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Next Meeting: July 12th
by Buck, David


Our first program in the new Rotary year will be July 12th, and we'll preview the Waterloo Community Playhouse's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

The show has very little spoken dialogue, it is sung-through almost completely. It runs under two hours and is occasionally performed without intermission. It has a family-friendly storyline, universal themes, and catchy music. Written by the team of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.

For information on tickets see the WCP website.

Letter from President Amber
by Amber Jedlicka

In Montreal, I experienced Rotary on an international level.  Global leadership, global eradication of polio: Rotary as bigger, better, bolder.  I now have this deeper appreciation of Rotary and all its power.

It amazes me that 105 years ago Rotary was established by a man who just finished graduate school from the University of Iowa, his name, Paul Harris.  Paul, then practicing law in his new residence, the city of Chicago, needed a network of friends and support.  So Paul asked a small group of business associates if they would like to meet once a week and rotate offices each week.  Each week they networked, talk about each others business, and had fellowship.

Now Rotary unites different race, color and creed: 1.2 million men and women all around the world, all united with the same ideal of service above self. 33 thousand clubs, in 200 plus countries, five continents.  People who do not pass by when service is needed, people who do what they can to help those in their community, people who believe "what's mine is yours."

Rotary is one of the largest and most influential humanitarian service organizations in the world. It is a volunteer organization, as I said before, of 1.2 million members worldwide. These networks of business and professional leaders, through volunteer services build friendships, enlarge their circle of business & professional acquaintances and work to better communities worldwide.  Two programs Rotary is most well known for include being the sponsor for the largest privately funded international scholarship program in the world and as the service organization that is eradicating polio worldwide-WE ARE ALMOST THERE!

I would like to begin this year of service to the Waterloo Downtown Club by saying I am honored, and sincerely thank you for this opportunity of leadership growth, networking-rubbing elbows with top community business leaders, and fun.  And from now Past President John Kenny, thanks to all of you for your service to Rotary.

Amber Jedlicka

Time to sign up for shoeboxes
by Buck, David


To make sure every child in the schools we support gets a Christmas box, we need the help of every club member this year.

In early July you will be asked to sign up to fill one or more shoeboxes for the children in Nicaragua. And July is a great time to begin when summer clothes and school supplies go on sale.

If you can't shop yourself, you can make a $40 per box cash donation to The Community Foundation and we'll find someone to shop for you. Be sure to mark your check "Nicaragua shoebox fund". 

You should also consider participating on the Shoebox Committee, they will meet Wednesday, July 14th at noon in the Landmark Commons dining hall.

If you want to join us on the life-changing trip this year, we plan to leave Iowa on November 30 and return December 7.  Contact Steve Thorpe for details.

Still On Rotary Summer Break
by Mason Fromm

Monday, July 5th is a federal holiday, so we will not have a meeting.

Here is a link to a YouTube clip of the Star-Spangled Banner story Steve Volz shared with us at our last meeting.  If you'd like your own CD copy of the story for $1, email Mason.  

Use your "time off" wisely and be ready to hit the ground running as President Amber starts another banner year for your club on July 12th.

What's New For Rotary?
by Mason Fromm

As the new Rotary year begins, a number of changes to the way clubs and districts do business takes effect.

The annual per capita dues that Rotary clubs pay to Rotary International will increase to US$50 in 2010-11, as established by the 2007 Council on Legislation. The 2010 Council approved a $1 increase for the three subsequent years, setting per capita dues at $51 for 2011-12, $52 for 2012-13, and $53 for 2013-14.

The 2010 Council, which met in April, took several other actions that are now in effect:

• E-clubs will become a permanent part of Rotary International after years of participating in a pilot project. Districts will be allowed up to two e-clubs, which are defined as Rotary clubs that meet through electronic communications. Some of the pilot e-clubs have been meeting solely through online forums, while others have combined electronic with in-person meetings.
• New Generations Service will join the other Avenues of Service -- Club Service, Vocational Service, Community Service, and International Service. Before starting a project, Rotarians are asked to think broadly about how their club and its members can contribute within each avenue.
• Rotarians in North America will have the choice of receiving either an electronic or print version of The Rotarian magazine. Rotarians living at the same address may qualify for a joint subscription.

Illinois Rotarian confronts racism with Holocaust
by Mason Fromm

A chance encounter at a stamp-collecting event three years ago put Danny Spungen in possession of one of the world's most extensive collections of postal memorabilia documenting Nazi atrocities during World War II. Spungen, an avid stamp collector, was looking to buy an "Inverted Jenny," a rare U.S. stamp featuring an upside-down airplane, when a fragment of Hebrew scripture covered with Nazi insignias caught his eye.

"I thought, what the heck is going on?" recalls Spungen, a member of the Rotary Club of Lincolnshire (Morning Star), Ill. The segment of scroll belonged to Ken Lawrence, a philatelist and civil rights activist who spent 30 years assembling more than 250 letters, postcards, postal documents, and other materials to counter those who claim the Holocaust never happened.

Lawrence had planned to sell his award-winning collection to a museum, but Spungen convinced him to let his family's charitable foundation purchase it instead. "It's changed my life," says Spungen, who travels with the items, visiting schools, universities, Rotary clubs, and other community groups. He also volunteers as a docent at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie.

Spungen often invites Holocaust survivors to speak at his presentations, and instead of displaying the collection in glass cases, he sets the materials, protected by plastic sleeves, on tables so people can hold them.

Of his collection, Spungen says: "I really believe that each piece is a witness. It's great to put all these witnesses together in one room to tell a whole story."

To read the complete Rotary.org story by Arnold R. Grahl, and see photos of the collection, click here.