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The Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Will Be Meeting at Rotary Park in Mequon on Tuesday, August 27th at 5pm for our annual family night gathering. Dinner will be served at 6pm!

2019 Summer Schedule at Rotary Park

2019 Summer Schedule at Rotary Park

Tuesday, June 25th: Head Chef - Custer. Crew: Naggs, O'Connor and Gannon

Tuesday, July 2nd: No Meeting

Tuesday, July 9th: Head Chef - Brown. Crew: O'Leary, Schneider, Davis, Moran

Tuesday, July 16th: Head Chef - Rowe. Crew: Hertz, Apfelbach, Bonaparte

Tuesday, July 23rd: Head Chef - Mobley. Crew: Milshteyn, Azinger, Joynt

Tuesday, July 30th: Head Chef - Robertson. Crew: Wiese, MacFarlane, Mader, Kirgues, Lysaught, Johannes

Tuesday, August 6th: Head Chef - Koch. Crew: Davis, Holtz, Sommersberger, Landisch-Hansen

Tuesday, August 13th: Head Chef - Hillman. Crew: Munchin Young, Smith, Lind, Vond Rueden

Tuesday, August 20th - Family Night. Gathering at 5pm, Dinner at 6pm: Head Chef - Custer. Crew: Naggs, Carr, Borland, Vertz

Tuesday, August 27th - First Meeting Back at Ozaukee Country Club

Printable Schedule

Service Above Self

We meet Tuesdays at 12:00 PM
Ozaukee County Club

10823 North River Road
Mequon, WI 53092
United States of America

District Site

Bulletins

Venue Map

Crises in Cameroon

Posted by Peterson Apfelbach

Our Speakers:

Dr. Cal Tamanji, PHD;AICP. Professor of Economics/Social Science Milwaukee Area Technical College,President of Ozaukee County NAACP Branch, Adviser of West Cameroon Community Association(WECAWI.)

Dr Zachary Nchinda, Phd Professor of History Milwaukee Area Technical College, Adviser of West Cameroon Community Association(WECAWI.) Last but not the least,

Mr George Azeh, MSc. Consulting Accountant. President of West Cameroon Community Association(WECAWI). We are all US citizens of Southern Camerron origin that have lost relatives in the ongoing French-backed genocide in Southern Cameroons(Ambazonia.)

History:

Cameroon was colonized by Germany In 1884 and remained under their control until their defeat in World War 1.

After the war, African colonies held by the defeated countries were split between France and England with 1/5 of Cameroon falling into English control and the other 4/5 were given to France. This amount of control was maintained until 1945 when the UN set rules and standards for the preparation of independence for the many colonies and territories in Africa.

The British style of rule allowed West Cameroon to establish its own common laws and customs; however, in East Cameroon, the French ruled directly with the East Cameroonian government answered directly to Paris.

In 1961, the French colonies in Africa were presented with the opportunity to have complete independence, or become part of the French Union. When New Guinea requested complete independence, France made an example of them, freighting other colonies into joining the Union. Resulting in the formation of the Federal Republic of Cameroon.

In 1970 oil was discovered in West Cameroon, as a result, France pressured their East Cameroon state to move for a combined Cameroonian state so they would have access to the oil reserves.

This led to continued conflict between the western English speaking residents and the French backed East Cameroonian citizens.

Many professionals protested the many changes that were uninvited and unwelcome from the french speaking side of Cameroon and were labeled as terrorists for their perceived hate of Cameroon resulting in unfair treatment of many lawyers and teachers.

Today:

War has been raging for 3 years with 500,000 refugees fleeing to Nigeria, many eternally displaced. Many countries are hesitant to contribute and support the suffering members of English speaking Cameroon.

Due to collusion between governments, there have been many difficulties shipping resources and supplies to the suffering refugees. Our guests highly encourage us to reach out to our government officials to stop the violence going on in English speaking Cameroon

Rotary at Gathering on the Green

Posted by Peterson Apfelbach

Many members of our Rotary Club attended Gathering on the Green Saturday July 13th! They had a great time listening to rockers Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo. The close proximity of the tents for the sunrise and noon clubs provided great opportunities for the two great clubs to spend time bonding and getting to know one another at a deeper level.

Heather Wins it All

Posted by Peterson Apfelbach

At the first ever Gathering on the Green Battle of the Bands, our very own Heather Mader and her band Won first prize! I highly encourage everyone to visit our Facebook Page "Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Club" so they can watch of Video of their award winning performance! You can quickly access the video by visiting this link https://www.facebook.com/ThiensvilleMequonRotaryClub Don't forget to like the page while you are visiting!

2018-2019 Rotary Foundation Good News/Bad News

Posted by Samuel Azinger on Jul 16, 2019

I'm happy to announce that we have met our goal for 2018-19 Rotary Foundation giving. Our goal was set for $4,000 and as a club we contributed $4,325.

Unfortunately, our goal for Polio Plus giving for 2018-19 was $1,500 and our club contributions were only $725.

Although combined we did not meet our total giving goal of $5,500, as you may recall, we have a friendly competition with the Sunrise Club to see which club could contribute more to the Rotary Foundation and Polio Plus. In the end, our club did contribute $100 more than the Sunrise Club, whose total contributions were $4,950 for the 2018-19 year! It looks like the Noon-Sunrise Foundation Giving trophy will be named after our Foundation Chair and will stay with the Noon Club for at least the next 12 months (and hopefully longer).

Although our numbers are great in comparison to most clubs in the district, there are still a couple clubs in Ozaukee County that are outdoing us. Specifically, Cedarburg-Grafton contributed $5,664 in 2018-19 and Port Washington-Saukville contributed $6,125.

Let's look forward to a great 2019-20 year of meeting our goals, and making sure that the Sam Azinger trophy stays with the Noon Club!

If you'd like assistance with setting up recurring monthly, quarterly, or yearly contributions to assure your Sam Azinger award for 2019-20, let Sam know and he'd be happy to assist. Otherwise, make out a check to the Rotary Foundation and give it to Sam at a meeting and he'll take care of the rest.

Pam Johnson - How to Breathe

Posted by Peterson Apfelbach

During her time, Pam invited us into the world of fine speech and sustainable breathing technique! She highlighted that many of us have fallen into the terrible habit of vertical breathing. This style of breathing only utilizes the top portion of our lungs limiting our oxygen intake while simultaneously putting unnecessary stain on our shoulder and neck muscles. Sustainable and proper breathing involves full use of your diaphragm which allows your stomach to expand completely filling your lungs. When it comes to speech, there have been a number of quirks she has identified and helped her clients overcome through a variety of exercise to control tone, volume, and power.

Pam’s training and experience as a singer taught her how the vocal instrument works and how to make it more powerful. Her experience as a voiceover artist gave her insights into how different parts of the voice affect the listener in very specific ways.

Pam has held workshops for U.S. Attorneys, trainers with GE Healthcare, the local chapter of ATD, and the Women’s Business Council at SC Johnson. She also works with individual clients.

Below are a list of common exercises and a link to a Ted talk discussing proper breathing habits.

Exercises

Body position – stand, bend over at the waist, slow roll up, stacking the vertebrae and then pulling the string up through the top of the head.
Head position – push head forward then bring back to position – look in the mirror to check there is no double chin
Breathing – fill the belt around the waist, let the abdomen pop out
High hoot to find the upper register – feel the vibration between your eyebrows and behind your eyes
Upper middle register – breath through the nose then yawn - feel the openness on the roof of your mouth and space behind your front teeth – feel the vibration in your cheekbones – say “hi” as a breathy Marilyn Monroe
Middle register– tongue flat and low, tip touching the back of the bottom teeth –say Ahh, Ayy, Eee, Ooooh, Oooo . Fill the hand six inches in front of your mouth with air– show your teeth - feel the vibration behind your top teeth
Lower register – say “huh” with lots of air - feel the vibration in your breastbone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sgb2cUqFiY

Calendar of Upcoming Events and Dates!

Posted by Peterson Apfelbach

June 25- August 20: Meetings will be held at Rotary Park on Highland Rd.

August 20 we will have Family Night from 5 PM to 7 PM at rotary park.

August 27 our meetings will move back to Ozaukee Country Club.

October 10: Fall Into Comedy.

The Rundown August 26th, 2019

Posted by Peterson Apfelbach

1. 2019 Summer Schedule has been distributed at meetings by Sandy Custer assigning head chef's and cooking crews for summer meetings. If you don't have your date on your calendar, get it on there.

2. Please remember our meeting on August 20. Instead we are having our family night from 5-7pm. Do not show up to Rotary park at noon wondering where everybody is.

3. There will be no Meeting Tuesday September 3rd.

Changing of the Guard 2019-2020

Posted by Peterson Apfelbach

On June 18th, we gathered together at the American Legion Post 457 to celebrate our 2018-2019 Rotary year! During this time we were able to Thank Tim Vertz for his service as Club President as well as the board that served during his tenure to help him keep us in line. Following those recognitions, we took some time to honor a few Rotarians who stood out in the last year!

For the first time ever we had recipients of the Sam Azinger Award! This was bestowed upon Ellen MacFarlane, Greg Huffman, Jack Weise, John Wirth, Karl Hertz, Pam Koch, Rob Kos, Sam Azinger, Sandy Custer, Stan Smith, Tim Vertz, Tyler Briggs. All of these members donated $100 or more to the rotary foundation and/or Polio plus in the 2018-2019 year. If you were not in attendance at the Changing of the guard you can expect them this Tuesday at our first outdoor meeting.

Many were also honored for their years of perfect attendance.

Next, we honored Megan Borland with the Service Award!

Rotarian of the Year was presented to Sam Azinger and shared with his children!

Finally, Greg Sommersberger was named an Honorary Paul Harris Fellow for which our club will donate $1,000 in his name to the Rotary Foundation! Following the applause and celebration, to our surprise, Sandy Custer took the microphone and gave out one more award. For her great service to our club, Diane Robertson was given an honorary Paul Harris award having $1,000 donated to the rotary foundation in her name as well!

Once the dust settled, Our New President Rob Kos took time to introduce our new officers and directors for the 2019-2020 rotary year. Those officers and directors are pictured above from left to right as follows.

Pam Koch: Fall into Comedy

Megan Borland: Director of vocational Service

Peterson Apfelbach: Director of Club Service

Heather Mader: Secretary-Treasurer

Sam Azinger: President Elect

Rob Kos: President

Ellen MacFarlane: Director of International Service & Club Outreach

Sandy Custer: Director of Community Service

Calendar of Upcoming Events and Dates

Posted by Peterson Apfelbach

June 25- August 20: Meetings will be held at Rotary Park on Highland Rd. On August 20 we will have Family Night from 5 PM to 7 PM

July 13: We will have a tent at Gathering on the Green. Announcements for how and where to buy tickets will be announce at an upcoming meeting.

July 31: Chinooks Game at 5:30 PM.

October 10: Fall Into Comedy.

The Rundown - June 23rd, 2019

Posted by Peterson Apfelbach

1. 2019 Summer Schedule has been distributed at meetings by Sandy Custer assigning head chef's and cooking crews for summer meetings. If you don't have your date on your calendar, get it on there.

2. Congratulations to Dianne Robertson for being listed as the club's top member sponsor. She was doing this while she was working, imagine what she's capable of with free time! Way to go Dianne!

3. Thanks to Roger and the OED for the work that they are doing in Ozaukee County. We hope everyone had the opportunity to apply or nominate a business for the 2019 Business of the Year Awards!

4. We are looking for volunteers for the Fun B4 the Fourth corn roast and ice cream stand. Talk to Herb Hillman or Peterson Apfelbach if you are interested.

5. Dan Gannon will be taking ticket orders for the Lakeshore Chinooks game on July 31.

6. Rotary will be sponsoring a tent for Gathering on the Green on Saturday, July 13. Tickets are $100. Enhoy a beautiful evening outdoors listening to great music with a private tent, catering by Ferrante's. craft beer and wine, good friends and a fundraiser for our rotary foundation. Talk to Rob Kos for more information or see the flyer distributed at last weeks meeting.

Ukrainian Visitors

Posted by Peterson Apfelbach

This week, five infrastructure professionals from Ukraine visited our club! In recent years, the government in Ukraine has worked to decentralize its power giving more responsibility to the local governments. During their visit, they took time to learn about the various forms of local government and visit different work sites to better understand the processes we use to keep our infrastructure in great condition.

These wonderful guests were brought to us by Bob Blazich, a member of the Sunrise Club, through Friendship Force, a group funded by congress to bring the best and brightest from the former Soviet Union to help them learn how our communities have been able to grow and prosper.

Guests pictured above from left to right

Alexander works to protect city from natural hazards.

Roman does research on cities open spaces works to have cities be more human centered.

Serhii works with construction and engineering of roads.

Tatiana recently received PhD and now works for her City Council.

Maria works for increased accessibility.

Elisabeth gets her Graduation Ceremony

Posted by Peterson Apfelbach

AFS had their final picnic and invited Elisabeth to join them. They found out that Elisabeth (Rotary Exchange Student) and Yasmine, here from Cameroon, would not be able to attend the graduation ceremony on Sunday. Yasmine is on a program through the US Congress and has to be in Washington D.C. this week. Elisabeth leaves for her tour of the western US on Saturday. As a surprise, they played Pomp and Circumstance, had their caps and gowns available, and provided them with a graduation ceremony.

Showdown Between Noon and Sunrise

Posted by Samuel Azinger on May 28, 2019

The esteemed Rotary Club Foundation Chair has taken the liberty of challenging the Sunrise Club to raise more money for the Rotary Foundation/Polio Plus before the end of the 2018-2019 fiscal year. As of May 21, the Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Club ("the Good Guys") has contributed $4,100.00 total, nearing our ultimate goal of $5,500 between the Foundation and Polio Plus. The Mequon-Thiensville Sunrise Rotary Club ("the Other Guys") has raised $4,075.00, trailing by a narrow margin.

The Other Guys are bringing the competition request to their Board for approval, but the Good Guys are just going with it, because the ultimate objective is to raise money for the Foundation and the reward is merely bragging rights. Posted below are instructions for making one time or regularly scheduled contributions online. Otherwise, a check made out to the Rotary Foundation can be given to Sam Azinger at a meeting (or dropped off at his office at 414 N. Main St. in Thiensville). If you would like assistance with online contributions or setting up automatic contributions, Sam would be more than happy to provide one-on-one assistance (your place or mine).

Additionally, for the first $400 that is contributed this year, our new member, Tyler Briggs has agreed to contribute a matching amount. Needless to say, Sam will be very disappointed if we as a club do not take full advantage of this opportunity.

Congratulations Tim Vertz on Achieving Paul Harris

Posted by Samuel Azinger on May 28, 2019

Congratulations Club President, Tim Vertz, who was presented with a Paul Harris Award on Tuesday, May 14, 2019. Shown above being presented with the recognition by Thiensville-Mequon Rotary Club Foundation Chair, Sam Azinger.

A Paul Harris Award is granted to a Rotarian who contributes $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation or Polio Plus. Money raised by the foundation goes to carry out an array of programs that achieve beneficial changes in our world, including improved living conditions, increased food production, better education, wider availability of treatment and rehabilitation for the sick and disabled, new channels for the flow of international understanding, and brighter hopes for peace throughout the world.

Thank you Tim for your contribution and caring heart.

Posted by Samuel Azinger on Apr 24, 2018

I'm new at this, so I don't know know that I'm getting all of my facts right. But here's how I understand the facts:

Our club goal for Foundation contributions from July 2017 to July 2018 is $5,500.

Our total contributions for the year is $3,550 (plus my measly $25.00 contribution today)

If I'm reading the reports correctly (which I acknowledge I may not be) the full $3,550 in contributions came from 5 members! Thank you to those 5!

I mentioned my measly contribution, because I would like to encourage a whole lot more measly contributions. It took me less than 2 minutes to make my contribution (it was easier than ordering a pizza).

So why can't we all take two minutes to make a small (medium or large) contribution? Here's the link: https://www.rotary.org/en/donate. If you need help, give me a call and I'll come over.

While you're at it. Go ahead and make that a monthly, quarterly, or yearly contribution. Admittedly, this will add 4-6 seconds to the process, but will save you 2 minutes every month, quarter, or year, plus the headache of remembering. Further, if everybody signs up for monthly, quarterly, or yearly contributions, I won't post stories like this all the time (which I reserve the right to do).

Together, we can blow this goal out of the water!

As an aside, and without board authorization, I will personally give a pat on the back to anyone who makes a contribution before the end of June.

Giving to the Promenade

Posted by Samuel Azinger

Promenade Video Link

It has been brought to our attention that many Rotarians are doing their end of year donation planning and that they would like more information about donating to the M-T Community Promenade project. As you know Rotary and Rotarians have been actively working on the Town Center and River Walk projects since 2002. As a capstone landmark for this area we have been active in the planning and now the fundraising for the Mequon-Thiensville Community Promenade on the north east corner of Mequon and Cedarburg Roads.

First, prospective donors should know that both municipal governments – Village Board for Thiensville and City Council for Mequon – have collaborated to get this new landmark designed through a Joint Gateway Committee appointed in August 2017. And, the Village and City have pledged as many tax dollars as elected officials feel they can toward its construction. Collectively, the Village and City have committed $200,000 toward the total cost of design and construction.

We know private fund raising is not an appropriate function of municipal governments; therefore, we are personally and collectively committed to raising $500,000 in private contributions to meet the total projected cost of $700,000. As a club, we have donated $15,000 already with more to come after the Community Action Council meets in December. $30,000 remaining from the efforts for the River Walk have been transferred to this project. It is our expectation that more will come in the next two years.

The City has indicated willingness to authorize a construction contract to build the Promenade as soon as 75% or $375,000 of the private funds needed are pledged or in the bank.

Our Promenade Landmark Campaign Committee, composed totally of volunteers, has kicked off a quiet campaign to secure commitments for as many lead gifts as possible by January. We hope the Council will be able to issue that contract in February in preparation for construction in Spring 2019.

We are working independently, without the services of a professional fund-raiser so that funds raised will be used for construction, not fund raising.

Before asking others, Campaign Committee members pledged their own donations. Since then, we have secured four (4) lead gifts of $25,000 or more thus far, plus ten (10) commitments at other levels totaling private dollars raised of $211,400 to date Nov 10, 2018. More has come in since then, but we don’t have the latest figures.

Donations of $500 and up will be recognized on the donor wall. Pledges can be made to spread out a donation over three years. If you have an employer that will match your donation, please help us make that contact. Tax deductible donations are to the T-M Rotary Foundation, note to Promenade.

In the past, Rotarians have amazed us with their generosity, many pledging over three years. Our goal is to have donations from everyone in the club, no pressure on amounts, but eager participation.

Please feel free to share this information with others who may be interested.

Sandy Custer, Stan Smith, Dan Gannon, Tim Carr