District 6080

Our club combined efforts with all the city's Rotary clubs and the Rotaract Club for our float in the 2023 Springfield Christmas Parade.  Several members also walked the parade route alongside the float.

   We kicked off the holiday season with our annual party on Nov. 30.  It was at the Miracle on South Street pop-up venue in a former furniture store.

    Audrey Garard and the team at Grooms Office Environments created a magical environment for all to enjoy.  It was a festive atmosphere with delicious food, drink and fellowship.

We were proud to combine efforts with the other Rotary Clubs in Springfield to bring this exciting new playground to our community.  It's named in honor of fellow Rotarian Roseann Bentley and was dedicated on Nov. 21.

The Musical Playground is in Phelps Grove Park, 950 E. Bennett St.  This interactive and fully accessible musical playground is designed for kids of all ages and abilities to make a merry noise.   It has eight playground-grade instruments, including xylophones, drums and other percussive tones, built in colorful shapes of flowers and trees, in the center of the playground area.

Bentley's many years of public service and advocacy for children exemplifies our 4-Way Test and motto of Service Above Self.  We thank all of the Rotarians who have supported and continue to support The Rotary Foundation, which supports many local projects just like this.

Other donors besides the Rotary Clubs and The Rotary Foundation are Ferrell Duncan Foundation at CoxHealth, Dr. George Heinz, Jordan Valley Community Health Center, Community Foundation of the Ozarks, Community Partnership of the Ozarks Board, Charlie and Mary Beth O'Reilly, Shelley Evans, Jane and Herb Dankert, John and Roseann Bentley's grandchildren, The Family and Community Trust, Dr. Janice Duncan, and Nancy Hopkins.  You can read more about the playground at the Springfield-Greene County Parks Department website and in this KY3 News report.

The Rotary Club of Springfield Southeast Endowment Board held an appreciation event on Oct. 16, 2023, for the 52 members who donated to the Give Greater Campaign.  The board was working toward its goal of $500,000 in donations, of which the capital would remain intact and profits would benefit those in need.

The event was called Thanks A Half Million and was at The Vineyard Market. Complementary wine and beer were served with Napa Charcuterie courtesy of The Vineyard Market.

Dinner consisted of filet mignon, mushroom cream linguine, served with garlic cream hasselback potatoes, and balsamic roasted Brussel sprouts. Kentucky bourbon bread pudding with buffalo trace caramel drizzle was served for dessert.

The chairman of the the Endowment Board, Past President Steve Rice, served as the master of ceremonies.  Brandon Welch was the main chef providing us with an incredible dinner!  Prizes were also drawn for a bourbon and cigar basket, bottle of wine and a Cayman wine tasting.

Rick Van Pelt handed out special Rotary pins to the assembled that have "SE ENDOWMENT" inscribed on them. Rick was the originator of the endowment during his year as club president. Bill McNeill's efforts as chairman of the annual Golf'toberfest event were also recognized. Bill reported the tournament netted us about $22,000 for the endowment in 2023.

Special recognition was given to all of the Endowment Board for their hard work and continuing efforts to reach the $500,000 goal.  They are: Steve Rice, Chair; Barbara Lucks, Treasurer; Lisa Blumenstock, Jason Brown, David Compere, Brent Dunn, Greg Horton, Bill McNeill, Rick Van Pelt (Emeritus), Mark Walker, Brandon Welch and Luke Westerman.

(Photos and text by Dan Emrie)
 

The Southeast Rotary Club Shrimp Feed Crew was busy on July 12, 2023, preparing extra large shrimp for the annual John Simpson Memorial Shrimp Feed the next day.  The event, which serves as the annual Assembly for gathering programming and operational ideas, has been held every year since 1974 except for 2020 during the pandemic.  The club members are treated with shrimp, salad and toast, after which a 'Fireside Chat" is held.  The event was held at Past President Patrick Harrington's home once again.

Shrimp Cook Crew consists of: Gary Leonard, Rex Johnson, Harry Price, Bill White, Rick Gilmore and Dan Emrie. (photos by Dan Emrie)

June 20, 2023 at the Peace Pole installation near the Peace Through People Pavilion at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park on South Scenic Avenue:

May peace prevail on Earth.  Across the five Peace Poles in Springfield, 30 languages will be represented.   Poles currently are at K Park, Miracle Field, and near the Springfield Botanical Gardens.  Dickerson Park Zoo and Sequiota Park are the future locations in process.  These are projects of all the Rotary clubs and Springfield Rotaract Club.

-- Posted by Lori Johnson Murawski

A couple of times each year, our club participates in blood drives at critical times for Community Blood Center of the Ozarks.  Here are photos from the drive in June 2023.  Donors got tasty treats, Springfield Cardinals shirts, and free tickets to a game!  Oh -- they each also helped 3 medical patients.  Not bad for an hour.

Twice each year, the club holds Fellowship Lunches away from our regular meeting spot at work places of several of our members.  Members choose which location they want to attend and learn more about that business or nonprofit group.  On June 8, 2023, the lunches were at Gold Mechanical, Missouri Association of Manufacturing, Whitaker Publishing (417 Magazine), and Chicken Salad Chick.   Here are some of the photos from those lunches.

Our club gives recognition annually to our Police, Fire and Sheriff officers who have made extraordinary contributions to the citizens of Springfield and Greene County. This year's recipients, honored at our meeting on June 1, 2023, are:
●From The Springfield Police Department - Detective Kirk Broberg for his work reducing area auto thefts
●From Greene County Sheriff's Dept. - Detective Joey Fletcher for his critical role in finding and arresting predators of children and of child abuse

Our club celebrated becoming a 100% PHF Club with a reception at Highland Springs Country Club on June 1, 2023.

The Fellowship Committee organized an informal get-together at Architect Coffee Company on May 23, 2023.

The Fellowship Committee hosted a joint laughs and lager event with the Springfield Rotaract Club at Billiards of Springfield on May 10, 2023.

Our club prepared and hosted a shrimp feed for the District 6080 Conference on May 3, 2023.

Continuing a long tradition, the Hands-On Service Committee recruited members to serve and cleanup a free community dinner at The Fairbanks on the third Thursday of every month.  These photos are from April 20, 2023.

Our meeting on April 6, 2023, was off-site at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds. Christy Wilder, with the Watershed Natives educational greenhouse project, gave a talk about the project and student participation from nearby Hillcrest H.S.  We got to interact with the students involved to see the benefits of our District Grant in action firsthand.  After the discussion and meeting we toured their greenhouse and, as an added treat, visited the Budweiser Clydesdales.

Final results of Rotary Basketball Tournament to benefit Special Olympics: Thursday, March 23, 2023, was a great night. Despite a severe thunderstorm raging outside the arena, Rotarians still showed up to cheer on the Special Olympic teams! The Neosho Wildcats played the Springfield Wildcats and they had a ball as the fans cheered them on!

In other less important games, our Southeast teams compiled a record of 4 wins and 2 losses. A BIG thank you goes to all the players and sponsors who made our final year the best ever. Many Southeast members stepped up as sponsors, with former member Dan Parmele once again stepping up as the Gold Sponsor. Bill Squires was a Silver sponsor and we also had Luke Westerman take three Bronze sponsorships and provide food for the fellowship hour.  Other sponsors were Steve Scott, Michael Wehrenberg, Bill McNeill, Jim Conley, Greg Horton, Lori Johnson Murawski, Steve Rice and Rick Van Pelt.

Another BIG THANK YOU goes to Marc Mayer for heading up the committee for the past 17 years. His behind-the-scenes work has been stellar each and every year. Brad Bodenhausen headed up the tournament several years prior to Marc taking over and has long been a part of the tournament in some capacity since he joined the club in 1997. Brad and his family staffed our concession stand for maybe 10 or more years.

Last but not least we should acknowledge STEVE SCOTT, the creator and Godfather of the tournament that began in 1984. From simple beginnings, Southeast challenged the Downtown club to a basketball match that we played at Catholic High School gym (yes, Charlie O'Reilly was on the team!). We eventually moved the game to McDonald Arena, then Weiser gym and on to the O'Reilly Family Event Center. The tournament has raised more than $300,000 for Special Olympics.
Thursday night, we closed the books on this very special event. All the scores, fouls, time outs and minutiae of the 170 games over the last 17 years now reside in the game binder stowed away in my bookcase.

We don't know what going forward looks like for Springfield Southeast but one thing we do know is it will be amazing and it will benefit our community and the world.

Written by Dan Emrie; photos by Rick Gilmore

Several club members and their spouses ate dinner together on Feb. 9 at Metropolitan Grill to celebrate Valentine's Day.  It was another successful Fellowship Committee event.