Lots of fun stuff today at the Elkhart Rotary Club! In case you missed it....
We inducted a NEW MEMBER—Dustin Miller—to the Club. Dustin is a lifetime Elkhart County community member and Manager of Project Development with DJ Construction in Goshen. President Julie Cotton conducted the induction and Membership Chair and former club president, Eric Garton, passed along the hardware. Dustin provided a brief intro of himself from podium - - Please make Dustin feel welcome in the club!
Today's Sergeant, Peter Norton, extracted fun fines from club members with the theme of 'The Open Champtionship' and trivia surrounding it. That's GOLF for those keeping score. Brian Harman stunned the golf world by capturing the 151st Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on Sunday, finishing 13 under and won the Claret Jug by 6 strokes, which tied for the second-largest margin of victory by an American golfer in the storied tournament's history. Tiger Woods won by 8 at St. Andrews in Scotland in 2000.
Nice job, Peter! Remember, fines collected support our not for profit grants in the spring.
Julie Cotton reminded the club that NEXT MONDAY, July 31, we will be meeting for lunch and our regular noon Rotary Meeting OFFSITE at:
The Historic Roosevelt Center, 215 E Indiana Ave in Elkhart.
After lunch and business we will tour Tolson at 1320 Denham. Rotarians can either walk over or we can shuttle those needing assistance in cars.
We had 47 people RSVP, there will be 50 lunches provided by the Matterhorn in case a couple folks forgot to let us know you are coming. Please let Julie know if you're coming, if you have not already. Thanks!
The Historic Roosevelt Center, 215 E Indiana Ave in Elkhart.
After lunch and business we will tour Tolson at 1320 Denham. Rotarians can either walk over or we can shuttle those needing assistance in cars.
We had 47 people RSVP, there will be 50 lunches provided by the Matterhorn in case a couple folks forgot to let us know you are coming. Please let Julie know if you're coming, if you have not already. Thanks!
During lunch, we shared some photos of this past Saturday's Rotary Kayak Adventure down Christiana Creek, coordinated by member Jamison Czarnecki. Thanks for arranging, Jamison, looked fun! Here are the happy paddlers.
Eric Garton, Robert and Peggy Weed Executive Director, shared an update on the Events and Visitors Center Expansion Project. The Project realizes four key master plan features—a new 12,000 sq.ft. Visitors Center with event capacity, an Open Air Pavilion, relocation and repurposing of the existing Visitors Cottage, and increased parking capacity. As outlined, these features will provide not only a transformational guest experience with necessary infrastructure and amenities, financial sustainability for the future, and increased mission-effectiveness, but also deliver increased quality of place and promote economic development of our area. 
Since its founding by the Elkhart Rotary Club in 2005, over 20 beautiful garden spaces and numerous special features have been installed at Wellfield. These major capital projects have been made possible by the vision and generosity of community leaders in the Elkhart, Indiana area. Wellfield is poised for its next transformational stage of development to meet an increasing need as we grow.
Eric shared that Elkhart Rotarian Marly Rydson (now living in Florida), inspired the project through a generous lead gift committment in April 2021 in honor of his wife of 59 years, Laura Rydson, one of the original Board of Directors of the Community Foundation (and first woman on the board), who passed away in August of 2021. Marly's gift to help build the Visitors Center also engaged support from the Community Foundation of Elkhart County.
To learn more about the project visit: https://www.wellfieldproject.com/
Following his brief presentation about Wellfield's project, Eric also shared some funny Member Trivia in his role as Membership Chair.
DO YOU KNOW which Rotarian?....
- ...was born in 1964, attended high school locally, is 1986 graduate of the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, a 1991 graduate of IUSB, graduated 1995 from IUSB with two Masters degrees and in 1999 graduated with a third masters degree? OR
- ...had Hall of Famer Bill Fitch as his college basketball coach? AND was the Student host to Louie Armstrong when he visited his college campus? AND spent 3 hours visiting Pete Rose shortly after his baseball career ended? OR
- ...who once rode a motorcycle, solo, to Guatemala on a whim for charity without any spanish language aptitude? AND whose art was described by a newspaper review of his gallery's opening as "Ugly Bathroom Art"?
These are just a FEW of the tidbits that you learn at Elkhart Rotary Club meetings... we'll continue the Member Trivia - - keep sending your interesting member facts to Eric Garton for more fun later.