The Heart of Missouri United Way (HMUW) Board of Directors unanimously voted to adopt and implement a new strategy, called Community Impact, which beginning in 2013 will focus its work on supporting strategies that help at-risk mid-Missouri youth to succeed in school and life. For the complete Community Impact Report and Executive Summary, click here.

For more information

Columbia South Rocks! É but can't we make it better?

More and more, we want this newsletter to offer real value to our club -- to inform, but also to be a conduit for DOING things. One of the ways we can do that is to make it a center for club ideas (along with the Facebook Page, we hope). SoÉ what are YOUR ideas? How could we improve the club experience for our members? What should we be doing differently? How can we be a better example of Rotary values to the community? Whatever is one your mind, we want to hear it. In future editions of the newsletter, we'll share the ideas and what becomes of them. Speaking of making things better... Want to help with the club newsletter? We already have a lot of great Rotarians who have signed on for the new Newsletter Committee, but there is always room for more. Some members might be involved every week, others might just help from time to time. For those who like this sort of thing, it can be an extremely flexible way to get involved. Here's the core of the message we sent last week: In the coming months, I would like to build a committee and kick things up a few notches with our newsletter. It serves a purpose now, but wouldn't it be cool if members really looked forward to receiving it? If it provided real value to us and enhanced our Rotary experience in a bigger way? I think we can do that, but I know I can't do it alone, so here's the call. If you would be interested in helping transform our club newsletter into something much better, please let me know. We need people who like to write (and maybe do an interview from time to time). We might need folks who don't consider writing their strength, but who have an interest and might be able to contribute in other way (with research, design, editing, photography, and maybe even ad sales). Please let me know if you want to help with something that could be pretty cool. Thanks so much! E-MAIL seanspence@earthlink.net TO GET INVOLVED.

Don't Forget Career Day 2012 -- Columbia Public Schools

Career Day is an opportunity for representatives from Rotary to visit and present to middle school classrooms about their career. It's that time of year again.....Career Day at the CPS Middle Schools. We have scheduled the 2012 Career Days for February 9, 16 and 23. Business and/or community leaders are asked to present about their job/field of work, education requirements for their job, jobs that are also available in the same field, skills required, and any other things that are relative to your line of work or make your job interesting. Remember these are middle school students so the more interactive and interesting the presentation, the better. Additionally, this is one of the first exposures these students will have to the variety of career opportunities that are available to them. Classroom time for Career Day is blocked to 45 minutes per class. Each class is shared between two speakers, therefore it is asked to keep presentations to 20 minutes. Each speaker is asked to present their 20-minute talk two to three times. The dates, time blocks and number of openings for the time block in each middle school are listed below. Additionally, attached is a handout that will help you outline your 20-minute presentation as well as a sheet describing the various career paths students may be interested in exploring. Feb. 9 - Smithton Middle School 8 a.m. - 9:35 a.m. (5 slots and 1 slot from 8:50-9:35) 9:40 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. (7 slots) 1:25 p.m. - 3 p.m. (6 slots and 1 slot from 2:15-3) Feb. 16 - Gentry Middle School 8:45 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. (6 slots) Noon - 1:30 p.m. (6 slots) 1:30 p.m. - 3 p.m. (6 slots) Feb. 23 - Lange Middle School (speakers do their talk 3 times at Lange with only a morning schedule vs. all day) 8:00 a.m. - 10:35 a.m. (12 slots; 3 slots 8-8:45; 1 slot 8-9:32; 1 slot 9:50-10:32) I hope you will be able to participate in one or more of the Career Day experiences this year! The students look forward to this event each year and are eagerly anticipating learning about all the opportunities available to them. If you would like to sign up for a time slot for Career Day, please e-mail Michelle Baumstark at mbaumsta@columbia.k12.mo.us with your interest and availability so that we can schedule you for one of the events.