Wagner Rotary met on January 24th with no guests present. Pastor/Rotarian Bill Herrmann gave thanks for the warm weather which was starting to melt the huge snowbanks that are everywhere in Wagner.

Song leader Gerrit Juffer led the group in singing two verses of Home on the Range. Rotarian Ken Cotton chose the Four-Way Test for his Membership Minute. It is one of the fundamentals of our Rotary experience. From the beginning of Rotary members have emphasized the importance of acting responsibly and ethically and using our professions as an opportunity to serve. Honoring our commitments, however bold they are, is an ideal characteristic of a Rotary member. In 1932, The Four-Way Test was developed by Herbert Taylor, a Rotary Club of Chicago member and 1954-55 Rotary International president, to guide his attempt to save a faltering aluminum company. Rotary later adopted it, and it underscores Rotary’s value of integrity. The Four-Way Test has long served as an ethical guide for members to live by in their personal and professional relationships.

Sergeant at Arms Jamie Soukup levied the following fines: $2 to Bryan Slaba for thinking out loud that Linda Soukup was a hundred years old; $2 to Jerry Weber who gave all kinds of excuses for not coming to Rotary but was seen ordering coffee at 9:00 am at the Grindhouse; $3 to Jeff, Bryan, and Bill for their failed attempt to fix one of the banner curtains on the wall. Jeff Doom offered up a Happy Fine of $10 for all the suffering his fellow Rotarians experienced with the inclement weather while Jeff was on vacation and Scott McAdaragh offered up $5 for his Chiefs winning at football.

RotarianGerrithadachance at pulling the Queen of Hearts from the deck and missed $401.00 by finding only a six of Diamonds. Secretary Craig Krsnak announced that the club had perfect attendance at today’s meeting. The Juffer’s Team has five misses, and the Frei Team has only two misses.

President Brunsing announced that Pastor Bill will have the program at next week’s meeting, and it will be members of the Boys and Girls Club practicing their speeches for a scholarship. The parents of the applicants will also be present as well as Pat Breen who will give us an update on the Club’s year.

Rotarian and Assistant District Governor Bill Frei oversaw the program. He had watched a ZOOM meeting in the morning that was hosted by President Elect Bruce Nearhood of Rapid City. Nearhood will be the District Governor next year for District 5610. Bill met Nearhood and he has been impressed with his plans and his enthusiasm for next year. District President-Elects must attend training classes and Nearhood recently was in Orlando Florida for a week. He has a great many plans for his leadership next year. His motto for the coming year will be “Magical Rotary.”

The President Elect has four plans of action that he hopes to implement for all the Rotary clubs to become engaged, reach out, increase their impact and be able to adapt to situations. Frei went around the membership in the Wagner Club and asked each Rotarian two questions: Why did they join Rotary? Why do you stay in Rotary?

The results were remarkably like what other clubs responded to and that was friendship and community service. All Rotary clubs will be asked to have a mission statement, conduct a community assessment for needs; and have major goals planned as well as a major project.

Training for local Rotary membership has always been called PETS in the past. Nearhood is going to call the training on April 27, from 9:00 to 3:00 “PELS”. All clubs and future office holders will be expected to attend via a ZOOM meeting. The meetings in larger communities have become too hard for people to attend as they are held during the work week and often require many to travel long distances. A ZOOM meeting online will make it extremely easy for anyone to be included in the plans for 2024-2025 in Rotary.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:00 with the recitation of our Four-Way Test.