May 8 Immunization Clinic at Monroe County Health Department
May 10 Board meeting at Quatro's at 11:30 am
May 11 Deadline for Door prizes for Reverse Raffle
May 16 Retirement reception for Rev. John Kershaw, St. Paul's United Methodist Church
May 18 Lion King outing
May 21 Steak Roast at North Cape Yacht Club $5.00 registration to Don Johnson
June 11 Reverse Raffle--Posters are available, see Joe Sweeney
June 13 Golf outing Rotary/Kiwanis/Exchange Club
June 15 Rotary serves lunch at Holiday Camp
June 22 Installation Dinner at Monroe Golf and Country Club
July 13 President's Day golf outing
August 25 Trenton/Monroe Rotary Brown Jug Golf Tournament

This short essay has been awarded best in his grade and school. This essay is submitted for regional competetion.

Patrick Howey
Monroe, MI

         My hero is not an action hero with a costume and powers and gadgets. My hero does not even fly through space. My hero is not even a single person. My American heroes are all the people in the Rotary Club who contribute their time and money to help children and adults in countries all over the world. There is a Rotary Club in nearly every country of the world.

        The goal of the Rotary club is to eradicate polio throughout the world. More than ninety-nine percent of the world is polio free. In two years polio will be gone. It well take an additional year to distribute the vaccine and then another year to complete the testing to make sure polio is eradicated.

         The group does much more that that, too. In Monroe, they had the idea to build a Playscape for the community. That was completed in 2002 at Munson Park, along with a recently built gazebo. There are plans in the works for building a skateboard park next to the Playscape. This is one way that the Rotary Club helps children. They also sponsor a Boy's Club at Lincoln School, have a huge Christmas Breakfast for families of our community and help with disabled students at Holiday Camp, just to name a few. They even have Interact at the local high schools to help get the youth involved in Rotary.

         My dad and my Uncle John are both presidents in the Rotary Clubs in their town. My dad is the president of Rotary Club of Monroe. My uncle John, who is also my godfather, is the president of the Rotary Club of Trenton. Many of my family members are involved in Rotary. I have two other uncles and two grandpas in the club. My grandpa Howey, through his foundation, is building a surveillance poliomyelitis virus laboratory in Utter Pradesh, India.

         The Rotary Club is a great service organization. I am proud that so many of my family members are involved in it. In the future, I hope to join my American Heroes and become a Rotarian, too.

Projects:
Two Interact Clubs
Scholarship to 4 different schools
Christmas & spring party for Holiday Camp
Support Stepping Stones
Scholarships to RRCA Summer Camp
Support Lincoln School field trips
Mentoring Program with Waterloo School
4-Way test into all the local schools
New play equipment for Lincoln School
Completed Pavilion next to their Playscape
Support Skate Park

Fund Raising:
Koeze Nut Sales
Reverse Raffle/Dinner/Dance