Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Club Conversations (2nd Wednesday)
In attendance: Bollig, Pakkala, Wallitsch, Yauchler, Burns, Burns, Salerno, Zalucha, Christiansen, Smith
Next week, we will have a very special virtual speaker. Don’t Miss!
Jonah Simonds is a Rotary Peace Fellow at Uppsala University (Info below)
Brent asked if we could start our Zoom meetings with Bell, Pledge, 4 Way test & invocation. After a little discussion, Brent plans to get the flags and bell so we have them for the meetings. Peggy brought up that Rotary is a group that does not promote religion, political sides nor commercial sales. We may forgo the invocation.
We decided that we liked the name “Club Conversations” for our 2nd and 4th Wednesday Meetings.
Steve Salerno talked about the very active Interact Club. He said that there were over 50 students in the group. They recently made gift boxes for teens and also decorated the entries to the younger students’ schools.
We also talked about the Little Food Pantries, one of which is in front of the School District Offices. We are welcome to put food in as well as take food out. Steve said the “Door Swings both ways!” He said that canned and dried goods are well received. If the Pantry is full, we can leave food at the office and Steve will stock as needed. In addition to the one at that District Office Building there is one behind the Emmanuel Lutheran Church.
Julie sent a picture of the Bikes that Rotarians and others assembled for the Giving Tree. There were more volunteer assemblers than there were bikes. Thanks, all!
Susan Smith said that she will be helping at Neighbors Helping Neighbors. There are still some spots left for the 26th of December. Pease review previous email with instructions and volunteer if you can.
Shawn is delighted that her daughter Theresa is buying a house in West Allis with Ben. Shawn also told us that she has just graduated from the Coaching Program that she has been working on.
Susan Wallitsch noted that Matt Smith was featured on the front page of the Wisconsin State Journal. He and Susan Smith are participating in a Farmers Market Alternative called MadisonFarmersUnite.com which gets local food out to people.
Brent talked about a wonderful weekend that he and Dani had in Sturgeon Bay.
Next week, we will have a very special virtual speaker. Don’t Miss!
Jonah Simonds is a Rotary Peace Fellow at Uppsala University (Class XVIII), where he is studying peace and conflict research. Since June 2020, he has also been working as a Statistics and Social Sciences Contractor for the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. In both his academic research and his professional work, Jonah is seeking to understand how data and statistical analysis can be used to promote peace and build resilience in at-risk communities. Jonah will speak about his research interests and his experience as a Rotary Peace Fellow, and will also be available for a Q&A session afterwards.
