Program for August 1, 2016: Kathy Russell and Unity Hospice
Invocation: Nathan Mather
Club News and Happy News: Don Timmerman was a guest of Mike Ruby and potential member.  Karen Diercks was happy that the MHS Choir had landed safely in China. Paul Fitzpatrick is happy that Jeff Kaufmann endorsed his book and yes Paul apologizes for the powerpoint snafu last week. Naomi DeWinter is happy to share that 21 Indonesian educators are visiting this week.  Holly Thomas Koehler is really happy that her son has passed his driving test and has his license.  Diana Gradert is happy that the Arts Council Fundraiser was a fun success at Ardon Creek with Ernie Peniston and the extreme heat!! And her granddaughter celebrated her 20th birthday.
 
Member anniversaries are: Christian Lopez, 2 years, Dawn Sturms Dodds, 9 years, Rich Dwyer, Steve Kundel,Jim Nepple and Tim Nelson all 12 year members!!, Harvey Allbee 49 years and Stan Howe, 66 years!! Kudos to you all.

Judi shared some future changes to our meetings based on the member feedback 2 weeks ago. We will try to cash checks more quickly. Please sign up for Rotary committees. We will dedicate the last meeting of the month to club business through December.  We will share member profiles and work on better member networking.  Shane Orr talked about the Share a Smile project through HyVee which seeks to remember persons in the nursing home with a rose. Contributions welcome.
 
Program: Melanie Alexander, substituted for the planned program. Melanie gave an update on the air conditioning and heating project at the Art Center.  Due to the project, several collections are being shown elsewhere, the Mississippi River Collection at the Figge and the Mary Musser Gilmore collection being shown at the Hearst in Cedar Rapids.  The recent Energy Conservation Study stated the need for formerly residential systems being upgraded to geothermal.  The 18,000 center artifacts are subject to the aging process and the requirements for traveling exhibits can not be met with substandard heating and cooling systems.  Additionally, the Art Center is creating a family friendly room for children and their parents.
 
With the addition of new systems and windows the Muscatine Art Center has covered much of the costs through grants and city bonds, however, $350,000 is still needed to cover the final costs. The Muscatine Art Center Support Foundation did commit $360,000 to immediately meet the need but a Challenge Grant fund has been developed at the Community Foundation to replenish the utilized funds.  Charitable gifts can be made to the Community Foundation of Greater Muscatine.