Welcome to the Club, Heather and Nick.  Rotary is very excited to have Heather Mader and Nick Moran from Port Washington State Bank in Thiensville join the Club.  Be sure to introduce yourself if you have not done so already and show Heather and Nick a warm Rotarian welcome.   

1. No meeting this week. Everyone have a happy 4th of July. 

 

2. It was great to see so many Rotarians involved in the parade and festivities during the Fun Before the 4th celebration on Saturday.  Seeing all of the roles Rotarians play in our community is such a great reminder of what it means to be a Rotarian. Thank you also to those volunteers selling corn and handing out ice cream. 

 

3. First meeting at the park went great in part to the weather holding off, but additionally in great part to the excellent grill master Sandy Custer and his crew. 

 

4. Don't forget to get your tickets for Gathering on the Green. Just in case it comes up again, a friendly reminder that Dennis DeYoung is the lead singer of STYX and Lou Gramm is the lead singer of Foreigner. Rob, we won't disappoint you again.  

 

5.  Sandy Custer is taking ticket orders for the August 9 Chinooks game. $35.00 per ticket will be added to your bill.  

The weekly Rotary Bulletin is a great resource for reaching Rotarians about upcoming events and the happenings of each week.  There are often a list of highlights and stories which deserve a full story with photographs, but there are other considerations which have brought about the idea of the Rundown.  

 

The Rundown will be a short list and summary of information and reminders that Rotary and Rotarians would like to pass along to the Club which will be included in each newsletter.  Here's some information about the Rundown that might be helpful. 

 

1. If you have an item that you would like to have included in the Rundown, please email me (sazinger@willmslaw.com) or drop a written note to me at meetings.  If you email me, please email before or shortly after the meeting as the Rundown will be drafted Tuesday afternoons for the following Monday meeting. If you send me something to be included after 2pm on a Tuesday and request that it is included in the following Monday's Bulletin I will gladly do so, but you will be fined $5 payable at the next meeting (assuming I'm allowed to fine people and Shelly will follow through on collecting). 

 

2. Items that could be included in the Rundown would be reminders about events, important brags (published after official brags or by Rotarians who were unable to attend that weeks meeting), or any other information you would like to pass along. 

 

3. Please do not be offended if a News worthy story is included in the Rundown as opposed to as a separate story.  The determination factors for if something is included as a separate story versus an item in the Rundown will be based on things such as if I have time to write a separate story, if there is a photograph, or if I was at the meeting. 

 

4. If you feel an item in the Rundown is worthy of a separate story and would like to see it published as such, please feel free to write a story and send it to me to be published on the Website and in the next issue of the Bulletin.

 

Hopefully this format will be fun and a good way to convey certain information to the Club going forward.

Thank you to Atty. Maureen O'Leary for presenting on the 2017 tax law changes and the impact the changes may have on charitable giving. Maureen highlighted the changes to the tax law, including the increased standard deduction and limits on the State and Local Tax deduction, and how less people may itemize their deductions (including charitable deductions) as a result.  Maureen additionally provided shared some strategies for maximizing tax deductions by using Qualified Charitable Distributions to satisfy IRA Required Minimum Distributions, or by "Bunching" to increase charitable giving in a single year and itemizing your deductions for that year, while taking the standard deduction for other years.  

 

Of course, no presentation from an attorney (or subsequent story written by an attorney) would be complete without the disclaimer that nothing in the presentation (or subsequent story about the presentation) should be construed as tax or legal advice nor does it create an attorney-client relationship.  You should consult your attorney and tax adviser regarding your personal situation.  If you missed the presentation but are interested in reading about it, please email me at sazinger@willmslaw and I would be happy to send you a copy of the Powerpoint.  

 

Congratulation to Ellen Macfarlane on receipt of her 5th Paul Harris Award. Thank you Ellen for your dedication to Rotary and all that Rotary stands for. 

 

24 Scouts and 8 adult leaders of Boy Scout troop 852 are at Camp Tesomas this week in Rhinelander. 

 

Rotary would love to have a large presence at the Gateway Project Open House on Tuesday evening at the Frank L. Weyenberg Library. Hope to see you all there. 

Congratulations to Chiara our Rotary Exchange Student on her graduation from Homestead High School. Pictured with Chiara are her host families. (Photo by Bob Blazich) (Copied from the Sunrise Club Page, permission pending).