Things Heat Up At The Des Moines Farmers Market Chili Cook-Off

The Rotary Club of Des Moines clearly knows their Chili!  On Saturday, October 29th, three Rotarian teams participated in the 5th Annual Des Moines Farmers Market Chili Cook-Off and two of the teams came away winners! Over 500 people were in attendance on a beautiful sunny autumn day! Proceeds from the event benefited the Des Moines Food Bank. Here are some photos  from the event.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
(Rotarians Jim Polhamus, Brian Snure and Dan Johnson)

Winner of the People's Choice Award:  10th Avenue Chili Dogs/Waterland Crossfit
(Rotarian Dave Markwell with family)

Chili Pepper Mamas
(Rotarians Catherine Carbone-Rogers, Carri Litowitz.
Leslie Snure, and Lisa Meinecke)

The Chili Cook-Off Judges

Rotarian and Des Moines Farmers Market Coordinator, Wayne Corey
with Rotary President Mark Rusnak

First Place Winners - The Chili Pepper Mamas!
Bragging rights for the entire year!

For additional information about the annual event, please visit the following links:

http://www.waterlandblog.com/2011/10/30/photos-sunshine-blue-skies-for-5th-annual-farmers-market-chili-cook-off/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70AYBgQr_ys

Photos courtesy of Lisa Meinecke

Uncle Ernie Coming Back To Perform At The Poverty Bay Wine Festival!

Uncle Ernie

The Poverty Bay Wine Festival is pleased to announce the return of Uncle Ernie to it's muscial line-up.  Uncle Ernie is a Seattle area band know for its classic rock roots. The band offers a high energy show that captures the essence of popular rock music. Two of its' band members, Tim Clark and Matt Pina, are locals boys who have played together since the early 80's.

Performing at the 2010 World Vision Haiti Relief Fund Raiser
Seattle

Uncle Ernie brought the house down at last year's wine festival with classic rock tunes from the 60's and 70's  and the auditorium quickly turned into a dance floor! The band will perform on Friday, March 2nd - which is the opening night of the Poverty Bay Wine Festival.  The wine festival, in its eighth year, will be held in the grand setting of the Landmark Event Center in Des Moines on March 2-4, 2012.  


For more information on the Poverty Bay Wine Festival, please visit  the Rotary Club of Des Moines' website at www.dmrotary.org. 

Raise Your Glass! The Blues & Brews A Huge Success!

The Poverty Bay Brews and Blues Festival was a huge success raising over $5,000 dollars towards projects like Highline Music4Life, while bringing community spirit and fun to the City of Des Moines! Over 600 people were in attendance on a beautiful sunny day and enjoyed local handcrafted beer and live musical entertainment. The Rotary Club of Des Moines would like to say a huge Thank You to all of our sponsors, volunteers and participants for making the day such a huge success and for helping us support projects like Highline Music4Life.  To date, Highline Music4Life has raised over $22,000 and has acquired over 78 musical instruments because of community partners like you! 


We hope to see you all next year at the 3^rd Annual Poverty Bay Blues & Brews on August 25^th!

Highline Music4Life Representative Dick Lee and David Endicott with Rotarians Al Isaac, Dan Johnson and Rotary President Mark Rusnak

For more information about the Rotary Club of Des Moines, please visit www.dmrotary.org.

Turn Prospective Members into Rotarians

Rotary International News -- 27 September 2011  

In the last 10 years, more than 50,000 men and women have completed the Prospective Member form to find out how they could get involved in their local Rotary club.  Imagine how many more members we might attract if every club and district included a link to the form on their websites and Facebook pages.

“I’ve had 50 to 75 people complete the Prospective Member form in the past two years,” says Winston Connolly, membership development committee chair for District 7020 (Caribbean), whose district website includes a link to the form. “Many of them have gone on to become members.”

Whether it’s community work, networking, or friendship, potential members are drawn to Rotary for a variety of reasons. Connolly received a membership inquiry from a minister in his community who had contracted polio when he was three and was interested in joining Rotary because of its polio eradication efforts. Connolly forwarded the information to a club in his district, and the minister was invited to a meeting.

And that’s exactly how the process is supposed to work. After a prospective member completes the form, that person’s contact information is forwarded to the district governor and district membership development committee chair, who send the information on to one or more clubs in the area. If a club is interested, it invites the prospective member to a meeting.

“This process has been well received by clubs in my district,” says Connolly, who urges all clubs to take advantage of this resource.

The form can also be used by club members who want to refer potential members, and by relocating or returning members who are looking for a new club. Make it easy for potential members to find your club byembedding ads on your website for Club Locator and “Share Your Passion for Rotary.” 

Celebrate World Polio Day!

Celebrate World Polio Day - 24 October

To encourage widespread support for the effort to eradicate polio online, the website www.thisclose.net makes it possible for you to join the ranks of celebrities and others around the world in pledging to make a difference in this effort. Right now, you can create your own ‘This Close’ message, and share it with members of your social networks, and encourage them to do the same.   Here is how you can participate: Visit (http://www.thisclose.net/), Click on “Add your face and name”, Select a silhouette, Upload your picture or take a new one using your webcam, Use the 5 different adjustment tools to customize your ad Personalize your ad by selecting a color for the background and End Polio Now T-shirt, Publish your ad in the online gallery as part of the global campaign, Don’t stop there: Share your pledge and invite friends to do the same through Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. You can also take part in a special celebration to honor the widely-recognized World Polio Day and Rotary’s tremendous progress around the world. The plan is to have Rotarians change their social networking profile pictures to their “This Close” ads and ask their friends to do the same, generating awareness about the issue and also collaboration. For more information about the Rotary Club of Des Moines, please visit www.dmrotary.org.