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MBR Board Meeting
Goodman South Madison LibraryOct 10, 2017
5:30 PM – 6:45 PM -
International Committee Meeting
Panera BreadNov 09, 2017
7:15 AM – 8:30 AM -
THINK ROTARY, SHOP LOCALLY
Doug and Betsy Nordstrom's HomeDec 01, 2017
12:30 PM – 7:00 PM
Welcome to the Madison Breakfast Rotary Club
www.madisonbreakfastrotary.org
mbrotary6250@gmail.com
Service Above Self One Profits Most Who Serves Best
Every Monday at 7:30 a.m. (except evening meeting on 2nd Monday and no meeting on 5th Monday)
Vitense Golfland
Vitense Golfland
5501 Schroeder Road
Madison, WI 53711
United States
Madison, WI 53711
United States
District Site
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Venue Map
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Heather Dyer received the Rotarian of the Year award at the September 11 reception at Sprecher’s. Doug Nordstrom and Thom Weiss, past recipients of the award, presented Heather with the award and a Paul Harris fellowship for her incredible organizational skills as club president.
Club members gathered at Sprecher’s on September 11 for the Rotarian of the Year award, and to introduce Bea, the club’s 2017-18 exchange student from Brazil, and the newest members of the club Erin Hastey and Kevin Frost. The event was organized by Betsy Nordstrom with her fantastic arrangement skills.
Fe’ Semira, Eng Braun, Bea from Brazil, Stephanie Stetson, and Bruce Harville at Sprecher’s on September 11.
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Bruce Harville, Betsy and Doug Nordstrom, Stephanie Stetson, and Steve Schwerbel..png)
Zoe and Joan Tillett, Bea’s host family, Erin & Rafeal Hastey, Jerry Thain and Eng Braun.Scholarship, truth, and cheese – the Wisconsin Idea is the intersection of the university and government using each to build up and support the other for the greater good. It sounds a lot like the four-way test. Thanks to Gwen Drury, the UW-Madison Speakers Bureau Coordinator for her talk on August 21.
Bruce Harville, August 21 speaker Gwen Drury, and Will Clifton.
Speaker Gwen Drury
On August 14, club members enjoyed a visit to the club of Stephan Elkins of Wisconsin Public Radio. She was accompanied by her husband, Roy Elkins.
Wisconsin invented public radio, Stephanie told the group. Wisconsin in the 1920’s was agrarian and the first broadcast started with weather and prices for farming. In 1954, TV was born and WPT began to broadcast. Classical music was the popular music of the day.
In 1967, the Public Broadcasting Act was passed. It set aside money for public broadcasting, regulated by the government, for free, independent and accessible programming.
Today, WPR has 36 stations, 500,000 listeners per week and 52,000 members. Today, Stephanie hosts “Morning Classics” on WPR from 9 to 11 am and has previously hosted “Simply Folk” and “The Midday.” Chapter a Day is the longest running book reading program on air and Sesame Street is the most popular program. WPR has a library of 35,000 CDs. Wisconsin Public Radio was the start of the Wisconsin Idea.
Our thanks to Stephanie Elkins for her presentation and her wonderful voice and programming on WPR.
District Governor Joe Ruskey urged club members on August 7, to tell the story of Rotary, which has 1.2 million members in over 200 countries. The Rotary Foundation is one of 5 foundations in the world where 95 cents on the dollar goes to programs. In 1985, when the polio eradication effort was started, there were 350,000 cases of polio annually. So far in 2017 we are down to only 8 cases. Rotary has a masters program at the 6 top universities in the world, where peace and conflict resolution are taught.
Joe owned an IT firm in Chicago and joined Rotary when he moved to Prairie du Chien. He met leaders of the community and became President of the Prairie du Chien Rotary club. He then became Foundation Chair and then Assistant District Governor. He urged club members to attend the Tri-Conference at the Wilderness Resort on May 4-6 in 2018.
Pictured below are District Governor Joe Ruskey and his wife Tina along with Assistant District Governor John Locke and MBR Club President Heather Dyer.
Project Home Paint-a-Thon team including members of Madison Breakfast Rotary and Madison Horizons Rotary.
Madison Breakfast team members included Doug and Betsy Nordstrom, Bruce Harville, Stephanie and Steve Stetson, Judy and Vic Levine, and Steve Schwerbel.
On June 27, Bruce Harville, President of the MBR Foundation, announced this year’s awards. They are as follows:
Remitts: Janet Tupy. Remitts benefits local food pantries. Started in 2008, they make mittens from old sweaters, boiled to felt-like material. They raised $3900 the first year and $50,000 last year.
Rubin for Kids: Randy Sproule from Madison South Rotary. Rubin for Kids provides funds for scholarships for students with significant needs. The scholarships are for MATC programs, either general studies or technical programs. Students receive $1,000 each year for two years. All recipients are the first in their family to attend college.
Box of Balloons: Sarah Wells. Groups pack a birthday party box with cupcakes, gifts, and balloons to deliver to homes for parents to create a party. They plan to give 250 empty boxes this year for companies and individuals to fill.
Middleton Outreach Ministry: Patricia Eldres. They serve Middleton, Madison, and the Cross Plains area with food and provide small grants to help prevent evictions. The award will be used for a new, oral health project providing kids with an electric toothbrush, paste, and instruction. A dentist will give free exams.
Madison Ice Arena: Andrea Chafee. The organization owns and operates two ice arenas. One has been modified to meet requirements for adaptive skating. The funds will be used for replacement ice skates for the adaptive programs. Kids will be able to take the Learn to Skate program, Sled Hockey program or Special Hockey programs.
Boys and Girls Club of Dane County: Karen Gallagher. Founded in 1999, they serve 6,000 children in afterschool programs, including tutoring, recreation, and incentives and training to encourage college with the TOPS program. The awarded funds will go toward the summer program.
Books for the World: Thom Weiss. This year, four semi-loads of books were sent to Houston and more will be sent before the year’s end. Twenty Rotary clubs participated in various ways. They are happy to contribute books to local groups as they do now with MOM.
Club members at the “Second Monday” gathering at Vitense on July 10. – Photo by Emma DyerRotary Club of Waunakee donates $700 to the Wisconsin Books for the World Project. Bob Pulvermacher presents check to Thom Weiss. Thank you Rotary Club of Waunakee!
With your help, the story of thousands of books doesn’t have to end in a landfill. We’re aiming to give textbooks and library books a second life by sending them to kids overseas.
Wisconsin Books for the World supports global literacy and education by collecting used school and library books throughout the state and sending them to developing countries. Books for the World is coordinated by the Madison Breakfast Rotary Club.
This is the final week in our month-long campaign to raise $5,000, enough to ship two truckloads of books and give them a new home. We need your help to get across the finish line!
A $15 contribution is enough to ship 5 boxes of books, so each dollar counts. Please click below to donate!
The Books for the World project provides Rotarians & the community an opportunity to connect for a cause.
Wisconsin Books for the World supports global literacy and education by collecting used school and library books throughout the state and sending them to developing countries. Books for the World is coordinated by the Madison Breakfast Rotary Club.
Since Books for the World began in 2000, Rotary clubs from across the country have shipped thousands of tons of used textbooks that would have otherwise been discarded to 25 countries in southern Africa, Central and South America, India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
Now, we need your help. We’re so lucky to have local schools that have generously donated books and volunteers willing to prepare them to be shipped, but getting the books overseas is an expensive endeavor.
We are half way into our campaign to raise enough money to ship two truck-loads of books. We need your help to meet our goal of $5000.
A $15 contribution is enough to ship 5 boxes of books, so each dollar counts. Please click below to donate!
Share your love of reading with budding book-lovers across the globe!
Wisconsin Books for the World supports global literacy and education by collecting used school and library books throughout the state and sending them to developing countries. Books for the World is coordinated by the Madison Breakfast Rotary Club.
If you have already donated, thank you very much. If you have not, please consider donating what you can.
Our goal is to reach $5000 so we can send two truck loads of books.
Click below to donate! A $15 contribution is enough to ship 5 boxes of books, so each dollar counts.
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Not all kids go to schools that are able to provide the books they need to learn. Teachers in some areas don’t have the resources they need for their students, but thanks to the generosity of local educators who donate books, we have the power to help.
Wisconsin Books for the World supports global literacy and education by collecting used school and library books throughout the state and sending them to developing countries. Books for the World is coordinated by the Madison Breakfast Rotary Club.
Over the next 4 weeks, we have a goal to raise $5,000, the cost of shipping two truckloads of textbooks. Please click below to donate. Send a student the tools they need to promote the love of learning!
On February 20, Madison Breakfast Rotary held a Rotary Informational Party at 5:30 pm at Vitense Golfland. Members, perspective members, and friends enjoyed a lively meeting. President Thom Weiss, who is also the coordinator of the club’s Rotary Books for the World project, gave an inspiring talk about the many facets of Rotary.
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Franci, from Italy, Sari from Finland, and Daniel, 2017-18 outbound exchange student to Denmark.
The club enjoyed a visit on January 9 from Sari, our 2014-15 exchange student from Finland, Franci, our current exchange student from Italy, and Daniel, our 2017-18 outbound change student going to Denmark.
Sari, from Finland
Sari graduated from high school last spring and has started at the University of Helsinki, majoring in psychology. Right after high school, she traveled to nine countries. She currently lives with a friend from high school.
Franci from Italy
Franci went to Ohio with his host family Brenda and Thom Weiss for Christmas. He practices basketball every day and has games three times a week. He calls his family every Sunday morning.
Franci went on the hockey weekend with the exchange students. It was the first time he had seen hockey.
Daniel, 20017-18 Outbound to Denmark
Daniel, an Eagle Scout and a member of the National Honor Society plays soccer. As a senior in high school, he has been applying to colleges. His older brother and sister each went on two exchanges. He recently met a kid from Denmark and practices his Danish. For his Eagle Scout project, he created a gravel pathway and garden in an Elementary School.
On January 16, the club will vote on the following slate of officers being put forth by the Board of Directors:
President Heather Dyer
President Elect Bailey Ebben
Past President Thom Weiss
Secretary Eng Braun
Treasurer Fe’ Semira
At Large Bruce Harville
At Large Mike Kafka
At Large Sarah Flanagan
At Large Betsy Nordstrom
Thank you to Betsy and Doug Nordstrom for opening their house for the Think Rotary Shop Locally fundraiser for our youth and literacy programs on December 2. It was an elegant affair with the café lunch, and an incredible display of holiday goodies for sale. Vendors displayed jewelry, table ware, art work, and clothes throughout the house. Club members and friends helping out included Fe’ Semira, Eng Braun, Krissa Hinzman, Judy Levine, Thom Weiss, Monica Tuite, and many others.
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Project Home Paint-a-Thon team including members of Madison Breakfast Rotary, Madison Rotary After Hours, and the Do Gooders.
Madison Breakfast team members included Doug and Betsy Nordstrom, Bruce Harville, Mike Kafka, AJ Ernst, and Fé Cruz Semira.
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Jasmine, 20016-17 youth exchange student from Taiwan with Gaby, 2017-18 outbound to Taiwan
Betsy Nordstrom announced that the Food and Beer Pairing fundraiser at Sprecher’s on April 7 raised $6500 for the club’s youth and literacy programs. Thanks to all who contributed raffle gifts and worked on the event. Judy Levine handled the raffle table and Steve Schwerbel the marketing. Betsy Nordstrom spearheaded the event, Doug Nordstrom handled the event registration and money, and Krissa Hinzman coordinated the exchange students. Thom Weiss, Fe’ Semira, and Eng Braun also worked on the event as did many club members who took turns at the registration table.
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On December 21, the club voted for the following officers effective July 1, 2016.
President: Thom Weiss
President Elect: Heather Dyer
Secretary: Eng Braun
Treasurer: Fe’ Semira
Board Member: Mike Kafka
Board Member: Bruce Harville
Board Member: Lori Scroggs
Board Member Bailey Ebben
Sgt. At Arms: Sara Flanagan
Past President: AJ Ernst
Sara Flannagan, newest member of the club. She is also the mother of Mason, our exchange student to Thailand.
Photo by Bob Dombroski
On Saturday, November 14, nine Rotary clubs from Dane County helped sort and pack educational materials for the Rotary-supervised Books for the World program.
Over 50 Rotarians from the Madison Breakfast, After Hours, Waunakee, Madison East-Monona, Fitchburg-Verona, Reedsburg, DeForest, Sun Prairie, and West Towne-Middleton clubs packed more than 15 tons (9 pallets) of school and library books. The pallets of books will soon be shipped to Houston, Texas, and Rotarians there will load them into sea containers destined for schools in over 25 countries where students are taught in English. These resources, donated by schools and libraries across Wisconsin, will be used by students in these countries for an additional 5 to 8 years.
The Wisconsin Operation, which has been supervised by Madison Breakfast Rotary since 2005, is the second largest Books for the World processing site in the USA (Texas being the largest). Since the Wisconsin program began, the club has also shipped school desks (more than 1,000), classroom tables, and library shelves. The sea containers, which are purchased by the Houston-area Rotary clubs, remain with the schools to be converted to teaching space and health clinics.
Click here to see photo album.
New member Steve Schwerbel is congratulated and presented with a red badge by Club President AJ Ernst on October 19.
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Assistant District Governor John Locke, club president J Ernst, District Governor Mary Van Hout, Jasmine, Rotary Exchange student from Taiwan at the September 28 club meeting. Photo by Judy Levine
At the September 2 club gathering at Sprecher’s Restaurant, Doug Nordstrom presented Thom Weiss with the Rotarian of the Year award. Thom has worked tirelessly after taking over the operation of the Rotary Books for the World from the Dombroski's two years ago.
Thom and his wife Brenda have hosted exchange students in their home every year for more than ten years, most recently a summer student from Spain. Thom has had a major role in the paint-a-thons for a number of years with his wife Brenda.
In addition to serving on the board of directors, the club has enjoyed his enthusiasm and wit as a sergeant at arms at club meetings. Congratulations to Thom Weiss.
Jasmine from Taiwan will be hosted by Madison Breakfast Rotary for the 2015-16 year.
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Bailey Ebben was welcomed into the club on August 17. A graduate of UW-Madison and UW Law School, Bailey practices estate and business law with the David Grams Law firm. She grew up in Appleton, Wisconsin and loves sports, especially water and youth sports. Welcome to Bailey Ebben
At the June 22 club meeting, Bruce Harville, president of the club’s foundation, announced this year’s five awards. The recipients were Reach Out and Read, Books Are Power, Madison Ice. Inc. Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, Millennium Soccer Club and Books for the World.
Ruth Sias attended the meeting, representing Reach Out and Read; Gary Muldoon, represented Books Are Power. Jack Connelly accepted for the Millennium Soccer Club, and Bob and Carol Dombroski accepted for Books for the World, since Thom Weiss was away.
Acting Program Chair, Dean McHugh, reported that the Madison Breakfast Rotary ranks second among about 60 Rotary clubs in District 6250 for per capita giving. Madison Breakfast members donated $3,520 topping the club goal by more than 176% with per capita giving of $153. Congratulations to all of our members for exceeding this important goal and special thanks to our Rotary Foundation Chair, Helen Baldwin for an outstanding job.
Left to right -- Bobbie, Dante, Joseph and James, students who attended RYLA Camp May 9-10, sponsored by MBR
Thom Weiss received an Outstanding Service Award from the Books for the World CEO Charlie Clemmons. The award was presented at the Summit IV in Houston, Texas on January 12 and recognizes Madison Breakfast Rotary's significant contribution to the success of this international literacy program.
On December 15, club members unanimously approved the board's following slate of officers for July 1, 2015-16.......
President: AJ Ernst
President Elect Thom Weiss
Secretary Eng Braun
Treasurer Fe’ Semira
Past President Bob Dombroski
Youth Protection Officer Ryea Myers
Board of Directors
2nd Year of 2-year term: Lori Scroggs, Helen Baldwin
1st year of 2 year term: Bruce Harville, Mike Kafka
A big thank you to Doug and Betsy Nordstrom for opening their home for the November 21 club fundraiser. Thanks especially go to Monica Tuite, who prepared the food for the holiday café and members and friends who contributed items for the spectacular bake sale.
Thanks also to the vendors who donated 20 percent of their sales to the youth exchange and to the members and friends who purchased items from the vendors and the bake sale. The vendors included Baginspirations, Embellishments, Partyville, Totally Wired and the holiday decorations by Surroundings.
On September 27, Madison Breakfast Rotary reached a milestone of two million pounds of books collected for the Books for the World program.
Doug Nordstrom was honored as Rotarian of the Year at the club gathering at Sprecher’s on Sunday, August 24 for his outstanding work as the club’s webmaster. Doug has made the club’s website relevant, interesting, easy to navigate, and functional. In the case of our club, the first thing visitors see when coming to our website is how engaged the club is – with the community (local and global) and in the projects we undertake, with the youth through our exchange programs, and with out partnerships with businesses and non-Rotarians, at the same time having fun through our fundraising and social activities.
Doug has served as president, president elect, and past president for our cub. He has served on the executive board at least two extra years. As a member of the fundraising committee, he handles the finances and much of the behind the scenes set up. He also does a lot to keep the youth exchange running smoothly and is a generous financial donor to that program.
Doug Nordstrom has been a Rotarian since July 1995 when he was a charter member of the Middleton Sunrise club. He served as president of that club three times and was very involved with that club’s community events and their youth exchange program. The club congratulates Doug Nordstrom and thanks him for his service.
Bruce Harville presented Priscilla Thain with a Certificate of Appreciation for her many years of service to the club. Priscilla, a member for over 15 years and past president, has been the newsletter editor for many years. She faithfully provides the club with the weekly newsletter as well as an inspiration message on Monday mornings.
Judy Levine, Betsy Nordstrom with Xaver and host family.
Xaver from Austria will be hosted by Madison Breakfast Rotary for the 2014-15 year.
Club members and their families are invited to gather at Sprecher’s on Sunday August 24 starting at 3 p.m., to welcome our incoming exchange student and new and old host families, celebrate the incoming and outgoing board of directors, and honor the recipient of the Rotarian of the Year Award.
Please invite friends who might be interested in joining the club.
Hosted appetizers and soft drinks provided. Cash bar available.
Please RSVP to Betsy at bnordstrom@tds.net or (608)695-7847.
Madison Breakfast Rotary teamed up with the After Hours Rotary for the August 2 Paint-a-thon, a program of Project Home. Brenda Weiss coordinated the project where volunteers from both clubs painted the exterior home of a family on Toban Drive. Hallman Lindsay Paint Company provided the paint and the Manna Café provided lunch for the painters. Project Home paints 8 to 12 homes in Dane County every year.
Club members gathered at the home of Thom and Brenda Weiss on Sunday August 3 for a cookout and birthday cake, to say farewell to Tomas, our exchange student from the Czech Republic from a couple of years ago. Tomas visited Madison for a month and stayed with the Weisses. Tomas had offered to do chores for club members and did some gardening with Helen Baldwin on Monday July 21and cooked an Asian dinner and a pie with Eng and Bill Braun on Sunday, July 27. Club members were invited.
Tomas had spoken to the club on July 28 when he showed slides of Prague, where he has started at Medical School, right out of high school. In the Czech Republic, he has joined Rotex, for former outbounds and also Roteract which supports an orphanage. and where they will start teaching English.
Bruce Harville presented a red badge to Lori Scroggs as she was inducted into Madison Breakfast Rotary on July 14.
The club thanks John Feller for an outstanding year as club president. John started the year with a tour of the newly updated campus of the Madison College Truax campus by his firm J. H. Findorff and Sons. He presided over excellent programs each week, service projects, fundraising events, an increase in membership, and the inbound and outbound exchange programs. In particular, the club is appreciative that John and his firm J.H. Findorff and Sons supported our fundraising and social events. Above all, we had great sociability and fun. He passes the gavel to Bob Dombroski as the 2014-15 club president.
Club grant recipients Carol & Bob Dombroski, Rotary Books for the World; Al Arnold of Reading Clinic; Tom Meyer, Aaron’s House; Emily Auerbach, the Odyssey Project; Heidi Hastings, Connect House, club foundation president Bruce Harville on June 23.
Club members, friends, Rotarians from area clubs, and area exchange students enjoyed a lively party at Sprecher’s on April 24. They were offered beer and food parings, and root beer floats as they checked out the 20 raffle gifts displayed in the center of the room. Among the raffle gifts were a Trek bicycle, jewelry, golf gift cards, and picnic foods to name a few.
Many thanks go to Betsy and Doug Nordstrom and their committee for all the work putting this event together. A special thanks to the sponsors: J.H. Findorff & Sons Inc., Jim and Melissa Sirianni, Future Foam, and Doug and Betsy Nordstrom. Area exchange students took turns drawing the winning raffle tickets for each prize. Among the guests were Sari’s visiting parents and brother, Dean Ryerson, District Governor; Dave Warren, the District Governor Elect; and Mary Van Hoot the area Assistant DG and DG Elect-Elect.
Club members and guests, current and past host families, and even Junior, the English teacher Group Exchange member from Brazil, gathered to celebrate the holidays at the home of Eng and Bill Braun on Saturday, January 11. Club members added to Eng’s wonderful appetizers to fill the table with holiday foods. Members got to see Eng’s kitchen where she makes pies with the exchange students.
Our thanks to Eng and Bill Braun for their hospitality. It was great to get together after such a long time away due to the holidays and the weather.
The Friends of the Libraries Semiannual Book Sale ended on October 19th wrapping up another hugely successful event with lots of interesting and sometimes rare books. (Did you see the line of people waiting on the first day? It’s like Black Friday for the Libraries!) Most of the books donated to the Friends are sold at the sale; but what about the books that aren’t chosen for a good home? What happens to them and where do they go?
Madison Breakfast Rotary Club members decorating trees at UW Hospital. Each year, Friends of UW Hospital and Clinics, Inc., offers Love Lights as a special way to honor and remember loved ones through the sale of blue and white lights that adorn trees outside the main entrances of UW Hospital and Clinics.
On July 27, club members participated in a Paint-A-Thon sponsored by Project Hope. Members of the Madison After Hours club joined the group to paint a house on Waubesa Avenue in McFarland.
Club Party at Sprecher’s on August 13
Club members and new and old friends are invited to gather at Sprecher’s on Saturday, August 13 from 5-7 pm, to welcome the incoming exchange student and new and old host families.
The gathering will be held outside (weather permitting) on the patio. Chips and Dips and hot pretzels will be provided by the club on each table. There will be wait service for people to order beverages. Tuesday is also $8 burger night for those wishing to stay later. See Betsy Nordstrom for details.
Kudos to AJ Ernst and club members who hosted the GSE team from Brazil from Friday, May 3 to Monday, May 6.
Pictured: Mike Kafka, Brenda and Thom Weiss, George Yelder, and Jackie Williams at the Special Olympics at Oregon High School on May 11.
Madison Breakfast Rotary Club ships 16 pallets of books to schools in Afghanistan in cooperation with the 115th Fighter Wing at Truax Field
A Rotary Exchange year in Brazil in 1992-93, changed her life, Tabatha Williams told Breakfast Rotary on February 20.
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