Today's program featured a panel lead by John Ockenfels of those who have attended at least one Rotary Leadership Institute session.
 
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
 
Pat Herd-- Guest of Casey Cook
Cole Lavarias--Guest of Deb Dunkhase
Luis Viscara--Guest of Mark Patton
Briseida Mercedes Cruz Minon--Guest of Mark Patton
Bonnie Penno-- Guest of Mark Patton
 
Announcements
 
Mark Patton introduced his guests from Habitat for Humanity in El Salvador who thanked Mark and members who have supported Habitat for Humanity both locally and internationally.
 
Karen Franklin is the keeper of the sign-up list for the Year Ender on June 25 at the Iowa City Municipal Airport, Hangar 71, 4 pm.  The cost will be $20 per person.  Please sign up and pay in advance.  There will be a meal catered by Val Martin with BYOB, a small live auction, and installation of Deb Dunkhase as IC AM Rotary President and Chris Knapp as District Governor.  It will be quite an event!
 
Mike Messier reminded volunteers that next Monday will be the annual Community Foundation golf tournament at Brown Deer and many are signed up to help out.  Mike will send out a list with assignments and reporting times.
 
Brian Adamec tended the weekly store and sold a bottle of Scotch to Bryan Clemons for $25.
 
Rotarians in the News included a quote from Susie Poulton concerning the tragic loss of a student to the H1N1 virus.
 
There were many celebrations among the Happy Bucks including college graduation for the Langenfeld's daughter and Deb Pullin-VanAucken's nephew.
 
Program
 
John Ockenfels pointed out that Rotary Leadership Institutes were begun in several districts around the world to counteract a fact that 95% of Rotarians never know anything about Rotary beyond what is going on in their own clubs.  RLI has been around for 30 years, but it just began in District 6000 in 2012 when Terry Geiger approached leaders in the eastern district of Nebraska about their program.  In 2015 the Heartland RLI was formed between Districts 6000 and 5650.
 
There are 3 parts to the RLI:  Part 1 concentrates on the Rotarian and getting them more involved through leadership, service and engaged membership.  Part 1 concentrates on the Club and goes over team building and communication, targeting service efforts, and attracting members.  Part 3 is about "My Rotary Journey" and covers public image and leadership strategies, areas of service opportunity, and vocational service aspects of membership.
 
Rotarians can get involved in RLI in any stage of life and for a wide variety of reasons.  Panel members got involved to get to know Rotary better.  Some are relatively new members and some are long time members but all had "ah-ha" moments to share about what they learned.
 
To sign up for one of the four approximately quarterly training opportunities in Iowa or Nebraska, or even in other districts go to www.rli-heartland.org or visit the international RLI site at www.rotaryleadershipinstitute.org.