PEKIN  ROTARY
Pekin Rotary Newsletter |   www.pekinrotary.org
Quick Links
It is well that there is nothing in Rotary so sacred that it cannot be set aside in favor of those things better.
  
This is an experimental age in a changing world and all the things which are worthwhile and progressive are cumulative effects preceding successes and failures.

-Paul Harris

Noteworthy
September
Anniversaries

Heather Fitzanko
3 years

Service Above Self
Marigold Festival
Rotary Grill 
Sept. 12 & 13

Sign up now!
   September 2015
Presidents Message

Our Biggest Month of the Year-
 
It's hard to believe that the Marigold Festival is once again upon.  Our success at this event is what allows us to give back to our community.  This year brings the new branding effort as we move from the Pork Chop Fry to The Rotary Grill.  Our signage will be much improved; our t-shirts have a new look; and our online sign-up for the club and volunteers is making the job assignment task much simpler.  A big thank-you to Matt and Melissa Deverman and a number of people have worked hard to see these changes implemented.  It will be gratifying to see their efforts lead to great success. We need everyone to help in some way- including family members.   Please use the link at the left to sign up.  Help us ensure that all time slots covered.
 
To celebrate our pending success we will have the After Festival Picnic on Wednesday, September 16th at the Soldwedel Center in McNaughton Park at 6 pm.  All you need to bring is a covered dish.  The club will provide tableware, cups and drinks.
 
We will have a special pre-festival Club Assembly on the 9th to review things and entertain your input and last minute suggestions.  Until then, I encourage you to contact me with any thoughts or ideas th at you feel we need to incorporate into the event.  Call me at my office 346-4242, at home 353-1324 or email me at [email protected] .
 
Thank you to Greg Ranney for agreeing to chair our new Membership Committee.  Agreeing to help him in his efforts are Drew Eilts, Heather Fitzanko, and Shelly Heavrin.  Their task is not only to help recruit new members but to also work to retain current ones.  We value those who are members and don't want to lose them and are also looking for others to be a part of the Pekin Rotary story.  Growth and retention are the task of this committee alone. It is the responsibility of all of us.
 
I look forward to seeing all of you at the festival.  I'm counting on our clergy members to come through for us with great weather.
 
Let's work hard, achieve success and most of all- have fun!
 
Gary

Speakers Chair
September 2 - Brian Ford
Ron Tyler, Outreach & Prevention Director at FamilyCore.    
 
September 9 - Board meeting at 11:00
Marigold Festival Preparation - discussing final details. 
 
September 16 - Post Festival Potluck 
6:00 pm  Soldwedel Program Center in McNaughton Park
Let Sue Woodruff know what you will be bringing.  

September 23 - Dennis Green
Genny Gibbs, staff member in the Illinois Central College Ag and Horticulture Dept.

September 30 - Captain Rick Ray
 
Member Spotlight
Another Trivia question that Len Ealey posed at the Installation Banquet was  What Pekin Rotarian graduated from College with a Minor in Music?  

The answer:  
Melinda Figge
 
Melinda was born and raised in Tremont on the same farm where her father was raised.  Her brother lives there now. She attended school in Tremont graduating from Tremont High School.  It was in her senior year that she was bestowed the honor of being named Miss Tremont.  She recently admitted that with the passage of time she seems to have lost her crown claiming it may have happened as she and her family moved to their current home in Green Valley.
 
It was at Monmouth College where Melinda earned a B.A. in Business and that now well-known Minor in Music.  She also earned an MBA from Bradley University. She started her professional life with Herget Bank working there for 10 years in Personal Banking with her primary role eventually being in Human Resources . 
 
After close to a decade in banking, she left Herget in 2002 to stay at home with her 2 year old and 5 year old children.  Just 6 months later, the Pekin YWCA was looking for an interim director- someone who would "smooth ruffled feathers."  She had been on the Y board and they asked if she could serve that role on a part-time basis, just 18-20 hours a week for 3 to 4 months.  With time, the board realized that she was the only choice to serve as a permanent director and is now in her second decade with this respected Pekin institution.  In the last couple of years her duties have led to her being a full-time director with many challenges to meet as she steers them forward.  As she told me, "I've learned a lot over the years and now know more about grease traps than I care to know."  Such are the burdens of being director of the Pekin YWCA.
 
Melinda joined our club in the spring of 2009 feeling that it was great opportunity to get to know more about what Rotary really does.  "I didn't know of the Rotary idea of Service Above Self", she said.  "It's great that we're letting the others know about how much we give back to the community."
 
Serving on our board as chair of International Service, she recently coordinated our Backpack program through the Pekin Housing Authority.  Working with area churches, she was able to see that school backbacks, complete with a variety of supplies, went to children who needed them in District 108 .  She has also agreed to help in this effort in the future.  Now there's a good old fashioned Rotary example of Service Above Self!
 
An accomplished success story, Melinda Figge is someone who truly makes a difference, just like her many colleague's in the Pekin Rotary Club.  But as a past Miss Tremont, it is nice to know that we have a bit of royalty in the club as well.
 
 
Gary Gillis      


Like us on Facebook

Text | Optional Link


Copyright © 20XX. All Rights Reserved.