The last Wednesday of August was also our last monthly meeting. President Jordan Weber brought the group to attention with a packed house. He began with a prayer that he learned from his father Jerry Weber, Thank you for the food, Amen. Brief and to the point.

A patriotic song had been requested and Song leader Gerrit Juffer obliged with leading us in two verses of America, the Beautiful. Rotarian Patty Frei gave a definition of Rotary for her Membership Minute. This is a good description for all you readers out there. “How do you describe the organization called “Rotary”? There are so many characteristics of a Rotary club as well as the activities of a million Rotarians. There are the features of service, internationality, fellowship, classifications of each vocation, development of goodwill and world understanding, the emphasis of high ethical standards, concern for other people, and many more descriptive qualities.

In 1976 the Rotary International Board of Directors was interested in creating a concise definition of the fundamental aspects of Rotary. They turned to the three men who were then serving on Rotary’s Public Relation Committee and requested that a one sentence definition of Rotary be prepared. After numerous drafts, the committee presented this definition, which has been used ever since in various Rotary publications: “Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world.”

Those thirty-one words are worth remembering when someone asks, “What is a Rotary club?”

Tony Bruguier of the Labor Day Committee held the winning ticket number and could have won $290 but he produced only a six of diamonds.

The other business consisted of Margaret Doom announcing a presentation that will be given on Wednesday, October 16th at the Wagner Theatre. It will focus on Human Trafficking. More information will be forthcoming. Rotarian Linda Soukup was directed to contact Rotarian Jeff Doom for delivering mulch for the plants at the Rotary Shelter at Wagner Lake.

Linda Soukup introduced her program which was the Labor Day Committee members: Tony Bruguier, Jeremy Leibel, Austin Weber, Andrew Soukup, Aly Thompson, Brittany Beeson, Cameron Goodrich, Lucas Cournoyer, and Jazmyn Soukup. Cameron Goodrich is the 2024 Labor Day Chairperson, and he reviewed all the events for the upcoming Labor Day Weekend which will begin with Bingo at the Armory this coming Friday evening. By the time this article is published, the 2024 Labor Day Weekend will be in the history books. Questions about their experiences on the committee were asked by Rotarians and the three outgoing members of the committee spoke about their positive experiences being on the committee as well as their relief that their three-year commitment is over.

The meeting was adjourned with all those present reciting the Four-Way Test of the things we think, say, or do: Is it the TRUTH? Is it FAIR to all concerned? Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS? Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?