Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build good will and peace in the world.

"Doing good in the World is more than a motto.  It is our goal, our mission, and our reminder.  It expresses in the clearest terms why we have a Foundation, and it challenges us to reach as far as we can to do the most good possible with everything we have.  Our Foundation exisits to support the good that we can do through Rotary.  It expands our reach, increases our strength, and makes our service more powerful and more effective.  Because of our Foundation we can, very simple, do more of our Rotary work."

2004-2005

President Glenn Estess Sr. 

President, Maura Donnelly, opened the meeting leading the Pledge of Allegiance and followed in prayer by David Peter.

 ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Past District Governor, Clinton Rogier, Adrian's father has passed away and the service was this morning. Please keep their family in your prayers.
• Kevin Dewaele, Bob Luitjohan, Phil Hardas and Maura attended the District Assembly this past Saturday.
• The Swedish GSE team will be picked up in Springfield on 4/27 mid-morning and be taken to their respective host families. Our host families are Wayne, Tom, Floyd and Eunice, and Maura. We'll let them get settled in and then we'll leave Highland around 3 to take them to dinner and the cardinal game. Saturday we will show them around Highland and take them for any last minute shopping. We will have dinner at Kevin and Suzie's home Saturday evening. Sunday, they can visit with their host families and we will be responsible for getting them to the airport for a 4:00pm flight.

No announcements

Guests: Matt Powers, Potential New Member (Guest of Rick Ringwald)

Make-ups: None

Birthdays: 4/12 bob Engelmann

Anniversaries: 4/22 Don and Barb Johannes

Club Anniversaries: None

Please let these people know that they were missed: Terry Bell, David Butler, David Daiber, Len Daiber, Bob Engelmann, Angela Fears, Dan Fieker, Mark Frey, Mike Gould, Jon Greve, Bret Gruender, Roland Harris, Ron Hesson, Lisa Hunsche, George Jones, Angela Kim, Jack Klaus, Kelly Korte, Mark Korte, Terry Lammers, Mark Latham, Glenn Meffert, Henry Metzger, Greg Miranda, Bob Nagel, Jim Rankin, Jr., Mark Reaka, Brad Rench, Adrian Rogier, Eric Schmidt, Steve Schmitt, Ron Schneider, Randy Schorfheide, Art Schutz, Peggy Sebastian, Wayne Steiner, Michael Sutton and Jennifer Whitten.

Reminder that 2011-2012 we will be tracking service hours again to see Rotarian's collective IMPACT.  This year's goal is 7500 hours, to date there are 1884 hours recorded. 

Members can go to the website and log your hours or email them to him directly: swconstruct@agtelco.com

There was $272 in the 50/50 with 45 cards left in the deck. The Jack of Diamonds was pulled.

Happy Bucks: Linda Jakel had two happy bucks. The first for the Community Profile being completed. The second for the birth of a grandchild on Friday, April 13.

Phil didn't fine anyone this week!

The University of Illinois Extension recently went through some major budget cuts, losing $7.5 million from the salary line. They lost 110 people across the state but are working to keep programs available for all areas.

While the focus of the U of I Extension started with food preservation and nutrition issues, they have many different areas of focus now. They still focus on food and agriculture issues, as well as Family and Consumer Sciences, energy and water issues, and they host the 4H Club.

One program offered through the Family and Consumer Sciences focus is that of debt and credit issues people are facing. They recently had a program where 300 people started out looking for a home loan. Of those 300 people, 200 of them got loans. Of those 200 only one person defaulted on their loan. The 100 that dropped out of the program before getting loans did so after they realized they couldn't afford a house.

Another area the U of I Extension is working is in energy. They offer programs that allow people to get more information and facts about purchasing windmills to produce energy. This allows people to make a more educated decision about whether the option is right for them.

The U of I Extension is also working on projects dealing with high nitrate levels in rural water systems and nutrition issues relating to health and diseases, such as diabetes.

One program that the U of I Extension is particularly proud is the 4H Club. This club teaches kids great skills, especially leadership skills.

UPCOMING PROGRAMS -  Jennifer Whitten