Downtown Rotary

Better make it a Norton in a Riedel glass specially designed just for Missouri's rich, full-bodied dry red wine. Norton was among the Missouri wines discussed by Teah Berti, marketing specialist with the Missouri Wine & Grape Board, at the Jefferson City Rotary Club August 30.

In addition to Norton, Teah introduced such Missouri wines as Chardonel and Vignoles; in the photo she's displaying a bottle of Stone Hill Winery 2009 Vignoles, winner of the 2010 Governor's Cup. She also provided helpful tips like 3-2-1: chill sparkling wines for 3 hours before serving, white and sweet red wines for 2 hours, and dry red wines for 1 hour or thirty minutes.

For those interested in sampling Missouri wines (unfortunately, there were no samples available at the Club meeting), she suggested taking one of the state's five wine trails or checking out any one of the 99 wineries located throughout Missouri. Want to know more about Missouri wines? Just click here.

It's about 8,600 miles from Vijayawada in southern India to Jefferson City, but that didn't keep Subbarao Ravuri of the Vijayawada Mid-Town Rotary Club from visiting the Jefferson City Rotary Club Monday, August 30. Subbarao, a former resident of Jefferson City, is being greeted by Jefferson City Rotary Club President Mary Russell. Talk about "Building Communities - Bridging Continents"!

"Your being there makes a difference," Zimmerman said. "I hope you can get to at least one or two games in person, and if you can't attend in person, that you'll follow the games on radio and TV," including the national TV coverage of nine of the Tigers' 16 conference games.

The Big 12 was recognized last year as the No. 1 basketball conference in the country, he said, and it will only get better with the departure in 2012 of Colorado and Nebraska, which had a combined Big 12 conference basketball record of 8 wins and 24 losses last season.

While this year's Tiger team is only just beginning practice (at 6 a.m. August 24), Zimmerman noted that the likes of Kim English, Marcus Denmon and Justin Safford are returning to Mizzou this season, while freshmen guards Phil Pressey and Ricky Kreklow are highly regarded and could contribute significantly to the Tigers at both ends of the court.

A tip of the Panama hat, that is, to Logan Brunner, who recently completed a year in Ecuador as part of the Rotary youth exchange program and discussed his Ecuadoran adventures at the Jefferson City Rotary Club meeting August 16. (And if you were there, you know that Panama hats are actually made in Ecuador.)

Logan lived with families in two different neighborhoods in Machala, noted for its exports of bananas and shrimp, and was able to travel the country extensively with members of his host families and with other Rotary exchange students. The exchange also provided him with the opportunity to brush up on his Spanish and his cooking skills.

In addition to participating in Ecuadoran holiday customs, including burning an effigy of the old year during the Anos Viejos portion of the New Years holiday, Logan also was able to see the Rotary Foundation at work not only in the exchange program, but also in the donation of building materials and wheelchairs to Ecuadorans in need. A Jefferson City High School grad, Logan begins his freshman year at Johns Hopkins University this fall.

Click here to see Logan’s slides

-----

Another tip of the Panama to Steve Renne, who correctly guessed the identity of Mystery Rotarian Margaret Conroy.

What did the lettering on this cake say before it was cut at our August 16 meeting?

Be the first Jefferson City Rotary Club member to correctly identify the lettering and win a prize!

He pointed out that Missouri benefited from about $12 billion in military spending last year through such installations as Fort Leonard Wood, Whiteman Air Force Base and the Missouri National Guard Training Center, all located in the Fourth District. Skelton urged Rotarians to be vigilant as the issue of another military base-closing commission has been raised in the Senate.

Of the men and women serving in the military, he said that many come from small towns and rural areas like those in the Fourth District, where "a strain of patriotism runs through those communities. When you see someone in uniform, at the coffee shop or at church or anywhere else, be sure to thank them for what they're doing for Missouri and our nation."

"Are they listening?" was the question answered for the new teachers, Rotarians and guests by Linda Eisinger, 2004 Jefferson City Teacher of the Year, 2005 Missouri State Teacher of the Year, and Immersive Education 2006 National Teacher of the Year; Mrs. Eisinger has taught for 35 years and is teaching third grade at West School this year.

She urged the new teachers to make their schools nurturing and supportive, so that students know they can make mistakes, and learn from them. Students are listening, Mrs. Eisinger said, not only to what teachers tell them but also to what teachers do, to how they treat students, other teachers, staff and parents.

"Sometimes your presence in the classroom is the only stability a student has," she said. "Every one of them has a story to tell. Sometimes they just need someone to listen. People will listen to you and you will make a difference, but don't be surprised if the person who does the most listening is you."

One of Mrs. Eisinger's third-graders in the 1995-96 school year, Amanda McKee, has grown up to be a colleague at West School this coming school year; the two are shown in the photo. "When I heard that Amanda was going to be teaching at West," Mrs. Eisinger said, "I knew what a lottery winner feels like."