Rotarians Hear from Africa, Learn How to PAVE

Effingham Noon Rotarians learned about missions work in Africa and the PAVE project in Effingham in the past two weeks.

On August 24th, Rotarian Norbert Soltwedel introduced club members to Britt Odemba, a missionary for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in Kenya. The school where Britt works began with 20 students in 2013 and has grown to more than 360 students. Britt, her husband and their two children were in the area to visit with Norbert and Sunrise Rotary's Kevin Miller, who visited Kenya in recent years as part of a Rotary helping endeavor.

(FROM LEFT, NORBERT SOLTWEDEL AND BRITT ODEMBA)

On August 31st, Rotarians Lucinda Hart and Jeff Speer shared about the PAVE project. PAVE is an acronym for Promoting a Vision for Effingham County. PAVE Action Teams are working in their efforts of Workforce and Education, Housing Development, Childcare, Entertainment Festivals and Events, and Parks and Recreation. The meeting was also an opportunity to meet Brittany Sunderman, an Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs Peace Corps Fellow. Sunderman will work with the PAVE action teams during her time in Effingham County. The community will have a chance to meet Sunderman at an Ice Cream Community Social on Sunday, September 18, from 2:30 to 5pm at the Effingham Event Center.

The meeting on the 31st also marked the return of the Rotary Student Guest of the Week, a program that was shelved for the past year or so due to COVID. The Student Guest was Taylor Quandt, the daughter of Jill Quandt and a senior at St. Anthony High School. She plans to study at Lake Land College, looking at a major in Psychiatry and a minor in Religion. 

(FROM LEFT, LUCINDA HART, JEFF SPEER, TAYLOR QUANDT AND BRITTANY SUNDERMAN)