District 6040 Governor Amy Chinnery-Valmassei
Zones 30/31 Director Brian Hall
Rotary International President Olayinka Hakeem Babalola
"Do better than your best".
Please see the story at the bottom, capturing Hod's life and journey as a young man, husband, and Rotarian. Hod will be missed. There will be a Celebration of Life in St. Joseph at a date to be announced later. We will also work to come up with some sort of meaningful memorial opportunity to honor Hod's 57 years of service and membership in our club.
The Rotary Club of Saint Joseph met today at the beautiful Albrecht Kemper Museum of Art. There were a total of about 30 people at the meeting, including prospective member Honey Brown (Skye) of the News Press as well as our District Governor, Amy, and her father, Carl, both of the Lee's Summit Club.
Black Bowls donations for this quarter (7/1 through 9/30) go to the St. Joseph Safety and Health Council. This supports their educational programs such as Safety Acres and Safety Town. Members can contribute on our Square site online or bring the cash to meetings.
Meals on Wheels delivery assignments:
September 17 will be Ralph Schank with Bill McCammon and Amy Spaeth (solo).
September 24 will be Matt Porter with Heather Weddle and Dana Matt (solo) (possible sub needed)...
Shoes for Orphan Souls Update (for 2026-2027 Campaign):
Joan Brewer has volunteered to be our club's Cheerleader for this year. Amy Spaeth and Erik McGuire will assist. Anyone else who would like to be on the committee is welcome to join in our efforts. Our District Governor Amy today challenged us to "do better than our best".
St. Joseph Marathon Service Project volunteer opportunity on 9/26. Please let Ralph Schank know if you can help.
If you have any questions, email or text Ralph at 816-262-3453.
A Pumpkinfest pumpkin carving service opportunity is on Monday, 9/28 from 11 to 12 Noon, with the Pony Express Museum serving lunch at Noon. Please let Tim Curry know by email at tjamescurry123@gmail.com or phone at (816) 262-2728 if you are able to help out.
Rotary Leadership Institute (a great way to learn more about "Bigger Rotary") is offering a virtual Part 1 (2 nights) on Tuesday, September 29 and Thursday, October 1 (from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. both nights) and also on Tuesday, 10/19 and Thursday, 10/21. To sign up or learn more, please visit https://rotary6040.org/sitepage/rotary-leadership-institute-(rli)... President Bill McCammon shared that the club will reimburse the $15 registration cost of any attendees from our club.
Thursday, September 17... September Rotary Social from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Mokaska Coffee (705 Edmond Street)
Wednesday, September 23... Rotary Club of Saint Joseph meeting at the AKMA... program speaker will be somebody from the City of Saint Joseph
Monday, September 28... from 11 a.m. to 12 Noon with lunch provided by the Pony Express Museum afterwards... Rotary Club pumpkin carving service project at the Pony Express Museum for Pumpkinfest...
Wednesday, September 30... Rotary Club of Saint Joseph meeting at the AKMA... program speaker will be Laura Evans with the University of Missouri Extension
Wednesday, October 28... Rotary Club of Saint Joseph World Polio Day (actual day is 10/24) trivia and celebration event at our regular Noon meeting
Friday, November 6: District 6040 Rotary Foundation Dinner at the Carriage Club in Kansas City... please let Shelly or Bill know if you would like to attend but are not yet on the list... we have just about filled our 40 spots but can find room if you want to attend
The Rotary Foundation is the engine that drives the community and international service of Rotary, from the club level, district level, and international level. Your support makes our district grants, scholarships, global grants, polio eradication, and disaster response possible. One way that we have a chance to support the Rotary Foundation this year is through the Foundation Dinner.
One of the biggest efforts of The Rotary Foundation is the eradication of polio worldwide. To assist with this effort, each year Rotary celebrates World Polio Day on the birthday of Dr. Jonas Salk (inventor of the polio vaccine)- October 24. Our club will have a program on October 28 in partnership with a theater class at MoWest that is helping us to make a video about the eradication of polio. We also plan to assist with the premiere of a video in the Spring- possibly April 22- still finalizing- with an event at the Missouri Theater that features the video with interviews of polio survivors- that the theater class is making this school year. More to come on this exciting project!
Foundation Dinner on 11/6 at the Carriage Club
Please support the Golden Ticket Raffles and Community Sponsorships and other giving opportunities! If you would prefer to write a check or pay cash for the raffles or the sponsorships- we can work with that too- just let Shelly Hulet know.
Once at the site, simply select which ticket you'd like to purchase and how many tickets you'd like. No login is required to complete the purchase.
The Golden Tickets and community sponsorships are open to Rotarians, non-Rotarians, spouses, members of the community, anybody...
Community Sponsorships (Please see Shelly if you would like to become a community sponsor for $250- includes advertising for your business)
Golden Ticket Raffle Sports Package (11 have been sold so far, sometimes called Package 2):
Golden Ticket Arts Package (15 tickets have been sold so far, sometimes called package 1):
Experiences Sought for Live and Silent Auctions
Know a student who may want to apply for a Rotary district grant scholarship for international study in 2027 (undergraduate level, 2 $2,500 scholarships available district-wide)? Or who would like to apply to be a Rotary Gl0bal Grant scholar (graduate level, 1 $30,000 scholarship available district-wide)? To learn more, please visit https://rotary6040.org/sitepage/trf-scholarships/scholarships
Hod was born in March of 1933 in Littleton, New Hampshire, but his parents and family home were in Vermont, so we’ll go ahead and accede to his demands to call him a Vermonter. Hod attended 1 school building from grades K-12, before attempting to enter the Naval Academy and West Point, but being denied due to failing the physical. Instead, he settled on an obscure, little known school named Dartmouth and earned his degree.
Powell Park sits at the intersection of 10th and Powell at the site of the former Sisters Hospital. Led by Rotarian Tim Curry, the Rotary Club of Saint Joseph has breathed new life into this neighborhood park.
The final results are in for the 2026 Purple Pinkie Polio Eradication Fundraiser, and I am thrilled to share that together we raised $1,200,788 for Rotary's End Polio Now campaign.
Every dollar will support the fight to eradicate polio worldwide. Thanks to the dedication of Rotary members, partners, and supporters, we are now down to just two endemic countries. The finish line is in sight.
Over a dozen Rotarians from Argentina arrived in Kansas City for the FIFA World Cup as part of a friendship exchange program through the international organization.
Rotary families from KC metro clubs are opening their homes as part of this program
The travelers were greeted by their host families at Kansas City International Airport, where the reunion was anything but a meeting of strangers, despite many coming face to face for the first time.
The Rotary Club of Saint Joseph's 2025-2026 District Grant project has been to install an accessible outdoor area for the new Day Program at Life Unlimited's St. Joseph location.
The Sergeants-at-arms may have set a record with Happy Bucks today, not sure, but it was fruitful:
Mary Beth Revels for Skye's nice News Press write up about the library
Louie DeLeon for Mary Beth's presentation inspiring him to go and get a library card
Bill McCammon for he and Shelly's upcoming 35th wedding anniversary and annual trip to Top of the Rock
Erik McGuire for he and Christy's 10th wedding Anniversary on 9/17
Nick Gertsema for getting the new TV and media cart for the AKMA for our meeting room and for something about a football game that Mizzou appeared to have won
Matt Porter for his daughter's 3rd hip labrum surgery and for an upcoming trip to Cancun
Ron Auxier for it almost being basketball season (KU alumnus)
Josh Middendorf for a memory about Hod and Mabel playing the Newlyweds game at Rotary for a Valentine's Day program a few years ago- you had to be there
Program Speaker:
District 6040 Governor Amy Chinnery-Valmassei
Amy has been a Rotarian for about 15 years, but with her dad Carl being the Past District Governor in 2002-2003, Amy has long been a part of the Rotary family.
Amy's home club is the largest in District 6040- the Rotary Club of Lee's Summit. They have somewhere around 130-140 members. Our club and their club are a bit similar in vibe and in structure- with theirs obviously being a bit larger.
Amy challenged us all- "Who do you know who needs Rotary?" There are some great people out there- it's up to us to include them with our service projects, social events, and yes- as club members.
Amy shared some updates about some district programs, focusing on peace building. "Rotary is the biggest peacebuilding organization in the world"- was her remark- and she challenged us to think about connecting peacebuilding into all of our projects- as something as simple as a new pair of shoes helps to build peace.
Mark your calendars for this May for the District Conference- to be held in Lee's Summit at both Unity Village and the Rotary Youth Camp- May 14 and 15. This will be where we have the annual role call of shoes as well as other district programming and service opportunities.
After the meeting, Shelly, Greg, and Erik took Amy and her dad Carl on a tour of St. Joseph to see some of our club's service projects. Amy especially enjoyed the combination of projects the club has done over the years at the YMCA and the park adjoining it. Perhaps it's time to do another project out there?
It was great to have Amy visit our club this week.
