/ Rotary Messenger
Rotary Club of Eau ClaireEditor: Jerry ReineckeMay 5, 2008
In This Issue
- Program Summary –Home Country of Indonesia
- Classification Talk –
Jane Gobler - Rotary Scholarship Luncheon May 12thFeaturing Professional Speaker Mike McKinley
- Greeters and Classification Talks Schedules
- None
- Kathy Ruscin (guest of
Cindy Hofacker) - Michelle Harris (guest of
Mary Reinert) - Oliver Goulet (2008-09 Outbound Student to France)
- Sarah Goulet (mother of Oliver)
- Ron Dulitz
(12/24/2007 – 5/12/2008)
- None
Of the things, we think,
say or do:
- Is it the ‘Truth’?
- Is it ‘Fair’ to all concerned?
- Will it build ‘Goodwill’ and ‘Better Friendships’?
- Will it be ‘Beneficial’ to all?
May 12 – “25 Things I’ve Learned” by Mike McKinley, CSP, CPAE(Scholarship Luncheon)
May 19 – New Construction of Eau ClaireCountyJailand LawEnforcementCenter, and Remodeling of Courthouse by Frank Draxler, Project Manager
May 26 – No Meeting – Happy Memorial Day
June 2 – to be announced
June 9 – Hagar International: Serving Trafficked Women in Cambodia and Beyond by Jane Tafel, Executive Director of Hagar, USA
Officers/Board of Directors (2007-08 Rotary Year)
President – Sam Stagliano
President-Elect – Don Huebscher
Vice President – Jacqe Lahn
Secretary – Jon Niebergall
Exec Sec / Treas – Jerry Reinecke
Past President – Tom McCarty
Avenues of Service:
Club – Angela Hite
Community – Barb Wiedenbeck
International – Mark Morse
Vocational – Marcia Van Beek
Contact Us
Rotary Club of Eau Claire
P.O. Box 671
Eau Claire, WI 54702-0671
Sam Stagliano
715-834-2001 Ext 103
Jerry Reinecke
715-838-7640
/ Home Country of Indonesia presented by our Exchange Student Richard Handoko
(Thank you to Robin Shih for providing this “Program Summary”)
Richard Handoko, 18, arrived last summer as our inbound exchange student to spend a year living in Eau Claire. He is a senior at RegisHigh Schooland will graduate at the end of May. He has applied to colleges in Singapore, the University of South Dakota, and our very own UWEC.
Richard shared information with us about himself, Indonesia, and his home town of Jakarta. He displayed photos of his home, his neighborhood, and his family in Jakarta, which is the capital city on the island ofJava. He shares a room with his 15 year old brother and they enjoy playing ping pong when they're not studying. At home, he attended a private Christian school in the hills during the week, living in a dormitory on campus, and returned home on weekends. Indonesia is a tropical country and the weather is always warm. He and his classmates enjoy a swimming pool at their school. It was a tough adjustment getting used to the colder weather in Wisconsin.
The Republic of Indonesia's flag is red and white: red = bravery and white = virtue. It is a democratic republic that celebrates its independence on the 17th of August (1945). The currency is Rupiah. OneU.S. dollar equals 9,000 Rupiah, thus life for Richard in the US is very expensive. Indonesia is a series of islands in Southeast Asia located between Australia and Asia. There are more than 17,500 islands of which 6,000 are inhabited and 1,000 are permanently settled. The five major islands of Indonesia are Java, Sumatra, Borneo,Sulawesi, and Papua. There are 400 volcanoes in Indonesia, 100 of which are still active. 87% of the population is Muslim, 6% Christian, 3% Catholic, and 2% Hindu, Buddhist, or other. The ethnic groups are mainly Malay and Melanesian. There are 500 ethnic groups and 731 languages. The national language is Indonesian. Wood furniture is among the manyexports of the country including coffee, palm oil, and Batik (a clothing technique made from wax and soaking cloth in color dyes). Richard modeled his Batik shirt for his presentation. Richard's parents own a furniture company in Jakarta.
Jakarta is flat, hot, humid, and very crowded. 14 million people live in 255 square miles. At the end of the presentation, Richard shared photos of his home, his family, his relatives and friends, the nationalpalace (which is also white like our own White House), the national monument, the history museum, and the many cars and vendors which make up a big part of the culture in his hometown.
We are grateful to have Richard with us this year to share his experiences and culture with all of us. He is a brilliant, talented, and delightful young man we are grateful to know.
Classification Talk – Jane Gobler
(Thank you to Jane for providing this 3rd person summary of her talk.)
Jane Gobler was born and raised in Eau Claire, married Jim in 1990, and is an “Old Abe” that has been converted to a “Regis Rambler”.
Jane began working part-time at American Title and Abstract in June, 1989 and went full-time in the winter of 1990 when she was pregnant with her first child. Molly was born in March of 1991 and she continued working full-time, but left and went to First Federal of Eau Claire as a processor. From there she went to Norwest Bank and continued processing and really taking on more mortgage duties.
Brian was born in August, 1993. Jim graduated and they moved to Watertown, Wisconsin where Jim took a new job in Oconomowoc. Jane stayed home full-time and Meghan was born in 1997. Jane was very active in the community and really loved Watertown. But Eau Claire is where their families were and in August of 1998 Jim went to work back here. Jane soon followed, as did another child.
Gracie was born in April, 1999. She waited until Gracie was a year old and then started back to work. Jane said she worked part-time and then eventually went full-time when Jim was able to work three 12-hour days. She always wanted to be a lender and eventually left Charter Bank to be a Mortgage Broker. FHA was her niche product and she really enjoyed it, but she missed the bank environment. After working for about 6 months at Citizens State Bank as a lender, she met a Johnson Bank employee in her Rotary Club in Menomonie. Jane says the biggest difference between Johnson Bank and any place else she has worked is that she really can be a Mom and have a career. They really do live by their mission, vision and values.
Jane is now in the Eau Claire market, as they acquired Area Insurance in November, 2007. Many people still don’t know about Johnson Bank/Johnson Insurance, but Jane tells us that as she continues to share the “Johnson Story” her market share will continue to grow.
Jim still works at TTM in Chippewa Falls 3 days on the weekend and is also the Director of Development for the Catholic School System in the Eau Claire area. They are busy raising Molly, now a Junior at Regis, Brian in 8th Grade at the middle school, Meghan in 5th grade, and Gracie in 3rd at St. Mary’s in Altoona.
Rotary Scholarship Luncheon May 12thFeaturing Professional Speaker Mike McKinley
Each spring our Club awards a total of $5,000 in scholarships to area high school seniors, as selected by their respective schools. The recipients to be honored at our May 12 Scholarship Luncheon are:
- Racheal Hessel –RegisHigh School.
- Caitlin Hinrichs – NorthHigh School.
- Cassandra Poulter – MemorialHigh School.
- Avonlea Quinn – AltoonaHigh School.
- Caroline Wiersgalla – MemorialHigh School.
- Sala Yang – NorthHigh School.
All of us have challenges throughout our lives. Having the courage to move on beyond those challenges helps us learn, grow and appreciate our time and the people around us on a daily basis. What we learn, how we change, and how we problem solve is the key to a happier and fun filled life. Mike will share 25 of the many things he’s learned along his life’s journey.
(continued on page 4)
Greeters and Classification Talk Schedules
Date / Greeters (1) / Classification Talks
May 12 / Jeff Staads and Lisa Stelter / None
May 19 / Laura Talley and Pat Thoney / None
May 26 / No Meeting – Memorial Day / N/A
June 2 / Marcia Van Beek and
Dennis Vanden Bloomen / None
June 9 / Rhonda White and Barb Wiedenbeck / Rob Kreibich
June 16 / Janine Wildenberg and Luke Wren / None
June 23 / No Noon Meeting
Evening Awards Banquet at ECGCC / N/A
June 30 / Sara Antonson and Tom Barland / None
Notes:
- Greeters should arrive at 11:50 AM to assist with the meeting setup.
- 1 -05/05/2008