Rotary recognizes October as Economic and Community Development Month. October 24th marks World Polio Day- always observed on the 24th which happens to be Jonas Salk’s birthday - the man who discovered the polio vaccine. Many of us were very young (or not even born!) when Rotary started its efforts to eradicate polio from the world 35 years ago. Worldwide, Rotarians have saved 19 million children from paralysis and 1.5 million from death. If we were to stop vaccinating, it is estimated that there will be 200,000 new cases of polio per year. Stay tuned for further communication on our club’s World Polio Day fundraising event/social!
It’s been another great month to be a Rotarian, and look back with pride on what we’ve all accomplished together. September was full of opportunity for us. We continue to ADAPT to the COVID environment with planning safe outdoor/virtual meetings, socials and small group service events.
We made an IMPACT in the community by ushering at the La Crosse Community Theater’s drive in performances and cleaning up garbage bags full of trash along the Mississippi River. Thank you volunteers!
We continued our REACH into the community with the formal presentation of our club and district grant’s $10,000 to Nate and Isaiah at The Good Fight. This money will support the project to purchase a van to transport their youth. We celebrated Dustin Luecke as our September Rotarian of the Month and we welcomed a new member, Kristin Swartz!
The Doyle family hosted us at an outdoor social at their farm where we learned about their alpacas and goats and ENGAGED in each other’s company. It was great to have a number of RAH kids join us and to see the sheer delight the animals brought to everyone’s faces. Thank you Stephanie, Katelyn & Stef for a fun night outdoors.
Rotary offers endless opportunities. I hope you are finding our After Hours meetings, socials and service events to be fun and a respite from the stress and anxiety many of us have/are experiencing in life right now. If we haven’t seen you in a while, come join us. We miss you!
Stay healthy and well!
Marissa Dickinson
P.S. Don't forget, you have until November 1st to take advantage of Jeremy & my "$10,000 for our 10 Year Birthday" Challenge Match to the Rotary Foundation! Reach out with any questions. Thanks to all who have signed up!
Congratulations to Dustin Luecke, our Rotarian of the Month for September!
Dustin is a gifted individual who uses his talents to make our community and club a better place. A local favorite on Channel 19, we often ask him to be the voice of After Hours. He helped present the Avenues of Service awards, often does speaker introductions and thank you's, was the emcee for Holmen Rotary’s Service Auction, helps with our Ugly Sweater 5k fundraiser, co-chairs our Public Image committee, publishes our cRAHnicle, was recently recruited to serve on the District 6250's Public Image committee and so much more! Dustin is almost always seen volunteering at our service events.
He lives out the motto “service above self.” Our club, Rotary and the Coulee Region are lucky to have Dustin and all that he does for others. Please join us in congratulating him as our Rotarian of the Month.
Three worthy projects were pitched by members at our sHARk tank meeting this spring, all vying for a bite at $5,000 funding from proceeds of our Ugly Sweater 5K.
After pitches and voting, the plan to purchase a 15-passenger van for The Good Fight Community Center knocked-out the competition.
The generosity of our members, averaging $100/member/year to the Rotary Foundation helped us qualify and receive a matching district grant!
Last week Amy and Marissa presented Nate and Isaiah at The Good Fight with our $10,000 check, to purchase a new van to transport their youth. We look forward to collaborating with this great organization in the months and years to come. Thank you to our members who have helped with the van project and thank you to the
Rotary District 6250 Foundation team (including Josh & Liz!) for your support in doubling our impact.
Please help us continue to support The Good Fight by participating in their virtual 5k. If you're not a runner -- no problem! Donations are still welcome and will help this great organization to serve underprivileged kids in our community. If you sign up or donate, please let Amy Schmidt or Katelyn Doyle know so that we can be sure you get your service credits for this month.
Festival of Colors Virtual 5K Run/Walk Details:
Join us on Saturday, October 17, 2020 for the first annual Festival of Colors Virtual 5K Walk/Run, to raise money to support programming for youth at The Good Fight Community Center.
Now is a better time than ever to stay active, stay connected with others via social media, support local charities, and of course…walk or run to support a great cause! Unfortunately, we can’t all get together for this event, but we can still come together as a virtual community and enjoy fun, fitness, charity, and social sharing!
Race Information and Registration
This is a virtual race, meaning you can start your run/walk anywhere and at any time you want on Saturday, October 17. All you need to do is track your progress and submit your time when you’re finished.
You can register as an individual or a team of 4-6 people. Registration is open and costs $25.00 + $2.50 SignUp fee.
Saturday, September 26th was Public Lands Day. To show appreciation and celebrate our area's beautiful areas and trails, we joined efforts with the Downtown Rotary Club and local Interact students scattered about the river's edge to clean up garbage along the Mississippi. This coincided with a national effort among groups up and down the waterway to keep this national treasure in our backyard as clear as we can for anyone who would want to use it.
While sorting through the sand and grass near the Great River Landing in Onalaska, RAHtarians found many items including: fishing line (it adds up!), shoes, a lot of broken glass and even a pair of dentures. Garbage picked up was tracked through a National Geographic led the effort to track the amount of trash collected through a Marine Debris Tracker. Thank you to everyone who participated!
As an impromptu service activity on Thursday, September 17 a handful of RAH members helped usher cars to their spots as part of La Crosse Community Theatre's first ever drive-in play. Held at the Altra Federal Credit Union headquarters parking lot on Oak Forest Drive in Onalaska, the performances of "All in the Timing" proved successful for the theatre. Free to attend, donations collected in part by the ushers brought in a total of $3,400 for LCT over the show's two week run. This is a big help considering many arts organizations are struggling to produce live, in-person content. Another big thank you to all who helped out!
$45,000 fundraising goal has been met! Razia's Wheels of Hope will change life for girls and young women in Afghanistan.
Girls' education has a global impact
During the past decade, Razia’s Ray of Hope Foundation (named for its founder Razia Jan) has created transformative change by educating more than 1,000 girls from kindergarten through college. Graduates have have gone on to become teachers, midwives and shop owners, equipping them to support their families and creating positive economic and social impact where they live and work.
Consider this:
1) If all women were able to complete high school, 49 million children would be saved from severe malnutrition.
2) If all women were able to complete high school, child mortality would decrease by 49%.
3) Women reinvest 90% of their income in their families, compared with 30-40% invested by men.
Razia needs a bus.
It all begins with getting girls to school safely. More than half of the students attending Razia's school, the Zabuli Education Center, live more than five miles from school. These students must travel through areas where others may harm them for attempting to gain an education.
That's why Rotary Clubs in La Crosse, Wisconsin, launched a campaign called “Wheels of Hope" to purchase a bus and a van that can safely take the girls to and from school. The goal was to raise $45,000 and we recently met the $45,000 mark!!!
After Hours is a major contributor of the area Rotary Club project.
The Annual Fund is the primary source of unrestricted support for the programs of The Rotary Foundation. From digging clean water wells for villages in Africa to teaching basic literacy skills to children in Latin America, during any given moment in a day, thousands of Rotarians volunteer their time and expertise to ensure that all contributions given to the Annual Fund are spent wisely on quality Rotary projects.
In the 2018-19 Rotary year, US$126.1 million was donated to The Rotary Foundation’s Annual Fund. The Annual Fund is comprised of donations from Rotarians, friends of Rotary, corporations, workplace giving vehicles and can be matched by corporate matching gifts to leverage your donation. There is even an online resource that allows you to see if your company has a charitable matching program... check it out at: www.rotary.org/matchinggifts
Will you support the Annual Fund with a $10 monthly gift this year?
$10,000 for After Hours' 10th Birthday! Make Your Impact Grow!
From RAHtarian Jeremy Moritz~
In Spring 2021, Rotary After Hours will be celebrating our 10th Birthday. Our goal is to raise $10,000 for the Rotary Foundation!
Sign up between now and November 1st and Marissa will personally match (up to a total of $500) for any new Rotary Direct Annual Fund sign up of $5/month or more.
For those who have already signed up for the Rotary Direct Annual Fund, increase your monthly amount to the Annual Fund by $5/month or more.
But... there's more! After the 8/25 Rotary meeting, I was reflecting on what Rotary has done for me and who it has helped me become and it truly means a lot to me.
Then I was thinking about Marissa’s goal of our club reaching $10,000 in annual giving and wanted to help come up with ideas to help her reach that goal and came up with this.
Up your game and do $10 for $10K!
For every person who either starts giving at least $10/month or increases their existing giving by $10/month, I will increase my monthly contribution by $5.
I will do this for up to 10 members and therefore increase my giving by an additional $50/month.
A gift of $8.33/month gets us to $100/member/year. Any amount helps change the world.
Thank you to RAHtarians Elise Anderson, Liz Evans, Jennifer Luedtke, Shane Stuhr, Ashley Santolin and Madeline Behringer for increasing your giving or recently signing up for Rotary Direct!
Thank you to everyone for considering a gift to the foundation!
To donate, you must first log in or sign up for MyRotary. This is a separate login/account from your ClubRunner (rotaryafterhours.org) login. Look complicated? It's not!
If you are a first time user, click on Register in the upper right hand corner.
Fill in the Account registration information and click on Continue.
If club number is requested we are club #83721. Our District is #6250 your ID# can be found on the label of your Rotarian Magazine (or email Marissa for it!).
You will be informed that an e-mail has been sent to you.
Check your email for the address you provided. You will receive a message which will ask you to click on the blue link to finalize the process.
Fill in all the mandatory information and click on Create account.
Click on Continue and you will be taken to your MyRotary!
Send Marissa a FB message or email so Jeremy can add their match donations in recognition of you
Signing up for MyRotary will allow you access the Rotary International website, learn more detailed information including your contributions to the Rotary Foundation, information on After Hours, and information on our Rotary District.
Any Questions or Troubles? Reach out to Marissa or Jeremy. We are happy to help and appreciate your support.
Challenge: Invite a friend, co-worker or acquaintance to join a RAH event to check it out! There may be an entire group of individuals in our communities who would make great Rotarians… but could not find a comfortable way to join in person. Perhaps now is the time…
