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SPRING FLOWERS ISSUE APRIL 11, 2026
VOL. 6 NO. 25
BROOKE AND MARK
NEWS-NOTES-NONSENSE
On Thursday PaulH gave us an overview of a recent read "turtles All The Way Down", with a focus on polio.
We recognized EA-WR Service above Self students Brooke Moran and Noah Sconce (Noah was unable to attend, he was attending classes at the Collinsville Area Vocational Center).
Our Pork Jambalaya Dinner is scheduled for Saturday April 25th @ the Keasler Center. Everyone is asked to sell at least five tix @ $10 per. You can sign up using the the event link on our web page. We will need donations of soda and water. Proceeds will benefit the EA-WR High School Special Ed program. See flyer below for more details.
Thoughts and prayers go out to PatB as he deals with his recent hospitalization from lung cancer side effects and AllenH as he recovers from his automobile accident.
Opening duties were covered by RobertP, RobinK and GlennB.
April 30th will find us at our Belk Park pavilion for the annual cleanup day. We'll dine on pizza and then roll up our sleeves to get to work. Email to follow.
Birthday wishes go out to LoriP on the 17th.
GlennB sent you an email on Thursday regaring Business of the Year nominations. If you have a business that you want to nominate let him know ASAP.
Word on the street sez that KendraG's Gumbo 2 Geaux restaurant has excellent banana pudding beignets.
PattiA sez we need sponsors and runners for our Color Run on June 13th @ Belk. Registration will be live soon.
Put it on your calendar-Our Pints for Polio event will take place on August 13th.
Our golf tournament is on Saturday July 18th @ Belk. The event needs teams and sponsors. You received an email this past week with the event flyer attached (also below).
Our foundation will donate $2,000 toward exchange student Lilly's expenses (her fixed expenses will be about $8,500). Any member who wants to help Lilly financially can cut a check to our foundation and that will be added to the $2K amount. There will be a going away/open house fundraiser for her on Sunday July 19th @ Rustic Roots from 1-5PM. Food trucks, 50-50, auction items will be part of the afternoon festivities.
Our club's 100th anniversary is coming up in 2029. How will we recognize and celebrate?
Early-birders included Prez Mark, BradP and GlennB.Slide-right-inners-PattiA, DaveA
Last to arrive included RodneyD, DaveA, PattiA and JoeS.
There were 14 members dining on roast beast, corn, mac'n cheeze, rolls, Caesar salad (dressing on the side) and the very popular banana pudding.
SAA RickH recruited MattK to serve as the finemeister. Happy fines were paid by Prez Mark and JoeS. We answered 3 out of 4 trivia Q's correctly. There seemed to be some genuine disbelief as to how cheaply you can eat at The Masters golf tournament, food items sell for $1.50 -$3.
Once again, Prez Mark was unable to locate the joker. The same fate befell CherylM. RickH won the scratch-off.
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED
TIME TO VISIT
LOOKING FOR TEAMS AND SPONSORS
APRIL 23RD PROGRAM
ALL THINGS TRIVIAL
Nestle turned a massive Kit-Kat heist into a sweet PR coup. How many bars were taken?
A-9,077
B-57,816
C-413,793
D-3.9 million
(Find the answer near the end of the newsletter)
Today is National Cheese Fondue Day
What is the only U.S. city with a royal palace?
Newport, Rhode Island
St. Augustine, Florida
Honolulu, Hawaii
Madison, Wisconsin
Located in Honolulu’s downtown, the Iolani Palace served as the official residence for the Hawaiian monarchy from 1882 to 1893. After the royals were overthrown by the U.S. government in 1893, and Hawaii became a state in 1959, the Iolani Palace served as the state’s capitol building for a short period. In 1978, it opened to the public as a museum.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES
Sourced from the Eastender News, Make-Up and Banner newsletters
April 2019
The WR club heard a presentation about Refuge from Executive Director Erin
Bickle. The EA club found out about Roxana parks from Rec Director Debbie Ferry.
JohnP was sporting a therapeutic boot to protect his broken ankle..
Pastor Andrew said his farewells as he moves on to another temporary assignment in Massachusetts. He assured us that new pastor RodneyD would make a fine member.
Happy Fines were paid by DaveA, PaulG, GeorgeM and GeorgeT.
We discovered that AllenH uses a toilet plunger as part of his assessment toolkit.
Fried yard bird was on the EA buffet.
DaveA covers the SAA duties in the absence of DonnaK.
Steve Dowdy found the Queen of hearts and took home $639. MarkA and WendellR failed to locate the joker and win $66.
PHOTOS OF THE WEEK
DATELINE:ROTARY
SEE YOU IN BARCELONA!
Barcelona, Spain, will host the Rotary International Convention on 26–30 June 2027 at the Fira de Barcelona. This decision by the RI Board enables the city to bring the Rotary community together two years sooner than was recently announced in March.
The 2027 convention was originally scheduled to take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Rotary postponed it to a later year due to the current security situation in the Gulf region and uncertainties around international travel, which made it difficult to organize the event.
Barcelona, a premier convention destination, has previously hosted the event in 2002 and offers convenient access to Rotary members worldwide.
“We are deeply grateful to the city’s [Barcelona] organizers and the local Rotary members for their flexibility in working with us on an accelerated timeline,” says Rotary International President Francesco Arezzo.
Arezzo also expressed his sincere appreciation for Rotary members and leaders in the UAE for their commitment to Rotary and their substantial efforts to bring the Rotary convention to Dubai. “We look forward to a future convention there,” he says.
Registration for the 2027 Rotary Convention in Barcelona will open in September 2026.
AND I QUOTE
“In three words i can sum up everything I've learned in life: it goes on."-Robert Frost
“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse."-Walt Disney
"A bird is safe in its nest — but that is not what its wings are made for."-Amit Ray
"Tis never too late to be wise."-Daniel Defoe
SMILE
I told my daughter, "Go to bed, the cows are sleeping in the field." She said, "What's that got to do with anything?" I said, "That means it's pasture bedtime."
Today I learned if you turn a canoe over you can wear it as a hat. Because it's cap sized.
I was sitting here eating lunch when I realized, cottage cheese is not actually, in reality, a cheese. It's just a curd to me.
A man with authority walks into a bar. He orders everyone a round.
I can't remember how to write 1,1000, 51, 6 and 500 in Roman numerals. IM LIVID
THE NUMBERS
U.S. companies spent an estimated $23.5 billion on call and contact center outsourcing in 2025-Precedence Research
According to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA), roughly 1 in 7 Americans have unclaimed cash or property waiting to be returned to them, about $70 billion
RTB House’s 2026 US consumer study “Before They Buy” reveals that 50% of Gen Z customers dwell on what’s in their cart for two or more days before committing to a purchase, 24% of boomers reported mulling over their purchasers for that long
The median annual wage for registered nurses in the U.S. is $93,600, compared with $49,500 for all occupations. For nurse practitioners and others with advanced degrees, it is $132,050- Labor Department.
The average family’s annual spending on baseball increased nearly 70% between 2019 and 2024-Aspen Institute’s Project Play
Americans moved $841 billion from 401(k)s to IRAs in 2024, up from $612 billion in 2020-Cerulli Associates
(Trivia answer-C)
ROTARY'S AREAS OF FOCUS
These have been identified to help build international relationships, improve lives and create a better world to support our peace efforts and end polio forever
