This Week in

The first Rotary meeting for the month of August was called to order on Wednesday, August 7th. President Bill Frei rang the bell and admitted it was a pretty weak ring. Pastor Laurie offered up the prayer for the people who had suffered due to the storm late last night, especially the townspeople of Burke, SD. She prayed for all the victims of the recent shootings and reminded all to pray for the victim’s families.

Guests for the day were Kathleen Juffer, Gerrit’s middle daughter who has graduated with her master’s degree and eight-year-old Clara Soukup was a guest of her father Jamie Soukup. Clara is the oldest child in the family and will be in first grade next week. She wanted to come to Rotary with her Dad before she started school.

Our regular song was “Let There Be Peace on Earth” and we went right into singing our Rotary Song “Smile”.

Ken Cotton gave a Rotary Minute by urging all Rotarians to check their email as there is a notification from Rotary International that we can download called “Rotary Basics”. We have quite a few new Rotarians and it would be a good guide for them as well as a refresher for all Rotarians. Everyone was urged to print the guide off for future use.

Clara Soukup was asked to draw a lucky number from the bucket, and she drew Bill Frei’s ticket. Bill asked Becky to draw from the remaining 12 cards for him and it turned out to be a 5 of Diamonds. We collected $24 today which brings the total winnings up to $818.00 Excitement is mounting!

Secretary/Treasurer Patty Frei reported that she had submitted our application for a Rotary grant for a community project and a secondary application for a smaller grant that would allow us to make some necessary repairs to our Can Collection container.

She announced several makeups from members and the totals have changed quite a bit. The Bill Heermann team is now only 2 misses ahead of the Laurie Kidd team. Totals are at 8 and 10. The two misses are not eligible for make ups as members have only two weeks on either side of an absence at a meeting to make it up. President Bill announced that the next two Wednesday meetings would not be held at the Club building. The annual Teachers Reception which the Rotary Club sponsors each year will be held on MONDAY, August 12th, in the school cafeteria at 7:30 in the morning! The following week we will meet at the Linda and Tom Soukup residence to work on our float for the Labor Day Parade.

Rotarian Bryan Slaba introduced his program which was Kelly Howell, a friend, classmate, and college swimming teammate, Kathleen Juffer. Kelly is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and knew as she grew up and graduated from high school that she wanted to do some traveling and get out of the big city. Her parents and Kelly decided to visit the campus of SDU at Vermillion on their way home from attending another sibling’s softball game in Omaha. They were very impressedwiththecampusandthe town and were satisfied that it was a safe place for their daughter to be.

Kelly attended SDU and graduated with honors and was an academic and scholarship athlete every year in college. She was a valued member of the swim team for the Coyotes and became a good friend of Kathleen Juffer. Kat invited her to come to Wagner one Labor Day weekend and Kelly was so impressed with the town, the friendliness and the kindness extended to her that she came here to work after attending SDSU for only one year to obtain her nursing degree. She has been here now for three years.

She loves being in Wagner and feels very much at home here. She is impressed with the functions put on by the community. It does help that she has a serious boyfriend in the area who we will not mention. Kelly was assured that the Wagner Rotary Club is very happy to have her as a member of the Wagner Community. Kelly does not plan to go back to the big city and really enjoys the small-town atmosphere. Welcome Kelly Howell to Wagner!!

The club adjourned with its usual singing of “America”.