By Roger Bjoroy-Karlsen, Rotary Club of Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

I am on a small boat fully loaded with food bags headed for the people of St. Helene, a small island about two miles long and one mile wide, separated by a canal from the island of Roatan. Roatan is the largest of the Bay Islands located off the northern coast of Honduras.

As the waves are striking our boat, my thoughts wander to the approximate 1,000 people in 218 households who are in need of the food we’re delivering. Many of whom have no income because they lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. St. Helene has no roads and no infrastructure. Its people are descendants of African slaves brought by the British to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands who then migrated to Roatan after gaining their freedom in the 1830’s.

Last year they got electricity for the first time. And 14 months ago, as the first part of a Rotary global grant, members completed a fresh water project. Phase two of the grant has been approved.

We landed on a Friday in September 2020 at a dock that was built by grant money and the effort of Rotary members. Our trip could not have happened without funds from the Rotary Club of Oakville Trafalgar (Ontario, Canada) and the Rotary Club of Evergreen (Colorado, USA).

In addition to the food, we provided 600 N95 masks and 250 face shields to residents of St. Helene thanks to a donation from Michael McCarry of Mount Sinai Hospitals in New York City, New York. A special thanks to Sterling Lucas and his boat captains who brought us to the island.

The islanders received their bags of provisions as they were checked off of a list. They then loaded into their boats and flipped up their umbrellas and went back to their homes either by sea or along crooked paths around the island. The bags will provide each family with enough food to live on for about a month.

It was great to see their renewed hope for the future as the supplies gave them the ability to look beyond this pandemic. This is what Rotary is about, Service Above Self and bringing new hope to parts of the world.

From TM Rotary Newsletter

We'll start off on a serious note. Some of the greatest honors we have in Rotary are the annual awards, and this year did not disappoint. Connie Pukaite was invited under a guise that may or may not have violated the first part of the four way test, but the lie was necessary to preserve the surprise, which she most certainly was when she was awarded an Honorary Paul Harris Award.

Connie also did not disappoint when she spoke, which despite being completely surprised seemed like a rehearsed oration. If there's one thing that everyone could take away it is that what Rotary and Rotarians all over the world are doing is preserving and creating a future that most will not live to see. It's impossible to not feel inspired when Connie is in the house!

Congratulations Connie!!!

Story by Bob Blazich, Photos by Dean Johnson

One of the highlights of the annual Changing of the Guard ceremony is the announcement of our club’s annual awards. This year was no exception. 

The first award announced was the Family and Community Service Award. This year’s recipient was Lucia Francis in recognition of her year-long series on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Lucia organized a monthly series of speakers and panelists who engaged our club members in thought-provoking Meaningful Conversations. In presenting the award, Connie Pukaite noted, “This Rotarian, with relentless dedication and persistent effort, connected our Sunrise Rotary to a wider community than we have ever connected to before.”

Dave Schlageter was awarded our club’s 2021 Service Above Self Award. Dave is one who consistently raises his hand when help is needed. He was active in this year’s Candlelight Walk in the Woods, he organized a fundraiser to help pay for the buckthorn-eating goats, he organized tree planting in the woods, and is chairing the club’s main fundraiser, Around The World, in fall. Dave has also been active in the community where he served as the President of Family Promise and trained as a volunteer EMT.

The highest award given by our club is the Paul Harris Fellowship Award. Recipients are nominated and selected by members of our club, and a donation of $1,000 is made to the Rotary International Foundation in their name. Recognition as a Paul Harris Fellow dates back to 1957 and includes past recipients Mother Theresa, Jimmy Carter, Boris Yeltsin, Pearl Bailey, and someone very close to Rotarians and our eradication of Polio, Dr. Jonas Salk.

This year, our club awarded two Paul Harris Fellowship Awards. The honorees exemplified the highest ideals of Rotary and demonstrated their longtime commitment to Service Above Self.

The first person honored was Mequon resident and non-member, Jeff Wenzler. In granting a Paul Harris Fellowship to a non-Rotarian, the recipient must have a demonstrated a sustained record of service to humanity and be respected as a leader in our community. In presenting the award, Brian Monroe stated, “Our PHF recipient not only embraces Rotary's motto of ‘Service Above Self’, but his local and international service work embraces all of Rotary's Areas of Focus.”

The second Paul Harris Fellowship recipient was our member Father Mike Shay. For Father Mike, this was his sixth Paul Harris award, but it was his first awarded by our club. In presenting the award, Lynn Streeter noted that, “Our honoree brings life experience, a commitment to ‘service above self’ and a deep knowledge of Rotary.”  His multiple Paul Harris Fellowship awards clearly reflect his many years of service as a Rotarian. 

The big surprise of the evening came when we learned that the event was being held on Father Mike’s 80^thbirthday!! Luckily our member Rene Settle-Robinson was in attendance and entertained us all with her rendition of Happy Birthday Baby (Baba-doo, Baba-doo).

Eddie Morales - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Cedarburg’s Country in the Burg music festival will return Aug. 27-28 for its first two-day event to rectify last year’s cancellation.

"I know everyone's going through a tough time during this," organizer Alex Uhan said last year. "Just know, we're here to make it up to you."

This will be the second Country in the Burg event since its debut in 2019. 

Country in the Burg’s lineup includes six artists and a DJ set from Travis Beckum, an Oak Creek High School graduate and former football player at Wisconsin and in the NFL. The event will be held at Cedar Creek Park in Cedarburg.

Artists Kip Moore, Drake White and Janesville native Kirstie Kraus will perform Aug. 27, followed by performances from last year’s headliners Billy Currington, Easton Corbin and Frankie Ballard on Aug. 28.

Doors will open at 4:30 p.m. and artists will hit the stage at 5:45 p.m. Tickets bought last year can be used for the 2021 festival.

Two-day passes can be purchased for $109 at countryintheburg.com. 

Golf outing

This year also marks the first Country in the Burg Golf Outing on Sept. 27 at the River Club of Mequon, 12400 N. Ville Du Parc Drive.

The golf outing will benefit Children’s Wisconsin, the Wounded Warrior Project and Mel’s Charities. In 2019, the festival raised more than $50,000 for charities.

The event will host 36 groups of four. Registration costs $800 per group and must be submitted by Sept. 13 at countryintheburg.com.

Check-in starts at 9 a.m. bloody marys and bottomless mimosas will be served until 10:30 a.m. Attendees can receive prizes, win raffle items and make bids in silent and live auctions. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served followed by a private concert at the end of the event.