Big Happenings May and June!

A couple of events this week.
Our Noon meeting at Prairie Trails brings us:

May 18, 2011 Program

Sesquicentennial Anniversary
of the Civil War
Don Koke

Don and Andy Koke will mix songs of the Civil War with narrative read by El Dorado poet Ted Farmer from his new publication Jon Peter: Volunteer in the Civil War which chronicles the adventures of an Iowa farm lad who enlists in the Union Army. He fights in the first major battle of the Civil War west of the Mississippi at Wilson Creek near Springfield, Missouri, and afterwards settles in Butler County, Kansas.

Rotarian of the Day:
Dave Stewart

And: Saturday, May 21: Grandview Elementary Street - Map Painting Project!

To El Dorado Rotarians:

We have a couple opportunities for community service in the coming weeks. First is this Saturday, May 21 at Grandview Elementary School. We will be painting a playground map of the USA on the playground. I brought this idea to the board last month and was instructed to gather more info. We also set a tentative date of May 21 for the project. After consulting with the people behind the maps (District 5690 officials), I was told the kit was in Western KS and probably not available until June at the earliest. As fate and high winds would have it, the kit became available earlier than expected. I found out on Friday, May 15, so we’re a go.

We need 10-12 volunteers. It was made abundantly clear to me more than 12 volunteers is too many and people will be standing around. If you would like to volunteer, please fire me an email. If we have more than 12, we can always take some people to the bike path and perform a spring clean-up.

I am picking up the kit on Tuesday PM and am told an experienced map painter will assist us on the 21st. Start time of 8:00 AM on Saturday, May 21. We are looking at 3-4 hours to get it done. For an idea of the project, see the attached picture.

The second opportunity is the Storm the Dam Trail Run on Saturday, June 11. We have been asked to man an aid station on the route. We need 3-4 volunteers from 6:30-10:30AM. I’ll be one, would love for 2-3 others to volunteer. I think we could easily man two stations with 8 people. The event involves a 5K (3.12 miles), 10K (6.25 miles) and half-marathon (13.1 miles). If you have never been a part of an event like this, there is little down time once the first runners reach your station.

I will be the lead guy for one station—if we have enough people, I’ll need another lead for the other station. More info on this one to come in the coming weeks.

I’ll speak about the playground map in more detail Wednesday. See you all then--

Matt Rehder
El Dorado Rotary Club President 2010-2011