Happy Hour Tonight

Thursday, January 30, 2014
Appleton Beer Factory 
630 W. College Ave.  in Appleton
5-7 p.m.
Cash Bar    Appetizers to purchase

The Future of the Appleton Public Library

Colleen Rortvedt, Executive Director, discussed how the Appleton Public Library will be celebrating its 150 anniversary in 2047.  For the past two years, the Board of Trustees and the Friends of APL have been talking to the community, bringing in experts, visiting other libraries and assembling a Community Advisory Committee to try to create a plan whose mission, vision and services would be flexible and responsive to community needs in the future.  The community survey determined APL's strengths (collection, staff and programming), weaknesses (safety, building and parking), threats (safety, funding and lack of action) and opportunities (technology, programming and expanded collection).  APL's mission is: Learn, know, gather grow - your center of community life and their vision is: Where potential is transformed into reality.    Seven strategies were also developed. 

Hub of Learning and Literacy - We connect members of our community with opportunity for growth, self-instruction and inquiry.  We recognize reading as the heart of the library's mission and also expand beyond it to offer our community additional ways to improve and develop.

Collaborative Environment - We celebrate our diverse community, serving as a place where understanding can grow.  We work with many partners, allowing our entire community to benefit from shared knowledge and information.

The Future: Children and Teens - We provide youth of all ages in our community with programs and services that are age-appropriate, dynamic and inspiring.  We ensure that children from all backgrounds find a supportive place at the library for their futures.

Creation and Innovation - We honor imagination, invention, and inspiration.  We implement spaces, collections and programs to encourage discovery, development and originality. 

Engaged and Sustainable Organization - We maintain a knowledgeable and creative staff that represents and aids our diverse community.  We work closely with many organizations and partners to benefit those we serve.

Diversion and Leisure - We embrace the important role of entertainment in the lives of our community members and its ability to enhance and enrich our lives.  We maintain a collection that covers the breadth of changing interests, technologies and formats.

Specialized Services and Programs - We support and sustain learning for all ages.  We address the varied needs within our community by offering targeted assistance for different populations. 

At the March Board of Trustees meeting, they will decide whether or not to renovate or build a new library.  Before deciding, they needed to determine who they were, what they will be doing in the future and whether or not it could be done at the current facility.  With annual circulation of over a million volumes, a growing number of e-book uses now in the tens of thousands per year and tens of thousands of participants in programs each year, the Appleton Public Library continues to play a vital role in our community. 

Ghana Sanitation Project

Eighty per cent of the residents in  the village of Medic, Ghana, Africa have no toilet facilities. One hundred per cent of the residents wish that a huge mountain of waste be removed from the center of their village.
 
Sarah Ehlinger faced these daunting challenges as Rotary District 6220’s Ambassadorial Scholar representative to that village over the past two years. The summa cum laude graduate of Lawrence University was fulfilling her sanitation, toxic waste removal and environmental health awareness project there.

Her global grants project was funded first by a $100 from Acca West Rotary of Medic, then by $10,000 from funds raised by the sponsor  Houghton Michigan Rotary (of which $2,000 came from our club); $10,000 from District 2220 and the other 50% from Rotary International. Other donor clubs were Calumet/Laurium, and Santa Ynez.

Sarah’s slide show showed a Medic man urinating atop the 20-year-old waste pile and a woman picking through refuse for whatever she could find.  Goals for the village were; remove the waste and truck it to a land fill; plant 30 tree seedlings in the area, and finish a 8-seat public toilet.  Kathleen Gibbs of NGO Joy 2the World was Sarah’s mentor during her stay and offered help and encouragement.

The toilet structure begun seven years ago has stood idle since a change of political leadership. Winning leader wanted to give no credit to the former, but now the facility is complete with work by village residents.

Waste has not yet been removed but is in process for it sits in a low spot and pollutes ground water. Cost to remove the waste by the truck load will cost more than $20,000.  When gone trash cans will be strategically located and emptied weekly, Sarah said.  She developed a community education program with the area environmental protection agency to educate the population as to how disgusting waste can be.  Individuals who took the course now are trained and will train others to make similar presentations throughout the area.

A Communal Labor Day was established with residents collecting and cleaning.  Sarah’s video showed the contrast between what existed and what resulted. Political, village and Rotary officials attended a large celebration following the event.  Sarah’s parents and Lucinda of the Houghton Rotary also were there.

While not all of the goals have been achieved as yet, Rotarians and others are seeing to it that the waste is removed and the trees planted.

Sarah returned home to the Milwaukee area at Thanksgiving and now is completing her research paper for her Master’s Degree and looking for permanent employment in the Chicago area.

NewVoices

Jeanie Kruka Reimer, Executive Director of NewVoices, talked about how NewVoices is an adult choir comprised of 75 men and women.  All singers are auditioned and about half are professional musicians involved in teaching or performing instrumental and vocal music who live and work in Northeast Wisconsin.  About 50% of the singers are under the age of 40 and 4 are founding members.  Many have a Bachelors or Masters degree in music.  When they are not singing, they are chemists, lawyers, engineers, etc.  NewVoices sings a variety of genres such as jazz, contemporary, classical, sacred, spiritual and calypso music.  Lawrence Memorial Chapel is the performance hall for NewVoices. Phillip Swan serves as Artistic Director/Conductor for NewVoices. He has been a member of the Lawrence University Conservatory for ten years and is a tenured Associate Professor of Music.  NewVoices is involved in many community collaborations such as Voices of the Valley Concert (Hmong and Native American singers), Spirited Songs (Appleton Boy and Girl Choirs), Celebrate 100 Years with the Girl Scouts, Trout Museum of Art and High School Masters Singers Program.   The choir started in 1983 and was originally called Wisconsin Vocal Ensemble.  In 1983, they changed their name to White Heron Chorale.  They changed their name to NewVoices in 2013 which stands for Northeast Wisconsin, a new/fresh approach to singing and voices is their instrument.  They hope to draw in younger singers and patrons.  NewVoices income comes from sponsorships (23%), ticket sales (25%), individual donations (25%), biz/grant donations (9%), dues (7%), special performances (5%) and miscellaneous (6%).  Expenses come from marketing (35%), assistant conductors/accompanists (15%), facility rental (13%), printing (13%), music/royalties (10%), guest musicians (6%), ticket sales tax (2%), postage (1%) and miscellaneous (2%).  Future plans include continued collaborations, continued excellence in performances and Italy in 2015.  NewVoices 2014 Cabaret Fundraiser "Falling in Love" will be held on Saturday, February 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the OuterEdge in Appleton.

Happy Hour at the new Appleton Beer Factory!

The next Rotary Happy Hour, sponsored by the Family of Rotary Committee, is:

 

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Appleton Beer Factory 

630 W. College Ave.  in Appleton

5-7 p.m.

Cash Bar and Appetizers to purchase                                 

“From the self-performed renovation to the custom-fabricated brew train, Appleton Beer Factory was built to immerse patrons in beer culture & display the brewing process. We’re proud of our beer & want you to witness its journey from tun to tongue.”

Bring a spouse, significant other, friend, potential Rotarian – and join us.  See old friends, meet new ones and generally relax and enjoy the camaraderie and conversation.

It’s a great chance to get to know each other better and you also get a make up!

 

The Value of Community Partnerships

Mark Burstein talked about why he accepted the position as Lawrence University's 16th President. He provided three main reasons.    (1) The strength of Lawrence's academic offerings and the quality education it provides.  (2) The quality of the community.  When students eat at Andrew Commons, they leave their backpacks, coats, cell phones, etc. on the stairs of the Warch Campus Center without worrying that it will walk away.  Students trust each other.  (3) The idea that attending Lawrence is life changing.  Alumni talk about how Lawrence provided an educational experience and prepared them to go out into the world.    Burstein has worked for other universities such as Columbia and Princeton which have complex relationships with their communities.  It is not the case in Appleton.  Many of the strategies, goals and objectives that Lawrence has are similar to Appleton and the Fox Cities.  In order to run a liberal arts university, a community needs energy and excitement for students (not too much to be a distraction) as well as faculty/staff.  Students at Lawrence have internship and volunteer opportunities.  More than 50% of the students do significant volunteer work in the community.  Burstein feels that they can improve partnerships to create more vitality to downtown Appleton, create more internship opportunities with local businesses and  build on what already exists.  Currently, Lawrence is trying to raise $5 million to reconstruct the Banta Bowl.  So far, they have raised $1 to $2 million.  They hope to start this project after the 2014 football season and have it completed by the beginning of the 2015 season.  They will be changing the way the field is laid out to support women's soccer and possibly collaborate with the school system.  The field will also change from a grass field to artificial turf in order to make it easier to play on.