January 2026

Greetings, Rotarians!

Before I talk about the new year ahead, I had one final club visit in 2025:

Rotary Club of Menomonie

A noontime club, led by President Joel Helminiak, has a warm and friendly atmosphere. This club is rich in history since 1923, and has a strong community connection. A main focus of theirs is on Rotary Feeds. They have packed more than 1.6 million meals to help fight hunger in the Menomonie area and beyond and still manage to award thousands of dollars in grants to community programs that benefit their community and beyond.    

On to 2026

We’re officially at the halfway mark of the year and as I look towards 2026, I am amazed to see how steadily we are evolving to a faster, more modern way of conducting business while still maintaining many of our club traditions.

Over the New Year holiday, my husband Wes and I traveled to Pasadena for what became an unforgettable experience at the 2026 Rose Parade.

It began as a simple parade visit but quickly turned into a meaningful Rotary moment that connected my upcoming role as District Governor with Rotary International leadership on the world stage.

There is still room to join the Rotary Friendship Exchange (RFE) to Kenya with Rotary Clubs in District 9212, East Africa, traveling May 15–25, 2026. This unique experience offers cultural immersion, service, and fellowship in true Rotary style.

Preference is given to first-time RFE participants, especially younger Rotarians. Participant bios and a $500 deposit will be requested by the end of January 2026. Contact Edwin Bos with any questions: edwin@bosdesignbuilders.com 

Thank you so much to all of the clubs that have participated in our DDF Double Match! Thanks to your efforts, we've spent about $70,000 so far this Rotary year on Global Grants, with another $149,000 allocated in global grants that are on track to meet the March 1 submission deadline. What's more, most of those grants have a club in D6250 taking on the responsibility of International Sponsor. 

The good news is that we are a hair's breadth away from reaching our goal of spending $232,000 on global grants this Rotary year. That was the amount we needed to spend in order to avoid any "expiring" DDF. 

There's more great news! Read on!

Our District is home to fifty Rotary clubs, stretching from Caledonia across to Mayville and from Medford down to Beloit. Each of our clubs has its own “secret sauce” and we want you to share what it truly unique about your club. 

We’ve created a new monthly series of featured stories called “The Club of Focus” that gives each club an opportunity to share their club's story in your own special way. First up is Madison South written by Steve Busalacchi.

December Rotary meeting drew a nearly standing-room only crowd. It was not that unusual for the Rotary Club of Madison South, as the club has been growing, so much so that we’ve had to increase our meal count at meetings. On this day, a married couple joined us as guests. After the meeting, several members approached them to introduce themselves, thank them for visiting and to encourage them to join the club.

“Will you be looking at many other clubs?” one of our members asked. “I don’t think we have to,” the husband responded. He has since applied for membership.

Rotarians, we are already moving into our seventh month in the Rotary year. Here is the latest update for our District’s membership. 

At the beginning of January, it looked like we were going to have our first district loss but with new members joining, we gained eight new members, bringing us to 2,200. 

How does one get personally involved with an International Rotary project? For Mary and me it started with a trip to the Chicago International Convention in June 2005. As Mary was a middle school teacher we found the booth for Cooperative for Education (CoED) very interesting as to their mission of educating middle schoolers, especially girls. 

They have an eight-day service trip every February which offers you the chance to travel across the Central Highlands of Guatemala to visit schools to deliver school supplies, inaugurate brand new computer centers, and interact with students, teachers, and families who benefit from CoEd programs. 

You could see it in his eyes, and hear it in his voice, when Rotarian Randy Sproule stepped up to the podium at a recent meeting of The Rotary Club of Madison West Middleton. Sproule had a story to tell, which was both personal and of grave import. It was a tale about a four year old boy named Warren, a child who, years later, would become Sproule’s dad.

The little boy, of whom Randy Sproule spoke, awoke one day, only to discover he couldn’t move his legs. Naturally, the child cried out for his parents. But, there was nothing they could immediately offer. The boy’s diagnosis was the dreaded poliomyelitis (polio). Though crutches might have been of some help, the boy’s lack of strength made using them problematic. The cost of a wheel chair was out of reach. After about six months, the child was able to recover some abilities to move, resorting to simply crawling.

In September 2025, the Rotary Club of La Crosse-Valley View was privileged to host a delegation of information technology leaders from Ukraine to educate them on U.S. approaches to the creation of a safe and secure national healthcare information system and veterans registry. This project was part of the Open World Program, administered by the U.S. Congressional Office of International Leadership. 

The Aquinas Interact Club in La Crosse, WI recently completed a two-year $10,000 service project by delivering 1,000 Coulee Region Care Kits to St. Clare Health Mission for distribution to the homeless population in La Crosse through the Rotary Mobile Clinic.

Each December, on the first Saturday of the month, runners and walkers of all ages gather for one of La Crosse’s most festive events, the Ugly Sweater 5K, hosted by the Rotary Club of La Crosse-After Hours (RAH) as part of the beloved Rotary Lights celebration. Decked out in ugly Christmas sweaters and creative costumes, participants turn this walk/run into one of the most joyful 5Ks in the community.

The Wisconsin Rapids Noon Rotary Club is launching something new and it’s already making a powerful difference. Under President Claire’s leadership, our club has begun implementing quarterly service projects focused on meeting real needs in our community. From stuffing stockings for 40 foster children to supporting the local Family Center with move-in kits for families transitioning into new homes, Rotarians are showing up with generosity, energy, and purpose. This initiative is just getting started and the momentum is inspiring.

Our club has been working hard to grow and strengthen our membership and those efforts are paying off. Since the beginning of the 2025-2026 Rotary year, we have grown from 63 to 73 members. 

We've promoted new membership through our newsletter, flyers at weekly meetings, and a special new member meeting organized by Rotarian Sand Heck. The meeting included a special team event of packing 400 snack bags for a local elementary school. This project allowed an opportunity for visiting while serving our community.

Who knew third-graders would be excited about dictionaries? 

Did you know third graders today are thrilled to get a dictionary? In 2026? When they have Chromebooks, movies, videos…images that speak and move. But we have proof. Eight year old third graders levitate with excitement when they are handed their own dictionary.

Black River Falls Rotary Club is hosting a fun Pickleball Tournament. 

Our club is focused on promoting youth leadership opportunities through sponsorships to attend RYLA, Badger Boys/Girls State, Junior Achievement Events, and Scholarships.

Pickleball is a growing activity in our community and it’s a way we can gather while having some fun! Please join us ~ all skill levels are welcome! We are looking forward to a great day!

Fellow Rotarians, you are cordially invited to attend our Third Annual Taste of Oregon community event.  The Rotary Club of Oregon offers this event each year to bring the community together, build relationships around our local food and drink and to celebrate the importance of community service.  Proceeds are used to fund student leadership development, environmental conservation and other worthy causes.