Compassionate Canines

Molly Johnson, President of Compassionate Canines, discussed how she has been working with therapy dogs for over 20 years and has 3 therapy dogs:  Beamish, Dudley and Madigan.  Compassionate Canines started as a group of 6 people who wanted to share their dogs with others at hospitals, funeral homes, hospice, libraries, schools, mental health facilities, foster care systems, etc.  They are a volunteer based organization that currently has 65 handlers and 76 therapy dogs. Compassionate Canines is a 501(c)3 that was established in 2009 to provide area volunteer therapy dog teams opportunities for meaningful visits to people of all ages in a variety of settings in the Fox Valley. They bring volunteer therapy dogs teams together for the purpose of education, support, networking and coordination of therapy dog team efforts in the Fox Valley area; provide comprehensive therapy dog training and initial and ongoing education to interested handlers who wish to volunteer with their dog; provide people residing in various health care settings in the Fox Valley area the opportunity for support, comfort and animal companionship through therapy dog visits by highly trained, qualified volunteer therapy dog teams; provide opportunities for therapy dog teams to visit people of all ages in other appropriate, safe settings; and engage in other activities related to educating the public about therapy dogs. 

Today, Molly brought Madigan a black lab retriever that she found at a shelter.  Madigan was abused and the owner could not house break her. About 90% of a therapy dog is their temperament.  When Molly looks for a therapy dog, she prefers an adult dog so that you can see their temperament and she tries to find out if they enjoy people more than life itself.  Molly is a clicker trainer which is based on positive reinforcement and not punishment.  Clicker training has been around since the 1960’s and used in marine mammal shows.  It started to be used to train dogs in the early 1990’s.  The clicker is like a camera where Molly takes a picture of the behavior she wants Madigan to do and then follows it up with reinforcement (treat).  Molly introduces cues like touch, cuddle, rest head on patient’s lap, right/left, watch and who’s the queen.  Molly taught Madigan a new trick for us – to put her front paws on a chair.  Madigan has made 700-800 visits.  In 5 years, Molly would like to have 400 volunteers, a physical building outside her home and an executive director.   

FAMILY OF ROTARY NIGHT AT THE TIMBER RATTLERS STADIUM

Your Family of Rotary Committee invites you and your family to join us at the Timber Rattlers Stadium on Wednesday, August 22nd for an evening of baseball, food and family fun.  The pre-game picnic starts at 5:35 pm.  Game time is 7:05 pm.  Each ticket gets you a reserved seat behind home plate and a great picnic dinner including 2 beverages. Please report to the picnic area near the third base side for dinner before the game. Pay for tickets at the game.

Reservations are required as we have 50 tickets available at $10 each for both adults and children (the club subsidizes the rest of the cost).    SIGN UP SHEETS AVAILABLE AT UPCOMING MEETINGS from July 31^st- Aug. 21^st. 

Good Garden Works Project

These photos show the progress of the planting that was done on June 11.

Crystal's Thumbnail

Crystal was born and raised in Appleton.  She graduated from Carroll University with a BS in Organizational Leadership and a minor in Communications.  She had two summer internships with the Housing Partnership of the Fox Cities and in January of her senior year Crystal was asked to be their new Public Relations/Development Director which she accepted.  Ever since she was 16, Crystal has always maintained multiple jobs.  The Housing Partnership may be her full-time job, but she is also a Barista at the Copper Rock and Resident Director for the Appleton A Better Chance program.  Crystal is also the Vice President of the Northeast Wisconsin Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, a member of PEO Chapter B, on the strategic planning task force at her church, ADI volunteer and a Kiwanian.  She also enjoys camping, being outdoors, wine tasting and she plays a mean game of cribbage.  

Pulled by the Heart

Nancy Wall, Author of the book, Pulled by the Heart, discussed how she lived in the Middle East for 10 years during the 1970-1980’s.  Her story begins with her flight out of the Outagamie County Airport and ends with her flight back into this same airport  In 1975, she flew into Beirut, knowing that there was turmoil, to meet the man she met at MSOE. Nancy knew Maher for 5 years before they were married.  In a month’s time, Beirut was in a civil war.  Nancy stuck out like a sore thumb since she did not know the language and had blond hair, blue eyes and fair skin.  One day she went out to get basic groceries not realizing the danger.  During this time, she lived on the demarcation line or no man’s land between the Muslims and the Christians. The people in the Middle East are incredibly generous with their spirit, soul and money. Nancy was the only woman who was accepted in many business meetings because of her husband’s stature.  She did everything that she wanted. They moved from the civil war in Beirut to the sand dunes, camels and riches of the Arabian (Persian) Gulf.   Nancy embraced and thrived in the culture of nomads and millionaires until a change in her husband threatened her life that that of her two children.  She could submit to her husband’s demands or find the courage to come back to the United States.  She decided to come back with her 2 children and $6.00 in her pocket.  She had a great family support system that helped her through this difficult time.  She worked 3-4 jobs to survive.  Most of the book is about living in the Middle East.  Nancy never planned to come back to the United States - she planned to spend the rest of her life in the Middle East.  She went back 2 years ago to see a friend who found her on Facebook.  It was like she never left.  She hopes to bring her children back to show them where they were raised and the richness and goodness of their heritage and not just what is read in the newspaper.      Fifteen years after coming back to the United States, Nancy remarried.  Her and her husband live in Chicago, own their own companies and travel around the world.  Nancy grew up in Neenah and she comes back every summer to see her family.

RYE Update

We are very happy to have our daughter well back. She is always talking about her exchange year by your Rotary Club in Appleton! It was an unforgettable and wonderful year for her. She always said to us: "it is better in USA than in Germany!"   Thank you for all you have done for our daughter Ella. We hope to see you again in Friedberg /Germany or in Appleton.  We think, she missed her host families and friends in Appleton so much.

With best regards, Petra and Harald

2012-2013 Goals

For the 2012-2013 Rotary year, President Dawn will be focusing on 5 goals.

1. Awareness
1. Build a float for the Appleton Christmas Parade
2. Community recognition idea – putting a flag pole with the Rotary logo on the corner of Richmond and College Avenue and Veterans Park.
3. Marketing and PR – Come up with ideas and strategies and work closely with Membership Committee.
2. Service Work:  Goal – 4800 volunteer hours (2 hours / Rotarian / month)
1. Rotary Ambassadors will be spotlighting 4 projects to volunteer at on an individual basis.  Make sure to put name of project and hours on your sign in card.
2. All Member Club Project that works with teams to donate items to nonprofit.
3. Community Service Committee project funded by Rotary Shines.
4. World Service project funded by Rotary Shines.
5. All Area Rotary Club Project – Children’s Parade on July 25
6. Monthly drawing for those who volunteer if representing Rotary.
3. Membership:  Goal - 10% net gain
1. Recruitment – Each Rotarian bring at least one prospective member to lunch.
2. Membership Committee solicit larger organizations for prospective members.
3. Retention – Membership Committee will actively work to retain existing members.
4. Fellowship:  Goal - 30% participation
1. Annual Rotary Club Event – kickball
2. Quarterly Happy Hours on Thursday evenings
3. Rotary on the Road – September 11 at Boldt, Salvation Army, Boys and Girls Club, Outagamie County Jail and Outagamie County Airport.
4. Have at least 4 fellowship groups.
5. Family of Rotary Events
6. All Area Rotary Club Socials
5. Club Contributions:  Goal - increase giving by 10%

             A.  Raise $50,000 from Rotary Shines including $20,000 of company matches.