New RI President’s Message

Dear fellow Rotarians,

The beginning of the Rotary year is always an exciting time, with new club and district officers, a new theme to work with, and a renewed sense of purpose for our service projects.  The beginning of this particular Rotary year is, of course, especially exciting for me as I look forward to meeting Rotarians throughout the world and seeing firsthand the many remarkable projects you are carrying out.

In planning how your club, and each one of you, can Make Dreams Real this year, I ask you to consider the millions of children who never even have the chance to dream.  Every day, more than 26,000 children under the age of five die from preventable causes.  As appalling as that number is, it is a decrease from the figure of 30,000 that first caught my attention and spurred me to bring this matter of grave concern to Rotarians.

UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children 2008 report states that “by 2006, the most recent year for which firm estimates are available, the annual number of child deaths globally fell below 10 million, to 9.7 million, for the first time since records began.”  I would guess that some of the improvement in child survival rates can be directly attributed to Rotary projects that have been successfully addressing problems related to health, hunger, water, and literacy for a number of years now.  So I asked myself: “What would happen if 1.2 million Rotarians focused their service efforts on keeping even more children alive?”

I think we already know some of the answers.  If Rotarians provide insecticide-treated bed nets, fewer children will succumb to malaria.  If
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SPRINGFIELD ROTARY NIGHT AT THE EMS GAME

Another great opportunity for club fellowship; thanks John Halgren for continuing to coordinating the effort so we can all enjoy a fun night out with the local baseball team and fellow Rotarians.

Springfield Rotary night at the Ems
Wednesday, July 23, 2008, at 5:45 pm
Enter from the first base side of the stadium

Price is just $17.00 per person, with a special rate for young children.
Remember the $17.00 includes ticket to the game, Bar-B-Que, and beverages.

Please RSVP to John Halgren at jhalgren1@comcast.net or you may call him at 954-0913. Of course you can still sign up during our regularly scheduled weekly meeting.

So, mark your calendars now and plan on attending this fun event

Recent Makeups:

Barry Smith, Bruce Webber, Rod Lathrop, Doris Towery, Michele Erickson, Beth De George, Bill Grile (2), Bruce Smolnisky (2), Micheal Screen (2), Liz Degner (2), Dan Egan (2), Mike Fischnaller (4)

Contact Micheal Screen with your make-ups:
neercs@msn.com