As of April 4th, there are only 10 days until the Club's fundraiser/dinner/auction "Raise the Stakes for Community".  

 

We now expect the event to be sold out with 400 guests.  Thank you to everyone that bought tickets, tables and sponsorships.  It will be great to have every seat filled.   If you did not get a ticket purchased but still want to attend, contact Laura Luetje at laura.luetje@ankenylaw.com to see if there may be an opening.

 

Please encourage your guest(s) to visit our wed site at https://bidpartner.net/rotary/ and register their credit card prior to the night of our event.  This will allow them to start bididng on the silent auction items and it will also speed up registration that night.

 

We have over $75,000, estimated value, of auction items that have been donated.  This includes 24 items that will be sold live and approximately 100 silent auction items.  The on-line silent auction is expected to go live the week of April 3rd.  Some of the larger items include: A Ride with an Ankeny Police Officer for a Day, St. Louis Cardinals and Minnesota Twins Premium Tickets, 10-day Service Trip to South Africa, a 4-Night Stay in the Bahamas, a Garden Shed Built by DMACC Trade Students, A Patio Party for Up to 75 Guests on the Roof Top of TOAST, an E-Bike, Lasik Eye Surgery, Chicks Tickets at the Iowa State Fair, a 42 bottle Wine Cooler, Invisalign Treatment for Your Teeth, and more.

 

Registration, the social, and Casino style gaming begin at 5:00 PM.  Dinner will be served from 6:30 to 7:45.   The program and live auction will begin at 8:00 PM.  It should be a fun evening!!

 

The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in April:

 

9th - Juan Arias

12th - Neil Fell

18th - Brendan Maher

18th - Diana Tran

20th - Brodey Hanson

22nd -Joe Smeltzer

27th - Bret Lindquist

29th - Heidi Kramer

The Rotary Club of Ankeny now has over 40 members signed up to attend the 2023 District 6000 Annual Conference in West Des Moines.  This will be one of three evening events in our district.  The West Des Moines Conference will be held on Saturday, April 29th at the Hilton Garden Inn.  If you have not signed up yet but would like to attend, contact Nate at nfburnham@gmail.com.  The Club will pay the registration fee for you and a guest.

President Brian Tiernan announced at the noon meeting on March 28th that Brandon Converse has been selected selected  to follow Steve SchraderBachar, 2023-2024, and Kent Patterson, 2024-2025,  as President of the noon Rotary Club of Ankeny forf the 2025-2026 Rotary year.   As the club's President Elect Nominee, Brandon will assume the responsibility for arranging speakers beginning in July 2023.

 

Thank you for agreeing to serve the Club in this capacity and congratulations Brandon! 

Looks like Todd Eipperle is working hard while on deployment.  These are pictures were taken while he was exploring Petra, Joedan - A wonder of the world.   It is also the filming location for the ending scene of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

  

The next CIVITAS, Central Iowa Rotary Club's forum, will be held on Tuesday, May 2nd at 4:30 PM at the Hilton Garden Inn in West Des Moines.   The forum will be focused on "Human Trafficking".  Both the noon and evening club's meetings are being cancelled on this day and the Club will pay the registration fee members and guests.   

 

Sign up sheets will be available at s Rotary meetings.   If you are not able to attend a meeting to sign up contact Marie Kline at marie.kline@kw.com and have her add your name to the list.   She will accumulate the registrations and submit them on behalf of the club. 

Two Ankeny Rotarians got married last week!!

 

John Biga and Clare Sotrdahl took off for Las Vegas on March 15th and got married there. 

 

Jim Ramsey and Kristi Leuthold were married in the Hope Lutheran Chapel in West Des Moines on March 25th.  

 

Each year the Rotary Club of Ankeny is eligible to apply for a Community Service Grant from District 6000.  These grants can be up to $5,000 which must be matched by the club making a total of up to $10,000 available to a local service project.   A club can apply for more than one grant if the club wants to split these funds between two or more projects.   Ankeny's project for 2022-2023 is to plant 50 trees along the bike trail south of the Ankeny Market Pavilion.   Past project have included a potato digger for the AGAPE garden, technology equipment for the new library,  equipment for New Horizons Adult Daycare, and equipment for the Ankeny Service Center.  

 

Ideas are needed for a grant or two for the 2023-2024 Rotary year,   Let a Board member know if you know of a project that you would like to have considered for a grant.  The deadline to apply is June 1.  To allow time for the application to be completed, a project should be selected soon.   

Rotary District 6000 is excited to announce they will be hosting a night of fun and fellowship with the Iowa Cubs at Principal Park on Tuesday, June 13.  First pitch will be at 6:38 p.m.  Tickets for your family and friends are $13 each, plus ticket order fee.  In addition to watching a great baseball game, $5 for each ticket purchased will go towards The Rotary Foundation PolioPlus Fund.   It will also be bring your dog to the ballgame and $1 hotdogs night.  The link to purchase tickets is:  https://fevo.me/iarotarydistrict6000

Two new members were inducted into the Noon Rotary Club of Ankeny in March.  They were:

 

Jenny Fields, Associate Director Relationship Events for the Alzheimer's Association of Iowa.  Jenny contacted the club through the Rotary International website.   Sally Schroeder will be her mentor.  Jenny was inducted as a new member on March 7th.

 

Nancy Zwickel is a Private Banking Officer at First Interstate Bank.   Brad Botos proposed her for membership.  She was inducted on March 14. 

 

 

The Rotary Board approved the following donation requests at their March meeting:

 

Epilepsy Foundation of Iowa - $500 for a sponsorship of their "Walk For Epilepsy" in Central Iowa to increase awareness of the challenges those with epilepsy face each day and to raise funds to support programs and services for these individuals and their families.

 

CIVITAS - $1,000 sponsorship for the Rotary multi-club program on human trafficking to be held May 2nd.

 

Rotary International Disaster Relief Fund - $500 - The Rotary Foundation supports disaster relief and recovery efforts through grants from the Rotary Disaster Relief Fund.  With the recent number of natural disasters around the world, the Club feels a donation to this fund is warranted.