This week we celebrated community service by recognizing several community members with the Service Above Self Awards.  These well deserving recipient's long list of accomplishments have contributed to making Sun Prairie a great community. 

• The Golf brochure is ready for distribution.  Please see Mark Olsen to get hard or email copies.  We need more sponsors and golfers for the Aug 7 tournament which will be held at the Oaks Gof Course in Cottage Grove.  You can also download a copy of the brochure from the Clubrunner homepage.
• There will be a golf committee meeting Tuesday morning, June 30.  This is the day of the annual picnic so there will be NO regular morning meeting. The annual picnic will be at Orfan Park.
• Rich Darga thanked everyone who helped with Highway cleanup on the 6th.
• Dan Birrenkott gave a brief overview of the Trigstar competition.  This year Sun Prairie will have a student competing in the State competition.
• Rotary will be serving at Sunshine Supper on Monday, June 22.  Contact Rose Friedel if you can help make a casserole and/or help at the supper that evening, starting at 4:30 p.m.

 

We celebrated the success  of the SPICE (Sun Prairians Involved in Children's Education) program this year.  54 fifth graders with their teachers and school staff attended the breakfast.  We also heard from three high school students who gave their wisdom to the fifth graders about how to be successful going into middle and high school.  Trek Bicycles donated a bike that was won by a lucky Westside student. this was also Tim Culver's last meeting before leaving the SP School District.  We thank him for his years of support!

 

Other news:

Stacia Darga

Robert Faber

Barbara Komoroske

 

Students (tie):

Mikayla Friedel

Luke Waldbillig

Have a great weekend and hope to see you next Tuesday at the Group 6 social!

 

We learned more about Farm Technology Days from Heidi Johnson, who is with the UW Extension.  This annual event will occur at the Statz Farm in Sun Prairie on August 25 thru 27 this year.  This three day Agriculture Show attracts approximately 50 thousand visitors and includes 600 exhibitors, field demonstrations, an equine area and state of the art farming techniques.  The Statz Farm will showcase it's 3 new free stall barns and 2 manure digesters.  It takes over 1500 volunteers and a year of planning to make this event a success.  There is still a need for volunteers to direct parking and build the tents that will house the food vendors and exhibitors.  Sun Prairie Rotary is volunteering in a food booth and looking for help so be sure to sign up at the next meeting. 

 

Other Rotary News:

See you at Tuesday's meeting!

Rotarian  Steve Riggles was our speaker today to update us on Healthcare Reform.  There are some changes coming up.  All Americans are required to have healthcare insurance or pay a penalty which was 1% of adjusted gross income.  This has increased to 2% for 2015.  Insurance companies will be sending policy holders, with a copy to the IRS,  a 1095 Form that will indicate months of coverage for the year. There are some exemptions from coverage for those whose insurance cost is 8% or higher of their adjusted gross income, live outside the U.S., Native Americans, incarcerated prisoners and members of a healthcare sharing ministry. For 2017, insurance rate formulas will be changing and based on a health questionnaire, age and other factors.  Slated to start in  2018, companies whose employees are paying premiums at a higher rate ($850/month for single; 2292 for family) may be penalized with a 40% excise tax. 

 

Rotary moments;

Have a good weekend.  See you Tuesday.

Our speaker for April 21 was Connie from Americorp and who was invited by Dan Presser.  Connie provided information on the service these members provide to sites within the U.S.  It is described as a "Domestic Peace Corp" .  Members are paid a stipend and provide a variety of programs for youth, older adults and people affected by disasters.  Created in 1993 by the Serve America Act, the program has grown to include 250 thousand members with focus on service in education, health, environment, and veterans. Employers are finding the skills learned in Americorp service such as leadership are valuable in the work place.

 

Other Rotary Moments:

See you Tuesday!

Stacy Reese from Sustain Dane gave an overview of their Business Champion program.  Sustain Dane works with area business to help them improve their use of local resources and conserve energy by tracking gas, water and electricity useage.  A green team is organized within the company who then develops the plan for the company to make  improvements.  For example, one company installed motion sensors to activate the lights in vending machines which resulted in a yearly energy savings of several hundred dollars.  

 

Other Rotary moments:

 

Have a good weekend and see you Tuesday!

This week we learned about social media from Tony Rodriquez with MadCity Ads.  Tony also works for the Madison School District as the Web Manager.  As we know, social media has exploded over the past few years and provides instant messages to thousands or more people.  Tony encouraged business to take advantage of this relatively free form of communication.  The goal of your messaging should be to build trust and relationships and not to expect immediate sales or business.  Many are actually discouraged by "hard sale" tactics on social media.  If your business has a Facebook page, be sure that it is the appropriate page for a business and not the one designed for an individual.  If you are on Linked In, it is important to have a profile photo so that others can identify you and your connection with your business.He also advises that companies should have an open policy to allow employees to access their social media during work hours as employees are often your best advertising.  If you are interested in learning more about social media, check the website www.smbmad.org or contact Tony at tony@madcity.com

 

Other Rotary Moments:

Have a good week and see you Tuesday!

PANCAKES, PANCAKES, PANCAKES

 

This Sunday, March 1, is the largest Sun Prairie Rotary Fundraiser of the year.  Rotarians will be serving all you can eat pancakes, sausage, applesauce potatoes, coffee, milk and juice from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.   The cost is $6.00 in advance or $7.00 at the door.  If you haven't signed up to volunteer, contact Rose Freidel.  

 

This week's meeting was a celebration with the Sun Prairie community and schools for the successful completion of Kindness Retreats for fourth graders in the Sun Prairie elementary schools. Rotary, along with sponsors Bank of Sun Prairie, Sun Prairie Education Foundation, Summit Credit Union, and the Sun Prairie School District, supported this anti-bullying program. Ameriprint designs and prints the T-shirts for the students and group leaders.    Over the past four years, 5509 students have benefited from this remarkable day of learning and insight about the affects of bullying.  High school student mentors, who help lead the groups, and fourth graders come away with tools on how to prevent and address bullies in their schools.  

 

The Sun Prairie community is a great example of how many groups working together can make a difference!  

 

 

We listened to four very impressive grant proposals this week.  Four finalists for the Sun Prairie Community Grants gave 8 minute presentations about their projects:  Patrick Marsh trail and viewing deck; MakerSpace project in the SP High School library for giving kids a space to create and experiment; Regeneration of soil for the SP Community Garden; and Out of School programming for Westside Elementary school children and families.  After the 4 presentations, the membership were asked to vote for two of the projects to receive a $5K ea grant.  The results will be revealed next week when the two winning organizations will be present to receive their grant check.

 

Other news:

Have a great weekend.  See you Tuesday.

We listened to four very impressive grant proposals this week.  Four finalists for the Sun Prairie Community Grants gave 8 minute presentations about their projects:  Patrick Marsh trail and viewing deck; MakerSpace project in the SP High School library for giving kids a space to create and experiment; Regeneration of soil for the SP Community Garden; and Out of School programming for Westside Elementary school children and families.  After the 4 presentations, the membership were asked to vote for two of the projects to receive a $5K ea grant.  The results will be revealed next week when the two winning organizations will be present to receive their grant check.

 

Other news:

Have a great weekend.  See you Tuesday.

Our speaker this week was Frank Lopez, his wife Judy and Frank's service dog, Nolan.  Frank is a volunteer with Custom Canines, a volunteer run service dog academy.  The organization is located in Madison and totally volunteer driven.  They train dogs for people with a variety of disabilities including vision, autism, diabetes, PTSD and physical disabilities.  Many breeds are used as service dogs in addition to commonly known Labrador Retriever.  The cost to raise and train a dog is $1500 and, when a donation is made, the donor is given the opportunity to name the dog.

 

Nolan is a yellow lab that Frank received while in California and was funded from a gift by Joan Rivers, whose estate continues to support service dog training and matching.  Nolan helps Frank in many capacities including keeping him safe by identifying hazards when walking and helping him find people, places and items when commanded.  Nolan can identify numerous grocery items and lead Frank upon a voice command for a specific item or brand..  A service dog can be identified by a specially marked vest and the owner may be carrying documentation.  It is important to ask an owner before approaching a service dog and to respect the response.  Often, if a dog is working, people are asked to refrain from petting the dog. 

 

More information can be found on their website, www.customcanines.org.

 

Other news:

Please make an effort to attend the meeting next week, Feb 10, when four community grant finalists will present about their program and project.  All Rotarians will be asked to vote afterwards to choose the two winners.

 

Have a good week.

 

 

 

 

Our speaker this week was Dr. Sandy Agar from Agar Chiropractic and she was sponsored by Diana Konkle.  Dr. Sandy gave us information on the importance of spinal care and how to stay young.   Did you know a third of people suffer from neck pain and 85 out of 100 people have back pain?  An evaluation by a chiropractor can provide valuable information and treatment on how to prevent this pain.  About 50% of us will lose some mobility by the age of 50 .  This can also be prevented with treatment and routine spinal care from a chiropractor.  Most insurance will cover treatment visits, however, maintenance visits are usually not covered under insurance.  It is best to check with the chiropractor and your insurance carrier to determine cost and coverage.

 

Other club news: