Summary of the Iowa City Noon Rotary Meeting on May 19, 2016
New Member Induction –
Travis Brockett
Classification: Finance: Banking
(Sponsor Christina Kimerle)
Matt Steele, Publisher, Little Village
Fellow Rotarian Tom Cilek introduced Matt Steele for today’s program on Little Village.
Little Village is an independent, community-supported news and culture publication from Iowa City. The paper was founded in 2001 by members of Icon, the alt-weekly that served Iowa City from 1993-2001. The Little Village events calendar is among the area’s largest and most relied upon, connecting readers with critical cultural opportunities – some locally grown. For breaking event information, install their Best of IC app and/or follow Little Village on Facebook for the latest updates. Little Village is published twice monthly on the first and third Wednesday of each month. Circulation is at 10,000 with 55,000 views per issue. Over the 15 year history, 400 local writers have been featured in the publication. The publication is always free and they are always seeking submissions of letters to the editor, original writing and artwork from the public.
Little Village moved into street level office space at 623 S. Dubuque St. six months ago. Because of its success Little Village has created 13 staff jobs that help support all of their endeavors and further their mission to be relevant to many different demographics. New offerings include Little Village Tickets, Little Village Creative Services and the Feeder app. Connect with LV Tickets to sell tickets to your events. LV ticketing partners pay no fees, and save money with half-price advertising and free custom websites for their venues or events. LV Creative Services partners with local businesses to assist them with custom publications, photography and website development. The new Feeder app is an off campus meal plan. The app will allow parents of students or student athletes to load money onto the app to ensure that the money is indeed spent on food and not on other items.
For more information or to submit a letter or essay, please visit: http://littlevillagemag.com/.
MEETING
Singing: Bob Crane led singing of America the Beautiful and Vive Le Rotary with Jim Conard on the piano.
Janice Baldes had the following announcement:
Please consider joining the 2016 Iowa City MobilePack on June 17th. Volunteers are able to register now at www.icmobilepack.org. 750 Volunteers will work together for 1 day to pack 148,000 meals to send around the world. Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) is a Christian non-profit committed to feeding God’s Children by hand-packing meals specially formulated for malnourished children. Their food has reached more than 70 countries in their history.
Kelley Drowne had the following flag presentation:
Fellow Rotarian Kelley Drowne presented a Rotary flag from the Rotary Club of Blacksburg Virginia. Kelley attended the meeting on St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) when she was visiting her family and her alma mater Virginia Tech. They meet at noon and also sing like our club. From the Hokies to the Hawkeyes!
Usha Balakrishnan had the following announcement:
The 2016 Ovation Magazine published by the Iowa Women’s Foundation is now out and copies have been placed on tables at our meeting today. Feel free to take a copy and look on page 35 for our sponsored “Women in Rotary” photo. Plans are already being made for the 2017 edition.
Gary Pacha and Pete Wallace had the following announcement:
Please consider supporting Rotary District 6000’s Annual Cleft Lip and Palate Surgical Mission to Guatemala (IowaMOST) by taking advantage of this unique opportunity to purchase Wild Caught Alaskan Sockeye Salmom freshly caught in the Cook Inlet as they’re headed to the Kenai River by Rotarian Dan Jorgensen. Previously, orders needed to be in quantities of 25 lbs. or 50 lbs. Now, you can buy in quantities of 1, 2, or 4 lbs., etc. Bill Olin and Pete Wallace will compile the individual orders to meet the 25 lb. minimum. Don’t like salmon? Consider buying 1, 2, or 4 lbs., etc. and donating it to the JC Crisis Center Food Bank. The food bank is always looking for donations. If you choose to donate to the JC Crisis Center you can also take a tax deduction on your next return. For every pound of salmon ordered, $10 will be donated to IowaMOST which equates to $20,000 toward the project if all of the salmon is sold. Consider ordering salmon which will help bring Miles of Smiles to Guatemalan children born with cleft lip or palate defects. Orders can be placed online at www.iowamost.org. Orders are due by mid-June.
Linda Farkas and Casey Kidwell had the following announcement:
There has been a push from our members to increase our visibility locally by sponsoring local projects that will make an impact in our community. Our club needs to continue to submit project ideas so district grants can be applied for on an annual basis. Casey Kidwell and John Lee are currently organizing “The Rotary Bike Rack Project”. Custom-made bike racks will be constructed, painted in Rotary blue and will include our Rotary logo. This is a great way to promote the Rotary brand in our area, especially, among young people. There will also be a fix-it station at each bike rack which will include a tire pressure gauge, a wrench, a screwdriver and an air pump. Casey has met with the City of Iowa City and the grant is ready to be submitted. Notification will be made in late August or early September on whether we received the grant. The bike racks are scheduled to be installed next year.
President Thais had the following announcements:
David Gott brought new flavors of custard to share with our club. Members tried Black Walnut, Blueberry and Pistachio custard at the meeting today.
The club’s laptop crashed last week. Mike McKay and his staff spent countless hours bringing it back to life while removing viruses. The laptop is now running smoothly. Thanks, Mike!
Tip of the hat to Fellow Rotarian Herb Wilson who will be boarding a plane tonight to head to Seoul, Korea for the Rotary International Convention May 28-June 1. He will be on hand to talk about the RAGClubfoot Ponseti Project.
Please forward any newsworthy items and/or photos to Casey Kidwell to include in the weekly presentation. You can send information to: secretary@iowacitynoon.rotary.org or to: casey-kidwell@uiowa.edu. The pre-meeting PowerPoint is a great way to reach fellow Rotarians who may not be at the weekly meeting.
For questions related to Club administration, please contact us at secretary@iowacitynoonrotary.org.
Reminder: It is our policy to have all members silence their cell phones before the meeting and refrain from answering their cell phones during the meeting out of respect to the speaker and fellow members.
Guests and Visiting Rotarians
Janice Baldes introduced Visiting Rotarian Brian Adamec (Iowa City AM) as well as guests Ed Hedlund (Steve Hedlund; MacKenzie Phillips, Amy Kubik-Halsey, and Mary Ann Hendrickson (Usha Balakrishnan); Travis Brockett (Chrisina Kimerle); Ronald Ettinger (Art Nowak).
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
Program: Tom Cilek; Attendance: Nancy Droll; May 26 – Anna Moyers Stone and John Bay, June 2 – Aaron Schaefer and Susan Brennan, and June 9 – LaShonda Kennedy and Cindy Crider.