The Wagner Rotary Club met for the last Wednesday in November. A delicious meal was served that came from Booms. Attendance was good this week, with only one absent. Jamie Soukup’s team is slightly ahead in the attendance race. Pastor/Rotarian Heermann gave thanks for the for the food and fellowship and asked for blessings on all.

There was only one guest for the day, and she belonged to the Program.

Rotarian Ken Cotton spoke about Literacy Projects. Nearly 700 million adults worldwide are unable to read, and 75 million children lack access to education. Illiteracy among adults and children is a global concern in highly industrialized nations and in developing countries.

Rotary’s basic education and literacy area of focus promotes education and literacy for all. Many Rotary clubs have surveyed the needs of their community for literacy training and developed project to meet those needs. Some clubs provide basic books for teaching reading. Others establish and support treading and language clinics, provide volunteer tutorial assistance, and purchase reading materials. Rotarians can play a vitally important part in their community and in developing countries by promoting projects to open opportunities that come from the ability to read.

Sergeant at Arms Jordan Weber fined Linda Soukup and Scott McAdaragh $2 each for phone infractions last week; Craig Krsnak $3 for his questionable secretarial duties; Jeff Doom $5 for sleeping in the ditch; Joe Stedronsky $2 for eating his dessert first; Byran Slaba, $3 for moving three times before finally sitting down; Gerrit Juffer, $5 for wearing his orange Holland soccer shirt. Happy fines: Craig Krsnak, $5 for a bowl game win; Jerry Henke, $10 for his wife living with him for 10 years in South Dakota. President Rachel Woods, used her executive fining power to fine the Sergeant at Arms, Jordan Weber for constantly whispering in Jamie Soukup’s ear.

Ken Cotton had a chance at the Queen drawing and found only a 6 of hearts. He missed out on $185.00. Winners in the football book sales were Corey Weerhiem sold by Scott McAdaragh and Julie Doom sold by Jeff Doom.

Bill Frei introduced his program, Connie Kaufman. Connie Kaufman, Coordinator for Communities That Care gave a presentation on a new developing community coalition, currently called Wagner’s Communities That Care Coalition. Connie reviewed the Suicide Surveillance data for Charles Mix County for 2021, which showed Charles Mix County met the 10-year suicide average in the first six months of 2021. Updates from 2022 were given and it was noted that Charles Mix County did not meet the 10-year suicided average in the first six months of 2022. Earlier this year, the Wagner Community Memorial Hospital-Avera was a recipient of a grant funding opportunity from the South Dakota Department of Health. Connie Kaufman, BSN, Director of Behavioral Health Services is serving as the coordinator for this Communities That Care opportunity.

Connie addressed that Communities That Care (CTC) is an evidence- based prevention structure that gives communities the tools to address youth health and behavioral problems through a focus on risk and protective factors. CTC framework uses a public health approach to prevent youth problem behaviors and it is guided by the Social Development Strategy. It is data driven by data from our own community; evidence based by the adoption of effective programs; outcome focused by reductions in community levels of adolescent risk-taking behavior, with improvements in youth well-being. The coalition is community owned and operated, run by a coalition of community stakeholders from all community sectors. CTC has proven to have powerful results and estimated for every $1.00 spent there is an $11.14 return on investment. There are currently 11 different CTC communities in South Dakota. CTC is also international.

With a passion in prevention and education, Connie has been currently working on developing a community coalition, using the prevention framework of Communities That Care (CTC). Once established, a vision statement and logo will be determined. Serving as the CTC coordinator, Connie is excited about Wagner’s community passion and shared vision about youth prevention and resiliency. “Stay Tuned” to hear more as our coalition develops and gets past the under-construction phase!

The meeting ended with the citing of the Rotary Four Way Test.

Submitted by Becky Brunsing