Wausau Early Bird Rotary Club (Club #29175 ) is part of Rotary International District 6220. The district is governed by our District Governor - Tom Guyette. The geographic bounds of the district reach as far North as Michigan's Upper Peninsula, as far West as Medford, and as far East as Door County. As an active member of District 6220, we often collaborate with other Clubs in the district for particular projects. We have a proud history in our Club of being a very active and involved membership.

Our Early Bird Rotary Club was sponsored by the first Rotary Club of Wausau, referred to as the Noon Club. We were founded in 1993 with 20 charter members, many of whom are still active Club members today.

Newsletter

Our Club's newsletter is distributed weekly by Sheryl Hemp. The newsletter provides a listing of board members, general members, program schedule, invocation and greeter schedule, and other Rotary related events. If you have anything that you would like in the newsletter, please Sheryl email Sheryl at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Please feel free to provide the newsletter to potential members as it demonstrates the diversity of the members of our Club and offers other information about our Club.

Visiting Other Clubs

You are encouraged to visit other Rotary clubs while traveling. You can get a list of the Rotary clubs by searching the Rotary International website. Each club has their own unique emblem flag. If you decide to visit another Rotary club, please pick up one of our Early Bird Rotary flags from a member of the board to exchange with the club you visit for one of their flags.

Rotary Conferences

There are several opportunities to attend other Rotary events and conferences. These may include the annual District 6220 Conference (held in a city in our District), or the Annual International Conference (normally held within the United States). Please feel free to take advantage of these great learning and networking events.

Attendance and Sign-In

There is a sign-in sheet located at the entrance. Please place an "X" by your name. Also, please indicate (in the upper right corner) if you have attended any make-up meetings. Make-up meetings may be special events (Spuds and Spaghetti, Bell Ringing, Interact meetings, or other events), Board meetings, or other events indicated by the President. Attendance is important to the club's vitality. You are expected to attend at least 60% of the meetings (or make-ups). Recognition of outstanding attendance by members will be done quarterly. All members achieving 75% attendance for the quarter will have their name entered into a drawing. Members with 100% attendance will be publicly recognized at the Annual Dinner and at the meeting following the dinner. Make-up meetings count towards the 100% membership attendance. It is important that we tract attendance so that we can report it to our Rotary District.

Rotary Pins and Name Badges

A Rotary pin and name badge is given to you after you have become a member. Please remember to wear both your pin and badge at every meeting (to avoid a nasty fine from our Sergeant-at-Arms). There is a storage box located at the entrance. This is where you may keep your badge (but not your pin, even if you can rig a method). Your rotary pin should be worn outside of Rotary as well (when you feel appropriate), to promote Rotary and to indicate your Rotary membership.

President's Pantry

Rotary members who travel may bring back items to be donated to the President's Pantry. For example, if you travel to California, you might bring back some wine from a vineyard. There are no rules, President's Pantry gifts can be just about anything (big, small, inexpensive, expensive). The items donated throughout the year are available via silent and live auction at our annual party (usually in January). The money generated from the auction of these gifts is used to support the Rotary Foundation and is used toward your Paul Harris Fellowship Award. Therefore, if you purchase something at the annual party for $50, that money will be counted toward your Paul Harris Fellowship Award.

Recruiting New Members

We strongly encourage the recruitment of new members. You may bring a potential member to virtually any of the Rotary meetings. Please fill out a guest badge for them and introduce them during our introductions time. We ask that you bring the potential new members to two meeting before proposing them for membership. To propose a potential member for membership, please see any board member. The potential member will be proposed at a board meeting and posted in the newsletter for approval. If there are no objections, that person may become a Rotary member.

Business Promotion

Our Rotary club supports networking among members with our club and other Rotary clubs. However, you are asked to refrain from directly promoting your business. For example, you may not directly mass-distribute pamphlets or business cards at a meeting. You may however, speak directly about your business during a "craft talk." Craft talks are short presentations given by our members about their career or work-related projects.

You may promote other service clubs or organizations by bringing in a speaker (or speaking yourself) during an assigned program presentation. In general, while business to business support of other Rotary members is strongly encouraged, we ask that you do not "use" Rotary as a prime method for advertising.

Programs

You will be asked to provide a program (speaker) at some point. The date of your program will be indicated in advance in our weekly newsletter. You may speak yourself about a topic of choice, or you may find a speaker. Programs should be approximately 15 minutes in length. If you are questioning the validity of the topic, please consult with any of the Board Members. If you cannot find a speaker, please consult with other members for suggestions. The topic and speaker name should be given to the newsletter editor as soon as possible, so that it can be placed in the newsletter.

Club Assembly

Our Rotary club conducts a Club Assembly once a month. This is a time to communicate what is happening within the Club and discuss any issues affecting our Club. Specific topics for discussion are usually selected by our Board. If you would like to present a topic or you have topics of concern for a club assembly, please communicate this with our President.

Greeters

You will be assigned to be a Greeter at some point. Your assignment will be indicated in our newsletter and normally spans over a month. Greeters are asked to arrive 15 minutes early (6:45 a.m.) to help the speaker set up, to help set-up for the meeting, greet other members and guests, and to sell tickets for the raffle drawing. If you cannot make the meeting as a Greeter, please try to find a substitute within our Club.

Invocation

Although we do not claim a religious denomination, we do ask for thanks at the Rotary meetings. The invocation is a time for us to give thanks or reflection and should be a short oration to the rest of the club. You will periodically be assigned the Invocation. Your assignment will be indicated in our newsletter. The invocation is completed at the beginning of the Rotary meeting (after we eat breakfast), before the Pledge of Allegiance.

Pledge of Allegiance

As a club, we state the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of each meeting (after the Invocation). The Pledge of Allegiance is lead by the Club President.

Marble Drawing

You may buy a chance at the Rotary raffle every Thursday. Proceeds from ticket sales are accumulated each week, and half of the proceeds go toward our general operating fund. If your number is drawn, you can elect to take half of that day's pot, or you can draw for a marble. We start with 25 black, 1 yellow, 1 blue and 1 white marble. If you draw a colored marble, the yellow is worth one fourth the total accumulated pot, blue is worth one half and white is gets the total accumulated pot. Black marbles are worth nothing. Each week that a black marble is drawn, that marble is removed, so your odds improve each week as the pot grows. Good Luck!