Benton IL Rotary Club

08/22/2018

08/22/2018

Today was a special day for the Benton Rotary Club, because our new District Governor, Janice Alka from Mt. Carmel, IL, spoke about inspiration , and the good Rotary does for the community and for the world. Rotary International is helping to eradicate Polio throughout the
world, and bringing drinking water to remote areas with fresh water wells.

08/15/2018

John Gulley introduced Kay Zibby-Damron, CEO of the Rend Lake Foundation at today’s Rotary meeting. Kay spoke to the members about providing scholarships for students, and that the Foundation invests in the individual growth of many students who attend Rend Lake. The Foundation represents a partnership between public and private interests for the benefit of Rend Lake Students.

08/08/2018

Franklin County Circuit Clerk, Jim Muir, spoke to Rotary today about a subject very dear to him. Although he did talk about some of the positive changes at the courthouse,
Jim spoke passionately about the summer lunch programs for kids in the Benton and Sesser area. He was able to raise over $12,000 to feed the hungry children of our area.
In the Benton program, 125-150 children were fed on a daily basis, and in Sesser 35-50. Jim said that the youngest was 5 years of age, and children came on bikes, walking,
or anyway they go get there.

07/31/2018

Our good friend, and fellow Rotarian, Charlie Cash passed away yesterday. We will miss him.

07/18/2018

Our guests today were the members Benton Ranger Football Team. They played an important role in helping to set up for the fireworks at Rend Lake, parking over 1200 cars that evening, and even staying until very late to help take everything down. President Ken Burzynski presented a check to coach Justin Groves, to be used for purchase of supplies and/or equipment. The boys were also treated to a delicious pasta dinner. We cannot thank these boys enough for all their help.

07/18/2018

Karen Mullins, Executive Director of the Benton/West CityArea Chamber of Commerce, presented Rotary Club President Ken Burzynski two checks for two vitally important fund raisers of the Chamber/Rotary Golf Scramble,and parking of cars at the July 4th Fireworks Festival. These funds help the Rotary Club donate to a number of local charities.

07/17/2018

The Benton Rotary Club had the changing of the guard with new officers for the 2018-19 fiscal year. l to r: John D. Aiken Secretary, Derek Johnson Vice President, Ken Burzynski President, Jonathan Cantrell Sergeant at Arms, Hillary Remm Treasurer, and (not shown) Steven Pate pass President.

07/11/2018

Rotarian member Ron Giacone, gave a talk on the history of Franklin County, including Charlie Berger and the Shelton gang. Ron also explained the mineral rights of gas, coal, and oil, and how this affected our county

07/05/2018

Jonathan Cantrell gave an interesting program on his recent trip to Belgium. Johnathan spent 10 years living in Belgium, and still has family there. Fortunately,he is also quite interested in history, so his presentation gave us a good history lesson on Belgium and the surrounding countries. He has promised us that his next talk will be on Ireland.

06/19/2018

Rhonda Gilbreath, is not only our sergeant of arms, but she always makes everyone feel welcome at our Rotary Meetings. That hospitality also extends to our State Senator Dale Fowler, who spoke today on number of issues and updates on tourism, the budget, teacher salaries, working both sides of the aisle, and the importance of getting Rend Lake Resort back up and functioning as a valuable destination for Southern Illinois.

06/19/2018

Thanks to the hard work of the Benton Rotary Club and the Benton/West City Area Chamber of Commerce for the annual Golf Scramble, at the Benton County Club.