This week's program is the Passing of the Gavel/Changing of the Guard where we'll welcome new club leadership. Regina Siegel is our La Crosse Rotary Club President for this Rotary year (July 1, 2025 - June 30, 2026). Special thanks to Mark Jolivette who will complete his year of service as Club President when he passes the gavel to Regina.
Lunch this week: Chicken Salad on Croissants with a TWF House Salad Coffee, ice tea, and water available.
Guests are ALWAYS welcome! RSVP in advance to Niki Pohnl if know you are bringing guests but last minute invites are also welcome!
Quarter 1 Invoices Sent
Look for your Quarter 1 invoices in your email. All invoices were sent last week. As noted in the emails pertaining to the increases were mentioned in the email and are as follows:
A message from President Jolivette: In the upcoming Rotary year, you will seen some increases in the charges on your bill. Your bill is broken into two sections, dues and meals.
In a perfect world, our dues equal exactly what we are charged per member by both Rotary International (magazine, risk insurance, directors' insurance, and more) and by the District. In that light, the dues each of us pay should be identical to the dues paid by any member in any club in our district. However, ascertaining the exact amount from Rotary International is not as easy as it sounds, since the billing comes to us in separate increments at differing points in time throughout the year. Rotary International is not only increasing their dues this year, but they did so this past year, and somehow we missed passing along that increase. So starting this next quarter, your dues portion will increase to include two years' of increased club charges.
In addition, in auditing our meal costs, we are just a bit low. As with dues, we try to pass along the exact price. Your meal costs will also increase slightly.
We regret having to make any changes, but in our world, we also know the effects of inflation. As a board, we sincerely hope this will not change anyone's commitment to our club or to Rotary. Thanks for your understanding.
THANK YOU for your support so far! You will have one more chance to purchase wine tickets before the meeting on Thursday. We have raised $3150. Help us reach our goal of $4000!
POVERTY SIMULATOR
AUGUST 18TH
CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS or to REGISTER
Rotary Lights Food Drive Fridays
The mission of Rotary Lights is to “feed the hungry of the Coulee Region” We received a call a few weeks ago from Shelly at the Hunger Task Force
explaining that their shelves were very light on product because of the increase in demand. More people are using their inventory than ever before.
After a few discussions we decided to accept this challenge. To-date, this is what was decided:
July 11-18-25 from 11 am to 6 pm, we will hold two collection locations: HyVee in Onalaska and the old K-Mart lot on the south side of La Crosse.
We will need 3-4 people per 2 hour shift. Volunteers
could take more than one shift. We’ll also accept cash donations. Our club committed to shifts on July 18th at HyVee in Onalaska.
The volunteers will collect the food items and put them in the trucks supplied by Rotary Lights. RL will take the collections to the Hunger Task Force.
This will be a total community effort.
Thank you for considering assisting with this important need in our community. All ages welcome!
Join RAH's annual Loggers Game Party! Friends and family are welcome!
Thursday July 17th 2025
6:30 game time
5:30 for all you can eat food/gates open
We will be on the Covera Insurance Cabin this year! Please invite friends, family, and other Rotarians.
Adults: $40 per person (food, ticket and (3) beers included)
Kids: $15 per person (includes game ticket, all you can eat food! Ages 0-3 are FREE and 4-18 are $15.00.
Hope all American Rotarians enjoyed their 4 th of July? A report by Mercy Kahenda of Kenya’s newspaper, The Standard reveals that the East African nation has been given a sum of Sh 58.5 billion (450 million USD) as a form of increased funding aimed at “accelerating global polio eradication efforts.” The pledge was revealed at the just concluded Annual Rotary International Convention in Calgary.
According to the report, “the funding stems from a renewed partnership between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Rotary International, focused on strengthening immunization campaigns amid rising challenges to disease elimination….The country has been grappling with a stock-out of polio vaccine, risking severe disability and death among newborns. This renewed financial commitment signals an urgent recognition by leading philanthropic and humanitarian organizations that, despite remarkable progress, the path to zero polio cases is increasingly complex and demands sustained, strategic investment.” Mike McGovern, chair of RI PolioPlus Committee explains that while 90
percent of the world’s population is free from the wild poliovirus, “we are facing significant challenges from competing financial priorities to fragile health systems…furthermore, the detection of polio in places like Papua New Guinea that were previously polio-free demonstrates that polio anywhere is a threat everywhere.”
Polio, a paralyzing disease, is on the verge of becoming the second human disease in history to be eradicated.
