Stories

Last month, many of you contributed to the Capitol West Academy School Supplies Drive initiated by Jan Constable and the Community Service Committee. This used to be a once a year event but with the increased demand, our club rose to the occasion and donated the following supplies.

With the school year starting, next month will mark the start of the tenth year of our tutoring program at Capital West Academy! 

Last month marked the start of the ninth year of our tutoring program at Capital West Academy! New for this year, a math component has been added to our reading tutoring as well as a group of seniors from the Brookfield Senior Center who are reading to the K4 class.

Last month, many of you contributed to the Capitol West Academy School Supplies Drive initiated by Jan Constable and the Community Service Committee. This used to be a once a year event but with the increased demand, our club rose to the occasion and donated the following supplies.

On March 2, eleven Elmbrook Rotarian's and their spouses were part of over 30 participants who took part in Read Across America Day at the Capitol West Academy School on 88th Street in Milwaukee. The Read Across America Day event celebrates Dr. Seuss’ birthday and focuses on creating a love of learning. The message to kids is: reading is important, and fun!

On March 2 from 9:15 to 10:30 a.m., join Elmbrook Rotarians along with other volunteers and community leaders, to take part in the annual Read Across America Day at Capitol West Academy (CWA) in Milwaukee. Volunteer one hour of your time to read to a group of children at CWA. Just bring your favorite Dr. Suess book or use of theirs. Contact Donna Weber of CWA at 414-465-1355 or dweber@cwaacademy.org for details. "You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read with a child."

Past Club President Jan Constable recently gave his Classification at our Friday morning meeting. Jan is incredibly involved in so many of our programs and is a big advocate of literacy, having been instrumental in helping start-up our tutoring program at Capitol West Academy. If you didn't make the meeting when he spoke, here's Jan's bio and learn about his first experience with coming to a Rotary meeting. As you'll read and despite the situation, Jan was persistent and we're glad he still decided to join the club! Plus, who knew Jan was a talented Rugby player traveling to England, Ireland and Wales!!

Erik grew up in a small farming community in western Illinois called Alpha. At 800 people and .32 square miles, Alpha makes Elm Grove look enormous.

In 1993, Erik graduated from Bradley University in Peoria, IL, with a degree in Public Rations. He was the seventh member of this family to attend Bradley, including both of his parents and one of his two siblings. His parents are so enamored of their experience at Bradley that Erik was given the middle name of Bradley. Erik shares that love of Bradley by volunteering on the University’s Alumni Association Board of Directors.

A good hearty breakfast and warm Rotarian fellowship was just the thing for a grey Friday morning.

We heard from Club Member, Greg Bonk this morning – answering the question of “Why did I join Rotary?” The simple answer – “I was asked by another Rotarian.”  It can be as straightforward as that but it may have helped since Greg knew half of the people at the first meeting he attended! Since joining ERC, Greg has gotten closer to old friends who were already Rotarians and has made many more new ones. Only regret?  He still has not won the raffle, not yet anyway.

And our veteran member Classification Talk was given by Ned Consigny who joined the Club in 1988. He took us through his long and varied career – starting as Dairy Science major at UW-Madison (where he realized he liked people a lot more than cows), to manufacturing sales, to the owner of his own advertising specialty business - from which he has just recently retired. Ned’s 26 years as an Elmbrook Rotarian included serving as President and he continues in his ongoing role as Head Choral Master of the “ERC Birthday Singers.”  Ned is an outstanding example of the commitment to service and the community that makes ERC the vibrant club it is.

At last week's meeting on Friday October 17, Club Member Bonnie Bertram announced that the Community Service Committee was kicking off this year's fundraiser for St. Aemilian-Lakeside or SaintA involving the Boston Store Community Days Coupon Book. Our Club has participated in this successful program over the last several years, raising thousands of dollars.

According to Bonnie, funds raised over the next month will be used to support programs at SaintA which is a place specifically for the young boys in short-term residential treatment. These are the same boys, ages 5 to 17 that Elmbrook Rotary hosts the annual Christmas party.

On Monday, October 13th, Elmbrook Rotary Club members were at Trowbridge School in Milwaukee in what marked the start of the 5th year for the “Diane’s Dictionaries” program. For those who aren’t aware, the program is the work of Elmbrook Rotarian, Barry James, and his daughters April and Holly who created the program in memory of Barry’s wife Diane, after she passed away in 2009. The family established Diane’s Dictionaries – a legacy program to help students in Milwaukee by providing them with dictionaries to increase their vocabulary development and interest in reading.

On Tuesday, September 30th a group of 11 Elmbrook Rotarians, family and friends joined students from Fairview South at the Milwaukee County Zoo for a fun-filled morning. The event has become an annual tradition that began with The Brookfield Rotary Club and former Brookfield Club President, Greg O’Connell joined in the effort.

Over the past several months, both new and longtime Club members have given Classification Talks to give others a better idea of their backgrounds. If you've given a talk or are scheduled to give one, please contact John Schesta of the Vocational Service Committee with any questions and make sure to provide a write-up of your talk afterwards.

On Saturday, October 4th, a group of Rotarians along with a few friends and family members, spent the morning at The Women’s Center in Waukesha for a hands-on service project involving several demolition projects. Eleven people took part in the effort that was coordinated by TWC Director of Operations – and Elmbrook Rotarian, Mike Hogan as the group demolished an old vestibule on one house that was largely unused. Two other houses had front porches and railings that needed to be demolished to make way for new composite decking, railings and stairs.

When the Major Fundraising Committee (a.k.a. the Spikes for Tykes Committee) met a few months ago to discuss the successes as well as possible areas for improvement in next year’s event, the following topics were brought up for consideration in 2015.

Chris Spresser is serving as this year’s Chairperson for the Club Services Committee. At a recent committee meeting, they met to brainstorm ideas for social events in the coming year along with a proposed calendar of events:

Elmbrook Rotarians - This is a friendly reminder from the Community Service Committee that we are now accepting Mini-Grant requests that will be reviewed in late October.  The deadline to submit the grants is Friday October 17th. Please contact Michael Schmeling, CSC Chairperson, if you have any questions. Thanks!

Earlier this month was World Smile Day and we could have used some of it on a rainy dark morning. Fortunately, our program speakers talked about another good cure for the gloom – Coffee!

Our Speakers twere Larry D”Attilio and Jeff Browne. Larry and Jeff have been active in developing closer ties between the Milwaukee area and Vietnam. Although many of our impressions are of the wartime Vietnam, the country has the 13th largest population in the world and is becoming an economic power in Asia and the World.   

Elmbrook Rotary has been funding a Vietnam Women’s Micro Loan initiative with Larry for the past 6 years. Jeff spoke about working with coffee farmers in the Central Highlands and while Vietnam is a leading exporter of coffee, the quality is low and Jeff has been working with local farmers to develop a premium line of coffees known as Temple Hills.   

You can learn more and purchase the Temple Hills coffee on line at www.templehillsonline.com.

Were now on the downside of Summer so with the shorter days, the drive to the meeting is a bit darker. But we still had plenty of Happy Fines this morning and a lot of Long Term wedding anniversaries to celebrate. Sergeant at Arms, Linda Edelstein has been doing a great job of coaxing membership and finding Happiness everywhere (and Fines) from everyone. Keep up the good work! 

Our guest speaker this morning was District Governor Mary Beth Seiser. She was introduced by Former District Governor, Sandra Bosin.

According to Club member Erik Moeser, The Guatemala Vision Team has openings for anyone interested in going on the trip due to several people dropping out unexpectedly. The trip to Guatemala will take place next February, with the group leaving on the 21st or 22nd and returning on the 28th or March 1st.

Mike Schmeling is serving as this year’s Chairperson for the Community Services Committee. At our recent Club Assembly, he gave a rundown on activities planned for the year including long-running programs in addition to a handful of possible new activities. The following is his recap:

At our recent Club Assembly, this year’s Chairperson for the Vocational Services Committee, Dan Roads gave a rundown on activities planned for the year including long-running programs in addition to a handful of possible new activities. The following is his recap:

Happy/Sad fines definitely tilted to the Unhappy side this morning as we lamented the Packer’s loss to Seattle in the season opener and the Brewers 9th loss in a row pushing them further out of first place.  However, still time to change both team’s fortunes and hopefully the fines at future meetings will be “Happier.” Highlights of the meeting included:

Last month, Youth Protection Committee Chair John Schesta encouraged all Club Members to read and sign a one page form entitled “Rotary Club Volunteer Behavior Expectations in District 6270 while working with Youth in Activities”. At our meeting on September 5, John let everyone know that the cost for conducting backgrounds reports by the District increases on October 1 and the following notice was issued by PDG, Bob Hosch of the District:

IMPORTANT NOTICE:  Youth Protection Update
Currently we obtain criminal background reports from Intellicorp at a cost of $3.15 each. Intellicorp has announced changes in the price structure and content of these reports.  
As of October 1, 2014 the cost per report will be $10.00 each.  On July 1 2015 the cost will increase to $14.95 each.

With our Tutoring Program starting-up at Capitol West Academy, the video featured on the home page of our website highlights their 2014 State/National School of Character Award which they celebrated this past summer. Last month, the Community Service Committee collected school supplies for CWA to help the students and teachers start the year out with needed supplies and the totals are in. The following supplies and cash donations were collected over a two week period. They included:

As the last meeting before the unofficial end of summer and the long Labor Day weekend, Club members were looking forward to everything from a Backyard BBQ and Pig Roast, an upcoming wedding in Lake Geneva, trips to Door County, and the opening of the College Football Season, among other things. Highlights included:

As you can see from the Sunday newspaper ads as well as the ads on TV, Back-to-School is underway!

One of the Club's biggest hands on projects is tutoring at Capitol West Academy and we welcome anyone that would like to join the team. We have members, spouses, members from other Rotary Clubs, and even friends of Rotary who are currently tutoring. The rewards are great and we all get far more in return than we give!

If you are interested or know of anyone that would be interested in tutoring with us, please contact Kathy Becker, Jan Constable or myself to get more information. We would be happy to meet with you and explain in more detail what's involved.

Thank you in advance!

Jeanne Allen
Rotary Club of Elmbrook (Brookfield)

We learned from Sergeant-at-Arms Linda Edelstein this week that according to the “Fun Facts” in this month’s Rotarian Magazine – happy people have better appetites. If that’s true, the Elmbrook Rotary Club must be one of the happiest places in the country!

Congrats to the Elmbrook Rotarians who took top honors at this week’s Brookfield Chamber Golf outing.  Especially notable was Ralph Gould’s “flying wedge” which outdistanced his chip shot by forty feet.  And thanks to the team for donating a portion of their “50-50 Raffle” winnings to the Elmbrook Rotary Foundation.

Our speaker this morning was Marie O’Brien, CEO of Enterforce.  Marie talked about the changes in the modern workforce and challenges facing business looking to acquire top talent to remain competitive. Among the issues she covered was

• A gap between the skills needed by companies and those looking for work
• The migration of information to mobile internet devises – and how to connect with younger workers
• Challenge of businesses to coordinate the hiring needs of multiple departments, and locations in a global economy

As most of you know, our club sponsors a young man in Guatemala who is in his early 20s as part of our work with Common Hope. His name is Esvin Hernandez and we've been providing funds in order for him to be able to finish high school this coming fall!  You may recall that we chose him just over a year ago due to his age, the risk that he might drop out, along with his proximity to graduating. The great news is that he is on track to graduate this coming November! 

In case you missed our Friday meeting last week, here’s a rundown on the highlights - or “lowlights” if you’re John Allen!

John (Allen) was designated “Smartest Person in the Room” – at least for today.  John knew the origin of the word Jeep was a slurring of the acronym GP – short for the official name of the military’s General Purpose vehicle.

President Tom gave his presentation on this year’s Rotary International Convention, held last May in Sydney Australia. It included photos of the sights of Sydney, as well as the many cultural and artistic attractions of Australia. President Tom also highlighted the diversity of Rotary and the many worthwhile programs on display at the Convention.We wished “Bon Voyage” to Julie Prange, our Outbound Rotary Exchange student who leaves Tuesday for a year studying in Belgium.

Peter Meyer was inducted as our newest member this morning.  Peter is a District Executive with the Boy Scouts of America. Welcome to the Club Peter! 

And finally we said “Auf Wiedersehen” to Carly Hetzel our Inbound Exchange student in 2012. Carly is leaving for University in Heidelberg after spending the last month visiting friends here in Wisconsin

Elmbrook Rotary Club President Tom Curl shared his presentation on the 105th annual Rotary International Convention in Sydney Australia at our meeting on August 15. He and his wife Lynda attended the convention and following are some of Tom's notes from their trip.

At our club meeting yesterday, we were honored to have Mr. Nagappan Azoka, Past District Governor of D-2980 from Salem in Southern India, as he made a presentation on a Rotary India Literacy Mission [RILM] project that is changing the lives of thousands of students and families.

At yesterday's meeting, Community Service committee member Thom Arndt reported that this summer's Food drive raised a total of $1,093 for the Waukesha Food Pantry. In addition to donating a trunk full of food, a total of $593 was donated by members which the Club agreed to match up to $500. 

Club member Tony Consiglio shared a brief story when he dropped off the donations regarding the long line of people waiting to get food noting how great the need is no matter what time of year it is.

Thanks to everyone who contributed or donated to this effort!

Michael Schmeling
Community Service Committee Chair
Rotary Club of Elmbrook (Brookfield)

Several weeks ago, we gave a fond farewell to our foreign exchange student, Otto Mattila as he headed home to Finland on July 12th. A big thank you goes out to everyone who coordinated Otto's activities over the past year or spent time with him especially the tremendous efforts of Bill Petterson, Marie Owens and the host families he stayed with over the past 9 months. Otto will definitely be missed but never forgotten. The following article recently appeared in the Brookfield NOW thanks to writer Geoff Bruce.

President, Tom Curl has finalized the list of Club Committee Chairs for 2014-15, and the list for the current year is as follows:

• Community Service          Mike Schmeling
• International Service        Doug Jacobson
• Club Administration          Christine Spresser
• Vocational Service           Dan Roads
• Foundation                       Kevin Roche
• Major Funding                  Barry James
• Membership                     John Allen
• Youth Activities                John Schesta
• Website                           Steve Stocker
• Public Relations               Steve Stocker

If you aren't currently involved in a committee or are thinking about changing, now is a good time to contact the people listed above to learn about the activities each committee is responsible for. Likewise, if you’re not currently taking part in some aspect of your committee, please take time to think about how you can become more engaged. As Rotarians, we're called to serve and with Elmbrook Rotary, there are hundreds of ways for you to take part!

The Brookfield East High School Interact Club visited a recent Friday morning Club meeting to announce the newly elected officers for the coming 2014-2015 School year. The new Officers are as follows:

Since 1977, The World Affairs Seminar has touched the lives of High School Students around the world. This year, The Elmbrook Rotary Club has sponsored three area students to attend the event which is an initiative of Rotary District 6270.

Newer member, Sally Peifer recently gave her Classification Talk at a Friday Meeting and shared her background, work history and interests.

On Saturday May 31st, we held our 27nd annual “Spikes For Tykes Volleyball Spiketacular” at Mitchell Park in Brookfield and the day couldn’t have turned out better.  With over 50 playing teams and 55 sponsors, and with donations still coming in, we've now raised over $44,000 to benefit charities and programs that we support throughout the year!

On Wednesday, May 28th, Elmbrook Rotarian Jim Dunn and his wife Sherri hosted a reception at the Wisconsin Club in Milwaukee featuring Resident physician KARINA CANDO who works in Ecuador as part of the Andean Health & Development. She is currently being sponsored by The Elmbrook Rotary Club.

The Elmbrook Rotary Club is proud to announce that Danielle Kulpins of Brookfield Central and Haley Griffin from Brookfield East will receive the $4,000 scholarships towards their four-year college tuition.

This spring the leaders of India District 2980, the largest district in the world, gathered in the Shevaroy Hills of Tamil Nadu to honor the contributions of two Rotary Clubs. One is the Elmbrook Rotary Club in southern Wisconsin; the other is the Yercaud Rotary Club in southern India.

The Elmbrook Rotary Club held its annual magazine and book drive last month and Club members a total of 713 books and magazines were delivered to Literacy Services of Wisconsin, The Waukesha County Jail, and The Brookfield Library. Thanks to everyone who took contributed to this effort!

After holding our Friday morning meetings at the Venice Club for over 25 years, Elmbrook Rotary Club is now meeting at The Western Racquet Club in Elm Grove.

With April drawing to a close, many of you may be surprised to learn that April is Magazine Month in the Rotary Calendar. I hope you find time each month to read the fascinating stories in the Rotarian. Here’s a brief article from current RI President Ron Burton on how reading the Rotarian is just one more way to stay connected.

On February 28, twenty-five volunteers including State Superintendent of Schools Dr.Tony Evers, community leaders, Elmbrook Rotary Club representatives and others took part in the annual Read Across America Day at Capitol West Academy (CWA) in Milwaukee.

At the end of this past December, the Elmbrook Rotary Club reached a milestone when we completed our final payment of $5,000 to the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center (SLWC) for a total pledge and donation of $225,000.

One of our newer club members, Dana Johnson gave her Classification Talk at a recent club meeting and the following provides an overview of her talk. As a self-professed “Cheesehead,” Dana covered a lot of ground before joining Elmbrook Rotary.

For those who could withstand the frigid conditions at the 2^nd Annual German Holiday Market in Brookfield, they were treated to variety of sights and sounds including traditional German dancing, crafts from local artists, and even an old fashioned hayride – sponsored by the Elmbrook Rotary Club.

Over the past several weeks, Barry James along with Elmbrook Rotarians Kathy Becker and Jan Constable presented Diane's Dictionaries to young students in the Milwaukee area at three area schools. Several local media including Fox News and Channel 58 were on hand for the events.

This week marks the start of the sixth year of our Tutoring program at Capital West Academy!

Earlier this month, Rotary Youth Exchange students Otto Mattila from Finland and Elen Velez had a chance to visit our Club.

Elmbrook Rotarian Jim Dunn recently visited Ecuador as part of the Club's Elmbrook Rotary Physician Residency Scholarship program and took part in the Andean Health Survivor Trip.

Ron Burton will ask Rotarians to Engage Rotary, Change Lives in 2013-14. He unveiled the RI theme during the 2013 International Assembly in San Diego, California, at the annual training event for incoming district governors.

ERC's International Committee Members made a special presentation last week on our Guatemala Outreach. Click here to watch the video.

A delegation of volunteers from Elmbrook Rotary Club recently returned from Guatemala in continuation of the club's outreach efforts to the children of this poorest of all  Latin American countries.

On January 15, approximately 250 students gathered in the auditorium at Capitol West Academy on the northwest side of Milwaukee.

Elmbrook Rotarians recently began the "Bring a friend to Rotary" program to encourage members to introduce their friends to the Club.