August 18th found the Rotary Building a little quiet as we were missing several members due to business commitments and end of the summer obligations. Pastor Laurie offered up a prayer for all to receive the Holy Spirit to help us go about our daily lives and our business as Rotary members in the community.

Laurie then led us in a rousing rendition of She is a Grand Old Flag and Sing Rotarians!

The Membership Minute given by Rotarian Ken Cotton was on Non-Attendance Rules. The Rotary Club Constitution specifies three conditions under which a Rotarian’s membership will automatically be terminated for non-attendance. These circumstances are: Failure to attend or make up four consecutive club meetings; Failure to attend or make up 60 percent of club meetings each six months and; failure to attend at least 30 percent of the meetings of one’s own club in each six-month period. Under any of these three cases, a member will lose Rotary membership unless the club board of directors has previously consented to excuse such failure for good and sufficient reason.

To some individuals these rules may seem unusually rigid. However, being present at club meetings is one of the basic obligations a member accepts upon joining a Rotary club. The constitutional rules merely emphasize that.

Rotary is a participatory organization which highly values regular attendance. When a member is absent the entire club loses the personal association with that member. Being present at a club meeting is considered a vital part of the operation and success of every Rotary club.

For any Rotarian to miss four consecutive meetings or disregard the other attendance requirements, should be considered tantamount to the submission of one’s resignation from the club. All Rotarians know the consequences of non-attendance, so it clearly becomes a conscious decision by a Rotarian to withdraw from the club when he fails to fulfill the attendance requirements.

Rotarian Krsnak announced that the total in the Queen of Hearts drawing went up to $906.00 with the collection of tickets. Kara Frei had a chance to draw from four cards. She drew the King of Spades. Only three more cards. You must be present to win!

There were no punitive fines levied as Sergeant at Arms Jerry Weber was MIA. President Slaba asked if there were any Happy Fines and Rotarian Krsnak reported that he would give $10 for his sinus surgery which thankfully has turned out well.

Slaba then announced that on September first which is traditionally our float decorating meeting we would meet at noon at the club as usual. He will provide the meal and the program, and we will decide about the time of meeting for the float in the evening. Patty Frei has the program and the meal for next Wednesday, August 25th.

President Slaba called Rotarian Scott McAdaragh to the podium and presented him with his Paul Harris Fellow membership plaque.

Rotarian Kara Frei introduced her program which was Michelle Mogck, a Training and Case Management Specialist from CASA in Mitchell. Michelle gave an interesting program and captivated the audience immediately with her personal story of growing up in a home where family life was not ideal. CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates. She herself was the mother of five children and after they were older, she wanted to get involved in something to help children. She told the story of three young children who were taken from their home by an abusive father and was on the run from police when he crashed the vehicle and only one of the children was saved. It was a heart wrenching story which some of the Rotarians remembered happening right here in South Dakota.

She started out at Abbot House in Mitchell and then went to the Domestic Violence Shelter for Women but just never felt like she was in the right place. One day someone approached her about taking a position at CASA. They developed a position for her where she really felt like she belonged and was contributing to society’s children.

Michelle is now the Training and Case Management Specialist at CASA. She collaborates with every trainee from the time of their training, to being assigned a child. Each volunteer handles only one child, or one family if there is more than one child in this family. These are children who have been removed from the home because of abuse, neglect, or abandonment. They are frightened and face an unknown future.

They follow the child through all the court appointed hearings, as well as spending time getting to know the child, interviewing the child, family members, and other relevant persons to determine the facts and circumstances of the child’s situation.

If an Indian child is involved, they are required to work with ICWA which is the Indian Child Welfare Act. She remarked they are very cooperative as both entities have the same goal; to do the best thing for the child.

If you think you might be interested in working with CASA, please contact Michelle at 115 East 11th Avenue Mitchell, SD, 57301, by calling the office directly at (605) 996-1212, or by email at michelle.mogck@mitchellcasa.org.