Bulletin #6
February 11, 2026

 
 
"Understand that the person you're speaking to will also know something you don't."
-Club President Ron Auxier
 
The Rotary Club of Saint Joseph met this week at the beautiful Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art.

There was a nice crowd of 19 in attendance today, including guest of Matt Porter, Micah Carter, who works at American Family Don Tolly agency, and has submitted his application for membership to the club. 

We were also joined by guest of Shelly Hulet, Tyler Compton, who works at Tilton, Thomas, and Morgan, as well as guest of Heather Weddle, visiting Rotarian Joan Brewer from the Rotary Club of Emporia, who is the dean of the College of Science and Health at MoWest.

Our speaker Dr. Robert Bergland was present as well.

The lunch spread this week was garden salad with ranch dressing cups, rolls with butter packets available (a nice touch), corn on the cob cut into manageable pieces, boiled new potatoes, and pork chops. This was what most Rotarians seemed to say was a satisfying meal catered by Spanky and Buckwheat's. 

President Ron updated the club that we received a thank you note from the Salvation Army for our help with the Red Kettle campaign. Our efforts led to the collection of $702.04.

Tickets have been distributed, along with sponsorship forms and lunch order forms, for the Spaghetti Dinner.

Oakley said that the deadline for lunch orders is March 2, so that we can order the supplies in time.

Please also get sponsorship forms with logos and payments turned in as soon as possible.  If you need more tickets, please first turn your money in and then ask Oakley for more.

The dinner tickets are $15 for all you can eat spaghetti, breadsticks, salad, and delicious desserts. Kids are $7, 5 and under are free. Carry-out lunches are $8 each and include a meatball sub, chips, and cookie.

Customers and businesses can purchase tickets for lunch, dinner, and sponsorships online at https://rotary-club-of-st-joseph-east.square.site/
 
 
Black Bowls donations for this quarter (1/1/26 through 3/31/26) go to the Care Portal. which connects churches with people in need to make a difference. Contributions to Black Bowls may be made at meetings with cash or check, or online at our club's Square site. 

Meals on Wheels delivery assignments for 2/12 are Alan Van Zandt (solo) and Mike Schumacher with Oakley Coleman.

2/19 will be Faith Parker with (Renee Schumacher needs a sub) and Sarah Meierhoffer (solo).

Update from our club's public image committee meeting last Thursday:  The club is working on merging the 2 club's Facebook pages into the St. Joseph East page, and rebranding. We are also working on renaming the URL for our website www.stjosepheastsiderotary.org and providing content updates. 
 
Upcoming Key Rotary Dates:
 
  • February 18:  Regular club meeting at the AKMA... Speaker is Jason Riley from the St. Joseph Arts Academy
     
  • February 19:  Rotary club fun committee social at the Bunker Club in Savannah (on the square) from 4:30 p.m. to ____? They have indoor golf and a bar. This should be fun. 
     
  • February 21:  Work day for the Life Unlimited garden beds district grant project at Spaeth Construction (2021 St. Joseph Avenue)... bring work gloves, all tools provided... Amy assures us that the shop is heated... Bill says that even if you can't make it when we start at 9:30 a.m., come when you can and stay for however long you can, whether an hour or the entire time
     
  • February 25:  Regular club meeting at the AKMA... speaker is Rotarian Natalie Newville of the St. Joseph Catholic Academy
     
  • March 4:  Regular club meeting at the AKMA... program is the Interact Club from St. Joseph Christian School's 4 Way Test Speech contest 
     
  • Friday, March 6:  43rd Annual Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser at Ashland United Methodist Church- carry out lunches and dine-in or carry out dinners 
     
  • Saturday, March 7:  Sleep in Heavenly Peace lumber cutting and staining work day at MWSU at 9 a.m. 
     
  • March 11:  Regular club meeting at the AKMA... speaker is Past Rotary International Director Elizabeth Usovicz, presenting on the Rotary Peace Fellows program
     
  • March 18:  Regular club meeting at the AKMA... speaker is Tonya Ball presenting about the Care Portal
     
  • March 25:  Regular club meeting at the AKMA... Rotary Blend candle orders and money are due by 3/25 
     
  • Friday, 4/24 and Saturday, 4/25:  District Conference at the Rotary Youth Camp (Shoes for Orphan Souls Roll Call on 4/25)
     
  • Wednesday, 5/6:  Rotary scholarship luncheon for our 5 high school scholarship recipients at Noon at the AKMA
 
District 6040 recently published out 2024-2025 Rotary Foundation Annual Report. Our club utilized 4 different district grants last year! It's worth a read to see what else other clubs did, and the international service that was made possible through the Global Grants (link was broken last week, apologies):

https://rotary6040.org/Stories/2024-2025-district-foundation-report.

 
 
 

Sergeant Kirby Brooner collected Happy Bucks today:

  • Mary Beth Revels survived visiting with Legislators in Jeff City last week
     
  • Shelly Hulet was happy to see our club growing
     
  • Ryan Jones was happy about the weather  
     
  • Tammy Killin for celebrating her anniversary and her daughter also having an anniversary today, and all are happy 
     
  • Jim Ingle for his son turning 55 yesterday and his TV with a green light that might be spying on him? 
     
  • Don Gladhart for heading to Arizona next week 
     
  • Nick Gertsema with a 10 Spot for 10 years of being a Rotarian
     
  • Kirby Brooner for a substantial amount for forgetting to deliver Meals on Wheels with Patricia last week. He did go over to her work to apologize. 


Today's program was presented by Dr. Robert Bergland, about the history of mass media and bias.

Dr. Bob Bergland

Bob shared a bit about the history of journalism, and how even Thomas Jefferson decried what he called a partisan media at the time. We then had a professionalization of media and newspapers that peaked perhaps in the middle of the 20th Century. 

In recent decades, we have seen many of the legacy institutions give way to more partisan and digital and audience-driven media. This has plusses and minuses. 

Overall, we had a very informative and thought provoking presentation. Bob challenged us all as media consumers and as citizens to take responsibility for what we share and consume.  
 
Assistant Shoes Cheerleader Erik McGuire reports that our club has crossed the threshold of 1,000 pairs (counting the 70 that Tim Curry has to get turned in and some that Erik still needs to get to Amy) collected. Which puts us just over 1/2 way towards our goal.

Our goal is to exceed 2,000 pairs this year. To that end, we have a special Rotary Blend Candle Fundraiser available for anyone who would like to participate. Members have through 3/25 to turn in their candle orders to Erik. We will be launching an online store for customers to purchase the candles, in addition to the order forms, soon. 

Members who want to donate to the club to purchase shoes may also do so, or simply bring a few pairs of shoes each week as you are able.