President Beth Naughton brought the meeting to order at 12:20 pm. Pledge of Allegiance and 4 Way Test recited. Eighteen Lake Mills Rotarians were in attendance, plus three Rotarians on zoom and one regularly visiting Rotarian (Art.)
Happy Rotary anniversary to Len T. (3 years) and Ken Hein (1 year.)
Happy Bucks:
Beth: Happy bucks for the 1st day of school for Lake Mills Area School District and last week, the 1st day of school for Lakeside Lutheran. Glad folks came out to go clawalking with Senator Melissa Ratcliff; grateful that the bad weather held off; Tim and Beth recently attended a Red Rock concert outside Denver, which was something on Beth's Bucket List. d
Janine is excited to have won a bidding war for billboards in Milwaukee. Her company's Public Service Announcement message is, "Be like your parents. Use an agent!."
Karen R. has beverage glasses (10 pint and 4 wine glasses) for those that make a donation to the Rotary International Foundation. rt D. (visiting Rotarian) celebrated his 20th wedding anniversary in Bayfield which is also where he and his wife spent their honeymoon.
Amy L. is excited; today is the last 1st day of school in her household.
Anita-Happy buck. CMG Bank is collecting school supply donations in September. Please bring donations to the Sept. 1st and/or Sep. 8th Noon Rotary meeting. Anita will deliver them to the bank. Rotarians may also drop off donations at either Lake Mills location during the month of September. Items needed per Holly Swain include post-it notes, Kleenex, colored pencils, erasable markers, colored Sharpies, etc.
Gerard S. has a start date for their kitchen remodel. A second Happy Buck in thanks to Ed H. and Jim W. and everyone that works on the Club Foundation. especially folks behind the scenes. The Foundation's a real driver of what our organization is all about.
Janine took both her boys to university. Now an empty nester.
Ed H. is happy for the start of school and the beginning of the Interact year. He reminded Rotarians to keep an eye out for Interact students next week and help make them feel welcome by initiating conversation.
Scott E. is excited Gerard has gotten another $100,000 donation for the library expansion project. <Stay tuned for details later...this is hot off the press.>
Club Business and Upcoming Events---
Reminder: Please pay your dues if you've not already done so.
Committees will meet during the Sept. 1st noon meeting. Important things to be discussed by the Community Service, Concession Stand, Student Rotarians, and Public Image committees. (The latter includes the calendar raffle.)
New event-Halloween Costume Contest Wed. Oct. 28th (4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.) at Commons Park. Gazebo has been reserved. Rotarians interested in working on this committee will meet during the Noon Sept. 1st Rotary meeting.
Soccer/ Fall Rotary Concessions start Sept. 12th. Dan S. will be emailing dates and times volunteers are needed.
Reminder: Sept. 12th is the Rotary Run. Sign up now.
September 17 - Sex trafficking seminar at St. Paul’s. Day care provided. Doors open at 5pm. Speaker 6-7:30pm.
October 5 - Culver’s Night Out. A sheet for volunteer sign-up will be available Sept. 1st. Working on a template for social network messages; help spread the word to friends and family about this Rotary Club fundraiser. (save the date)
Beth adjourned the meeting at 12:33 p.m. Lake Mills Rotary Club Foundation President Jim Wishau called the meeting to order at 12:33 p.m.
All Lake Mills Rotarians are automatically members of the Foundation.
Lake Mills Rotary Foundation is separate legally from the Club; it's an arm of the Club.
Thank you to Karen R. for serving as Foundation secretary.
Amy L. moved and Janine seconded approval of the Sept. 23, 2025 annual Foundation meeting minutes. Motion carried.
Jim indicated years back, the Club lost three major successful fundraisers, including the fish boil and Pine Knoll brunch, which meant scholarships could not be given out that year.
Jim highlighted the Foundation budget and financial information. The General Discretionary Fund must keep a $300 minimum balance.
If Rotary wants to do something, such as a project within 6 months, the Rotary Foundation Board needs to know so monies can be kept in fluid accounts.
If people give to the Foundation and do not specify, 60% goes to the endowment and the remaining 40% goes into the general discretionary fund. If Rotarians want their Cub Foundation donation to go to scholarships, they need to specify that on the check memo line. Scholarships are paid directly to the colleges, after the bursars' offices send letters to Rotary confirming the scholarship recipients' enrollment.
Amy L. clarified: The Lake Mills Rotary Club Foundation is separate from the Rotary International Foundation and the Lake Mills Community Foundation.
Ed H. spoke briefly about the Paul Harris Society.
In the past, the Lake Mills Club has promoted the "Every Rotarian donate to Lake Mills Rotary Foundation Every Year Program."
The Lake Mills Rotary Club Foundation itself is not a fundraising organization, Ed explained. The function of the Foundation is to allocate humanity grants, community grants, and scholarships at the direction of the Lake Mills Rotary Club.
Don B. raised the suggestion about doing outreach to non-Rotarian citizens, encouraging them to donate to the Lake Mills Rotary Club Foundation.
Art said when a Rotarian he knows passes away, he donates to that Rotarian's club foundation in his/her honor/memory.
If people have project ideas for Rotary Park, they need to bring the idea to the Rotary Club Board first.
Ed presented the financials. We need to keep the money market balance above $2,000 or we incur fees at Bank of Lake Mills.
Scholarships-There's a dedicated fund for scholarships. The Club initially awarded one scholarship approximately 20 years ago for $500, grew to two scholarships, then three, etc. The scholarship fund has been very successful.
This 2026-2027 school year, Club is paying $8,000 for scholarships and the Foundation endowment, $6,000. The December Foundation statement balance tells the scholarship committee how much money they have to work with for the following year.
Foundation was chartered as a 501(c)3 around the year 2000.
