ROTARY CLUB OF APPLETON

Service Above Self GUSTO

February 26, 2008 Upcoming Programs March 4 Ballroom A Courtesy Awards Thought of the Day – Karen Dorn March 11 Ballroom A Business Meeting –History Minute Thought of the Day – Eric Mayer Officers 2007-2008 President Jeff Schulz Vice President Shipra Seefeldt Past President Jeff Werner Secretary Curt Detjen Treasurer Tom Berkedal Directors Ron Altenburg Dawn Doberstein Gail Enke Peter Kelly Dan Nisler Gail Popp Matt Rehbein Dave Willems Sergeant-At-Arms Dave Aardappel RYE Student Alek Kozak - 830-7939 Admin. Assistant Kathy Dreyer Phone/Fax 731-4427 kdreyer1@juno.com Rotarians of the Year Mark Harris/Gail Popp Downtown Gusto Kathy Dreyer, Editor Dist. 6220, Club 2656 P. O. Box 703 Appleton, WI 54912 www.appletonrotary.org Meets Tuesday Noon Radisson Paper Valley

WHAT’S NEW AT THE APPLETON PUBLIC LIBRARY Barbara Kelly, Assistant Director of the Appleton Public Library, discussed how the Appleton Public Library is a center of community life, offering opportunities to learn, know, gather and grow. In 2006, the Library began to develop a long range plan for 2008-2010. The key points were that the Library is an educational resource, a center for the community and that more support was needed. There are five key result areas/Library roles and goals. 1. Education (lifelong learning) – The Library is committed to fostering a lifelong love of reading and learning in children and young adults, and learning by providing resources and assistance for individuals seeking and evaluating information. 2. Popular materials (current topics and titles) – The Library will provide access to current, popular materials and programs. 3. Information – The Library will provide dependable and reliable information. 4. Building community – The Library will serve as a community gathering place and provide local information, local history and cultural diversity resources. 5. Operational issues – The Library will provide an adequate number of well-trained staff and volunteers; align library services with community needs; ensure adequate financial resources to meet community library service needs; use appropriate technology to provide service, assist staff and increase efficiency; and ensure clean, safe, well-maintained and easily accessible facilities. In the 2008 budget, the City of Appleton approved funds to conduct a facility study of the Library to look into options such as renovating, expanding, building a new facility, location and branches. There will be opportunities for community input (focus groups and interviews). The study should be completed by June 2008. Last year, the Library added 5 self check machines as a result of increased circulation (6-10%) and self pick up for book holds. InfoSoup was created to offer an online catalog of 53 libraries in northeast Wisconsin. Next month, a Hmong Resource Center/Collection will be added. The 2008 Fox Cities Community Read is a collaboration program of the Neenah, Menasha, Kimberly-Little Chute, Kaukauna, Appleton and U. W. Fox Valley libraries. They have chosen two books by Alice Hoffman: Blackbird House and Green Angel. Book discussions are scheduled through April 3 and Ms. Hoffman will be coming to the Appleton Public Library on April 17 at 7:00 p.m. to discuss the books. The Valley will also host other authors and poets. Last year the Appleton Public Library circulated over 1,400,000 items to the over 85,000 library cardholders.

MEETING NOTICES · The Rotary Club of Appleton Board of Directors will meet on Monday, March 3 at 5:00 p.m. at American National Bank. · The Arts and Arts Awards Committee will meet on Tuesday, March 4 at 11:00 a.m. · The Rotary Youth Exchange Committee will meet on Tuesday, March 4 at 11:15. · The Rotary Non-Profit Advisors will meet on Tuesday, April 15 from 11-12:00. THUMBNAIL: JIM DOBINSKI Jim was born a short time ago in Two Rivers the middle of 5 children. When he was in 6^th grade, his family moved to Manitowoc. After graduating from high school, Jim got into the grocery field working at Copps. For 10 years, he opened produce departments all over Wisconsin for Copps. After winning a Salad Days contest and winning a computer, Jim became addicted to the computer. He went to Fox Valley Technical College to take computer courses and interned at J. J. Keller in the IS Department. Six years later, he was asked to build a website. After combining the help of another programmer and designer, the website was built. They then decided to start their own business building websites called Stellar Blue Web Design. FOX CITIES ROTARY MULTICULTURAL CENTER The Rotary Club of Appleton Board voted to commit up to $29,000 in funds to match gifts made to the Fox Cities Rotary Multicultural Center to reduce/eliminate the debt due to the renovation costs. We are helping the Multicultural Center complete the project we helped them initiate as part of Rotary’s Centennial Celebration. If you would like to participate in this match, please make your checks payable to the Fox Cities Rotary Multicultural Center and specify that it is for debt reduction. This matching program will end on March 31 or until the funds are used up. So far they have $10,720 in committed gifts and pledges, $7,000 in pending (verbal) gifts and $8,860 still needed. GUESTS, VISITORS AND MAKE-UPS Guests today were Alek Kozak, Frank Rippl, Greg Linnemanstons with Alan Blake, Mel Rambo with Jim Dreyer, Mark Ashbacher with Kevin Eismann, Kevin Grater with Jon Kester, Kurt Glaser with Bob Thiel, Mark Logemann with Roy Valitchka and Bon Keomany with Kor Xiong. Making up this week was Ralph Kennedy at Appleton West and Joanne Kluessendorf on e-Club.

ROTARY CLUB OF APPLETON – QUALIFICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP

According to Rotary International, prospective members must:

· Hold (or be retired from) a professional, propriety, executive, managerial or community position.

· Have demonstrated a commitment to service through personal involvement.

· Be able to meet the club’s weekly attendance (50% attendance required) or community project participation requirements.

In addition, our bylaws state that the prospective member must live or work within the vicinity of the club or surrounding area for a minimum of six months unless a transferring Rotarian.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

· Merle Mueller visited Ralph Shiner at Brewster Village. Ralph is doing fairly well and is in good spirits. He inquired about Rotary and sends his greetings.

· If you know of a Rotarian in the hospital, please let Merle Mueller, Bill Anciaux or Kathy Dreyer know.

· Alek Kozak wanted to thank everyone who donated money for his summer RYE trip. For him, these funds represent 2 months of his parent’s wages. Not only is he looking forward to seeing more of the United States but also the opportunity to meet exchange students from all over the world. He thanked everyone for this wonderful opportunity. (Thanks to your contributions, we will be sending Alek and Rejoice on one of the summer RYE trips and they will also have some spending money.)

· Shelterboxes 4006, 4007 and partial 3926 were sent to Mexico on November 5, 2007. These boxes were a result of donations that we received from the FineMonger and the fundraiser by the Renaissance School for the Arts.

· We will be co-hosting (with Appleton West) a Group Study Exchange team from Sao Paulo, Brazil May 28-June 1, 2008. If you would like to serve on the committee or be a host family, please contact Jay Drzewiecki at 734-2555.

· The President Elect Training Seminar (PETS) will be held on March 7-8 for the 2008-2009 presidents of District 6220 and 6270. Dick Calder is looking for 1 more volunteer to help at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel on March 7. If you would like to help, please contact him at 739-7000.

· It is January and that's typically the time to re-set priorities and begin working toward a successful year. Our Club is no exception. We all want the Rotary Club of Appleton to be as vital as it can be. Think about your friends, colleagues and co-workers who would benefit from being part of this great Club and who have something to add to it. Our club has a tradition of steady growth every year, and you're encouraged to nominate future Rotarians by March 4th so we can welcome them in the current Rotary year. If you have any questions, please see Shipra, Curt or Kathy. Thanks for doing your part to keep our Club strong.

· President Jeff received a note from the Community Clothes Closet thanking our club for the clothing and monetary donations collected at our Holiday Celebration.

· President Jeff received a thank you letter from Jane Garton thanking us for recognizing her with a Charles and Adele Heeter Outstanding Community Leadership Award and a Paul Harris Fellowship.