VicePresidentBeckyBrunsing called the Wagner Rotary meeting to order on Wednesday, August 3rd. There was one guest present, Amayi Swett. Pastor/ Rotarian Bill Heermann offered a prayer of thankfulness that the temperature outside has cooled down and for guidance to address the concerns of our community and how we can help.

Rotarian Ken Cotton spoke about some “Rotary Firsts” in his Membership Minute.

The first Rotary club meeting was in Chicago, Illinois, on February 23, 1905 The first regular luncheon meetings were in Oakland, California, chartered in 1909.

The first Rotary convention was in Chicago in 1910. The first Rotary club outside of the United States was chartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, in 1910.

The first Rotary club outside of North America was chartered in Dublin, Ireland, in 1911.

The first Rotary club in a non-English-speaking country was in Havana, Cuba, in 1916.

The first Rotary club in South America was chartered in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1918.

The first Rotary club in Asia was chartered in Manila, Philippines, in 1919.

The first Rotary club in Africa was chartered in Johannesburg. South Africa, in 1921.

The first Rotary club in Australia was chartered in Melbourne in 1921. Assistant Song Leader Gerrit Juffer rose to lead the club members in singing two songs: “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in honor of our Wagner Youth who are going to participate in State Tournament playoffs; and “ROTARY” which is an old standard that all Rotarians know by heart.

Sergeant at Arms Jordan Weber fined Jamie Soukup $3 for turning down his request for a program; Becky Brunsing was fined $3 for prematurely ringing the Rotary Bell, Gerrit Juffer was fined $3 for trying to confuse the SAA with the tickets’ Ken Cotton was fined $3 for giving funds to Jordan, Jerry Henke was fined $2 for mentioning Fentanyl on ice cream; and Bryan Slaba was charged $3 for not answering to his first name.

HappyFinescamefromAmanda Bechen $1 for the amazing brownies for dessert; Jerry Weber offered $5 for a recent family camping trip and another $5 for Jordan Weber organizing the trip; Patty Frei offered $5 for her husband Bill accompanying her to two weddings in two different states in one day; $Jamie Soukup offered $5 for his brother Joe making Jamie an Uncle again; Craig Krsnak offered up $5 fo being such a moron for the day!

Rotarian Amanda Bechen had the lucky ticket number for a chance to draw the Queen of Hearts. She drew the four of Diamonds and there are now eight cards left to draw from Secretary Craig Krsnak informed Rotarian Bechen that she had lost out ono $702.00 The attendance race isn’t too bad so far; Jamie Soukup’s team has five misses and Jordan Weber’s team has seven misses.

Other business was a reminder from Rotarian Kathe Henke to read the latest edition of the Rotary magazine. It has an interesting article on membership in clubs across the world.

Rotarian Bill Heermann announced that there are planning meetings going on to form a “Community That Cares.” They had one strategic meeting so far and are planning to have another one soon. If you are interested, please contact Bill Heermann about details. It is a program to deal with suicides in a community.

After a delicious meal of ribs and French fries Pastor/Rotarian Heermann went to the podium for the program of the day. He informed the club of a book that he has enjoyed called “The History of Christianity” which is written by author Tim Dowley. It has charts, and timelines, and is in full-color format that tells the dramatic, intriguing, and often surprising story of Christians in the early days. This is a completely revised and updated version of an earlier release. This book would be an informative read as a primary text for students and any interested individual readers as well.