We had our meeting on Zoom.
Recap from the March 1, 2021 Club Meeting:
Invocation: Cheryl Plank
Visitors: Michelle Kelman from Rotary Club of Burlington. Guests of Naomi DeWinter: Andrea Grubaugh from the Muscatine Journal. Margaret Stadtwald from Discover Muscatine. Honey Bedell - Chief of Staff at EICC. Jan Phillips and Mark Henthorn from Walnut Park Church. Julie Plummer from Waste Exchange. Mya Ribbink from MCSA.
Happy News/Announcements: Megan Francis let us know that Senior Resources is helping people over age 65 set up appointments for the Covid19 vaccination - 563-263-7292. Keith Porter is happy that today spring training starts for the Cubs. Mike Ruby let us know that the Rotary Club of North Scott netted over $60,000 from fundraiser. Frank Iliff let us know that Rebuilding Together Muscatine received $575 for a project they completed. Rick Gosney was happy for the nice weather last weekend as they moved his son and daughter in law from Muscatine to Iowa City. John Kuhl let us know that Kim Warren is stepping down as Treasurer effective July 1st, if anyone is interested in the position, let a board member know. Rick Gosney let us know that last week Jim Stein and Diana Gradert celebrated birthdays - Happy Birthday! Mike Frye celebrates his birthday on March 7th - Happy Birthday!
Club Business: After spring break the members will be sent a survey/poll to see how many of our members are interested in having in person meetings. Muscatine county cases are higher than the state average right now. Our 7 day average positivity rate is 10.4% and the state is 4.5%. We will continue to follow the numbers.
Program: Our speaker today was Roger Thurow from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs - "Hunger Hits Home". Roger spoke to us about food insecurities and hunger here in the United States. There are 40-50 million Americans suffering from food insecurity. 1 in 5 children suffer from hunger. The pandemic has only worsened the need for food. It is not just the unemployed that are suffering, there are many people that work and don't make enough to feed themselves or family. In the state of Iowa there are some programs that are helping - backpack programs in Dubuque and Marshalltown - kids get sent home from school on Fridays with a backpack full of food so they can eat over the weekend, free breakfast for children at school, extra deer tags given out during hunting season - you have to donate the deer to food bank or pantry. These are just some examples, more needs to be done. "Why is there food insecurity in the bread basket of America?" For more information google Hunger Hits Home by Roger Thurow. Thank you
Reminders: Program March 8th will be Doug White from Muscatine Power and Water. March 15th will be a fellowship meeting.
Have a great week! Enjoy the sunshine