Harvest Howl, our signature event, is a mere month away. Don't forget that for the first time, it will be on a Saturday, not a Friday - November 2, to be exact.
How can you help?
Start bringing your bottles of wine or liquor to one of our weekly meetings. Wine baskets always make great silent auction items.
We'll need more servers for our premium tables. Let Mike Wier know if you can serve.
The silent auction is a big factor in our profit line. Can you contribute an attractive auction item? Bobcat/Grizzly items, tickets to games, ski weekends, river floats, nice artwork or fine crafts, a kayak or paddle board ... what would tempt you to make a bid?
We'll have a full day on Saturday, Nov. 2, converting a big, empty arena into a dinner-dancing-partying venue. It's really fun to be part of the transformation, so block out 2 or 4 or 6 or 8 hours to help that happen.
The night of the event we'll need event volunteers: food servers, beer servers, 50-50 ticket-hawkers, silent auction managers ... ask Mike Wier how you can help.
The morning after the event, we'll need clean-up volunteers, converting the after-party mess into a big, empty, CLEAN arena again.
Now's the time to commit. Sign-up sheets are being circulated at our meetings. If you can't attend a meeting, talk to Mike Wier or Cari Yturri about what you can do to make this the best Howl ever!
Coming Up This Week ... This Month
You've got two great options for featured presentations at our meetings this week. The noon club will get an update on the County Commission from Commissioner Jim Larson. On Thursday Jen Creed will address the evening group on inclusive playgrounds, a timely subject now that Great Falls has a parks maintenance district. Pick your passion and join us Tuesday at noon or Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the country club!
Camp Rotary Clean-up is slated for next Saturday, Oct. 12. John Juras sent out a beautifully organized and illustrated map at last week's meeting. All hands on deck! If you plan to attend, please let John or Cari Yturri know. Car-pooling by meeting at 4B's on the way out of town is encouraged. To carpool, be at the 4B's at the west end of town by noon on Saturday.
With World Polio Day coming up on October 24 and a very successful shredding fundraiser in our portfolio, we've decided to have another Eliminate Polio Shredding Event on Tuesday, Oct. 22, during our noon meeting. Bring your paper to be shredded and help shred polio as well! As with the summer event, the charge is $10/box for the first two boxes and $25 for boxes 3-5. Contact Lacey Gallagher with questions.
Last Week at Rotary
Our presentation last week focused on a remarkable product that is changing the lives of low-vision children in Great Falls: Prodigy Connect 12. Carol Claton-Bye of Montana School of the Deaf and Blind demonstrated how this new machine works.
Not much larger or heavier than a laptop, the Prodigy Connect 12 magnifies objects placed underneath it, and a camera attached to the top allows the user to read posters, print on a whiteboard, or even the faces of people across the room.
Low-vision children are often placed in the front of the classroom and teachers run to a copy machine to enlarge instructional materials as much as they can, Carol told us. With Prodigy Connect 12, the child can sit anywhere, read the same books other kids have, and see everything other children see.
Carol used the machine with a student who attends MSDB part-time and Lewis & Clark Elementary the rest of the time. He placed a toy car under the Prodigy Connect 12 and for the first time realized it had doors and decals.
"Can I take it back to school to show the other kids?" he asked. Low-vision students often have difficulty socializing with other children because they literally don't see things the same way ... if at all. This tool breaks down that barrier.
It was an "aha" moment for Carol. The machines costs about $3,500 each, but she was determined to raise enough funding to allow all the low-vision students in co-teaching settings to have a Prodigy Connect 12 to use in both schools. She engaged the Lions Clubs statewide in a fundraising effort and through a large grant and a group discount, she now has over 100 Connects, enough for every student.
The Prodigy Connect 12 allows these students to download books and read them with enlarged print, or read along with a simulated story-teller who can read at the pace they prefer.
But what about future students? one Rotarian asked. Wouldn't it be great for the students to be able to keep their Connects and get news ones to meet future needs? Carol says she's working on that. Once people understand how important these machines are, not just to the education but to the socialization of low-vision children, she's confident they'll want to meet this need.
Spotlight on ... Virginia Stacey
The letter 'B' runs strong through Virginia Stacey's life. Her middle name (Blanche) and her maiden name (Breest) begin with 'B.' Her former business, Bekins Moving and Storage, begins with 'B.' And before she entered that business, she was in banking.
But as Harvest Howl Chairman Mike Wier frequently reminds Virginia, the label "bee" is also appropriate. She is a worker bee for Harvest Howl, he says. And that's not all. For many years, Virginia headed up the Rotary bell-ringing activity for the Salvation Army during the holiday season. Rotary banners? Badges? Books? Boxes? Virginia's your gal. Even now, post-retirement, she's busy crocheting blankets (another 'b'!) for Project Linus.
Even more than the letter 'B,' serving others runs through Virginia's life. As her husband, Alan Stacey, and her two daughters, Hillary (28) and Allison (31), will be the first to tell you, she's just built that way. "I've always loved serving others," Virginia says. "When a relative told me about Rotary, it was a perfect fit from day one."
Rotary Club of Great Falls is lucky to have you, Virginia. Here's to your continued well-B-ing!
Milestones
This week three Rotarians celebrate another trip around the sun: Jim Humphrey on October 6, Joann Gogo on October 7 and Heidi Hockett on October 11. Nothing but the best in wishes from your fellow Rotarians to you three October gems!
Weekly Wit ... from First-Graders
Asked to complete some familiar sayings, here's what some first-graders came up with:
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