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               Iowa Director of Athletics Gary Barta heads the list of speakers for the Rotary district confeence May 1 and 2 in Cedar Rapids.

               Barta will speak at the Friday noon lunch. His presentation and all other events except for the Friday night banquet will be held at the Kirkwood Community College Conference Center which is in south Cedar Rapids. The Friday banquet and silent auction will be held at the Scottish Rite Temple in downtown Cedar Rapids.

               Friday afternoon programing features eight break-out sessions; topics include:

               Club website development

               Explanation of foundation programs by Steve Thorpe

                Membership development strategies

               Interact, RYLA and youth exchange programs

               Water projects

               Club communication strategies featuring Mason Fromm

               End polio now update

               Other international programs

               Saturday morning programs will include presentations by the inbound GSE team from Italy and the outbound team to Italy. Also Ssaturday morning there will be a district business meeting. The conference will conclude with a luncheon Saturday and comments from District Governor Bill Jacobson.

               Details of the conference and registration info will be posted on the district web site, www.district5970.org.

Mary Foy, with Lutheran Services of Iowa, will explain the need for foster parents to help hundreds of children. Family Resource Recruiter. 

LSI is a partner of IowaKidsNet which does foster care and special needs adoption licensing.  IowaKidsNet is a statewide collaboration of agencies responsible for the recruitment, training, licensing and retention of Iowa foster and adoptive parents. 

           Club members voted last week for charities to share in the profits from the second annual Rotary wine tasting event which will be held Thursday, May 28 from 6 to 8 pm. They are the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, the Boys and Girls Club, and the Winnebago Council of the Boy Scouts.

           Attendees at the event will be able to vote for their favorite charity. The winner will get 50 percent of the net with the runner up getting 30 percent and the third place getting the remaining 20 percent, just as we did last year. Attendees will also be able to purchase votes.

            The wine tasting met March 11 at Landmark Commons to continue planning for the event which will be held at the Rotary Reserve. Two additions this year will be a beer tasting and fine cuisine prepared by chef Martin Vollmer. Each Rotarian will be responsible for 4 $35 tickets to sell or purchase. Email committee chair Amber Jedlicka if you'd like to help or donate an auction item.               

               The Rotary Foundation's stated goal is to have every Rotarian support it every year with at least $100. Thus the slogan every member every year or EREY.

                      One of the easiest and least painful ways to do your part is to sign up for TRF Direct. TRF-DIRECT Donationsis the Foundation's financial service of electronically transferring contributions from a donor's bank account directly to the Foundation's Annual Programs Fund. Using TRF-DIRECT Donations, donors can make regular gifts to the Annual Programs Fund without writing a check.

On the same day each month (the first or the 15th), the first of each quarter, or once annually, the Foundation will automatically debit your savings or checking account in the amount you designate. The minimum monthly donation is only $10.

For more details, go to http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_pdf/998en.pdf

               Since former District Governor and club member Joe Sage became our first Paul Harris fellow in 1974, members of our club have contributed $441,227 and have recognized 207 Paul Harris fellows. That's a record few clubs around the world can match. And as of February 20 we have given $6,227 to the Eradicate Polio Now Gates match, tops among the 54 clubs in our district.

            Our club has also produced three benefactors to the foundation- -people who have included the foundation's permanent fund in their estate plan. One of those is the aforementioned Joe Sage whose gift of over $80,000 which was announced in 1994 when he died, has produced income for the foundation for ten years.

            If you'd like more information on how easy it is to become a benefactor, you can contact Kathy Braun, our club's foundation chair, or you may go to http://www.rotary.org/en/Contribute/DonorRecognition/IndividualRecognition/Pages/Benefactors.aspx

World-famous violinist will headline Rotary's "End Polio Now" fundraiser concert.

            Our End Polio Now fund raiser concert featuring Itzhak Perlman is on the schedule for Sunday, November 8, 2009 at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center in Cedar Falls. There is still an outside chance the date may change for the next 30 days or so.

            Rotarian Roger Kueter of Cedar Falls and our own Steve Carignan are working out details of the event, which is expected to sell out quickly. Rotarians will be given a short window to purchase tickets after GBPAC seat sponsors and friends of the GBPAC but before they are available to the general public. And Dr. Kueter is working to put together a pre-concert dinner and hoping to get maestro Perlman.

            For now, reserve the date and start planning who you might ask to go to the concert and or the dinner with you.

          We will add updates to our website under the Itzahk Perlman Concert link found on the left hand side. 

Email President Mason if you know his name - I'll reveal his identity in the next Reporter, so stay tuned!