We are only a couple of Eve's away from the candy-est day of the year. It's not my favorite holiday - not even close. It's not that I don't love candy. I. LOVE. CANDY. It's just that it's changed so much from "buy a bag of candy to pass out and have your mom sew patches on the outside of your coat. Pretty sure you can tie a handkerchief to a toilet plunger to get the effect of the authentic train hobo." Nowadays it's SO complicated and I'm not even sure that the word "hobo" is PC.
Buy 12-15 bags of candy at $25 each.
Decorate the front porch with $284 worth of Hobby Lobby.
Plan family costumes from websites that coordinate the entire family to include pets.
Make orange jello shots.
Buy trough-size plastic bowls in appropriate colors for Halloween to fill with chips so no one at your house starves that night.
Watch scary movies so your kids will never sleep in their own rooms again.
Pre-cook a simple dinner of pizza because you'll be busy handing out candy till your fingers are raw. But it can't be just any pizza. Must be pumpkin-shaped, complete with triangular eyes, nose, and sparse teeth.
At 9 pm, take everything off the porch, turn off the outside light and listen for the older and unsupervised trick or treaters to vandalize your house.
Sort through kids' candy, looking for "unsafe or open packaging. " Convince kiddos that all of the mini snickers, heath bars, and skittles are poisoned. Stash in your underwear drawer.
Tell kids they can only have a few pieces of candy before bed (after they've already eaten half their haul.) Listen to their sugar rush causing them to toss and turn until the sun comes up.
The first doorbell is at 3:30 pm for 3-month-olds and toddlers whose parents are already planning to go to bed early because, let's face it, parenting is exhausting every day of the year.
These may be more than just a few of the reasons I don't like Halloween. But my son loved it so I did my mom-ly duty every possible year and made it happen.
And even if you have a similar experience, do not stress. You have an underwear drawer full of snacks and jello shots!
Much more importantly than Halloween and my ever-consuming inability to stay away from candy, we are just days away from Rotary Foundation month! Maile Foster, our Foundation Director, will be bringing us information in November and helping us understand why the Foundation is so vital to our organization! It's very exciting to see the impact of our Foundation dollars!
This week's Random Awesome Deed suggestion is to give someone outside your household a book. Maybe you already have some books that could be enjoyed by someone else more than sitting on your shelf at home. Books are the windows to the world for all of us. But with youngsters, the more they read, the more successful they will be in life. And isn't helping others what Rotary is all about?
Now let's go forth, drive extra vigilant on Sunday while watching for trick or treaters, be great stewards of Rotary and Catalysts of Caring in our Community!
Please be well, be safe, and be kind. There are a lot of people needing just that.
For those who wish to participate, our club will be hosting another Rotary Rally on Tuesday afternoon (Nov 30) at 4:30 PM at Ivywild!
If you are planning to attend, be sure to extend the invitation to anyone you know who wants to meet weekly with other amazing people and do good things for our community! The event is FREE to attend but everyone pays their own tab! Ivywild has amazing appetizers and very creative cocktails! (So fancy!)
And also, attending a Rotary Rally event does count as a club member's makeup for missed meetings!
Hope to see you there!!
Holly Flores, Membership Director and Kathleen Saltmarsh-Voss
You are invited to “An Evening to Experience ShelterBox”
Our event will be held on Thursday, November 4, 2021, at 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT.
Each year, ShelterBox holds a benefit highlighting the lifesaving work the generous support of our donors has enabled. We hope you will join us for an hour of inspiration as we share exclusive updates from ShelterBox Response Team members on our current response efforts. Whether you are new to ShelterBox or a long-time supporter, the Evening to Experience ShelterBox is an hour of inspiration, hope, and stories that personify “Service Above Self”. You will hear from families whose lives were transformed after receiving ShelterBox aid.
ShelterBox is the official project partner with Rotary International for disaster relief. “Through this project partnership, Rotary members around the globe can collaborate with ShelterBox to support communities in desperate need of emergency temporary shelter and vital supplies following natural disasters.” – John Hewko, General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Rotary International.
An Evening to Experience ShelterBox is free to attend, registration is required.
“We are looking for 4 to 5 people to be on the Diamond Awards committee. We spend about 10 hours actually working on the committee during the school year. We spend maybe five hours during our own free time reading applications and nominations from students about their favorite teacher from District 11 high schools. Reading the nominations occurs from the end of December through the beginning of February. Then we ask the committee to go with us to the high schools to notify the teachers they have won-which is another two hours of time if their schedule allows it. We then have two presentations at the Rotary Club where we invite the winning teachers and their principals to a rotary luncheon and we honor them by giving them a Diamond chipped Clock from Luisa Graff Jewelers, a longtime Rotarian, and a check from the Community Service Fund that they are able to use for themselves. All told that is another three hours for a total of 10 hours. I mention this because I know people work full-time, or even retired people have plans and things to do.
So all in all it’s 10 hours which stretches from the end of December until the first week in April. We are looking for 4 to 5 interested members who may have fond memories of teachers in their lives and how they may have changed and help them along the way. This committee was started 22 years ago by Jack Kinney- another longtime, beloved Rotary member- and if you are interested in the committee please reach out to Cass Daley, Jody Richie, or Vance Valades.
Thank you to Jody Richie for suggesting and coordinating this program. I heard it was very interesting! And thank you to Ron Rubin for serving as the facilitator! If (like me) you had to miss this program, it is available on our YouTube channel to watch through this link: https://youtu.be/ZX4U3ytf9p0
If you are interested in participating in our International Committee, please email Jordan Davis at Jordan@sociallyexceptional.biz to be added to the notification list!
If you have bulletin announcements, please email the EXACT WORDING of your announcement to KSaltmarshVoss@yahoo.com by Wednesday at 5 pm. I don't write your announcements but I do make them nice 'n' fancy!
As you're doing your shopping online, did you know that you can support our Rotary Club with every Amazon purchase? Here’s how:
Go to smile.amazon.com (not amazon.com). Amazon Smile is the same company, same account, same password, but the Amazon Smile program gives one half of one percent of every purchase to charity. No, it’s not a lot, but it’s also not nuthin’ (to be exact: about $150 for the Club so far). So again, go to smile.amazon.com
Sign into your Amazon account as you normally would
On the very top left of the page, next to the AmazonSmile logo, are three horizontal bars. Click there for the drop-down menu.
Scroll ALL the way down to “Your AmazonSmile”; it should be the last option right before “Sign Out”; Click on “Your AmazonSmile”
On the right side of the page, click on the “change charity” box under Your current charity (Note: If you are currently supporting another charity, that’s awesome! These instructions are for those who are not doing so. Also, if you have not previously selected a charity, your default option will be St. Judge Children’s Research Hospital.)
Type in Community Service Fund of the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs; click Select
That’s it. You’re all set. Just remember to go to Smile.Amazon.com when you shop from now on.
For those who wish to participate, our club will be hosting another Rotary Rally on Tuesday afternoon (Nov 30) at 4:30 PM at Ivywild!
