Stories

When: Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

Where:24/7 Club Fit

 WLQI Live Broadcast from 24/7 Club Fit

Rotary's lunch will be at 24/7 Club Fit on the 29th at 12:00pm!!

With the recent passing of Deb Schrum, Rensselaer Rotary Officers' and Board have decided to dedicate a tree and plaque in her honor upon the opening of the hospital annex, made possible in part,  by her volunteer spirit, hard work , and dedication to the hospital and community at large.  We remenber her Husband, Dave, during the passing weeks!  God Speed.

NEXT WEEK AT THE BAKERY!!

Twenty-two members were present at the Pub today, plus guest Sheila Maxwell. We appreciated and enjoyed host Bill Bruce's food, service, and venue.

Mindy Beier announced that porkburger setup for Little Cousin Jasper Festival would be Thursday, with sales Friday from 10:30 to 1:30, then open again at 4:30, Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Sunday from 10:30 to 3. Help is still needed Saturday and Sunday. 

Hello Rensselaer Rotarians!

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION: Next meeting, September 3, at the City Office & Pub, next to the Ritz Theater on Van Rensselaer St. Speaker will be Ned Speicher, Superintendent of the Rensselaer Central School Corporation.

Starting September 10, we will meet at Clauss Bakery and Café, 110 West Washington St.for a four-week trial period. Parking will be available at CVS, corner of Washington and Cullen St.

Click here to read more from today!!!

On September 3rd the Rensselaer Rotary Club will be meeting at the City Office and Pub for that meeting only and following that will begin a trial period at the Clauss Bakery September 10th.

President Mark Callaway conducted a club meeting(ROTARY FORUM) by asking for input into improving attendance and inspiring club member to be more active in the club. Discussions were held about returning to the practice of having a greeter for each meeting. If you can be a greeter contact Mark and have hime add you to the list.

Mark encouraged every member to contact those member that are not active and encourage them to attend our meetings.  Let them know that we miss them and would lke for them to attend our weekly meetings. Also, if you have any suggestions for speakers for our meetings, contact Mark and let him know who they are. The things that are important to our members is important to our club. We all need to pitch in and do our part to keep the club viable and moving foreward.

Membership was discussed and it goes without saying that we need new members as our club members are all getting older. New and young members bring a new and exciting perspective to our club. We encourage new, younger and female participants.  The club assessment was based on where our club is now, where we would like our club to be and how we get there. Hope to see you next Tuesday.

The Jasper Foundation was established in 1991 to serve the needs and philanthropic aims of donors who wish to better their community, now and in the future. Community foundations do this by providing donors with a flexible, tax effecient way to ensure their charitable giving achieves the greatest possible impact. Because donations are endowed, they are never spent. Instead they are permanently invested to produce income.

There are over 400 communtiy foundations that exist nationwide with Indiana leading the nation with 95. Every county in the state is served by a community foundation or an affiliate fund of the community. Indiana Community foundation assets are growing at more that twice the national average and over 300 million have been added to the staes community foundation in the last four years.

Kristen is the Executive Director and with a board of directors oversees the daily operations of the foundation.

Stephanie was our speaker today and presented a detailed power point on the first 75 years for REMC. REMC provides electric power to all of rural Jasper County.  REMC maintains all lines and poles and purchases its electricity from a cooperative. They used to purchase power from Rensselaer but have not purchased from Rensselaer for years because Rensselaer could not provide them with the power they needed. They have a board of directors who work with their CEO, Bryan Washburn, to set policy.

Their average monthly bill is About $160.00 per customer compared to About $2.00 per month when they started in 1938. In 1941 REMC had just 1084 customers and 391 miles of lines compared to 8500 customers and 1078 miles of lines. More information is available on their websit at www. jasperremc.com

Karen talked to us today about her job and what it includes from both the local level and the state level. She talked about our local group LEPC(Local Emergency Planning commission)that includes law enforcement, fire and other first responders as well as local executives. The group meets at least quarterly to discuss matters of importance to the county residents. Her coordinator for The State Deparment of Homeland Security was also in attendance. The District 1,which includes Jasper, Newton, Lake, Porter and LaPorte Counties, mobile command center was available for inspections by Rotary members. The command center is available for emergencies in any and all of the 5 counties in District 1. Russ Shirley brought the command center from Porter County, where it is stationed. He is the EMA Director for Porter County.

The command center is a large truck that has the most modern technology for mapping, internet, radio equipment and telephone equipment. It can be used in any of the counties in District 1 in the event an emergency knocks out our local communication center. There are 5 mobile centers around the state. They are stratigically located based on population.

Dr. Barbara Lucas was our speaker today(3/19/13) showed a slide show of both local and some birds she had recently photographed in Arizona. She had a marvelous presentation of local backyard variety of birds as well as bird identification and bird songs. She talked about The Wonder of Birds, Sandhill Cranes from Jasper-Pulaski Wildlife Area and Guided Bird Watching Walks. Pictures included a nesting eagle found south of Rensselaer and she said according to DNR there are at least 161 nesting eagles in Indiana. It is believed that they may be many more.

She provided us with a handout with web sites and information to allow us to further explore the wonders of birdwatching.

Mayor Steve Wood was our speaker today(3/12/13) and gave us the yearly update for Rensselaer City. He talked about the recent annexation and their plan to add city water to the area some time in the future. The Melville storm water project is complete and a major renovation/addition is being made to the electrical department is underway. Major snowstorms were handled by the city street department in exemplary fashion. Great job!!!!  Steve is doing a great job as mayor and we welcome him to come back to Rensselaer Rotary anytime.

We also presented checks to the 9 charitable organizations that were beneficiaries of our TRAILER TRIVIA. A total of about $1600.00 was divided between the agencies and our trailer fund received another $600.00 from the event. Great job by Mindy Beier and John Ahler and others in organizing this event.

It was decided to donate $100.00 to The Rensselaer Post Prom group to help the with expenses in keeping our kids safe on prom night.

We are screening applications for our St. Joe scholarship(we had 6 total applicants) and we hope to announce the winner next week.

Nick talked about the core values of Boy Scouts and how the scouts benefit of the various camps and outings during the year. Camp Cary and Camp Buffalo are  two of the local training facilities in the area. Many scout badges are earned thru individual and group participation. He also explaimed various sources of scout funding and the expense ratio-to-income, spending most of the money on scout functions. Donations are the scouts largest source of income.

Don't forget our Boy Scout Chicken Dinner on April 7th at Rensselaer Middle School from 11:00am until 1:00pm. Tickets can be purchased from any scout of any member of Rensselaer Rotary.

Kevin Kelly told us about the his job as director and what he does to encourage new businesses to locate inJasper County. He talked about Wilson Industries, Advanced Auto Parts and Monsanto. He talked about the I65 corridor and how we are a hub for business between Indianapolis and Chicago. Wilson, Advanced and Monsanto  are only three of the many businesses that have either built new buildings or recently expanded their facility to include the employment of local residents. He talked about the County Council and tax abatement and how it works. More information is available on the web at www.jaspercountyin.com

Also, Penny Titus from Congressman Todd Rokita's office was with him and she gave us a handout on what our congressman  is proposing for new legislation and some of the committees he is serving on. Penny and Kevin had just finished a tour at Monsanto in Remington.

Supt. Speicher talked about the new school building on Melville Street and recent renovations to existing building and about the Monnett School building which reverts to Rensselaer City. Rensselaer graduation rate is between 91 and 92% up from the mid 60s when he came to Rensselaer. He talked about the safety and security of all buildings in the corporation and the fact that Rensselaer City Police, The Jasper County Sheriff's Department and Indiana State Police have trained in the school buildings and are all familiar with the school floor plans in case they are needed.

The school has several teachers and staff that are state certified in emergency response and that each school building has an emergency plan in place for emergency response.

Brenda Hagadon, Executive Director of the Crisis Center was our speaker on 11/20. She told us about the services offered to women and children suffering from abuse and broken homes because of domestic violence, physical and mental abuse. She supplied us with a list of things that are needed by the crisis center and also advised that they need Christmas gifts for families that reside there or have resided there during the year. For more information call the crisis center. The center serves Jasper, Newton and Pulaski Counties.

Also, a big THANK YOU to Rein Bontrager and The Fellowship of Living Hope Church for a donation of $445.00 for our Walk for Warmth event next week.