Downtown Rotary

Spaghetti dinner

The Evening Rotary Club is hosting it annual Spaghetti Dinner from 4:30-7:30 pm Friday, Nov. 5th at Grace Episcopal Church. Tickets are $8 for adults and youth (ages 6-12) are $5, with kids under 6 are free. Profits help support Med and Food For Kids, a nutrition program in Haiti that provides a non-refrigerated food supplement. Please help support this delicious event.

Posted by Downtown Rotary

It's an honor

Thanks to Central Missouri Honor Flight, 700 mid-Missouri veterans have been transported to Washington, D.C., to visit the memorials honoring their service and sacrifices, Steve Paulsell, Honor Flight vice president and flight director, told members of the Jefferson City Rotary Club October 18. Founded just last year, the group's 12th flight is scheduled October 19.

A typical flight begins at 2 a.m. when participants board a bus in Columbia for the trip to Lambert St. Louis Airport. After a Southwest Airlines flight, the group of veterans and guardians are met at Baltimore Washington Airport and bused to Washington, where they visit the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery; the Iwo Jima Marine, Korea, Vietnam and Lincoln memorials; and, of course, the World War II memorial. On the return trip, mail call provides each participant with a bundle of letters from family, friends and well-wishers thanking participants for their service.

Steve said highlights of the trip include the visits to the memorials, as well as the opportunity for veterans to interact with other WWII veterans, the mail call on the return flight, and the hundreds of motorcyclists who escort the returning buses on the last lap into Columbia. "It's an emotional experience not only for the veterans but also for their families and the Honor Flight guardians and volunteers," Steve said. That expericence was captured on video by KOMU-TV during central Missouri's first Honor Flight.

He said Rotarians can help Honor Flight by identifying WWII veterans, whose numbers are shrinking day by day, and encouraging them to apply for an Honor Flight; an application is available here. And Honor Flight can always use your financial support to sponsor veterans; click here for details.

Posted

Anchors aweigh

Captain Ed Anderson (right in first photo) and six members of the crew of the submarine USS Jefferson City were special guests of the Jefferson City Rotary Club October 18. Capt. Anderson, in second photo with Mary Russell, Club president, and Tom Carr, Club member who arranged the visit and introduced the crew, expressed the appreciation of the ship's company for the support they receive from the Jefferson City area.

Members of the Club expressed their appreciation for the efforts of Capt. Anderson, who will be relieved later this year, and the crew to keep our nation secure; Jefferson City crewmen departed (to teach a high school class) with a rousing standing ovation from Club members.