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Rotary Donates to Grace’s Place

The Missourian from Oct. 11th, 2017

The Washington Rotary Club recently donated $7,200 to Grace’s Place in Washington for a new storage shed. Pictured are Amanda Jones, Grace’s Place executive director, third from left; and Mary Tinsley, Grace’s Place board chair. Shaking hands with Tinsley is Nikki Coleman, Rotary president.

Rotary Buzz Book

Sept. 2-3, 2017 Missourian

16,540. That’s how many children’s books have been donated to schools and libraries throughout local communities over the last 15 years through The Missourian’s award-winning Book Buzz youth literacy program.

“Book Buzz started as just an idea to create a book club in the newspaper to encourage kids to read,” said Dawn Kitchell, who with Chris Stuckenschneider dreamed up the new project 15 years ago.

The Washington Rotary Club was the first to step forward as a partner in early 2003, just a few months after the first Book Buzz column appeared in the Sept.7-8, 2002 issue of The Missourian.

Stuckenschneider and Kitchell had gone to a Rotary meeting to give a presentation to members about the new reading project they were initiating. Afterward, Kitchell received a call from Dr. Greg Wilson, who was superintendent of Washington School District at the time and a Rotarian.

Rotary wanted to support the new literacy program financially, Wilson asked Kitchell, “could it use some funding?”

“That was the answer to what we saw as our greatest challenge,” Kitchell said. “We wanted to recommend new books, and we knew those books would not yet be in our school libraries.”

“We knew with the Rotary Club’s funding we could put the books into the schools. We realized that we could make their donation go further if we ordered the books ourselves at a discount from the publishers,” Kitchell recalled. We called it the Rotary snowball – they threw us a beauty and Book Buzz just started rolling, picking up steam!”

Every year since, the Washington Rotary Club has continued to sponsor the Book Buzz program. Dozens of others have followed its lead

This week’s Program: Jordon Scheer Relay for Life

Madison, Dylan, John, Parker and Paige, students from Washington High School, shared their progress towards planning this year’s event scheduled for April 28, 2017.

The event allows 3rd-6th grade students to raise funds and participate in the relay.
Proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society.
In 2017, this fundraiser brought in $23,000., with a goal of $24,000 for 2018.
Check presentation from Rotary Club of Washington for $2,500 and a Missourian photo.

Rotary Donation to United Way

The Washington Rotary Club made its annual donation to the Franklin County Area United Way for $7,500 Thursday, Sept. 14th at the club’s weekly meeting. Phillip Kleekamp of United Way accepts the check from Rotary President Nicole Coleman.

2017 Washing Car Raffle Winners

The 17th annual Bill Kluesner Memorial Car Raffle winners recently were announced. The first-prize winner was Steve Homeyer, shown center left with his wife Patty, from Glenco. Homeyer took the $25,000 cash prize, his ticket was sold by Rotarian Les Crawford. Presenting the check is Car Raffle Chairperson and Rotarian Sharon Monzyk.

The second-prize winners were Chuck Marquart and Shelley Tinsley from Leslie, not shown. The prize was $1,000. The third-prize winner was Garney Coleman, Washington, shown fifth from the right, next to his wife Mary. He won $500. Presenting the check to Mr. and Mrs. Coleman is Michelle Stone, Washington Rotary Club president-elect.

The Washington Rotary Club sold 918 tickets with all the proceeds staying in the community being directed toward the western expansion of the Rotary Riverfront Trail. Also shown are members of the club.

Students of the Month

Every month from September to May, the Washington Rotary Club acknowledges a High School Senior from Washington High School (WHS), Saint Francis Borgia Regional High School (SFBRHS) and Four Rivers Career Center (FRCC) as “STUDENT OF THE MONTH”. These students are selected by the administrations based on their leadership skills, academic performance and community involvement. The students attend one of the weekly noon meetings to accept a plaque and give a short acceptance speech to our club that includes information about their family, school hobbies and future plans.