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Waterloo Cedar Falls Symphony October 18

Our very own Rich Frevert - Executive Director - will share the newest things happening at the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony!

Over the past 20 months, wcfsymphony produced a library of digital media in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This digital library includes performances, musician profiles and educational videos. I will be sharing examples of this library while talking about the impact of the pandemic on the world of music. I will also share information about our upcoming concerts including the Villains & Superheroes concert at Riverloop on October 30^th and New Year’s Eve with Maddie Poppe on December 31^st.

Impressive Lunches Served at Rotary

Italian food was served last week that made you think you were at Olive Garden!

If you've been missing the food and fellowship at Rotary - the good new is BOTH ARE BACK every Monday! The renovated 1st floor of the Waterloo Convention Center is beautiful and we'd love to see your face again now that' we're regularly meeting in person. Guests are also welcome, so check the upcoming programs and reach out to potential members with a lunch invitation!

Mayor Candidate Forum October 25

Invite your friends to attend our special forum with Waterloo Mayor candidates. Mayor Quentin Hart and Margaret Klein are both confirmed so far to attend our noon meeting October 25th.

One City United Presenting on Monday

One City exists to create healthy environments that inspire transformation by bringing hope, love and opportunity into lives.

Dean Feltes is the Executive Director of One City United, a non-profit organization in Waterloo, IA. Dean has lived and worked in Waterloo for the past twelve years with a focus on equipping people to overcome barriers. Dean cofounded One City United in 2018 and over the past three years they have impacted nearly 100 people, through multiple programs, to overcome significant life and employment barriers. One City focuses on long term relationships as well as intense and impactful training, teaching and equipping so that individuals can thrive.

Rotary International Update

#RotaryResponds in Italy where more than 100 Rotary members, doctors and others offer their professional expertise toward vaccination efforts

Upcoming Programs

Below is a list of programs in next month. Please reach out to Jaclyne or Micki with more program suggestions!

October 25.......................Mayor Forum

November 1.....................City Council Forum

Tri-County Child and Family Development Council

Join us October 4th - Dr. Robert Welch will be presenting on Tri-County Child and Family Development Council.

Tri County Child & Family Development Inc. is a local non-profit corporation. We have the privilege of holding the Federal grant to implement the Federal Head Start program in Black Hawk, Buchanan, and Grundy counties in Iowa.

Tri County Child & Family Development is a single purpose agency founded 30+ years ago, with hopes of keeping a viable Head Start program in our area. Our mission has been to serve the children and families in these counties.

October Birthdays

We'll celebrate our club members today who were born in October - look at this list!

Lind, Mike - Oct 04

Heaton, Bob - Oct 07

Carignan, Steve - Oct 10

Paulsen, Chuck - Oct 10

Bovenmyer, Samuel D. - Oct 12

Durbahn, Mark - Oct 13

Englin, Kaye - Oct 15

Stanford, Doug - Oct 15

Gallagher III, E. J. - Oct 16

Nash, Philip - Oct 16

Schmitt, Steven - Oct 16

Kuiper, Mark - Oct 19

Ericson, Marcella - Oct 25

Beecher, John - Oct 27

Story or Program Ideas?

We want your ideas!

E-mail Jaclyne if you have story ideas @ jheller@kwwl.com

E-mail Micki if you have suggestions for programs@ mmccracken@teamtricounty.org

Rotary International Update

"#Rotary is committed to helping end poverty globally and to protecting the planet by pledging $97 million dollars in grant funding during 2022 for sustainable, member-led projects."

Friends of the Family Presentation September 27

On Monday - at the Convention Center downtown - join us to hear from Ben Brustkern of Friends of the Family!

Friends of the Family works tirelessly to help survivors and victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. We take pride in our advocacy efforts, which began in 1992. Over the years, we have expanded our organization to aid people in 27 Iowa counties thanks to generous donations and strong leadership from our staff and Board of Directors.

Domestic & Sexual Abuse Victim Advocacy | Friends of the Family (fofia.org)

President-Elect Jen Jones

Rotary International President-elect@JenJonesRotary speaks at #GlobalCitizenLive this Saturday, September 25. This 24-hour event spans across six continents to unify for the greater good. For how to watch, visit: http://globalcitizen.org/live/watch

+ follow @GlblCtzn for more.

Global Citizen Live: How to Watch

Grout Museum Program Sept 20 at Convention Center

JOIN US AT THE WATERLOO CONVENTION CENTER for a look at our newly renovated "home"! There is still work going on outside and on the 2nd floor, but the ground floor looks amazing!

Alan Sweeney of the Grout Museum will give an update on new projects/exhibits this fall!

Pictures from Foodbank and VGM Conference Volunteering

While our club did not meet last week we performed two volunteer projects as a group. On September 13 we helped at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank in a food saving project in which 20 Rotarians participated in sorting, inspecting and repackaging produce and prepared food products so they could be distributed by the Food Bank. Click here to see us at work. We were able to save 1,000 pounds of food!

On September 14 and 15^th club members again served as Room Ambassadors for the VGM Heartland Conference at educational programs held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Cedar Falls. Each Rotarian worked in one of six rooms and helped the program run on time. We are hoping to help out next June as well when the program will return to the Waterloo Convention Center. Between work sessions we were able to dine together outside as shown in the pictures. Members helping out also attended training sessions by VGM staff on Zoom. Click here to see photos.

Northeast Iowa Foodbank Launches New Logo

Rotarian Barb Prather and her team presented their new logo at a special event on Friday!

Rotarian Starts Empowering Girls

Líderes do Futuro is a girl-centered learning environment with storytelling tools for girls and allies to create social change. "Based on our girl-centered leadership approach, we launched an online and self-paced program on Canvas. It features 15 storytelling modules called “chapters” for girls to create and share stories according to their interests. The program offers guided prompts, multimedia resources, and discussion boards for them to build knowledge and act together across differences and territories. Initially in English, we hope to adapt it soon to other languages such as Portuguese and Spanish."

Líderes do Futuro – Create, share, lead (lideresdofuturo.org)

Rotary Volunteering at Northeast Iowa Foodbank Sep 13

Join us Monday at the Northeast Iowa Foodbank! Feel free to help from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. or stay until 2!

Rotary back in Convention Center September 20

Starting September 20, we will start doing lunch at the newly renovated convention center! The convention center wants to know 5 business days before each meeting how many people are anticipated to attend. Please e-mail EJ at edjoe3@gmail.com on whether or not you will be attending. Our club will need to RSVP with the convention center each week so please remember to email EJ every week if you plan to attend the following Monday.

September Birthdays

Look at all the Waterloo Rotarians with birthdays in September! We'll celebrate them on the 20th.

Itzen, Wade - Sep 02

Weidner, Steven A. - Sep 06

Sonnenberg, Kevin - Sep 07

Bunge, John - Sep 09

Lederman, Dave - Sep 12

Vander Werff, Annie - Sep 13

Leonhart, Gene - Sep 14

Burton, Bryan - Sep 15

Richter, Bari - Sep 16

Reints, Casey - Sep 17

Steffens, Larry - Sep 23

Hildebrandt, Nick - Sep 24

Schaefer, Adam - Sep 24

Pullin-Van Auken, Deb - Sep 26

Halverson, Jeff - Sep 28

Rotary International Update

The work Champions of Change Winner Chris Hayter has done to reduce Malaria cases in Bakau by developing and constructing new drainage systems has had a life-changing effect on the community

The Bakau Drainage project has helped reduce the incidence of Malaria in Bakau by constructing, developing and maintaining a drainage system to address poor storm water management.

It was following a holiday to The Gambia in 2006, that Chris developed strong bonds with the West African country. In particular, she connected with the Bakau community, a village on Gambia’s Atlantic coastline to the west of the capital, Banjul.

After seven trips in seven years to The Gambia, it became evident there was a need to improve the education, health and environment of Bakau, and Chris needed to galvanise the community to work towards a solution.

So the seeds were sown for the ‘Oasis Project’, a charity which began in 2007. Chris founded the Starlight School which is responsible for the education of 200 children in Bakau.

Aug 30th Program at Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center

Steve Carignan - Executive Director - will have a special presentation on Gallagher's upcoming shows!

Decades of dreams and three years of construction became a reality on April 6, 2000, with the dedication of the new Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center at the University of Northern Iowa. Enabled by the generosity of Cedar Valley residents Ed and Cathy Gallagher and Carl and Peggy Bluedorn, as well as support from the university, the state and over 1,400 donors across Iowa, this was the first major center to open in Iowa in twenty years. The $23 million, 100,000 square foot complex features three state-of-the-art concert halls, a soaring glass-walled lobby and dozens of teaching and rehearsal spaces. All three halls have been designed with superb acoustics and intimate sightlines. The Great Hall also has cutting-edge theatre technology, enabling the center to present artists spanning from chamber ensembles to the biggest Broadway shows. Hosting more than 300 performances each year, the GBPAC showcases the world's finest artists, ensembles of the UNI School of Music, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony and many other regional events.

Gallagher Bluedorn | University of Northern Iowa (gbpac.com)

Board Meeting Monday

Our club's board of directors will meet before the regular noon meeting to discuss several business items and as a member you are welcome to attend. Topics on the August agenda include:

-Re-calculating membership dues as we emerge from the pandemic

-Membership recruitment

-Rotary grants

-Rotary Foundation

-Review and approve contract with new convention center management

The board will meet in the Gallagher Bluedorn Conference Room at 10:30

IMPORTANT INFO: If you will attend August 30th, you will find close parking in the metered lot north of GBPAC, but you must feed the meter! If you want to park free, the "B" lot across University Ave is available.

Rotary Disaster Relief

When disaster strikes, #Rotary members respond. Here’s a snapshot of how a Rotary Global Grant helped Beirut after the 2020 port explosion. Members made this possible. Learn more about our grant program and how you can help:

The clouds of white smoke billowing into the air over Beirut were an ominous sign that something had gone terribly wrong in a storage hangar at the city’s port. Then a fireball of orange smoke and flames erupted straight up into the sky.

The massive explosion on 4 August 2020 killed more than 200 people, displaced hundreds of thousands more from their homes, and destroyed or damaged many structures. It was caused by a dangerous mix of materials that had been stored in the hangar — including ammonium nitrate, oil, kerosene, hydrochloric acid, miles of fuse wire on spools, and 15 tons of fireworks.

Like many buildings near the site of the explosion, Beirut hospitals were left with extreme damage, often making it difficult or impossible to treat patients safely. This led to a sudden surge in demand at other hospitals not directly affected by the blast.

As the magnitude of the destruction became known, Rotary clubs in Lebanon and around the world asked themselves what they could do to respond to a disaster that was playing out amid a deadly global pandemic. They soon realized that hospitals, some of which had been severely damaged, were in dire need of help. Beirut-area clubs received donations from clubs around the world; some worked with clubs outside Lebanon to apply for global grants from The Rotary Foundation.

Read the rest of the story here:

Rotary clubs in Lebanon spring into action after a major disaster | Rotary International

Upcoming Programs

Below are programs coming up in the next few weeks...

September 6........................No Meeting (Labor Day)

September 13.......................@ Northeast Iowa Foodbank (Service Project)

September 20.......................TBD

September 27........................Friends of the Family, Ben Brustkern

October 4..............................Head Start Program, Tri-County Child and Family Development Council

Rotary Foundation Presentation August 23

Deb Pullin-Van Auken will be talking about the latest with the Rotary Foundation on Monday at the Best Western Hotel in downtown Waterloo.

The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions.

The Rotary Foundation | Rotary International

Lunch will be offered by GR Kitchen and Taps Restaurant. You may pay at the restaurant where you will also place your order. Please RSVP by FRIDAY 8/20 and let us know you are coming and if you plan on eating. Open 11:30-1:30 to members.