Landon, Graham, Damon, Bennett and Cora

Governor Kirk's January message

Greetings Rotarians, HAPPY NEW YEAR! As we close the year 2021 we can be very proud of what our 37 Southern Indiana Rotary clubs and 1500 members accomplished this year. Thanks to all of you for your extraordinary efforts in so many ways. You all are the best! Now we turn our attention to the new year 2022. This small step in turning over the calendar can mean so much for a very bright and optimistic future for all of you. Everyone has different thoughts of what the future might hold for us within our personal families and our greater Rotary family. When I think about the future, my first thoughts go to my five grandchildren pictured above; Landon, Graham, Damon, Bennett and Cora. What will their futures entail? What opportunities will they enjoy? What will the world be like when they go to college, get a job, buy a house, start a family, retire? Of course, my hope is they all become successful, healthy contributors to our society AND become Rotarians. Today’s Rotarians, all of us, have such a responsibility to ensure the future is bright for all of our youngsters here at home and around the world. This responsibility is played out in our actions regarding polio eradication, literacy, empowerment of young people, scholarships, etc.…the list goes on and on. You are all making a difference for my five grandchildren and all children around the world. That is the result of our 'service above self'.

January is Vocational Service Month in Rotary. Vocational Service calls on us to empower others by using our unique skills and expertise to address community needs and help others discover new professional opportunities and interests. January is a great time to leverage vocational service in your club projects and activities. Here are five ways you can incorporate vocational service in your club activities:
1.) Host a club meeting at your work place and share about your profession while taking time to learn about other member’s occupations.
2.) Use your skills and expertise to serve in a community project.
3.) Practice your profession with integrity, and inspire others to behave ethically through words and actions.
4.) Work with local businesses to create mentorship and internship opportunities to help young people achieve their career goals.
5.) Guide and encourage others in their professional development.
I would be remiss not to mention all the vocations that have contributed so much to our communities during this pandemic. Thanks to all for your service.

Lastly, I encourage all of you to remember Rotary is about membership, stewardship and service. I ask all Rotarians to consider “each one bring one" this year. Please make a gift to our Rotary Foundation this year. Take action by creating a day of service in your community, maybe to empower young girls. Let’s have a great January 2022 to set the tone for the second half of our Rotary year. We are Rotary and we are PEOPLE OF ACTION as we serve to change lives!

Serving to change lives,

L. Kirk Bouchie
Rotary International
District 6580 Governor 2021-2022
PO Box 749
Vincennes, IN 47591
812-887-7681
kbouchie@vinutilities.com

SCENES from the Governor Kirk's December Club Visits

THANK YOU to the clubs that hosted Governor Kirk in December!!
Brazil, Columbus Sunrise and Bloomfield
(sorry, no pictures from Bloomfield )

Brazil

President Andrew Bowman welcomes DG Kirk

DG Kirk thanks President Andrew Bowman and iPP Rob Dispennett for their leadership.

Brazil Rotary Club board meeting with Governor Kirk

Columbus Sunrise

President Todd Boilanger was presented with PHF by Columbus Sunrise Rotary Foundation Chair, Lyn Morgan


President Todd Boilanger, DG Bouchie and Assistant Governor, Lacreta Ulery were thanked for their
leadership and presented with Rotary Sox by DG.

Terre Haute South Rotary Club partners with others on Two projects to Help their Community during Christmas

by President Kennth Menefee, Terre Haute South Rotary Club

Terre Haute South works with Chances for Services for Youth and
Bikes for Tykes to provide Bikes to Children in Need

Rotarian Bill Allen, background, and Rotarian and past club president Terry Tevlin placing “Merry Christmas” tags
on each of the bikes and preparing them for grouping by school.

Terre Haute South Rotary Club has been involved with Chances and Services for Youth (CASY) and their Bikes for Tykes program for many years. On Saturday, December 4, Terre Haute South Volunteers partnered with students from Rose Hulman Institute for Technology who assembled the bikes. TH South Rotary volunteers sorted and grouped the bikes for distribution. Working with area schools and other local community groups, CASY identified children in need and working with TH South Rotary Club distributed 242 bikes to help make this Christmas a little brighter.

Rotarian and Chief Operating Officer, Brandon Halleck, of CASY talks with local TV media.

Terre Haute South helps distribute over 800 Food Baskets on Christmas.

A few of the Rotarians from the Terre Haute South Rotary Club along with family and friends gathered on Christmas Eve morning to deliver food baskets to families in need. More THS Rotarians were at other gathering locations around the city. Rotarians along with other volunteers delivered 800 baskets on Christmas Eve morning.

Rotarians in Vincennes and New Albany Partner with others to Honor 'Those that Gave Their Lives so that we can live in Freedom'
by Laying Wreaths on Veterans Gravesites

Vincennes Rotarians participate in the National 'Wreaths Across America' program with Kiwanians, Interact Club, and Key Club.

Note: This story was written by DG Kirk Bouchie with contributions from Jenny McNeece of the Vincennes Sun Commercial.

On Saturday December 18th Vincennes Rotarians along with several other local people gathered at the Vincennes City Cemeteries as part of the fifth annual Wreaths Across America (WAA) program in Vincennes. The project is part of the national WAA program that occurs every year at 11am on the third Saturday morning in December. The local project is a joint effort between the Vincennes Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs. Besides the two clubs members, also members of the Vincennes Lincoln, Rivet and South Knox Interact Clubs as well as the local Kiwanis Key Club all participated in laying wreaths on veterans gravesites. Each year a local steering committee made up of Rotarians and Kiwanians work year round raising the necessary funds to buy the wreaths at $15 each. This year about 2100 wreaths were purchased. The goal remains to be able to place a wreath on every one of the 3500 veterans graves in the Vincennes city cemeteries. Those cemeteries hold the particular distinction of having graves that include veterans from every US conflict ever, including the Revolutionary War to the present.

Members of the Vincennes Lincoln, Rivet and South Knox Interact Clubs as well as the local Kiwanis Key Club

all participated in laying wreaths.

Immediate Past Rotary President Gary Hackney served as master of ceremony for the brief ceremony. In kicking it off, he reminded those gathered on the cold, rainy morning that the freedoms we enjoy today “did not come without a price”. “Lying before us in cemeteries throughout the nation and world are men and women that gave their lives so that we can live in freedom and with out fear with the right to succeed and fail in whatever endeavor we wish to pursue.” US ARMY Colonel Mike Grundman, a Vincennes native now serving as commander of Camp Atterbury in District 6580, also spoke to the crowd, speaking of his pride in that Hoosiers were expected to lay tens of thousands of wreaths on veterans graves throughout our state. Grundman quoted poet, Linda Ellis, author of a poem called “The Dash”. When people walk through cemeteries, seeing names alongside birth and death dates, “what matters most of all is the dash between those years”. “That dash represents all the time they spent alive on earth. Our patriots spent some of their dash training and fighting for this great country”, Grundman told the crowd.

Local Vincennes area Vets in their dress uniforms. One from each branch of the service lay a wreath at the base of the flag pole of that branch during the ceremony.

Col. Mark Grundman, Vincennes native, with the Army National Guard,speaks at the ceremony.

WAA began 26 years ago in Maine when wreathmaker Morril Worchester, found himself with 5000 extra wreaths. Rather than waste them he took them to Arlington National Cemetery. This year over 245,000 wreaths were laid by 44,000 volunteers at Arlington. On Saturday, December 18, over 1.2 million wreaths were laid in over 1200 cemeteries, including Vincennes, Indiana

New Albany Rotary Club Serves with Hazelwood 5th Grade Classes to lay
Wreaths on Veteran's Gravesites

by Tom Jones, New Albany Rotarian

For many years, students and staff at Hazelwood Middle School in New Albany have organized a Wreath Laying Ceremony at the neighboring New Albany National Cemetery. Through the fundraising efforts of Hazelwood’s 5th grade classes 1,065 wreaths were purchased for this year’s event! At a short program at the school before walking over to the cemetery, an invocation was given by Wesley Chapel UMC Pastor Tony Alstott, followed by a keynote address from City of New Albany Deputy Fire Chief Tim Kron, and the introduction of this year’s Honored Family…that of Veteran Danny Kron. In the remarks of Deputy Chief Kron, it was interesting to learn some of the history of the New Albany National Cemetery. Specifically, that on July 17, 1862, in the midst of the Civil War, President Lincoln’s signature enacted the law authorizing the establishment of national cemeteries and that New Albany’s was one of the 14 original such cemeteries opened pursuant to this legislation. At the conclusion of the school’s program, the gathered crowd joined others assembled at the cemetery for a 21-gun salute by the VFW Post 1693 Honor Guard and the playing of TAPS.

This solemn yet heartwarming event then culminated with the laying of the wreaths by the many Hazelwood students and staff, community volunteers – including a number of New Albany Rotarians – and family members of those interred. Among those interred are several family members of New Albany Rotarian Tom Jones and his wife, Lodie. Namely Tom’s father, Thomas M. Jones, an Army Veteran of Vietnam; his uncle, Curtis F. Hollon, an Army Veteran of World War II; and Lodie’s grandfather and grandmother, Raymond H. Christiansen, Sr., a Navy Veteran of World War II, and Virginia L. Christiansen.

Greensburg Rotary Club: The Greensburg Rotary Club also participates in this area of service by helping with the removal of wreaths after Christmas.

Floyd Central High School’s Interact Club
Raises $521 for Polio Vaccines

Two middle school attenders laugh and play while choosing which paints would best suit their idea for painting
their pumpkin on Friday, Oct. 29. Photo by Jorge Zarate.

from Floyd Central Interact Club newsletter:

On Friday, October 29, 2021, members of the Floyd Central High School Interact Club hosted Fright Night, a Halloween party, for Highland Hills Middle School to raise money for polio vaccines. The event was split into two parts: one party for 5th/6th grade students and one for 7th/8th grade students. The party featured food, Halloween-themed music, a costume contest, a photo booth, and games like four corners, musical chairs, cornhole, and spikeball. In addition, Loftus Farms donated pumpkins for pumpkin painting. Interact members also taught attendees dances like Cotton-Eye Joe, the Cupid Shuffle, and the Cha-Cha slide. Fright Night was a huge success and raised a total of $521 for polio.

Middle school students show off costumes at Fright Night on Friday, Oct. 29, 2021. Photo by Josie Hardesty

Bloomington Rotary Club announces Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Plan

What’s Coming up on the 21-22 District Calendar????