ANNOUNCEMENTS
(noted provided by the unconventional and unorthodox Paul Conforti)
Jack the Hammer: Yearly dues needed for those who have not yet paid – see Jennifer Shelby for a better experience in this endeavor.
Do you like hammers too? Rod Roberts has openings for hammer swingers (volunteers) to help with upcoming Habitat for Humanity building projects. There are several slots available on Saturday August 2nd, and just a few slots left on Saturday September 6th.
Neal Chamberlain, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday, gave a brief overview of his long stay on this planet. Neal’s discussion was mostly positive news about his life and career, but he strayed a bit at the end and talked about the Cardinals.
PROGRAM
Mary introduced our speaker for the day, Linda Tammen, who is the Youth Literature Festival Coordinator. Linda Tammen gave one of those frequent great programs which makes our club that much more extra special! Linda is a retired Kindergarten and 1st Grade teacher from the Paxton Buckley Loda area. Linda is also a graduate of the University of Illinois, and after her retirement the College of Education recruited Linda to chair this bi-annual event.
Linda realized early in her career that her primary role in education was to get 1st graders to read proficiently in their first year as readers in school. Linda realized that if a 1st grader cannot read proficiently during 1st grade there is a significant chance that student will be behind the learning curve in all subjects for every grade thereafter. She understood this incredible responsibility of the 1st grade teacher. It helps when the teacher also loves literature, and Linda does just that. She also found that when you “connect a kid with a book you cannot calculate the impact it will have” on the child.
The Youth Literature Festival, which began in 2008, will take place this year from October 16-18 and is sponsored by the College of Education at the University of Illinois. In the realm of children’s literature this is a major event. Authors working in a variety of genres and appealing to students at many different age levels will be visiting our community for three days. The first two days will include visits to schools around East Central Illinois, and Saturday 10/18/14 there will be a community day that is open to the public at the I-Hotel. The 22 authors who are participating have received a combined total of over 275 awards and special recognitions for their published works.
Please check out their website (http://youthlitfest.education.illinois.edu/). You won’t want to miss another magnificent and unique cultural opportunity our community is afforded on such a regular basis!
SPECIAL NOTE
Last week’s speaker, Lacey Rains Lowe, shared a link to a video on bicycling riding. The video is entitled C-U Sharing the Road and can be found here: http://ci.champaign.il.us/departments/planning/long-range-planning/bike-champaign/
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| July 24th | July 31st | Aug 7th | Aug 14th | |
| Introductions | Reuben Chambers | Paul Conforti | Molly Delaney | Ata Durukan |
| Invocation | John McDaniel | Jan Merchen | Phyllis Mischo | Penn Nelson |
| Greeters | Reuben Chambers | Paul Conforti | Molly Delaney | Ata Durukan |
| Ben Mast | John McDaniel | Jan Merchen | Phyllis Mischo | |
| Song Leader | Nick Jungels | Dave Krchak | Bob La Charite | BJ Lytle |
| Notetaker | Chamberlain | Perry | Penwell | Hodson |
| Rotary Minute | Reuben Chambers | Paul Conforti | Molly Delaney | Bruce Hatfield |
| Decker Weeding | Chamberlain | Hatfield | Nelson | |
| Next Weekend | Duo | Shelby | Nelson | |
| Decker Garden | Adams | Adams | Krchak | Krchak |
| Watering |
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UPCOMING SCHEDULE
July 24th – Isak Griffiths, Executive Director, and Mary Wallace, Director of Development, will discuss Courage Connection (formerly Center for Women in Transition)
July 31st – Deborah Miller, Director of Development, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
August 7th – Visit from the Governor
August 14th – TBD
August 21st – Bruce Knight, Planning and Development Director, City of Champaign
August 28th – Celeste Choate, Director, Urbana Free Library
September 4th – Molly Delaney will discuss the CU Schools Foundation
September 11th – Dr. Judy Wiegand, Superintendent of Unit 4 Schools
