August 24th, 2017

Join us for the annual joint meeting hosted by the Rotary Club of Palmer.

We encourage all Rotarians state wide to join us at the Alaska State Fair on

"Buddy Day".

Join fellow Rotarians for an entertaining meeting then stay to see the fair.

Stand by for Ticket information.

Campus Director, Matanuska-Susitna College - Talis Colberg was our guest speaker.  He gave us an update on the latest news at the MatSu College

Dr. Deena Paramo, MSBSC Superintendent gave us some great insight in the operations of the second largest school district in the State

    FOR ALL ROTARIANS!!      

Read more below and find out what all the value you receive for your $300 Registration fee!!

Back by popular demand & your Rotary Hostess this week: 

Past President Stephanie Allen.  

OUR GUEST SPEAKER WILL BE:  Michale Foster - Chairman KABATA Brd Directors
Hear about the current status on the proposed Knik Arm Bridge in the midst of a change in executive directors, are there now different/competing financial plans?  Many questions continue to fill the air....find out more this week!

OPEN TO ALL  COMMUNITY MEMBERS.....JOIN US!

Meeting lunch menu for pre-orders can be found by clicking on "more" below:

 

Sidney (on the right) is Palmer Rotary's outbound student for next year.

Saturday night, January 25th, Sidney learned she will be going to Belgium......

Congratulations....and we look forward to learning more about you at future club meetings and having you and your family part of our club family!!

See you next year .....

 Next club meeting:  January 9th

Palmer Rotarians contributed over $500 and individual  gifts for our 'adopted' Special Santa Program family this Christmas & holiday season.

Special thanks to Jeff and our Club's dynamic and involved exchange students for doing the shopping and gift selections this week for the three children, ages 5, 9 and 13.    Looks like these terrific women didn't have any trouble using their well-honed shopping skills!!

Thank you Les for prompting our engagement in this community service project...and to all our club's members for their very generous contributions and support.....we continue to engage Rotary ...and change lives. 

And, the Palmer Rotary contributed $100 to the MatSu Rotaract Club to support their Christmas community service "Adopt A Family" Project.  <Rotaract clubs are modeled similar to Rotary clubs but brings together young professionals and leaders ages 18-30.  As Rotary, Rotaract has the mission of organizing service activities, develop leadership and professional skills, and enjoy peer fellowship and fun. > 

The Palmer club, along with our sister valley Rotary clubs, are pleased to support our community's young leaders who are our Rotarian's of the future!

Thank you to Commissioner Streur for joining us December 19th. 

As AK's  Department of Health and Social Services, Commissioner Streur provided his insights in this subject matter of great interest and differing opinions...It was a useful informative session.

 
Rotary District 5010 Assembly & Conference...Anchorage:  May 15-18, 2014

"CHANGING LIVES UNDER NORTHERN SKIES"

 December 2013 Early Bird Registration Fee:  $275

 Regular Registration fee beginning Jan 1 2014:  $300 

 Here's the link to District Website for more info and registration:  http://rotary5010conference.com/

Last week's CLUB'S ANNUAL CHRISTMAS FELLOWSHIP & 

GIFT EXCHANGE was fun for all....

A sampling of what we learned about fellow Rotarians:

- Some grown men cry when their favorite beverage is taken from them!

- One of us has been arrested and spent the night in jail

- One of us was a high school basketball hero with 2 secs left in game

- One of us fell over 100' off a bridge when younger...<and has never been the same since.>

A fun and laughter filled meeting was had by all.....Thanks to all who were able to participate!!

TO MARY....Our Exchange Student

SELECTED AS A PALMER HIGH CHEERLEADER!!!

Mary and Jonna have provided updates on their activities and 'Bucket List' desires.

Scroll through the Exchange Student Section elsewhere in this bulletin

and on the Palmer Rotary Home page to read.

Here's the link to our club home page.  Bookmark it for quick easy reference in the future:   http://www.clubrunner.ca/Portal/Home.aspx?cid=2484

TWO MORE NEW PALMER ROTARIANS. 

Skylar Stewart:  Wells Fargo Commercial Lender 

(Previously Palmer Wells Fargo Branch Mngr).  Sponsored by JD.  Classification:  Loans-Commercial

Capt Mark Davey:  Director, MatSu Salvation Army. 

Sponsored by Burt Hall and Sharon Hein (our most recent new member).  

Classification:  Community Service

We're not done with club member birthdays.....We celebrated Joan and Craig's special days at the Nov 14th club meeting.   And Kelly turned 26 (again) this past Sunday....

But....there is another one coming for a party girl with initials JK....it seems it may be a "Milestone One"...   May involve enough candles to contribute to global warming!!!!

Stay Tuned...and read your email invite..........

  Our speaker for this week's meeting is:

Cherie LeBlanc-Shue "Mat-Su United Way"

Cherie is the Susitna Rotary Club President...and a strong friend of the Palmer Rotary Club.....You'll also recognize her Executive Director:   Our own Stephenie Allen!!!   

Cherie will discuss Valley issues and how Rotary and United Way can work together to make positive changes and enhancement in our community...

CLUB MEMBERS:  PLEASE PRE-ORDER YOUR LUNCH MENU>>>>Even if just a salad.   With the increased number of guests often at our meetings, combined with the hotel's restaurant lunch demands....it's creating difficulties!!   Please help out our great hotel hostesses, Brooke and Bee, by pre-ordering your lunch.  The new lunch menu, with ordering contact information, can be found in the left column of this bulletin in the DOWNLOAD section.   Thanks!!

Take a look on the side bar and see our other upcoming club meeting speakers.....

Plan and look ahead because you no doubt know professional cohorts, bosses,  business friends and acquaintances who would be interested in attending with you.......whether to hear "big-name" people or great student and youth ambassadors.

Invite others to experience Rotary and how we influence and contribute to improving lives and communities locally and around the world.

It's time to let our club's sponsored Exchange Student, Mari Marvel, know we are thinking of her and giving her a little 'taste' of home. 

Jeff is putting together a "Care Package" to send her.

If you have some small gifts, snacks (She love's the non-swimming gold fish snacks), or donations you'd like to contribute, see Jeff at tomorrow's club meeting.  

Item's can't be too big....mailing boxes aren't that big or postage costs become a hindrance...but think of something small that you'd like to contribute.

We need and want to stay involved with our great exchange students....it enriches their lives as well as ours.  So, scroll down and review their  sections on either our Club's web Home Page or weekly Bulletin.  The more you learn of what they are doing/want to do, the better you can identify how to maybe include them in your life's routine periodically. 

(1)  Contact information for reaching Jonna and Mary have been added to the top left section of our Home Page and well as in the Exchange Student section in the weekly Bulletin.  It's easy reference  for contacting them to accompany you for an activity or event.   They want to be active and do many things....

(2) Jonna has added an update to her "WISH LIST":

You can help even if not attending!

We need volunteers from our Palmer Club Saturday, 11:30-3pm at the Menard Sports Center. We volunteered to co-sponsor this significant fund raising event.   Our Brenda has done a great job of helping set this up as our club’s representative.  But…………

Now is the time for our club to add some ‘elbow grease’ to the event…..a great deal of it up to this point has been the Wasilla Noon club. So, please consider if you can help…even if you’re not attending the event later in the evening…..A few hours of service for the club and our share of the net proceeds will be most helpful!

If you can help please email  Brenda b.sheldon@msrmc.com or Stephanie  sallen@unitedwaymatsu.org    Again, it’s just from 11:30 – 3pm this Saturday. 

 Thank you!   There may still be some tickets available for this event.....Check with Brenda if interested.

                                           As confirmed by our "Would Never Lead Us Astray" Sgt At Arms, Craig Thorn....this event is lots of fun with warm Rotarian Fellowship regardless of beverage preferences.   There will be non-alcoholic choices as well.

AND.....

BRENDA, OUR CLUB REPRESENTATIVE FOR THIS EVENT, NEEDS HELP:   OUR CLUB IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DONATING BEVERAGES FOR THE EVENT.  BRENDA NEEDS TO KNOW THURSDAY WHO IS DONATING AND HOW MANY BOTTLES.

THERE ARE STILL RAFFLE TICKETS AVAILABLE AS WELL AS TICKETS TO ATTEND THE EVENT.  BRENDA WILL BE SELLING THEM AT THURSDAY'S MEETING. 

Not a good year for cabbage growing.....but a good year for one Palmer guesser!!

Here's this year's State Fair Giant Cabbage winner:  92.3lbs.

One Cabbage Classic participant's guess was right-on:  She is from Palmer, Alaska.  Her payout is $888!!   We presented her her check September 12th at our club meeting....

Each Palmer Rotary and State Fair Scholarship fund accounts were increased by $444 as well.   So, over a two year period, our project has raised about $1800 for student scholarships.  We still want more growth in the future, but we've done okay for our 2nd year project.

We're missing the fellowship and engagement of many Palmer Rotarians.    We can change more lives in our community, and elsewhere, the more members get engaged....Reach out to a fellow club member you haven't seen for a while....encourage renewed engagement with us this week! 

Paraphrased from the pen of Ron Burton, President RI, "It's time for us to recognize that the real challenge we face isn't just bringing new members into Rotary.  It's helping members get engaged in Rotary...helping them realize how their Rotary service can change lives.  When we realize what we can achieve in Rotary...when we really engage Rotary, that's when lives change.  We change the lives of the people who need us.   It's time to open our eyes to the potential each of us has through Rotary.  Rotary lets us reach higher, do more, and be a part of something larger than ourselves.  No matter how much we give to Rotary, we get more in return. "

More information and registration at this link: http://ktn.rotary5010conference.org/

It'll propel your personal awareness and interest in ROTARY

 1. Before the Fair.

2. The Fair.

3. After the Fair.

Palmer has only three Seasons

1. Before the Fair.

2. The Fair.

A big thank you to Kelly, Tammy, Dani, Bill and Cecil for volunteering to help paint the tables in Palmer this Sunday (9/21/14 at 3pm). If you couldn't make lunch today and want a makeup, this is a great opportunity. Please let me  know as soon as you can. If we all work together, this shouldn't take more than 60-90 minutes.

Also, don't forget the Social at Joan's home tomorrow (Friday the 19th) at 6pm.  Directions are below. (Craig, I'm really looking forward to your specialty).  These events are important to friendship and comradery and gives everybody a chance to relax and decompress which is very important in today's busy world. Joan is making pulled pork so we need salads, desert, chips, other fixins, drink stuff and so on.  If you need a suggestion on what to bring, email or call Joan (376-4451  or magicmetals@mtaonline.net).