios has announced that the Ottawa High School scholarship
winner is Nicholas Tabor who was our RYLA student a few years back. He will be
presented the scholarship Friday, May 18 at the 9:00 AM Honors Day Ceremony at
OHS. Bruce’s program was Stephanie Stacy from The Garden Gate Nursery on
Dayton Road. They have a presence at the Hardees location and hope to have
a location on the Jordan block next year or on the south side. The Garden Gate
always participates with our club in our Garden Walk so it was especially nice to
have Stephanie with us. Her husband’s parents ran That Perennial Place in Morris,
and being married into the family and having multiple degrees in Horticulture—
Turf Management and Landscape Design it seemed natural that they would carry
on the business. The Ottawa location opened in 2003 and Stephanie and her
husband bought the business in 2009 and changed the name to the Garden
Gate. They have 2 acres and 4 greenhouses and grow almost all their plants. They
employ 5-8 people who help them on the landscape crew, the mowing crew
and the snow removal crew (if it ever snows in central Illinois again.) The Garden
Gate does the downtown baskets and the Madison Street plantings. Stephanie
will be teaching some fall and winter (container) gardening courses at the
Ottawa IVCC center. They do not do any preventative spraying to be
environmentally responsible and only treat their plants when there is a problem.

She noted the mild winter was actually bad for plants because they continue to grow in the ground until the ground freezes solid. This means roots are actively growing and seeking water, but people do not often water their plants when it turns cold, so there is a lot of die-off. Mother’s Day, when it is 50% frost free could be when you begin planting some annuals and by Memorial Day it is 100% frost
free here, good time to put out those tomatoes and veggies, etc. If frost occurs it is wise to get out before sunrise and hose off the frost to minimize damage. In some other club news: Rick announced the first Sunrise After Hours was a great success so another will be planned at Tracy’s Boat House at Heritage harbor Wednesday, May 23 at 5:00 till ?? There were 12 in attendance at JJ’s Pub last month (including some spouses) and a good time was had by all. Plan on joining us! Also, the Sunrise Trivia Team (in desperate need of help despite the genius of Julie F. and Gene and his wife and daughter), made an appearance at the Marseilles Rotary Trivia Night. The winner received money for their charity (LaSalle won—charity: LaSalle Rotary Park) and whoever finishes second has to host it the coming year. We know that and since after 3 of the 4 rounds we were second, we may have tanked our final round a bit. Ottawa Noon was able to sneak into second place (and win the honor of hosting the contest next year) and Peru blew by us for 3rd. We were still thrilled with our finish considering what we had to work with past the above mentioned trivia experts. It should be noted that Judy, Jane and Keith contributed when they could, which was not that often, and Keith’s contributions even cost us a point (hey, anyone can get “Illegal Forward Pass” and “Ineligible Receiver Downfield” confused!).

Guest Noah Gross dinged the meeting to order and Vice President Bruce led us in
the Pledge and Garry led us in prayer. We welcomed John Carlson and Don Lockas,
both from Marseilles Rotary, and Anita Kopko, our guest speaker, from Ottawa
Noon. John plugged the May 16 “Nor Your Ordinary Trivia Night” hosted by the
Marseilles club at the American Legion there. Drinks and food will be at 6PM with
the trivia action beginning at 7:00 PM. Ten member teams are welcome, $100 per
team, and Gene Anderson is assembling a Sunrise team. If you are interested and
know a ton of useless stuff, give Gene a jingle and sign on. Anita added that Ottawa
Noon will have a team there as well. It is a fun time. Garry was a virtual font of
knowledge on Cinco de Mayo, which is not about Mexican independence. Mike
Matteson won the $23 BIP! Eldon presented Bruce with the club’s “Excellence in
Litaracy” Award from the District Conference in Dixon the previous weekend. The
award recognizes the club for its 22 continuous years of exemplary service to
literacy through the Toy & Book Float! Gene also reminded the members of a beer
tasting benefit ($20) at Seneca’s Oak Ridge. Let Gene know if you are interested in
attending this June 1 event. Our guest speaker, Anita Kopko, introduced us to the
Tater family, a giant family of “joiners” who just cannot say NO. Of course you do
not always want any of these family members on your committee, in your club, or
serving on your board. Who are these guys? “Dick” Tater, “Hesi” Tater, “Spec”
Tater, “Common” Tater, triplets “Vega” Tater, “Coga” tater, “Meta” Tater, twins
“Devis” Tater and “Ampu” Tater, more twins “Irri” Tater and “Agi” Tater, and the
new born “Ima” Tater. Lest you think this family is just a bunch of dud spuds, she
introduced us to the star of the family, “Facila” Tater, who, it turns out, is a real
“Sweet” Tater. Jane handed out tickets for the Garden Walk, Keith paid some
happy bucks for being back finally, for Julie doing such a nice job with the
newsletter during his down time, and reminded members that District 6440 is
beginning to organize 2 Ak’ Tenamit Guatemala trips, 8 days, one in January and one
in February. Interested? Let Keith know and he will connect you to the organizers.

President Rick dinged this meeting to order (with some help from Gary) and after the pledge Garry led the invocation.  Rob Hasty was our guest this morning and even though he is from the Noon Rotary, we welcomed him.   We also welcomed Don Lockas from the Marseilles club.  Gene won the $16 Buck-in-the-Pot drawing and a made a donation to his favorite charity…himself.  The Sgt @ Arms were Gary and Gene.  Congratulations went out to Gene and Diane Anderson on celebrating 39 years of marriage.

 

The Rotary After-Hours at JJ’s Pub was well received.  Approx. 10-12 attended.  Our Garden Walk in June is still in need of 2 more helpers.  Please try to volunteer before Jane, Mike M. or Karen volunteer YOU.  Just kidding!

 

Our program this morning had to cancel this morning due to family illness.  Julie suggested doing member bios and only Rick gave one.  Rick is married to Linda.  He has one son who lives in Chicago and 2 stepsons.  One living in Telluride.  Rick earned his BA at the University of New Mexico and his Master’s in Fire Science at DePaul in Chicago.  He used to play football.  He worked at Streator Unlimited and Horizon House before becoming a Fire Chief in Ottawa.  He is now retired from the fire department, but he continues to teach Fire Science at the University of Illinois for the past 25 years.

President Rick dinged this meeting to order and after the pledge Garry led the invocation. PDG Dr. Don Arenson was our guest this morning from the Noon Rotary.   He also happened to win our $22 Buck-in-the-Pot drawing.  Don generously donated the winnings to our Polio Plus fund.  This is the second week in a row that our guests have won the pot and both donated the money back.  The Sgt @ Arms were Gary and Gene.  Thanks to Gene for reminding us about all the “nutjobs” that have massacred, slaughtered and killed human life all around the globe.

On to happier news…this coming Wednesday, April 25^th at 5 p.m. we are going to have our first club after-hours at JJ’s Pub.  Bring a date or a friend or just come solo.  Two people are still needed to make our Garden Walk complete.  A second person is needed to pass out posters around town for the walk.  A person is needed to put the gift basket together for the winner of the drawing after the walk is completed.  Email or see Jane on Friday to sign up.

 

We enjoyed our last two students of the month at this meeting.  The Marquette Student of the Month was Shayna MacBean.  She was joined this morning by her mom and dad.  Shayna lives with her family in Cornell, IL.  She gets up at 5 a.m. daily to make the 45 minute drive to Ottawa every day for school and feels it was a great decision.  She enjoys volleyball, softball, art and academic team.  She has participated in Relay for Life since 7^th grade.  Forensic science is what interests Shayna the most.  She plans to pursue that career at Loyola University where she has already been accepted.  Best of luck to Shayna!

 

Mallory Alderman was welcomed as our Ottawa High School Student of the Month.  Mallory mother also joined her today.  Mallory would like to become a psychologist.  Having been helped by wonderful counselor herself, she would like to do the same for others right here in LaSalle County.  Her art teacher and her psychologist were her biggest influences on her chosen career path.  Art can help you express yourself.  We wish you the best of luck in your college career and future!

President Rick dinged this meeting to order and after the pledge Jane led the invocation.  The Sgt @ Arms were Gary and Gene.  We had 2 guests from the Marseilles club,  AG Kent Terry and Gene Carlson.   Gene Carlson won $22 for the buck-in-pot but donated it back to our Polio Plus fund.  Gene C. was visiting with us to tell us about the Marseilles Club trivia night on Wed., May 16^th at 6 p.m.  at the American Legion.  There will be a food buffet, music and of course the trivia games.  Ten people max per team.   It costs $100 for a team to participate.  Contact Gene Anderson if you’re interested.  Presidential Wiz, Gene Anderson, tested our knowledge on Thomas Jefferson.  He was our 3^rd President (not actually OUR president, but the President of the United States, in case you were confused), he was an inventor, a genius, a slave owner, a crusader against slaves and he penned the Declaration of Independence to name a few things about the man.

 

We sang Happy Birthday to Jane and John Alleman.  Happy Birthday to them both!  (FYI…Aunt Margaret lives)

 

In business news….Kent Terry spoke about the District Conference coming up on April 27^th weekend in Dixon.  At this point, 5 people from our club will be in attendance.

The Club Assembly started off on a happy note with a special award given to John Alleman.  He has been a Rotarian for the past 40 years with perfect attendance.  He is our first honorary member.  Congratulations, John.  Our current financial report balances to the penny.  Thanks for all your hard work, Eldon!  Our grant application is coming due.  We voted to try for a community grant to help the United Way’s Fox River Park Walk.  Jane guessed that our share to raise will be $800.  After a passing vote, we decided that we’d all like to sell Christmas flowers again, as well as work at the Sandwich Fair booth.

 

Regarding event participation, Rick would like to see other club members step up and take a leadership role.  If not by yourself, then 2 people as co-leaders.

 

There was discussion on the Food Resource Bank which is international.  Helio made the suggestion of adding the Food Pantry to our projects to help with the hunger problem locally.  He will return with more information.  Jane made the suggestion of dropping Desert Rose and the Hearing Impaired.  The plan is to keep the $1000 in our budget for various projects that may come up.

 

Eldon made the suggestion of helping the US Postal food drive in May.  The mail carriers will need manpower to physically help with collecting all the food.  There was discussion on making a donation to the Reddick Mansion, as a way of saying thank you,

because they have partnered with our club all 5 years in our Garden Walk.

 

Last but not least, Nancy, our Foundation Chair, spoke of all the wonderful things that the Rotary Foundation does and the importance of every Rotarian donating $100 every year.  Your money would go toward vaccines, disease prevention, scholarships, Shelter Boxes, clean water and literacy.   If you are under $1000 total, donate $50 and our club will match it.  What a great deal!

Rick dinged this meeting to order and Garry offered the
invocation. Sandy won the $19 BIP and perhaps she will use a
bit of it for Gary’s birthday present! We also gave our
congratulations to Karen Nussbaum as she celebrated 36
years of wedded bliss with Nelson. In an unusual happening,
both Sergeants-at-Arms were present (a first this month—a
month with 5 Fridays) and both had some information to
share. One of the visual teasers Jane had was “cl ud” and
we still do not have any real idea what that is supposed to mean. Keep working on it
and if genius strikes let us know next Friday. In other club news our April 13 meeting will
be for budget and grant discussions. Please plan on attending! Thank you to Julie F.
who agreed to help put out the newsletter while I will be gone.
The April 13 meeting will be a Club Assembly for the purpose
of reviewing the club’s intentions involving upcoming grants!
Doug Wisler, MS, CGFI, was Gary’s program guest. Doug
completed his golf fitness instructor certification at the
Titleist Performance Institute. He has been offering a 6
weeks course at Ottawa Regional for private
instruction and guidance for golfers. He is not a golf
professional and he does not try and change your golf
swing. Instead he conducts a physical assessment
involving flexibility, balance, strength, mobility and
stability issues and then offers exercises and t and
therapy suggestions on how to overcome your physical
issues which will make for a more golf swing that is not
as restricted. He uses cardio and strength training and
there is an evaluation at the conclusion of the 6 week
course meeting 3x a week. Each session lasts about 1
hour.
There is also a maintenance program offered. The course costs $250 for the full course.
Individual 30-minute sessions are available for $30. Doug can be reached at the hospital
at 815-431-5475 M-F. There is a website available that shows over 350 exercises for
various issues. The site is www.mytpi.com

Happy birthday Helio! He looks a lot younger here because
this is from last year. Just add a couple wrinkles and color in
some gray and the pic will be up to date!! He also had trivia
for us involving health and the human body. The BIP was won
and the winner was appropriately excited. We welcomed
Robb Hasty (Ottawa Noon) as our guest and Julie Johnson,
the Executive Director of the Ottawa Visitor’s Center, was our
program guest. Julie talked about the history of the recent
“branding” idea, as well as some of the happenings that fit right in with the branding
theme—the morel mushroom fest, the wine & jazz festival, RiverFest, the Ice Sculpture
event, as well as the Farmers’ Market. There’s a lot going on in Ottawa and a lot of
people working to make these events (and others) a huge success!
The April 13 meeting will be a Club Assembly for the purpose
of reviewing the club’s intentions involving upcoming grants!

For the March 16th meeting we welcomed Robb Hasty (Ottawa Noon) and our beloved AG, Kent
Terry (Marseilles). Sue B. won the $21 BIP ending Sandy’s winning streak at one, Keith paid a fine for
not having the March 9 newsletter ready, Eldon found an envelope with $2 in change. If no one
can come forward and identify it he will enter it into Polio Plus, which everyone thought was a great
idea. Tom Gainere said he was hosting a post-election party Tuesday, March 20, at JJ’s Pub
(sometime after 7:30). In Helio’s absence Jane gave us some St. Patrick’s Day trivia on Italy,
homeland of her father’s people. We then proceded to the Marquette Academy and Ottawa High
School Students for March. Allison Borisek, Marquette Academy, has a bevy of accomplishments
including NHS, the IVCC Honor Roll, and the H2O Club. She is a senior retreat leader for their 3 day
retreat. She has enjoyed enormous success bowling and participates in the Christian Service
program. She plans on attending Marquette University to study business & accounting. Orion Lovell,
OHS, son of Kelly Henry and Danny Lovell, seems to enjoy being a practitioner of the English
language, crediting 3 of his HS teachers for helping develop this passion. He chafes at the shallow
declarations and unimaginative drivel the
Information Age has foisted upon us. (Hey
I’m trying!) His career goal is to help return
us to that by-gone day when words were
words—filled with nuance, symbolism and,
by golly, articulate words (with proper
spelling and punctuation, also). Following
in the footsteps of Lancelot Hogben, who
brought Math to the Millions and Science
to the Citizens, he plans to help lead a
movement to return English to the masses.
Bon Appetite!!!!!!!!
Club Officers

Jim Rice (Ottawa Noon) was our guest for the March 9th meeting. The big club news
centered on grant work. Ottawa Noon has received final approval for their Global
Grant with Glory School in Uganda (we are in for $1,000). Our Community Grant with
Campfire has been completed. We need to perhaps look at a new Community Grant,
with a maximum of $1,500 with the district matching that on a dollar for dollar
basis. The grants are due May 1 and April 13 was suggested as a day to decide what
we might do. Two ideas were presented: something with Reddick Mansion to thank
them for their participation with us in the Garden Walk, and a city & United Way
venture for a Children’s Born Learning Walk at a local park with 10 signs along the
way. Sandy won the BIP ending Julie’s winning streak at one. Speaking of the
Garden Walk, it will be Sunday, June 24th, tickets $12, featuring 7 gardens this
year. An appeal went out for someone to do the newsletter during April! Our program
was Kelly Rick, the Director of Development
at Easter Seals of LaSalle and
Bureau Counties. Kelly’s son was the 2010
Easter Seal’s Ambassador. Their annual
Telethon will be April 14th from 4-9 PM
at the new Central Intermediate School.
The mission of Easter Seals is to provide
quality services to children with and without
special needs and their famil to live,
learn and play in their community. They
have an Autism Resources Center, develop
mental screening (children 0-3), developmental
therapy, speech therapy, Toddler
Class, a child development center,
Preschool, summer camp, Young Athletes program (Special Olympics), and several
other programs. Please contact Kelly if you have any questions whatsoever!