The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in March:
7th - Andrew Larson
8th - Craig Block
9th - Trent Murphy
11th - Kendall Sather
12th - Zane Smith
18th - Stacey Koeppen
21st - Troy Boelman
27th - Raj Reddy
Stories
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The March board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, March 14th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
The Rotary Club of Ankeny has received a certificate from The Rotary Foundation in recognition of tour support of the "End Polio Now: Countdown to History Campaign". The certificate reads: "Ankeny is presented a certificate of appreciation for its financial support of End Polio Now; Countdown to History Campaign. Together, we will fulfill our promise to the children of the world and eradicate polio." The Rotary Club of Ankeny contributed $5,100 which equals $60 per Active member. |
District 6000 Assistant District Governor, Corrine Lambert, attended the noon meeting of The Rotary Club of Ankeny to present a banner to the club in recognition of the club's contributions to The Rotary Foundation for the 2017-2018 Rotary year. Ankeny is distinguished from more than 35,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide as being one of the following:
During the 2017-2018 Rotary Year, Ankeny contributed $12,780 to the Foundation's Annual Fund and $5,100 to PolioPlus. This totals $17,880 to the Rotary Foundation and equals $210.35 per Active member. Congratulations and thank you Ankeny Rotarians! |
During their Meeting on February 14th, the Board has approved three applications for membership to the Rotary Club of Ankeny. They were: Hannah Guilford is applying to be a third Secondary Designee for the Bridges. She is their Community Relations Representative. Doug Johnson will continue to be the Primary Designee for The Bridges and Kris Baker and Brody Hanson will continue to be Secondary Designees. Darius Potts is the Ankeny Police Chief and is being proposed by Kathy Sibbel. Juan Arias first joined Rotary in 1993 and is currently a member of the San Pedro Sula, Honduras Rotary Club. He will be transferring his membership to Ankeny and will be attending our evening satellite club. He is a software developer for Pure Foods and his wife is a teacher in the Des Moines School District. Comments regarding any of these three proposed memberships may be forwarded to any member of the Board. |
Kris Baker volunteered The Bridges to host our meetings for as many weeks as the Ankeny Golf & Country Club needed to complete their remodeling. In total they hosted 4 meetings during January and February with Kris coordinating all the arrangements. In recognition of her efforts, President Ben named her Rotarian of the Month for February. Congratulations Kris! |
Juan Arias recently relocated to the Des Moines area from Honduras where he was a member of the Usula Rotary Club of San Pedro Sula, Honduras. He attended our noon meeting on February 5th and presented the club with a banner from his former club. He is looking to transfer his membership to another club in the Des Moines area. He plans to also visit our evening club on February 12th. |
Special guests attending the Rotary Club of Ankeny's regular meetings during the past couple weeks have been: 1/8 - Ken Gregersen, Speaker 1/15 - John Rogers, Iowa Cubs 1/15 - Joe McConnell, Speaker 1/15 - Shelly Finneman, Speaker 1/22 - Darius Potts, Police Chief, Speaker 1/29 - Sam James, VP Finance, Casey's, Speaker 1/29 - Cheryl Honkcomp, BoysTown, Iowa, guest of the club 2/5 - Hannah Guilford, guest of Kris baker 2/5 - Juan Arias, Visiting Rotarian, San Pedro Sula, Honduras 2/5 - Aaron Hoang, Former RYE 2/5 - Beth Shelton, guest of Steve SchraderBachar 2/5 - Tiffany Allison, Soaring Hearts Foundation, Speaker 2/5 - Char Kusanes, guest of Steve SchraderBachar |
It is now only 10 weeks until the Rotary Club of Ankeny's 2019 fundraiser "Raise the Stakes" for Community. For the event to be a success, each member of the club needs to participate with the sale of tickets and obtaining auction items. Brian Tiernan and Doug Beech are co-chairing the ticket sales and auction item aspects of the fundraiser. They have divided the club into two groups, last names beginning with A-K on Doug's team and M-Z on Brian's team. There will be some competition between the teams for who sells the most tickets and obtains the most auction items. The ideal auction item is something unusual and desirable that cannot be purchased in a store. These might include a hot air balloon ride, fishing trip, time share vacation home for a week, autographed items, etc. The more unusual the item the better. Rich Job will be storing auction items in his basement. As items are received, give them to Rich or bring them to a meeting and we'll get them to him. The first thing they ask of each member is to provide them with a list of four people they want to see at the event, four people they are inviting, and four people they want to see that they have a connection with to invite. The goal this year is to have over 300 people in attendance. Your list can be sent to Doug at doug.beech@Caseys.com or Brian at brian@cjmfinancial.com. Remember the money we raise from this event enables us to help many individuals and organizations in Ankeny and around the world. |
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Todd Eipperle has invited all Ankeny Rotarians to join him for an inspirational luncheon for Scouting, Wednesday February 6th, with featured speaker Mary T. Mack, Senior Vice President, Consumer Banking, Wells Fargo, along with Governor Kim Reynolds. The event will be at the Iowa Events Center Ballroom, 833 5th Avenue, Des Moines. Check-in for the event is between 11:30 and 11:45 AM, the program will begin at noon and will conclude by 1:00 PM. There is no cost for the luncheor as Rotary has been a great sponsor to local Scouting for several years, but there will be an opportunity if you would like to make a personal donation/pledge, although it is not required. Todd has reserved a table for Ankeny Rotarians. All you need to do is contact Todd to let him know you plan to attend so he can get you added to the check-in-roster and your seat reserved. RSVP to todd.eipperle@scouting.org. |
The District 6000 "Guardian of Integrity" award is named for Boone Rotarian and Past District Governor (1954-1955), Judge Paul E. Hellwege, who passed away in 2010. This award was established to promote the ideals of ethics and integrity which were Pauls' fervent passions. The award is presented annually to Rotarians who have been a member of a club in District 6000 for a minimum of three years and who have made outstanding contributions that foster the development of integrity. It singles out persons who have made contributions in business, media, academia or government and who have, by their actions, writing, policies and public pronouncements, strengthened and fostered development of integrity and ethical practices in their vocational, business and personal lives that Paul exemplified. Each club in District 6000 may nominate one member each year. Sally Schroeder has been selected to be the nominee for the Rotary Club of Ankeny for 2019. She will be recognized at the 2019 Rotary District 6000 Conference to be held May 2-4 at the West Des Moines Sheraton. Congratulations Sally! |
 The Rotary Club of Ankeny's 2019 fundraiser, "Raise The Stakes" for Community Fundraiser will be held at the FFA Enrichment Center on the campus of DMACC in Ankeny on Saturday, April 13, 2019. Silent auction items may be viewed and bid on a week prior to the event by going to https://bidpartner.net/rotary/. They will also be on display and open for bidding until 7:45 PM the night of the event. The evening will begin at 5:00 PM with appetizers and professional Las Vegas style gaming tables open for action. Everyone purchasing a ticket will received chips to play the games which will include Black Jack, Roulette, Craps, Poker, Three Card Poker and Let It Ride. The gaming tables will close at 7:45 PM. Complimentary wine and beer will be available throughout the evening and a buffet dinner will be available from 6:30 to 7:45 PM. The live auction will begin at 8:00 PM and will include, "Heads or Tails", desserts, paddle raisers, "100 for 100 Raffle", and Casino chip prize winners in addition to several live auction items.
Available sponsorships include:
Individual tickets are $60 each or reserve a table for 8 for $440. Tickets may be purchased from any Ankeny Rotarian or on line at https://bidpartner.net/rotary/. |
The Rotarians that are scheduled to be the "Greeter" and "Sheriff" for the next several weeks are as follows: 2/5 - Jody Savage 2/12 - Sally Schroeder 2/19 - Steve SchraderBachar 2/26 - Kathy Sibbel 3/5 - Andrew Stumbo 3/12 - Andy Testino 3/19 - Brian Tiernan 3/26 - Pat Timmons |
The Evening Club assembled 25 literacy kits for Ankeny's Head Start program at their meeting on December 18th. Each kit included a children's book. The following thank you has been received: "Rotary Club of Ankeny, Thank you for the wrapped book you gave the children that are in the Head Start programs in the Neveln Center. It is our hope that families read the book together over winter break. The children were so excited to receive the gift. Thank you for thinking of the Head Start programs! Miss Heather and Miss Anderson." |
Nathan Porter the General Manager for Ankeny Golf & Country Club has provided us with an update on their sewer project. The asbestos removal began on January 21st and most of the floor tiles have been removed from the ballroom, ladies locker room, and front entry. They will prepare the space for the asbestos removal and hope to be done by Jan 26th. After this is completed they need to have concrete poured throughout the clubhouse to fill the trenching that was cut for the new sewer pipes. When this is completed flooring will be installed in the bar, ballroom, entryway, and the ladies locker room. Here is the current timeline for the project: Jan. 21st - Start asbestos mitigation (Had to wait 10 days due to regulations.) Jan 25th - Asbestos mitigation finished. Jan. 28-30 - Pour concrete and let cure Jan 31st - Start installation of carpet and ball room flooring Feb 4th - 8th - Finish flooring installation and clean building Feb 9th - 12th - Open Clubhouse Rotary will likely need to continue to meet off site until the meeting on February 19th. We are asked to please not go to the clubhouse while it is closed. You will not be able to enter the building and there are safety concerns if you do. |
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Rotary International President Elect, Mark Daniel Maloney explained his version for building a stronger Rotary, calling on leaders to expand connections to their communities and to embrace innovative membership models. Maloney, a member of the Rotary Club of Decatur, Alabama unveiled his 2019-2020 presidential theme, "Rotary Connects the World" to incoming district governors at Rotary's annual training event, the International Assembly, in San Diego, California on January 7th. “The first emphasis is to grow Rotary — to grow our service, to grow the impact of our projects, but most importantly, to grow our membership so that we can achieve more,” Maloney said. Maloney believes that connection is at the heart of the Rotary experience. "Rotary allows us to connect with each other, in deep and meaningful ways across our differences." Maloney said. "It connects us to people we would never otherwise have met who are more like us than we could have known. It connects us to our communities, to professional opportunities, and to the people who need our help." |
Recently, The Rotary Foundation was inducted into University of Oxford's Chancellor's Court of Benefactors for its continuous support of the university. Since 1949, the Foundation has provided scholarships to more than 200 Oxford scholars including a former American ambassador to the United Kingdom, a Pulitzer Prize winning author and investigative reporter for the New York Times, and a director and Senior Fellow at the Ansari Africa Centre. For almost 70 years, this support has enabled students from around the world to benefit from all that Oxford has to offer. Membership in the Court of Benefactors is conferred by the Chancellor on those who have been outstandingly generous towards the university. The Rotary Foundation joins a prestigious list of over 250 members including Thomson Reuters Foundation and the Skoll Foundation. The members are from around the globe whose significant contributions have assisted Oxford in being the world's institution that it is today. Your contribution to The Rotary Foundation enables this to happen. Thank you. |
Gary Welch volunteers to make Santa available for several families, functions and organizations each year during the holiday season. This year he collected donations totaling $1,135 for his services and he in turn donated all of these funds to the Rotary Club of Ankeny. In recognition of this donation, all the work he does as chair of the club's youth committee, and all the other volunteer work he does, President Digmann named him the club's Rotarian of the month for January, 2019. |
Andrew Stumbo was inducted into the Rotary Club of Ankeny on January 8, 2019 by President Ben Digmann. Andrew is a Wealth Management Advisor with Benson Wealth Management in Ankeny. Welcome Andrew!! |
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The February board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, February 14th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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The Rotary Club of Ankeny donated funds for two $500 scholarships at each Ankeny high school at the end of the 2017-2018 school year. Recently, a thank you note including pictures was received from Dollars for Scholars. It read: "Thank you for making a difference! Your generous financial support to Ankeny Dollars for Scholars is an investment in the life of a young individual. It allows the graduates from Ankeny and Ankeny Centennial to pursue their educational dreams. As the president of Ankeny Dollars for Scholars, please accept my heartfelt thanks. As a community, we donated $73,406 in 2018 and awarded 132 scholarships to the graduates. You were an important of this success. Ankeny Dollars for Scholars in such a worthy cause and thank you for being such an integral part of our success, We could not do it without you." Sincerely, Kristen Gray    Pictured is Rotarian, Mark Land with scholarship winner Rachel Leon, Rotarian Gary Welch with Eva and Meredith Long, and Mark Land with his daughter Nicolette Land. |
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Several Ankeny Rotarians took turns ringing the bell for the Salvation Army at the North HyVee on December 15th. Last year, Rotarians rang the bell for 6 hours and received donations totaling $305.76. This year we rang the bell for 12 hours and had $707.67 dropped in the red kettle. Thank you to all of the Rotarians that helped ring the bell and to Anne Porter for coordinating this service project. |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in February: 2nd - Mike Goedeke 5th - Eric Hockenberry 6th - Doug Parker 8th - Terry Peter 12th - Kris Baker 21st - Ryan Bach 26th - Jody Savage 26th - Steve SchraderBachar |
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The Rotary Club of Ankeny's 2019 fundraiser, "Casino Night" will be held on Saturday, April 13th. The event will be set up similar to previous year's and will include a meal, drinks and both silent and live auctions. Co-chairs, Laura Luetje and Stacey Koeppen, are working hard to create new energy for this event in hopes of gaining new faces in attendance and generate a community buzz about Rotary and what we do and, of course, raise more dollars for the club! Thanks to their efforts, they have already received $10,000 in sponsorships. These include $5,000 from Polk County, $3,000 from Prairie Meadows and, most recently, $2,000 from Karl Chevrolet. Each member of the club should be thinking about what businesses they can ask to donate auction items and who they can invite to purchase tables and attend the event. We will soon be hearing from Doug Beech and Brian Tiernan regarding auction items and ticket sales. Also, Laura and Stacey plan to meet with committee chairs every other week at 11:00 AM prior to our regular Tuesday meetings beginning on January 8th. |
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Due to the holidays and the construction taking place at the Ankeny Golf & Country Club, there will several changes to our normal meetings and locations: Here is the schedule for the next couple months: Jan. 1st - No Meeting - Happy New Year! Jan. 8th - Meeting at The Bridges, 3510 NW Abilene Rd, Ankeny Jan. 15th - Meeting at HyVee Distribution Facility, 2741 PDI Place, Ankeny Jan. 22nd - Meeting at The Bridges, 3510 NW Abilene Rd, Ankeny Jan. 29th - Meeting at Casey's Headquarters, One SE Convenience Blvd. Feb. 5th - Meeting at The Bridges, 3510 NW Abilene Rd, Ankeny, (If Necessary) Feb. 12th Meeting at Ankeny Golf & Country Club (We hope) |
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The January board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, January 10th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
 May the dawn of this New Year fill your heart with new hopes, open up the new horizons and bring to you promises of brighter tomorrows! Have a wonderful and "Happy New Year"!!! |
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There are over 122 million children in the Nepal the world that are illiterate. In addressing the problem, Rotary realizes that bringing children into schools isn't enough to solve illiteracy. Consequently, it has turned to mentoring and coaching teachers! The Guatemala Literacy Project and the Nepal Teacher Training Innovation are two global projects that lead the effort to advance childhood reading by empowering teachers to teach better. The projects plan lessons that ensure students will actually learn. The entire effort is part of a larger goal to reduce extreme poverty, because knowing how to read and write increases a person's earning potential and ability to build a better life. These projects can succeed thanks to your generous contributions to the Rotary Foundation. Thank you. |
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During the last meeting of the year on December 18th, President Ben Digmann thanked Cindy, waitress, and Brian, chef, for serving us for the past several year. Ben presented each of them with a thank you card. Inside each card was a $100 bill. Thank you Cindy and Brian!! |
The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in January: 6th - Jack Pennington 20th - Sally Schroeder 25th - Justin Carlton 25th Bruce Kimpston 27th - Jeff Damman 28th - Roger Spahr 31st - Jim Gocke |
President Ben Digmann named Laura Leutje and Stacey Koeppen "co-Rotarians of the Month" for December. Ben recognized Laura and Stacey for all their hard work and generation of new ideas as co-chairmen for the 2019 Rotary Fundraiser. They have already received $8,000 in sponsorships and have organized committees for sponsorship, ticket sales and soliciting auction items. |
The annual Rotary Christmas social was held on Saturday evening December 11th at The Fletcher Full Service Restaurant & Bar. The food was good and the company was great. We also enjoyed the guitar playing by former Rotarian David Crabbs. Thank you to Tim Cox and Stacey Koeppen for making the arrangements and hosting the event. You can view more pictures on our web site under Photo Albums.     |
Contributions to the Rotary Foundation are included in most members quarterly invoices. A few members prefer to forward their donation directly to the Foundation and there are a few new members that have not as yet made a commitment to contribute. The club forwards these donations on to the Rotary Foundation in November and May each year. The contribution the club sent in November this year was $5,915. For the past two years, the Rotary Club of Ankeny has been a "100% Club" which means every Active member has made a donation in some amount during the year. If you have not as yet made a commitment to the Foundation, please contact Foundation Chair, Steve SchraderBachar, 515-360-5197 or sschraderbachar@stearns.com. |
For the past 8 years, a Ratchet has been published twice each month. Prior to that a Ratchet had been published nearly every week. Beginning with the January 1st edition, the Ratchet will be sent to members and Friends of the Club by email once each month on the first Monday of the month. Special announcements and other reminders will also be sent by email to all members as appropriate. All stories, lists of speakers, and greeter schedules can also be found on our web site. |
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Several members of the Rotary Club of Ankeny rang the bell for our local Salvation Army units on Saturday, December 15th at the North Ankeny Hy-Vee. Thank you to everyone that participated and a special thank you to Anne Porter for coordinating this service project. |
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Whenever a global grant is awarded, a global grant consists of a project with a budget over $30,000 up to $200,000, The Rotary Foundation provides technical expertise. Called the Global Grant Cadre of Technical Advisors, it maintains a registry of individuals that serve in countries other than their own. These Rotarians are qualified in area of health, education, literacy, small business, micro-credit, and financial auditing - in other words chartered accountants and certified public accountants. Cadre members are fluent in a variety of languages which include French, Spanish, Portuguese and other language skills. They conduct on-site project visits for two to three days with written reports upon their return. This technique assures the validity of the project and its sustainability. The Rotary Foundation welcomes individuals who might wish to join the cadre. If you are interested, contact the Rotary Foundation at 847-866-3000. Thank you. |
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During the Board meeting on December 13th, approval was given to purchase 25 books for Head Start. The Evening Club will be assembling a take home kit for students which will include these books. The students will be encouraged to read the books at home with their parents. Each book will have a sticker stating the book has been donated by the Rotary Club of Ankeny. The cost of the books is $49.15. |
The Board has approved an application for membership to the Rotary Club of Ankeny from Andrew Stumbo. Andrew is a Financial Wealth Advisor with Benson Wealth Management in Ankeny. He is being proposed for membership by Kathy Sibbel. Comments regarding Andrew's proposed membership may be forwarded to any member of the Board. |
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As a Rotarian, you may visit any of the more than 35,000 Rotary clubs located in over 200 countries throughout the world. It is customary when visiting another club to exchange banners. If you plan to visit another club, ask Nate Burnham for a banner to exchange. Mark Martin recently had the opportunity to visit the Sunrise Rotary Club of De Mar - Solana Beach, California. While there he exchanged Rotary banners. He presented the banner he received to the club during our meeting on November 13th. Thanks Mark. |
The Testino Agency became the newest corporate member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny when they were inducted into the club by President Elect Rich Job on December 4th. The Testino Agency is the Allstate Insurance agent in Ankeny. Andy Testino will be the "Primary Designee", Nick Testino, James Benda, and Cory Johnson will be the "Secondary Designees" for this corporate membership. Welcome to Rotary, Andy, Nick, James and Cory! |
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On November 11, 2018, the District 6000 Nominating Committee interviewed candidates for District Governor Nominee Designee 2021-2022. The committee selected Alaka Khanolkar of the Rotary Club of Keokuk. |
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Aaron Houng was a Rotary Exchange student to France for the 2017-2018 year. On November 29th he reported on his exchange to the noon Rotary club. Aaron felt this trip changed his life and will be forever grateful to Rotary for making it possible. |
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Now that the holiday season is upon us, many of us are scurrying around trying to find the best gift for our families, our neighbors, teachers and more. Here is an idea that will save all of you a great deal of time and give you an enormous feeling of satisfaction! In place of that gift, why not give the gift of Rotary through The Rotary Foundation? A $100 contribution can help [rovide textbooks for one elementary school in Zambia, provide a hearing aid for a deaf child in Pakistan, buy de-worming tablets for 112 children in the Philippines , pay for cataract operations for three blind people in India, or provide 230 blankets for the elderly in the winter months of Korea! And there are many opportunities even within our own country! For more information contact our Foundation Chair, Steve SchraderBachar or call The Rotary Foundation at 866-976-82279. Thank you for your generosity. |
Eradicating Polio in India was a feat of dedication, commitment, and doubling down on immunization activities. Given India's vast population, tropical climate, and other environmental challenges, it would be easy to imagine that if Polio couldn't be stopped, India would be the place to fail. After all, India constituted over 60% of all polio cases as recently as 2009. However, in 2014, India was officially declared Polio-free, along with the rest of the South-East Asia Region. Success in India really changed the game, and now serves as an example that eradication of Polio is indeed possible when the world marshals political will and commits adequate resources to the cause that effects everyone worldwide. Pakistan - No new Polio Cases reported since 10/7/18. Eight cases reported in 2018, all from just four districts. Twenty years ago the entire country was affected by polio, and every year, more than 35,000 children were paralyzed for life by the disease. Nigeria - No new Wild Polio Cases have been reported in 2017 or 2018. Most recent case was reported on 8/20/16. Nigeria is to be congratulated on 2-1/4 years without a Wild Polio case! Afghanistan - No new Polio cases reported this week. Nineteen cases reported in 2018 with the most recent case with the onset of paralysis on 10/2/18. Zero is the magic number! The three year "Countdown to History" starts after the final Wild Polio case. As of last week, we count seven weeks since the report of the most recent Wild Polio case. |
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The December board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, December 13th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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Due to the holidays and the construction taking place at the Ankeny Golf & Country Club, there will several changes to our normal meetings and locations: Here is the schedule for the next couple months: Dec. 4th - Meeting at Ankeny Golf & Country Club Dec. 11th - No Meeting - Christmas Social Saturday Dec. 8th Dec. 18th - Meeting at Ankeny Golf & Country Club Dec. 25th - No Meeting - Merry Christmas! Jan. 1st - No Meeting - Happy New Year! Jan. 8th - Meeting at The Bridges, 3510 NW Abilene Rd, Ankeny Jan. 15th - Meeting at HyVee Distribution Facility, 2741 PDI Place, Ankeny Jan. 22nd - Meeting at The Bridges, 3510 NW Abilene Rd, Ankeny Jan. 29th - Meeting at Casey's Headquarters, One SE Convenience Blvd. Feb. 5th - Meeting at The Bridges, 3510 NW Abilene Rd, Ankeny, (If Necessary) Feb. 12th Meeting at Ankeny Golf & Country Club (We hope) |
Laura Brassell, Assistant Vice President and Branch Manager for Lincoln Savings Bank in Ankeny was inducted into the club on November 27th. She will be an additional Secondary Designee for LSB, a corporate member of the club. Doug Parker will continue as the Primary Designee and Rick Andriano and Tracy Frette are the other Secondary Designees. Welcome to the club, Laura. |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in December: 2nd - Chuck Stewart 3rd - Scott Port 12th - Rich Job 14th - Tim Cox 21st - Doug Beech 25th - T.J. Brand |
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Now that the holiday season is upon us - many of us are scurrying around trying to find the best gift for our families, our neighbors, teachers, and more. Here is an idea that will save all of you a great deal of time and give you an enormous feeling of satisfaction! In place of that gift, why not give the gift of Rotary through The Rotary Foundation? A $100 contribution can help provide textbooks for one elementary school in Zambia, provide a hearing aid for a deaf child in Pakistan, buy de-worming tablets for 112 children in the Philippines, pay for cataract operations for three blind people in India, or provide 230 blankets for the elderly in the winter months of Korea! And there are many more opportunities even within our own country! For more information contact The Rotary Foundation at 866-976-8279. Thank you for your generosity. |
The 2018 Christmas Social for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be held on Saturday, December 8th at The Fletcher Full Service Restaurant & Bar, 1802 N Ankeny Blvd. The evening will begin at 5:30 PM with a social hour followed by dinner at 6:30. The cost for members and guests is $45 per person. You can sign up on-line or there will be a sign-up sheet at each Rotary meeting prior to the social. |
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Wishing you the happiness of good friends, the joy of a happy family, and the wonder of the holiday season. Have a memorable thanksgiving! |
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We're so close to eradicating Polio. But to fully eradicate this deplorable disease we still need $1.5 billion to finish the job. Why? Even if the last case of polio is identified this year, a huge amount of work will remain to ensure that it stays "GONE", which means vaccinating children for at least three more years. To ensure that polio is truly eradicated forever, it must be detected. This requires continuous surveillance that is complicated and costly. First doctors and community health workers must monitor children for acute flaccid paralysis and second is the process that involves local authorities collecting samples from sewage systems or in places that don't have adequate sanitation facilities, including rivers and bodies of water near a large group of residents. In addition, large scale vaccinations are enormous undertakings that require money as well as thousands of volunteers on the ground and in places where the vaccination programs have been successful, the challenge is to locate and vaccinate that small percentage of children who have been missed. The vaccine itself isn't the biggest expense, it's the distribution of the vaccine - i.e. transportation and staffing. A vaccination campaign is almost mind-bogglingly complex. Rotarian's contributions pay for planning by technical experts, large-scale communication efforts to make people aware of the benefits of vaccinations and the dates of the campaign, plus support for volunteers to go door-to-door in large cities as well as in remote areas that may not appear on any map. Yes, we are 99.9% there. Now is the hardest part and with your help our goal to eradicate polio will be accomplished and celebrated. Thank you for your support. |
The members of the Evening Ankeny Rotary Club packed 756 meals for Meals From The Heartland on August 30th. The club also donated $100 to help cover the cost of shipping of the meals they packaged. In 2017, Meals From the Heartland distributed 20.5 million meals throughout the world. The following thank you was received form Susan Bunz, Executive Director of Meals From the Heartland: THANK YOU! Two very powerful words that come from my heart. Your recent donation of $100 along with the help of countless volunteers will allow us to package meals for hungry people her in Iowa, throughout the United States and around the world. With one decade of hunger fighting in our rear view mirror, we are now setting our sights on the years to come and we can't do what we do without the ongoing support of loyal donors. So again, thank you for being a hunger fighter we can continue to count on for your time, treasure, and talent. |
The Board has approved an application from the Testino Agency to become a new corporate member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny. Andrew (Andy) Testino, and his twin brother Nicholas (Nick) Testino are co-owners of the agency. Andy will be the "Primary Designee" and Nick, James Benda, Licensed Sales Professional, and Cory Johnson, Licensed Sales Professional, will be "Secondary Designees". The Testino Agency is a new Allstate insurance agency in Ankeny. It is located at 110 N. Ankeny Blvd. Suite 700. Comments regarding this proposed membership may be submitted to any Board member. |
Luke Nelson was a member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny for 5 years from June 2013 until July 2018 when he moved to South Carolina and joined the Rotary Club of Fort Mill, South Carolina. Prior to Luke leaving Ankeny he qualified for a Paul Harris Fellowship but we were unable to present it to him before he moved. The certificate and pin were sent by UPS to the Foundation Chair for Fort Mill. There was some concern that these items may be lost since they were sent about the same time hurricane Florence ripped through the Carolinas and UPS could not find any tracking information on the package. Ultimately, the package was received and they had the items framed and their president, Patrick White, presented it to Luke. Congratulations Luke! |
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Several Ankeny Rotarians came to the Rotary meeting on October 30th ready for "Beggars' Night". The costumed Rotarians included Santa, Spiderman, a Spider lady, a monk, and a couple of show girls. |
The Rotary Club of Ankeny has been awarded a Presidential Citation for 2017-18 from Rotary International President Ian Riseley. Since this Citation refers to the last Rotary year when Sally Schroeder was president, 2018-2019 President Ben Digmann presented the citation to Sally during the noon meeting on November 6th. This recognition is given to clubs that successfully achieve goals in the areas of Membership, Foundation Giving, Online Tool Adoption, Humanitarian Service, New Generations and Public Image. The certificate reads: "2017-2018 Rotary Citation from the RI President Awarded to the Rotary Club of Ankeny for helping Rotary make a difference in the lives of people all over the world." There are 65 clubs in District 6000. Ankeny was one of six clubs in the District to receive a Presidential Citation for last year. This is the third year in a row the Rotary Club of Ankeny has achieved this award. In 2015-2016 the club was one of only 3 in District 6000 to qualify. In 2016-2017, the Rotary Club of Ankeny was the only club of the 66 clubs in District 6000 to qualify for the Presidential Citation.  |
Project Fresh Start is an Ankeny based volunteer program that has provided free school supplies, backpacks, prom dress and more to students for over a decade. In the fall, many Ankeny families are faced with a significant challenge, Iowa winters, but lack the funds to purchase winter coats, hats gloves, boots and snow pants. To assist these families Project Fresh Start has coordinated the receiving and distribution of winter clothing each year since 2015. Dave Kissinger, Project Fresh Start Chairman, was in attendance at the noon Rotary meeting on November 6th to accept a check from the club for coats and snow pants. The total donation to Project Fresh Start from the club was $2,512. $1,512 was used to purchase winter coats and the other $1,000 will be used to purchase snow pants. |
Mary Cochran assumed the responsibility of chairing the Services/Donations committee in January, 2017. Since then she has done an excellent job of presenting donation request to the Board and notifying the recipients of the action taken by the Board. In recognition of her efforts, President Digmann named her the "Rotarian of the Month" for November. |
Foundation Chair Steve SchraderBachar recognized Raj Reddy as a new Paul Harris Fellow and Dave Mercer as a Paul Harris Fellow + 2 during the noon meeting on November 6th. Congratulations Dave and Raj! |
The Rotary Club of Ankeny will be ringing the bell for our local Salvation Army again this holiday season. We will be ringing bells on Saturday, December 15th at the North Ankeny Hy-Vee, 410 N. Ankeny Blvd from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Ideally, we would like two people to sign up for each two hour shift. If you can help contact Anne Porter at 515-571-4213. You can sign up your spouse, child, co-worker, or a friend to work with you. |
District Governor Tom Narak and his partner Carol made their official visit to the Evening Ankeny Rotary Club on October 30th. Acting President Steve Wieneke presented a list of the service projects and other activities the club has completed during the past year. DG Narak indicated he was quite impressed and encouraged the club to "keep up the good work". |
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The Ankeny Golf & Country Club will be completing some construction in January 2019. They will be eliminating their sewer lagoon and hooking up to the City sewer line. They will also be installing a new grease trap and changing some interior plumbing which will make the kitchen and our meeting room unavailable for our meetings for at least January 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th. The club is planning to meet at The Bridges, 3510 NW Abilene Rd., just off NW 36th Street on January 8th and at the new HyVee Distribution facility on South Delaware on another Tuesday. The Bridges has offered to allow us to meet at their facility on the additional Tuesdays but if any member would like to host the club at their place of business, please let President Ben Digmann know. |
In March 2018, a joint meeting was held of all of the service clubs in Ankeny. Those in attendance were able to learn about some of the projects each club was participating in. Representatives form each of these clubs have continued to meet and have selected a project that all clubs can work on together. It is Avenue of Flags. This is currently a project of the Optimist Club. For $35 they set a flag at dawn in your yard and remove it at dusk on these five holidays: Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, and Veterans Day. The flag is 3' x 5' and is flown from a 10' pole. They are placed in a permanent grommet set in your yard. The grommet is set low and will not interfere with moving or other activity. The poles and flags are property of the Optimist Club and are stored and maintained by the club. The project has been approved by the City of Ankeny. All proceeds will go to help support Ankeny's youth and families. |
Gary Welch received the following message from Ankeny's outgoing Rotary Exchange Student to France, Conner Grau: Hello, I have been in France for over two months now. It is beautiful, and exhausting. Thankfully we have a two week break off of school right now. My host family is really nice and understanding of everything, which is great. Because of where I live, in the west part of France, we live really close to the ocean and I have never been or seen the ocean in real life before and I finally got to do that. The food is amazing, my favorite thing is raclette, which is cheese melted on potatoes and it's so good. Communication is difficult and weird, but getting better as my language ability get's better. I am definitely not fluent but I am learning so much and can understand most of what is happening around me now which is good. I am feeling myself change and grow in ways I never thought before. All is well. Connor Grau |
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The November board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, November 8th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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Nick Lenox, Parks & Rec Director for the City of Ankeny was in attendance at the noon meeting on October 23rd to accept a check in the amount of $4,784 to be used to purchase additional benches at the Ankeny Market Pavilion. These funds are being provided by a Rotary District 6000 Community Improvement grant in the amount of $2,392 which was then matched by the Rotary Club of Ankeny. |
Two new Secondary Designees for corporate member Lincoln Savings Bank were inducted into the Rotary Club of Ankeny on October 23rd. They are: Tracy Frette, Mortgage Lender, and Nick Andriano, Portfolio Manager. A third new Secondary Designee, Laura Brassell, Branch Manager, will be inducted on November 13th. Doug Parker will continue as the Primary Designee for Lincoln Savings Bank. |
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Rotary is Here are a few projects that have been funded by Rotary's global grants in the USA: 1. Dental Equipment and oral healthcare services were provided to low-income residents in Ventura, City California. 2. In Pittsburgh, PA, and Richmond, California, Rotary provided free longitudinal care for 75 patients at two Rotacare Free medical clinics. 3. It provided a baseball clinic with a focus on teamwork and anti-bullying among youngsters ages 7-16 in Yonkers, New York. 4. It developed and implemented a school based dental model within two schools in Cabell County, West Virginia. 5. And it created a "Kids Club Literary Project" to promote age/grade level reading for children living in Loveland Housing Authority apartments in Loveland, Colorado. These projects had a budget of over $30,000 and were initiated by clubs and districts within the United States with financial support from countries outside the US. Your contribution to The Rotary Foundation enabled this to happen. Thank you. |
The Rotary Foundation transforms your gifts into projects that change lives both close to home and around the world. As the charitable arm of Rotary International, we tap into a global network of Rotarians who invest their time, money, and expertise into our priorities, such as eradicating polio and promoting peace. Foundation grants empower Rotarians to approach challenges such as poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition with sustainable solutions that leave a lasting impact. Strong financial oversite, a stellar charity rating, and a unique funding model mean that we make the very most of your contribution. Give and become a part of Rotary's life-changing work! The collective leadership and expertise of our 1.2 million members helps us tackle some of the world's biggest challenges, locally and globally. Our efforts are directed in six areas to enhance our impact. Our most successful and sustainable projects and activities tend to fall within the following areas:
The first donation in the amount of $26.50 was made to the Rotary Foundation in 1917. Since then the Foundation has received contributions totaling more than $1 billion. |
For the past three years the Evening Rotary Club of Ankeny has been presenting a certificate to each of their speakers stating that a book will be donated to the Terrace Elementary Library in their name as a thank you for them having presented to the club. Sheryl Dales a Digital Learning Teacher at Terrace Elementary attend the meeting on October 2nd and accepted a check from the club in the amount of $350. This will enable the club to continue donating a books in the name of speakers for approximately another year. |
Five representatives from the Ankeny Library were in attendance at the noon meeting of the Rotary Club of Ankeny to accept a check in the amount of $5,220. This check represents the proceeds form a District 6000 Community Service Grant in the amount of $2,610 and a match from the Club. These funds will be used to purchase a virtual reality processor, a laptop cart, with five laptop computers for use in classrooms for children as part of the Hatch Program. The Hatch Program is a library program for students to utilize the library for various education uses such as CAD drawings for redesigning buildings, bridges, digital sewing machines, creation of videos using a green screen, and other uses. Also, the equipment will allow after school hours use for students who are unable to access a computer or a network at home. Pictured are Natalie Brincks, Elissa Hodges, Rotarian Kent Patterson, Rotary President Ben Digmann, Sam Mitchel, Cami Brazelton and Gina Rooney. |
Heather Rowley, a central Iowa volunteer with Samaritan's Purse attended the Rotary meeting on the evening of October 16th at Wig & Pen. She talked to the club about a project called Operation Christmas Child. For the past 25 years, this project has been filling shoeboxes with gifts and delivering them to children in need around the world. After her presentation, the Rotarians and guests present filled 40 boxes with items that had been donated including, hygene items, toys, pencils, calculators, stuffed animals, cayons, note pads and more. Also, pictures of those filling the boxes were taken and attached to a Christmas card that was placed in the box. Our two exchange students from Mexico, Sofia Marales and Jesus Esteban and two of last year's RYLA students, Aaron Haung, and Benton Renaud also helped fill the boxes. .JPG) |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in November: 3rd - Steve Wieneke 4th - Nate Burnham 11th - Laura Luetje 12th - Jim Foreman 21st - Lowell Vine 25th - Jan Franck 25th - Del Mohler 26th - Kathy Sibbel |
The Board has approved a request from Lincoln Savings Bank to add three new "Secondary Designees" to their corporate membership in the Rotary Club of Ankeny. Doug Parker will continue to be the "Primary Designee. The new members will be: Tracy Frette, Mortgage Lender; Laura Brassell, Branch Manager; and Nick Andriano, Portfolio Manager. Comments regarding these proposed memberships may be submitted to any Board member. |
The invoices for the Second quarter of the Rotary year, October through December, were forwarded on October 5th by email to each member. Let Jim Ramsey know if you did not receive your invoice. We know some invoices find their way to spam folders. If you find yours in your Spam folder, try adding jramsey.bank-northwest.com@clubrunner.email to your contact list. Prompt payment of your invoice allows the club to stay on budget and reduces the number of follow-ups necessary by our treasurer and secretary. Remember, payment of your invoice is due by October 26, 2018! |
Former Iowa Hawkeye quarterback Chuck Long was the guest speaker at the noon Rotary Club of Ankeny on October 9th. Chuck is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and played professionally in the NFL for the Detroit Lions and Los Angles Rams. After his professional career, he served as an assistant coach at Iowa and Oklahoma and head football coach at San Diego State. Long is the CEO and Executive Director of the Iowa Sports Foundation, the organization that runs the Iowa Games, the Senior Games and the Live Healthy Iowa challenge. Chuck highlighted some of the stories contained in his recently published biography “Destined for Greatness – The Story of Chuck Long and Resurgence of Iowa Hawkeyes Football” including taking a snap in a record five college bowl games, claiming a last-second win over No. 2 Michigan in 1985, finishing runner-up to Bo Jackson for the 1985 Heisman Trophy and being selected in the first round of the 1986 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. The book relives his life and career as one of the Hawkeyes' greatest players and the resurgence of Iowa football under Coach Hayden Fry. The book also includes perspectives from Fry, Kirk Ferentz, Hap Peterson, Mark Vlasic and Jonathan Hayes and their reflections on a variety of topics including the farm depression that impacted Iowa in the 1980s. Also in attendance was the author of the book, Aaron Putze, a visiting Rotarian form Waukee. Chuck and Aaron brought several books which were purchased by members and guests and autographed for Chuck. He also autographed a Hawkeye football which along with an autographed book will be sold at the club's 2019 fundraiser on April 13th. |
The Club's monthly Friday morning coffees are held on the third Friday of each month at 7:30 AM at Wig & Pen, 1005, South Ankeny Blvd. The coffee for October will be on Friday, October 19th. All members are welcome and it counts as a make up! |
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In 2017, the majority of The Rotary Foundation's global grants were awarded to clubs and districts outside the United States; however many of our districts have recognized immediate needs within our own country working within the grant process: 1. A health service center was created in Salinas, California to assist homeless residents in their community and helped them obtain references to healthcare professionals. 2. In Greensboro, Alabama, Rotary provided financial literacy and small business development trainings for at risk youth. 3. Rotary provided a social skill program targeting unemployed and underemployed residents of West Coconut Grove, a Bahamian founded community in Miami, Florida. 4. It equipped a mobile vision unit to serve patients in a region of rural Appalachia. 5. And in Up State New York, it developed a grant to address the severe epidemic of opioid/heroin abuse. Your generous donations to the Rotary Foundation enable this to happen! |
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Laura Meeker, with the University of Iowa Community Credit Union was inducted into the Rotary Club of Ankeny on October 9th. She was a member of the Rotary Club of West Des Moines and is transferring her membership now that the UICCU has opened their new office in Ankeny. Welcome Laura! |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in October: 1st - Eric Pasanchin 4th - Kraig Vry 5th - Mary Cochran 16th - Art Moeller 16th - Abbi Rickelman 20th - Kristofer Orth 24th - Shar Dunlap 24th - Cameron Fitzgerald 27th - Mark Densmore |
The October board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, October 11th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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All of the club's remaining calculators have been donated to Samaritan's Purse to be used in their Operation Christmas Child project. A calculator will be placed in each shoebox to be distributed this Christmas. The final count was 16,000 calculators that were picked up last week by Heather Rowley, a volunteer with Operation Christmas Child. The following thank you note has been received from Heather: Dear Ankeny Rotary Club Members, Thank you so very much for the wonderful donation of solar calculators and for the opportunity for me to share my heart for Operation Christmas Child with you. Calculators are cherished and valuable as part of the Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. May God bless you and thank you. |
The following thank you was received from "Operation Warm" in response to the club's donation of $1,512 to purchase winter coats to be distributed by Project Fresh Start. Genuine joy at the sight of bright, warm coats piled on cafeteria tables. Stunned surprise that you get to choose your own to take home. Smiles that are contagious. Walking through the halls of school, sitting on the bus or playing at the playground all become different experiences when a child has a new coat on. Thanks to the Rotary Club of Ankeny's support of $1,512 to Operation Warm, moments like this happen, and begin a new story about expression, confidence and generosity! Our clothes can show the world what we like, who we think we are, and where we belong. Partners like you give kids the chance to pick out their favorite color and style, and leave with what could be their first piece of brand new clothing. You give them something to wear that makes them feel great and sends a message that they are worth it. Giving an Operation Warm coat is giving a tangible token of empowerment. Committed partners like the Rotary Club of Ankeny make it possible to give children a gift of warmth. Thank you for giving children not only warmth for the winter, but hope and happiness, and warmth to last a lifetime. |
Would you like Santa and Mrs. Claus to attend your family or business Holiday party? Gary Welch is now reserving dates for Santa Claus to make guest appearances. If you would like to reserve a date, send Gary an email, at gwelch3002@msn.com or call him at (515) 419-3707. |
At the regular meeting on September 25th, Foundation Chair Steve SchraderBachar recognized Mark Densmore, Jody Savage, Renee Murphy, and Kent Patterson for becoming new Paul Harris Fellows. Mark Martin was also recognized for becoming a Paul Harris Fellow plus 2. |
On behalf of the Ankeny Service Center, Tom Friedman accepted a check from the Rotary Club of Ankeny in the amount $3,278.71. This represented 60% of the net proceeds from the golf ball drop held this summer at Ankeny's Summerfest. Thank you to Tom for his leadership in conducting the golf ball drop. |
The Board has approved an application for membership to the Rotary Club of Ankeny from Laura Meeker. Laura is currently a member of the Rotary Club of West Des Moines and would like to transfer her membership to Ankeny. She is the Regional Branch Manager for the University of Iowa Community Credit that recently opened in Ankeny at 2610 SW White Birch Rd. Comments regarding Laura's proposed membership may be forwarded to any Board Member. |
A vote was taken at the noon Rotary meeting on September 18th to decide the theme for the 2019 fundraiser. "Casino Night" received the most votes and will be this year's theme. It is anticipated there will be a number of casino type games to play. Any suggestions for these games should be directed to co-chairs Laura Leutje or Stacey Koeppen. |
Two new Secondary Designees for corporate member, The Bridges at Ankeny were inducted into the Rotary Club of Ankeny on September 18th. They were: Kris Baker, Community Relations Director and Brodey Hanson, Administrator. Doug Johnson will continue as the Primary Designee. |
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Through academic training, study and practice, The Rotary Peace Centers program develops leaders who become catalysts, for peace and conflict prevention and resolution in their communities and around the globe. Each year, up to 100 Rotary Peace Fellows are chosen to participate in a master’s degree (lasting 2 years) program or a certificate program (lasting 3 months) at one of our partner universities. Fellows study subjects related to the root causes of conflict and explore innovative solutions that address real-world needs. As of 2016-17, there were 1247 Rotary Peace Fellows working around the world. Peace centers can be found in Bangkok, North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tokyo, England, Australia and Sweden. Your contribution to The Rotary Foundation enables this to happen. Thank you! |
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the 6th annual Rotary Foundation Dinner will be held on Saturday, November 3rd at the Sheraton in West Des Moines from 6:00 - 9:00 PM. The keynote speaker will be Carl Chinnery, a polio survivor and Past District Governor of District 6040. We will join in Rotary Fellowship and "Be the Inspiration" through the Rotary Foundation! Registration will open on October 1st. |
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A few years ago the club acquired about 25,000 small solar powered calculators from past District Governor John Ockenfelds. These calculators were destined to be trashed if Gary Welch had not said our club would take them. For the past 3 years, we have been giving a calculator with each dictionary that we distributed annually to 4th graders. A few of the calculators found there way to Cozumel with Dean Lange and others some have been donated to churches for mission trips to Africa but we still have over 14,000 in storage in a warehouse being provided by CJM Financial. The club has now been contacted by a representative of Samaritan's Purse about our club donating some or all of the remaining calculators to their organization. Samaritan's Purse is a nondenominational Christian organization that provides spiritual and physical aid to victims of war, natural disasters, disease, famine, poverty, and persecution in more than 100 countries. They are headquartered in Boone North Carolina with affiliate offices in Canada, the United kingdom, Germany, and Australia as well as field offices in 16 developing countries. Their President and CEO is Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham. Samaritan's Purse has a project, Operation Christmas Child, that collects gift wrapped shoeboxes filled with gifts such as school supplies, hygiene items, and fun toys and delivers them to children in need around the world. For many of these children the gift filled shoebox is the first gift they have ever received. We believe a small solar powered calculator will make a great addition to the gifts in the shoeboxes. At their September meeting, the Board for the Rotary Club of Ankeny agreed to donate all remaining calculators to this project. A local volunteer from Operation Christmas Child will be the speaker at our noon meeting on September 25th to provide us with more information regarding this project. |
Former Iowa Hawkeye quarterback Chuck Long is scheduled to speak to the noon Rotary Club of Ankeny on October 9th. Chuck is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and played professionally in the NFL for the Detroit Lions and Los Angles Rams. After his professional career, he served as an assistant coach at Iowa and Oklahoma and head football coach at San Diego State. Long is the CEO and Executive Director of the Iowa Sports Foundation, the organization that runs the Iowa Games, the Senior Games and the Live Healthy Iowa challenge. Chuck will be talking about his recently published biography “Destined for Greatness – The Story of Chuck Long and Resurgence of Iowa Hawkeyes Football.” It relives his life and career as one of the Hawkeyes' greatest players and the resurgence of Iowa football under Coach Hayden Fry. The book also includes perspectives from Fry, Kirk Ferentz, Hap Peterson, Mark Vlasic and Jonathan Hayes and their reflections on a variety of topics including the farm depression that impacted Iowa in the 1980s. Chuck plans to share his memories of taking a snap in a record five college bowl games, claiming a last-second win over No. 2 Michigan in 1985, finishing runner-up to Bo Jackson for the 1985 Heisman Trophy and being selected in the first round of the 1986 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. This would be a great opportunity to invite a guest and prospective new members to attend a Rotary meeting!! |
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At their meeting on September 13th, the Board approved a donation to Meals From the Heartland in the amount of $100. This donation is to help pay for the cost of the food ingredients, packaging, and transportation costs for the meals the Evening club packaged on August 23rd. That evening they packaged 756 bags. Each bag will provide 6 meals which equals a total of 4,536 meals packaged by Rotarians and guests.. The meals that are packaged contains rice, soy protein, minerals, and dried vegetables including carrots, onions, tomatoes, celery, cabbage, and bell peppers. The packages are distributed globally, most commonly to orphanages and schools. Oftentimes, children in developing areas will only eat one meal a day and when these meals are distributed at schools it ensures they get nutrition and an education. The cost of each package is $1.20 which equals $.20 per meal. A total of 3,626,208 meals were packaged during the 4-day period of Meals From the Heartlands 11th annual hunger fight. |
The Rotary Club of Ankeny has distributed dictionaries to Ankeny 4th graders in each of the past 12 years. This has amounted to a total of 9,912 dictionaries. This service project has been one of the club's most popular activities with great participation from members to help facilitate the distribution and the dictionaries have always been well received by the students and their teachers. However, we now understand each Ankeny 4th and 5th grader has received a Chromebook which would mean the dictionaries would be used very little. The Board has, therefore, decided to discontinue distributing dictionaries to Ankeny 4th graders. |
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Lowell Vine took the opportunity to attend the Estes Valley Sunrise Rotary Club in Estes Park, Colorado while traveling recently. On September 1st, he presented a banner that club gave him in exchange for a banner from the Rotary Club of Ankeny. Our club has a supply of banners that are available for any member to take when they are traveling and planning to attend a meeting of another Rotary Club. Just ask Nate or Ben for a banner before you leave and they will get one for you. |
During the meeting on September 4th, President Ben Digmann named Carmen Davis the "Rotarian of the Month" for September. This was in recognition of her coordinating the volunteers for the parade set up at Summerfest. |
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The Rotary Foundation has a unique funding cycle that utilizes contributions for programs three years after they are received. The three-year cycle gives districts time for program planning and participant selection, and allows The Rotary Foundation to invest the contributions. The earnings from those investments help pay the Foundation's administration, program operations, and fund development costs. At the end of the three year period - say in 2021-22, 1/2 of district's contribution made in Rotary year 2018-19 is returned to the district for district projects while the other half is placed in the World Fund which is used to match project expenses and support the fight to eradicate polio. This approach of using donations wisely has won a four star rating from Charity Navigator for many years. Please consider supporting The Rotary Foundation now and get involved in planning future projects. Thank you. |
Members of the Evening Club, along with some guests, participated in the packaging of meals for Meals from the Heartland at HyVee Hall on August 30th. A total of 21 cases, 756 meals were packed during their 2-hour shift.  |
The Board has approved a request from The Bridges at Ankeny to add Kristina Baker and Brodey Hanson as Secondary Designees to their corporate membership in the Rotary Club of Ankeny. The original Secondary Designees are no longer employees of The Bridges and have terminated as members of Rotary. Doug Johnson will continue as the Primary Designee. Kristina is the Community Relations Director and Brodey is the Administrator. Comments regarding Kristina and Brodey's proposed membership may be forwarded to any Board Member. |
About one year ago the Rotary Club of Ankeny agreed to participate with other Rotary Clubs in a Rotary Global Grant for the Blessman International. The grant will fund a project called "Teach a Man to Fish". A total of $10,000 was committed with $4,00 being disbursed last year and $2,000 disbursed this year and the next two years. Dr. James Blessman, founder of Blessman International was the guest speaker at the noon meeting on August 28th and provided an update on this project and other activities of Blessman Ministries in South Africa. He will also be the speaker for the evening club on September 25th. |
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The September Board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, September 13th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in September: 7th - Teri Crist 7th - Tom Friedman 7th - Mark Martin 8th - Kent Patterson 9th - Jacquelyn Duke 13th - Adam Boeding 16th - Todd Wehr 20th - Kevin Brooks 20th - Lewis Todtz 25th - Jim Hudson |
Vicki Engh Executive Director for the New Horizon Adult Day Center was attended the noon meeting of the Rotary Club of Ankeny and accepted a check from the club for a Sponsorship to the annul golf fundraiser in the amount of $1,000. |
President Digmann named Tom Friedman "Member of the Month" for August 2018. This is in recognition of all the work he did to organize and complete the golf ball drop during Summerfest. This project resulted in $5,315 being raised to benefit the Ankeny Service Center and the Rotary Club of Ankeny. |
Jeff Manger was a member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny from 2004 to 2009 and then transferred his membership to the Rotary Club of Des Moines when he had difficulty attending our noon meetings. Has now transferred his membership back to the Rotary CLub of Ankeny and plans to attend the Evening meetings. Acting President Steve Wieneke inducted Jeff into the club during their meeting on August 21st. Jeff is a Consulting Engineer with Terracon of Des Moines. |
Two new exchange student from Kopan, Mexico arrived in Ankeny on August 15th and attended their first Rotary meeting on August 21st. They are Jesus Esteban Rojas and Sorio Portillo Haaks. |
The Board has approved an application for membership to the Evening Rotary Club of Ankeny from Jeff Manger. Jeff was a member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny from 2004 to 2009 and then transferred his membership to the Rotary Club of Des Moines when he had difficulty attending our noon meetings. He will now be transferring his membership to our Evening Club. Jeff is a Consulting Engineer with Terracon of Des Moines. Comments regarding Jeff's proposed membership may be forwarded to any Board Member. |
The following letter has been received from Vicki Engh, Executive Director of the New Horizon Adult Day Center: "Dear Rotary Club Members, New Horizon Adult Day Center would like to thank the Rotary Club for once again blessing us at our Sixth Annual Golf Outing Fundraiser. We are blessed to have you as friends, and appreciate your $1,000 Sponsorship for our event. The outing was a great success. People mentioned how much fun they had with the "just for fun" holes. The weather was perfect this year, and one player even got a "Hole In One"! Because of generous donors like you, we raised over $11,000, which will be put toward furnishings, as well as costs that are not covered any other way. The participants of New Horizon Adult Day Center are just like you and me. with a need for socialization and friendship. They often feel disconnected from their community due to the challenges they face physically and/or cognitively. The atmosphere at our Center is family-like, compassionate, comfortable and caring, providing activities that are therapeutic, as well as fun. Thank you for your continued support of our program, which strives to help families keep their loved ones at home and as independent as possible. God Bless." |
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The kids in attendance at the Rotary family picnic had a good time playing some fun games. These included Jenga, water balloon toss and an egg race. There were even some bigger kids that participated.    |
Despite some light showers, about 50 Rotarians and guests attended the 5th annual Ankeny Rotary Family picnic at Sunrise park in Ankeny. Thank you to Steve Wieneke and Kristofer Orth for purchasing and grilling the meat. Also thank you to Gary Welch for bringing some extra tables and Jacquelyn Duke and Kathy Sibbel for providing some games for the kids. .JPG) |
The Club has been notified of approval of two District 6000 Community Service Grants. They are: Ankeny Library Electronic Equipment - $2,608.23 - These funds will purchase a virtual reality processor, a laptop cart with five laptop computers for use in classrooms for children as part of the Hatch program. The Hatch program is a library program for students to utilize the library for various education uses such as CAD drawings for redesigning buildings, bridges, digital sewing machines, creation of videos using a green screen, and other uses. Likewise, the equipment will allow after school hours use for students who are unable to access a computer or a network at home. Also, the mobility and networking of the equipment allows home bound citizens of the community the chance to access the library resources as well as th 3-D capabilities of the virtual reality processor. Ankeny Market Pavilion Benches and Bike Rack - $2,391.77 - The purpose of this is to fund the purchase of additional benches and another bike rack for the Ankeny Market Pavilion. This will allow participants at the Ankeny Farmers Market and riders along the High Trestle Trail a place of respite, especially elderly attendees of the market and young families along the trail. The Rotary Club of Ankeny will be donating a total of $5,000 towards these two projects to match the funds being provided by the grants. |
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Ricardo Roman was shopping with his wife at a department store in Chile in 2012 when a women in her early 20's approached him. He didn't recognize her for two good reasons, he had last seen her more than a decade earlier and her smile had changed drastically! Roman, a member of the Rotary Club of Renaca, Chile, is the national coordinator of a program that has helped thousands of children in Chile with cleft lips, palates, and other birth defects, including the stranger who now wanted to give Roman a hug. She told me, "This is my Rotarian smile." Roman recalls, his voice full of emotion, "It was a very gratifying moment." Since 1993 Rotarians in Chile and the United States have teamed up to provide life-altering reconstructive surgeries. The project was started by California Rotarians and has evolved into a nonprofit organization that has since sent teams to 26 countries. This is another example of Rotary's People of Action and how Rotarian's ability to give works! Thank you. |
During its meeting on August 9th, the Board of Directors for the Rotary Club of Ankeny approved two donation requests. They were: Project Fresh Start - $2,500 - These funds will be used by Project Fresh Start in Ankeny to purchase snow pants and warm coats for children in need in Ankeny. The club has made a similar donation in each of the past 4 years. Terrace Elementary Library - $350 - The Evening Club has been donating a book in the name of their speakers to the Terrace Elementary Library for the past three years. This donation will allow them to continue this practice for at least the next year. |
Sushil Kumar Gupta, of the Rotary Club of Delhi Midwest, Delhi, India is the selection of the Nominating Committee for President of Rotary International for 2020-2021. He will be declared the president-nominee on October 1st if no challenging candidates have been suggested. Gupta says he wants to increase Rotary's humanitarian impact as well as the diversity of its membership. |
Gary and Colleen Welch recently returned from a trip to Italy to visit with Silvia Pellegrino and her family. Silvia was a Rotary Exchange Student to Ankeny in 2013-2014. While in Italy, they visited Silvia's home club of Ragusa Hybla Heraea on the island of Sicily and exchanged banners with them. Gary presented the banner he received from Ragusa to the noon club on July 17th and then presented it to the evening club on July 31st. |
Past District Governor Chris Knapp is the Chairman of District 6000's Foundation Committee and plans to visit every club in the District during this year to talk about the Foundation. He and his wife, Vernette, made their official visit to the Evening Rotary Club of Ankeny on July 31st. He plans to also attend the noon club to talk about the Foundation on November 13th. |
The fifth annual Rotary Club of Ankeny fall family picnic will be held on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 at the shelter in Sunrise Park, 506 SE Peterson in Ankeny. A social hour will begin at 5:30 PM and we will plan to eat about 6:30. The meat, hamburgers and hot dogs, and paper plates, napkins, and plastic silverware will be provided by the club. Everyone should plan to bring their own beverage and a salad, side dish or dessert to share. There will be games for kids provided. The other service clubs in Ankeny and RYLA students and their families have also been invited to attend. Both the noon and evening Rotary meetings are canceled for that day, August 14th, and all members are encouraged to attend the picnic and bring all family members, guests and prospective mew members. |
The golf ball drop at Summerfest was held on July 15th. The winners with the first balls in the hole or closest to the pin were: 1st Place - $1,000 - Julie Ann Cochran, sold by Mary Cochran 2nd Place - $375 - Gerald Freetly, sold by Tom Freidman 3rd Place - $250 - Shawn Rourick, sold by Tom Friedman 4th Place - $125 - Adam Gudenkauf, sold by Kristofer Orth A total of 545 balls were sold which will result in a net income of $5,314.41 to be split 60%-40% between the Ankeny Service Center, $3,188.71 and the Rotary Club of Ankeny, $2,125.80. Thank you to Sterns Home Loans and Steve SchraderBachar for donating $2,000 for the Prize money. |
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CJM Financial added Brian Tiernan as a Secondary Designee to its corporate membership in the Rotary Club of Ankeny. Brian was inducted during the noon meeting on July 17th. Welcome Brian! |
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The August Board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, August 9th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in August: 5th - Jess Reynolds 6th - Renee Murphy 12th - Dale Port 16th - Mark Land 16th - Pat Timmons 18th - Gary Welch 28th - Ben Digmann |
The Rotary Club of Ankeny received a $500 donation for volunteering again this year at Ankeny Chamber's Summerfest Grand Parade. This marks the 24th year the Rotary Club of Ankeny has been a key partner in bringing the parade to the city. Each year, approximately 30 Rotarians arrive by 6:00 AM on parade day to check in, organize, and release floats on to the two-mile parade route. Each year, more than 18,000 residents and their guests gather to watch the parade. Thank you to Carmen Davis and Mark Densmore for co-chairing the parade committee and to all the Rotarians that volunteered. |
Reminder – The noon meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny, on July 17th, will be at the offices of the Iowa Soybean Association, 1255 SW Prairie Trail Parkway. You will not want to miss this meeting. We will be joined by 10-12 farmers who will present a panel discussion on the soybean industry in Iowa and the effects of the current political issues. Lunch will be catered by HyVee. Their parking lot and main entrance is on the south side of their building. There should be adequate parking, but if their lot is full you may park anywhere along the curbs in their lot or on the street. |
During its meeting on July 12th, the Board approved a donation request from the New Horizon Adult Day Center. The request is for $1,000 to be an "Event Sponsor" for their annual golf outing fundraiser. |
On June 12th, the Evening Rotary Club conducted a food drive. A total of 265 pounds of non-perishable items were collected and $40 in cash. The items collected were then donated to the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church for their food pantry. The following note was received from the church. "To Rotary Club - Thank you so much very much for your donation of food to our food pantry. We are able to help many people through your kindness. Marie Witt, Coordinator, Holy Trinity Lutheran Church" |
Past President, Sally Schroeder, was named "Rotarian of the Month" for July by President Ben Digmann. This was in recognition of the great job she did as president of the club for the past year. Thank you Sally. |
Kathy and Rick Sibbel and Nate and Annette Burnham represented the Rotary Club of Ankeny at the Rotary International Convention in Toronto June 23-27. They were just 4 of 25,262 people from 125 countries that registered for the convention. Kathy and Nate look forward to making a presentation to the club regarding their observations and experiences during the convention. |
On July 10th, new District Governor Tom Norak and his wife Carol made their official visit to the Rotary Club of Ankeny. Prior to the noon meeting, they met with the Board and had a good discussion regarding the status of the Rotary Club of Ankeny and ways District 6000 can provide better support to our club. While visiting with the entire membership, he issued a challenge for every member to invite at least one guest to a meeting sometime during the 2018-2019 Rotary year. He also advised us he would like to put emphasis on literacy, child abuse, and polio prevention during his term as district governor. Tom & Carol will be visiting the evening club on October 30th. |
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The Rotary Foundation was founded by Arch Klumph in 1916 and left us with these words: "The Rotary Foundation is not to build monuments of brick and stone. If we work upon marble, it will perish; if we work on brass, time will efface it; if we rear temples they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds, if we imbue them with the full meaning of the spirit of Rotary... we are engraving on those tablets something that will brighten eternity. Your contribution to The Rotary Foundation will make this happen. Thank you. |
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What does The Rotary Foundation do with its money? It spends its charitable contributions on multiple programs - from the eradication of polio, to scholarships, vocational training teams, Rotary Peace Centers, and humanitarian projects. The funds are used for programs and projects about which Rotarians fell passionate. With a four-star rating by Charity Navigator for ten years in a row and over 1.2 million Rotarians over-seeing the funds at a grassroots level, its funds are in amazing hands doing amazing work in our communities and abroad. Your contributions enable this to happen. Thank you! |
.JPG) Steve SchraderBachar, the Foundation Chair for the Rotary Club of Ankeny, gave an update on the Rotary Foundation and then recognized 22 individuals for becoming new Paul Harris Fellows and 12 more for achieving the next Paul Harris level. He stated members of the Rotary Club of Ankeny donated $12,780 to the annual fund and $5,100 to PolioPlus for a total of $17,880 to the Rotary Foundation during the 2017-2018 year. This was $210.35 per active member. The total contributions for the Rotary Club of Ankeny since it was chartered in 1973 is now $252,025 to the annual fund and $50,930 to PolioPlus for a grand total of $302,9553 by the Rotary Club of Ankeny to the Rotary Foundation since the club was chartered in 1973. Also, the club now has 78 Paul Harris Fellows. Steve also introduced the following new Paul Harris Fellows and members that achieved the next level: New Paul Harris Fellows - Angie Bright, Travis Carlton, Carmen Davis, Mark Densmore, Ben Digmann, Jacquelyn Duke, Jim Foreman, Eric Hockenberry, Bruce Kimpston, Andrew Larson, Art Moeller, Renee Murphy, Luke Nelson, Kent Patterson, Scott Port, Raj Reddy, Jody Savage, William Schroeder, Sara Thompson, Lewis Todtz, Lowell Vine, & Kraig Vry Paul Harris Fellow +1 - Damon Miller, Kristofer Orth, & Jim Ramsey Paul Harris Fellow +2 - Doug Beech, Dave Mercer, Mark Martin, Terry Peter, & Todd Wehr Paul Harris Fellow +4 - Jim Gocke Paul Harris Fellow +6 - Sally Schroeder Paul Harris Fellow +7 - Steve SchraderBachar Paul Hariss Fellow +8 - Nate Burnham Also, thank you to Kevin Brooks, Nate Burnham, Teri Crist, Terry Peter, Dale Port, Pat Timmons, Sally Schroeder, Zane Smith, and Julie Todtz for donating recognition points to make some of these Paul Harris presentations possible. |
Twenty-seven members of the Rotary Club of Ankeny were recognized during the annual meeting for achieving perfect attendance during the 2015-2016 year. They were: |
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The July Board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, July 12th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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During the Board meeting on May 12, 2011, Doug Beech requested ideas for a major for the Rotary Club of Ankeny to participate in. The idea of the Ankeny Market Pavilion was presented to the club in October, 2011 and initial plans were drawn up in early 2012. Finally after 6 years of planning, fundraising and construction, the dedication and ribbon cutting for this $2.4 million project was held on June 14, 2018. Terry thanked his committee, Doug Beech, Damon Miller, Dave Mercer, Mark Martin, and Todd Wehr for their dedication and hard word for the past seven years. Terry also announced the club had donated 1,000 Paul Harris recognition points to each of the committee members in appreciation of the work on this project. This results in Damon Miller becoming a Paul Harris Fellow plus one and Doug Beech, Dave Mercer, Mark Martin, Terry Peter, and Todd Wehr becoming a Paul Harris Fellow plus two. |
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Incoming President Ben Digmann, presented President Sally Schroeder with a golden gavel in appreciation of her leadership during the past year. Sally had four major goals during her term as president. They were: Good job Sally!! It was a fun and productive year under your leadership!! .JPG) .JPG) |
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Kristopher Orth has served as the acting president of the Evening Rotary Club of Ankeny since it was formed in November, 2012. In recognition of more than six years of service, Steve Wieneke, presented Kristofer with a golden gavel at the annual meeting on July 19th. Thank you for your service, Kristofer. Steve plans to assume the position of acting president for the evening club for the 2018-2019 year. |
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The Rotary Club of Ankeny will again be the primary sponsor for the golf ball drop at Ankeny Summerfest. At sunset on Sunday night, July 15th, just outside the Leisure Garden, watch hundreds of golf balls drop from over six stories high in an attempt to become the big winner. First ball in or closest to the hole wins $1,000! Second ball in or closest wins $375, third ball in or closest wins $250 and the fourth ball in or closest wins $125. Tickets are $10 each. Sixty percent of the net proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to the Ankeny Service Center. Sterns Home Loans has agreed to donate the prize money! Thank you Steve SchraderBachar. Plus every ticket has a coupon for a free mini pizza from Leaning Tower of Pizza and $10 off an oil change at Christian Brothers! - A savings of $19.00 for a $10.00 ticket!! Our goal is to sell 1,000 tickets. Contact Tom Friedman, 515-238-4005 if you need tickets. All proceeds from ticket sales should be turned into Tom at First National Bank, 1205 N. Ankeny Blvd. |
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Jim Ramsey was introduced as the "Rotarian of the Year" for the Rotary Club of Ankeny for 2018 during the annual meeting on June 19th. The 2017 Rotarian of the Year, Terry Peter, made the introduction. Jim has been a member of the club for 9 years and has had perfect attendance for the past 6 years. He has also been the club treasurer since January 2011. During that time he has attended approximately 80 Board meetings, prepared over 100 monthly financial reports, 7 annual financial reports, written hundreds of checks and devoted hundreds of volunteer hours to Rotary. Thank you and congratulations Jim!   |
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Ryan Bach the 2017 New Member of the year had the privilege of introducing Jacquelyn Duke as the "2018 New Member of the Year". Jacquelyn has had perfect attendance since joining the evening club in March, 2017. She has been active in numerous service projects and she and her husband Jason hosted a Rotary Exchange student during the first semester of the 2017-2018 school year. Jacquelyn was also made a Paul Harris Fellow by the club in recognition of her service the past year. She truly demonstrated "Service Above Self" during her first year as a Rotarian. Thank you and congratulations Jacquelyn!! |
The following note was received from Diane Green, John Lundstrum's daughter: Dear Rotary Club of Ankeny, Thank you for the lovely Schefflera Plant and your thoughts at John Lundstrum's memorial. I know how much my dad enjoyed being a part of the Rotary Club and it would have meant a lot to him knowing you were thinking of his family during this difficult time. |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in July: 2nd - Pat Stilwill 3rd - Brad Botos 5th - Doug Johnson 9th - Jim Ramsey 19th - Jason Gassmann 20th - Angi Bright 22nd - Gerry Bair 23rd - Todd Eipperle |
 The Rotary Club of Ankeny will not be meeting on Tuesday, July 3rd. Have a great holiday!! |
The Summerfest parade is one of the greatest annual events Ankeny has to offer for its citizens and those from surrounding communities and Rotarians have assisted with the set up for the parade for the past several years. We will meet in the parking lot of Northview Middle School, the old high school at 6:00 AM (a few volunteers are needed at 5:45 AM) on the morning of the parade, Saturday July 14th. Coffee and donuts will be provided. More volunteers are needed. If you have not signed up yet and are available, please contact Carmen Davis, cdavis@bank-northwest.com or Mark Densmore, mark@densmoreis.com. |
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The 2018 annual meeting and awards banquet for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be held on the evening of June 19th at the Ankeny Golf & Country Club. For those who have registered, the evening will begin at 5:30 with a social hour including drinks and appetizers and the meal will be served at 6:30. The meeting will begin at approximately 7:00 PM and will include several Paul Harris presentations, perfect attendance awards, the naming of the "New Member of the Year" and "Rotarian of the Year" and the passing of the gavel to next year's president. Due to the annual meeting, the club's regular noon meeting is cancelled. |
During the evening of June 5th, the Evening club completed a food drive to benefit the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church's food bank. In about an hour and half, the drive netted 265 pounds of food and paper products and $40 in cash. |
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The formal dedication and ribbon cutting for the Ankeny Market Pavilion and Wade Franck Plaza was held on June 15th. The ceremony started with comments from Mayor Gary Lorenz. Rotarian Terry Peter then talked about the timeline from the origination of the idea for a trailhead in 2011 to the fundraising and finally the construction. There remains some landscaping to be completed and assuming a Rotary grant is approved, more benches will be added. .JPG)    |
The Board has approved an application for membership to the Rotary Club of Ankeny from Brian Tiernan. Brian is being proposed by Trent and Renee Murphy to be a Secondary Member for current corporate Rotary member CJM Financial. Comments regarding Brian's proposed membership may be forwarded to any Board Member. |
The FFA Enrichment Center has been reserved for April 13, 2019 for the next fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Ankeny. The Board anticipates moving the date from February to April will reduce possible conflicts with basketball games, spring break travel plans, and adverse weather. It will also allow for more time after the holidays to sell tickets and obtain auction items. Put this date on your calendar and plan to attend. |
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Due to a conflict at the Ankeny Golf & Country Club, the noon meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny on July 17th will be held at the Iowa Soybean Association offices at 1255 SW Prairie Trail Parkway. Our speaker will be Aaron Putze, Director of Communications and External Relations and Kelly Visser, Communications Specialist and lead of the ISA's Iowa Food & Family Project. |
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Rotary's commitment to eradicating Polio worldwide won Best Nonprofit Act in the Hero Awards of the One Billion Acts of Peace campaign, an international global citizens' movement to tackle the world's most important issues. The campaign is an initiative of peace Jam Foundation and is led by 14 Nobel Peace laureates, including the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Rigoberta Mencu tum, with the ambitious goal of inspiring a billion acts of peace by 2020. Each year the campaign picks two finalists in each of six categories for their work to make a measurable impact in one of the 10 areas considered most important by the Nobel laureates. Winners are chosen by people from around the world. Rotary and Mercy Corps were the two finalists in the Best Nonprofit Act category. Rotary and the five other winners will be recognized at a ceremony in June in Monaco. Betty Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for her advocacy for peace in Northern Ireland will present the award. We all should be proud to be a Rotarian! You are the people of action and make a difference in the world. Thank you. |
Two more thank yous have been received from the recipients of the Rotary Dollars For Scholars scholarships. They read as follows: "Thank you for granting me this scholarship. With it, I intend to pursue architecture in the college of design at Iowa State University. As this is a 5-year program, your contributions have benefited me greatly as a student in need of financial aid. I am very grateful for this opportunity to minimize my cost of attendance which will allow me to focus less on working a job to pay for my education and focus more on my actual studies. As I begin my journey at Iowa State, I will continue to work diligently, if not more so, than I did in high school to achieve my goal as a future architect. I will make sure to use this scholarship you have granted me to its greatest potential. Thank you for taking some of the financial burden off of my shoulders." Nicolette Land "I am writing to thank you all for your generosity in awarding me the Rotary Club of Ankeny Scholarship. As a student of Ankeny High School, I have worked hard these past few years to make sure that I leave a good impression on my teachers and fellow students. I have been involved with Rotary in a few different ways, the most significant of which being my exchange to Italy with Rotary's commitment to its purpose; to better the community. Next year I plan to study at the University of Iowa. I am interested in later attending law school, specifically to learn more about international and immigration law. I look forward to visiting with you all again about my studies and how I can further utilize my talents to better my community. I hope to meet you all at our Senior Spotlight Night Ceremony!" Sincerely, Rachel Leon |
On May 22nd, 5 of the 12 students the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be sending to RYLA in 2018 received their certificates indicating they were RYLA scholarship winners. During the meeting on June 5th, the other 7 students received their certificates. These seven students were Christopher Martin, Marie Hanoire, Haley Grubb, Claudio Shachez, Elise Wilson, Andrea Rodriguez, and Chloe Peck. The 2018 RYLA will be held July 15-20 at Grinnell College. |
President Sally Schroeder named Del Mohler "Rotarian of the Month" for June during the June 5th meeting. This is in recognition of all he does for the club including saying a prayer each week. He also files the tax return for the club each year and participates in several service projects. |
A ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of construction of the Ankeny Market & Pavilion, AMP, will be held at 3:PM on June 15, 2018 at the Elwell Family Park at Uptown, 715 W. First St. Everyone is invited to attend to help celebrate this great addition to Ankeny!! |
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The following note was received from Mary Jean Cochran: Dear Rotarians: I appreciate the kindness shown with sympathy cards, phone calls, a beautiful plant, and most of all, your support during the loss of my 91-year old mother. She was an amazing lady who lived independently in her own home until her recent illness. Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness. |
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Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation are separate legal entities that comply with the laws and accounting standards of the countries in which they operate. Philosophically and practically, however, they function as one organization. As a global organization that operates in almost every country of the world and in 29 currencies, Rotary takes stewardship of its funds very seriously. Stewardship begins as funds are received around the world through its prudent investment and continues as funds are spent to provide life-changing and sustainable grants, and programs and services for members. You as a Rotary member support Rotary International with your dues, and the Rotary Foundation through your voluntary contributions. We Rotarians are passionate about making positive, lasting changes at home and abroad. Clubs and districts direct the funds provided by the Foundation into grants that serve humanity. Rotary is well positioned to remain the world's foremost membership and service organization while continuing to serve members. Be proud to be a Rotarian. |
Hat's off to you! Thank you for being a part of my life the past year. I've enjoyed being the president and had a lot of fun with projects, events and even a few songs. We gained new members, conducted a survey and had Rotary minutes. Facebook was a leap for us and the publicity was enhanced by reaching out to other service clubs when we had out first "Showcase". It was wonderful to have so many members who said yes to being a part of or chairing a committee. New members gained experience and were able to witness service in action. Hats off to the more seasoned Rotarians for reaching out to the new members. I'm looking forward to the annual meeting where many members will become Paul Harris Fellows. There will also be a recap of the year's accomplishments. Please attend for our last hurrah and our welcome to Ben Digmann as the gavel is passed to him. My hat is off to you, Ben! I hope you have as much fun as I did! |
The Rotary Club of Ankeny will be sending 12 students to RYLA in 2018. During the meeting on May 22nd,five of these students were presented with certificate acknowledging that they were RYLA scholarship winners. The students in attendance were Ella Hawkins, Stan Renaud, Katelin Meier, and Connor Grau. The other RYLA students plan to attend the June 5th meeting to receive their certificates. |
The Rotary Club of Ankeny will be one of the first clubs District Governor Tom Norak and his wife Carol will make their official visit to in 2018-2019. They will visit the noon club on July 10, 2018. Tom will be meeting with the Board at 10:30 prior to the noon meeting and then address the entire club during the regular meeting time. Mark your calendar and plan to attend. Tom's official visit to the "Evening" club will be October 30, 2018. |
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Jim Foreman won the $250 pot at the meeting on May 8th. Jim was presented a check for this winnings the next week, May 15th. Upon receiving the check, Jim announced hw would in turn donate $50 to the Rotary Foundation and $200 to the On With Life Foundation. Congratulations and thank you Jim! |
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The 2018 annual meeting and awards banquet for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be held on the evening of June 19th at the Ankeny Golf & Country Club. There will not be any golf this year. The evening will begin at 5:30 with a social hour including drinks and appetizers and the meal will be served at 6:30. The charge will be $15 per person with the club paying the balance of the cost. The meeting will begin at approximately 7:00 PM and will include several Paul Harris presentations, perfect attendance awards, the naming of the "New Member of the Year" and "Rotarian of the Year" and the passing of the gavel to next year's president. Plan to attend and celebrate all the accomplishments for the club during the past year. Register by responding to the email invitation you should have received, go to our web site and click on the event, or contact Tim Cox or Nate Burnham. When registering, please indicate your dinner choice of filet, salmon, or vegetarian lasagna. |
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The June board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, June 14th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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The following thank you letters were received from Meredith Long and Eva Long. Meredith and Eva are twin sisters and both attended RYLA in 2017. "I feel so honored to have received the Rotary Club of Ankeny Scholarship. I am so grateful for everything the Ankeny Club has provided for me within the past year. I was lucky enough to be awarded with a Rotary Scholarship to attend RYLA. It had been such as impactful week of my life, and I never shy away from the chance to tell someone about how great of an experience it was for me! After RYLA, I realized that I love to be around people and I love learning new things from all kinds of people. Although I do not know what I am going to major in yet, I know that wherever I end up, interacting with many different people will be a big part of my career. I am very excited for my future at the University of Iowa and for all of the great experiences that I will have in college. I do not have specific goals for what I want to accomplish yet, but I am ready to learn more about myself as I discover my path next year. I am very thankful to have had such a great education and support system leading up to this point. Without the bonds with teachers and friends that I have made at Ankeny Centennial High School, I would not be the person I am today. By awarding me this scholarship, you have reduced my financial burden which allows me to focus more on how I will perform academically and not so much on how much money is being spent. Thank you again for your generous contribution to the betterment for my education, I fell I am now 1 step closer to discovering my passion in life. Sincerely, Meredith Long" "I am honored to have received the Rotary Club of Ankeny Scholarship. Thank you for your generous support of my education and future adventures. I am presently unsure of what I am going to study, but during my time at the University of Iowa , I will be open to ideas and paths that I have never thought about before. At Iowa I will be able to try new things and find my passion with the help of this scholarship. I have previously received a Rotary scholarship giving me that opportunity to attend RYLA, where I was able to meet friends who live in Iowa City. I know I can always go to these people for help or a familiar face. With the money that the Ankeny Rotary Club is awarding me, I will use for my college expenses. There is a great amount of stress on most college students who are unable to easily pay for their college, but with the help of organizations like the Rotary Club, those students can get a helping hand. I can definitely say that the Rotary Club has changed my life for the better, giving me an experience like RYLA, as well as awarding me with a scholarship which puts me at more ease with my college expenses. Thank you Rotarians for being truthful, fair, spreaders of goodwill, and being beneficial people who add positively and leadership to the community. I accept this $500 scholarship with pride knowing that the Rotary Club of Ankeny has provided it for me. In appreciation, Eva Long" |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in June: 6th - Ben Norman 14th - Sue Gibbons 17th - Dave Mercer 20th - Steve Van Oort 21st - Mike Lydon 26th - Carmen Davis 30th - Jamie Hudson |
The Board for the Rotary Club of Ankeny has agreed to continue the practice of thanking speakers by giving them a pen and a certificate stating the club would be making a donation to tha Ankeny Service Center Food voucher program in the name of the speaker. To facilitate this practice for at least another year, the club presented Kathy Sibbel with a check for the Ankeny Service Center in the amount of $750. |
Kurt Backes was inducted into the Rotary Club of Ankeny on May 22. Kurt is a Mortgaga Loan Officer with University of Iowa Commumity Credit Union. He was proposed for membership by Kent Patterson. Welcome Kurt! |
In five hours, members of the Rotary Club of Ankeny with some assistance from the Our Lady's Immaculate Heart Youth Group, collected $893.18 on behalf of Special Olympics. This was less than the $1,220 collected last year but comparable to the prior years. Donations at the North HyVee which was primarily staffed by the OLIH youth group totaled $395.68 and donations at the Prairie Trail/South HyVee totaled $497.50. A total of 50 liters of root beer and 20 tubs of ice cream were used at the two HyVees. |
Twenty one Ankeny Rotarians assisted City of Ankeny employees in unloading cars, pickups and trailers during Ankeny Clean Up Days May 19th & 20th. The city allows the Club to accept donations which set a record of $2,369.88 and one parking token. This compares with $2,118, $1,932 and $1,953 in the previous three years. Donations during Clean-Up Days over the past nine years, since we started collecting donations, have now totaled $15,001.81. The Club will use these funds to complete part of this year's contribution to the Rotary Foundation's PolioPlus Fund. Thank you to all the Rotarians that helped and to Justin Carlson for his leadership on this project. |
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Unfortunately, due to continued light rain after heavy rain, wind, and hail Friday night, the city of Ankeny decided to cancel the "Mayors Bike Ride" on Saturday, May 12th. The evening club had received donations of bottled water and bananas and was planning to display the World Bike Relief Bike and hand out pocket calculators. |
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Foundation points are awarded to donors who contribute to The Rotary Foundation through the Annual Program Fund or PolioPlus. Donors are recognized by being named “Paul Harris Fellows” or “Multiple Paul Harris Fellows” at increments of 1,000 Foundation points. In addition, a donor receives one Foundation “recognition” point for every U.S. dollar contributed. These recognition points are available for the Rotarian to gift to a family member, another Rotarian, or non Rotarian. These gift of recognition points must be a minimum of 100 points The Rotary Club of Ankeny currently has 30 members with more than 1,000 Foundations recognition points and many additional members with several hundred points. Several of these members have indicated an interest in making a gift of all or a portion of their points. If you would like to know how many points you have and/or would like to make a gift of some of your recognition points to another person, contact Steve SchraderBachar. |
Jim Foreman joined the Rotary Club of Ankeny two months ago and has only purchased 50/50 tickets for a few weeks but on May 8th his ticket was drawn and he picked the "Ace of Hearts" to win the $250 pot. Congratulations Jim!!! |
Mike Lydon joined the Rotary Club of Ankeny on August 17, 1987. In recognition of his being a member of the club for over 30 years and having perfect attendance for 29 years, President Sally Schroeder named him "Rotarian of the Month" for May. |
The Evening Rotary Club of Ankeny has adopted a flower bed from the City of Ankeny for the fourth consecutive year. The flowers are provided by the city and the members gathered at the flower bed on the evening of May 8th to plant the flowers. During the summer the members will take turns watering and weeding the bed. |
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The Rotary Club of Leogane, Haiti, brought electricity to the Respire Haiti Christian School in Gressier - and with it, education for children and adults. The school serves 500 orphans, disadvantaged children, and restavecs (Child domestic servants). For a long time, its six buildings had no electrical power, forcing teachers to rely on the sun as their primary light source and preventing the school from offering evening classes to address the community's high adult illiteracy rate. Using funds from a Rotary global grant, the Leogane club and its international partner, the Rotary Club of Parker, Colorado, installed a hybrid energy system, featuring locally sourced solar panels, to power lights, computers, and even the school's water pump. Teachers received training in adult literacy instruction so the school could offer evening reading and writing classes in Creole and French. Now both adults and young students are receiving the education they deserve. Your contribution to The Rotary Foundation enables this to happen, Thank you for your support. |
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During their May meeting the Board approved the following donation requests: American Cancer Society - $500 - The club will be a sponsor for the Des Moines Robotics Team 4646 in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. The two Ankeny High Schools Robotics Teams will also be participating. This will be the sixth consecutive year the club has supported this event. Des Moines Rotary Multi-Club - $1,000 - The nine Des Moines area Rotary Clubs have selected mental health as their project for this year. The donations from the clubs as well as the proceeds from the May 17th joint meeting will be used to support mental health activities in the Des Moines area. |
The Board approved two applications for membership to the Rotary Club of Ankeny at its May meeting. They are: Carolyn Formanek is a former member of the Rotary Club of Knoxville and will be transferring her membership to Ankeny. She now lives in Ankeny and does residential property management. She is being proposed for membership by Sally Schroeder. Kurt Backes will be a Branch Manager for the University of Iowa Community Credit Union as soon as they open their new office in Ankeny later this year. Kurt was a four-time qualifier for the NCAA wrestling tournament while competing at Iowa State University and finished his career as the NCAA runner -up in 2007. He is being proposed for membership by Kent Patterson. Comments regarding Carolyn and Kurt's proposed memberships may be forwarded to any Board Member. |
The club donated $1,250 to the Mid-Iowa Council for Boy Scouts of America in support of their "2018 Friends of Scouting" campaign. The following thank you letter was received: "Thank you for your generous donation! You are changing the lives of youth in Iowa by providing high quality Scouting programs that prepare young people to become confident, successful, and responsible adults. Thank you for being a Friend of Scouting in 2018. Your generosity is one of Mid-Iowa Council's greatest blessings. We appreciate your support. With gratitude, Robert E. Hopper, Scout Executive." |
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In August 2016, Nigeria reported its first polio cases in two years. They occurred in Borno State, where ongoing conflict had prevented health workers from reaching some children. Working with the nation's government and Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners, Nigerian Rotarians traveled from across the country to join the emergency response team, which immunized one million children in the weeks after the outbreak. By December, an additional 60 million children had been immunized. Resolve in Nigeria remains strong. "Polio eradication is about national pride and honor," said Nigerian Health Minister Isaac Adewole. "We will not let our citizens or the world down." This year ther hasn't been a single polio case in Nigeria. However, 6 cases have been reported in Afghanistan, 3 in the Congo and 1 in Pakistan. Over 400 million children are immunized against this dreaded disease every year ans 16 million people are walking today who otherwise would have been paralyzed. Your continued support towards polio eradication enables this to happen. Thank you! |
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The annual Des Moines area Rotary Multi-Club Program will be held on Monday, May 17th from 4:30 to 6:00 PM. at Des Moines University, 3200 Grand Ave, Des Moines. The program will be on mental health. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Lisa Streyffler from Des Moines University and there will be a panel represented by a first responder, educator, parent, and individual living with mental illness. Heavy hor d'oeuvres and networking will follow the program. The $20 registration fee will be paid by the club. Contact Rich Job if you have questions and/or to register. |
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District 6000's second annual Vision 2020 Membership Seminar is a 3-hour event focused solely on membership. This is an opportunity to share ideas and learn how to build a larger, healthier and more vibrant club. Here are the details:
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The May board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, May 10th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in May: 12th - Damon Miller 26th - Jon Lowman |
The Rotary Club presented a check to the Mid Iowa Council Boy Scouts of America in the amount of $1,250 during their meeting on April 17th. This donation is in support of the annual Friends of Scouting campaign and will be used for new programs, recruiting materials, purchasing updated equipment, training qualified leaders, hiring qualified staff for Camp Mitigwa summer camp, and increasing the number of scholarships to Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. |
Ankeny Clean Up Days will be Saturday, May 19th, from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM and Sunday, 20th from noon to 4:00 PM. Members are encouraged to sign up for a two hour shift and wear their Rotary shirts. The City will provide donuts, water, and soft drinks. Members will be credited with a make up for each shift they work. Sign-up sheets will be available at the next several meetings. Contact Justin Carlton if you have any questions. |
The Rotary Club of Ankeny will be making root beer floats to benefit Special Olympics again this year. The club is to provide volunteers for the South Hy-Vee on Saturday, May 19th from 10:45 AM through 4:00 PM. Sign up sheets will be available at each meeting prior to the 19th. Contact Tom Friedman with questions. |
Jessica Reynolds became the newest member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny when she was inducted on April 24th. Jessica is a Project Manager with GTG Construction in Johnston. She was proposed for membership by Renee Murphy. |
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On April 13th the two robotics teams in Ankeny, Team DICE from Ankeny High School and Team Kaizen from Centennial High School, brought their robots to the noon Rotary meeting and demonstrated how they work. The students also talked about their experiences in building the robots and participating in competitions. .JPG) .JPG) |
It was a couple weeks late in coming but, Sally Schroeder announced that she had selected Ryan Bach to be the "Rotarian of the Month" for March for the work he did acting as the Chairman of the 2018 fundraising committee. His leadership helped make the Rotary Olympics a success. Congratulations and thank you Ryan!! |
In recognition of all the work she has done in getting the Rotary Club of Ankeny on Facebook, President Sally Schroeder named Renee Murphy "Rotarian of the Month" for April. Congratulations and thank you Renee!! |
The Rotary Club of Indianola will have their first Rotary Town & Country Art Festival on Saturday, April 21 from 6-9 PM. The Rotary club is joining with other Indianola service groups including Kiwanis, Indianola parks Friends and noon Lions in sponsoring this event and to raise funds for a handicapped accessible play ground in the community. There will be live background music, local artists with art to view and buy light refreshments and a cash bar available. The event is being held at the Indianola Country Club, 1610 Country Club Rd. |
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Did you know that Rotary not only offers you a chance to help others, but as a member you can also receive benefits. Rotary Global Rewards program is its benefits program designed exclusively for Rotarians and Rotaractors. The extensive collection of discounts and special offers cover the types of goods and services members care about most - for getting a project completed or just treating to a job well done. Categories include entertainment, travel, business services, insurance, dining, and retail! There are also opportunities to give back to Rotary - for instance when you shop Amazon Smile - 6% of your purchase will be sent to The Rotary Foundation. For more information go to <http://rotary.org/globalrewards> or download the Rotary Global Rewards App. |
The Rotary Club of Ankeny was well represented at the 2018 Rotary District 6000 Conference by 11 members and 7 guests being present at the "TOAST". There were a total of about 230 present at the event which was held at the West Des Moines Marriott on April 14th. During the evening, numbers were drawn for several door prizes. Susan Orth, wife of Ankeny Rotarian Kristofer Orth, was one of the lucky ones that had her number drawn and won a gift bag with some restaurant gift cards. Congratulations Susan!! |
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During the April 12 meeting the Board approved a donation request from the Mid-Iowa Council, Boy Scouts of America in the amount of $1,250. This donation is in support of the 2018 Friends of Scouting campaign and the funds will be used to support new programs and recruiting materials to encourage more kids to get involved, purchasing updated equipment, training qualified leaders, providing health and liability insurance for Scouting members, hiring qualified staff for Camp Mitigwa summer camp, and to increase the number of scholarships to Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. This is the seventh consecutive year the club has made a donation to the Boy Scouts. |
Kathy Sibbel was nominated by the Rotary Club of Ankeny for the District 6000's "Guardian of Integrity" award. The District created this award to honor Boone Rotarian and past District Governor, Paul G. Hellwege's many contributions to District 6000 as a friend, mentor, story teller, and source of history and traditions to Rotarians both young and old. The award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions that foster the development of integrity. During the Toast to District 6000, thirteen Rotarians were presented with this award including Kathy Sibbel. This is what was said about Kathy as she received this award: "Ankeny Rotarian, Kathy Sibbel, retired in 2014 from ownership and management of her business, Creative Children's Preschool, which had been named "Small Business of the Year" in 2005. A theme in her life is youth and children. Besides her career as a preschool educator, she is a volunteer for RYLA, counselor for youth exchange students and Rotary Advisor to Interact. She is a founding member of the women's philanthropic organization, 100 Women Who Care. Kathy was named Ankeny YMCA Volunteer of the Year in 2008, Rotarian of the Year in 2015-2016 and "Ankeny's Outstanding Citizen" in 2017." |
The Board has approved an application for membership to the Rotary Club of Ankeny from Jessica Reynolds. Jess is a Project Manager with GTG Construction in Johnston. She is being proposed for membership by Renee Murphy. Comments regarding Jess's proposed membership may be forwarded to any Board Member. |
Todd Wehr has accepted the nomination to be the President of the Rotary Club of Ankeny for the 2020-2021 year. Todd is an Architect with Shive-Hattery and joined the Ankeny Rotary club on August 14, 2003. Congratulations Todd!! |
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Members of the Ankeny Evening Rotary club attended the Iowa Wild hockey game on April 3rd to sell "Split the Pot" raffle tickets. During the evening, their sales totaled $2,135. The funds in the pot will be split between the holding the winning ticket and Adaptive Sports Iowa. The mission of Adaptive Sports is to provide statewide leadership in the planning, promotion, education, and organization of sport and recreation opportunities for Iowans with physically disabilities. |
Each year the Ankeny Golf & Country Club has a conflict at noon for at least one Tuesday in July. This year they have a conflict on July 17th. If you have been thinking it would be great to show off your business to your fellow Rotarians, this would be a great opportunity to host our noon meeting. The club will pay for catering the meal. If you would like to host the meeting or have an idea for a place for us to meet, please contact Sally Schroeder or Ben Digmann. |
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Foundation recognition points are awarded to donors who contribute to The Rotary Foundation through the Annual Fund or Polio Plus or to the sponsorship of a Foundation grant. Donors receive one recognition point for every U.S. dollar contributed to these funds. Donors can transfer Foundation points to others to help them qualify as a Paul Harris Fellow or Multiple Paul Harris Fellow. Foundation recognition points belong to the original donor until the donor' death, unless the donor uses them. Foundation Chair, Steve SchraderBachar, has sent an email to each Ankeny Rotarian, that has recognition points, to advise them of the number of points they have available that could be transferred. These points can be transferred to another Rotarian, a family member, or any other individual. A minimum of 100 Foundatin recognition points, must be transferred at a time and a Recognition and Transfer Request form must be completed and signed by the donor to complete the transfer. Contact Steve, at sschraderbachar@stearns.com, if you are interested in donating your points to someone or would like to make them available for the club to donate to another member. |
Steve Wieneke has arranged for a special program on the evening of April 17, 2018. The speaker will be Mark Good, Sr. and his wife. They will be representing "ZERO The End of Prostrate Cancer" and will tell their personal story as a survivor and spouse of a survivor of prostrate cancer. Plan to attend this meeting as this will be a powerfully important subject to learn more about. Family and friends are welcome to attend. |
The "Showcase", a joint meeting of several of the service clubs in Ankeny was held Tuesday evening, March 27th at the Ankeny Golf & Country Club. An estimated 80 members and guests were in attendance and took advantage of the complimentary beverages and appetizers. Each organization had the opportunity to talk about the projects they have completed and are currently involved in and provide other information about their club. Each organization also had a table where they could display information. Thanks to all the organizations that participated, including Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Optimists, and the Ankeny Area Chamber of Commerce working together that made the "Showcase" such a great success. |
During the meeting on March 27th, President Sally Schroeder, led several members on an Easter parade, complete with Easter bonnets (and rabbit ears). |
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The April board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, April 12th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
Gary and Colleen Welch will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on May 5, 2018. In honor of this occasion, their children, Eric & Jennifer and Jason & Kay and grandchildren, Jozy & Luke invites all Ankeny Rotarians to celebrate with them on Saturday, May 5th from 1:00 to 4:00 PM at "The Zone" of the Ankeny Free Church, 118 NW Linden Street, Ankeny, Iowa. |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in April: 16th - Dean Lange 17th - Rocky Anderson 18th - Sara Thompson 20th - Ron Bode 22nd - Julie Todtz |
On March 20th "Digger" attended the Rotary Club of Ankeny along with, Andie Cox and Ankeny Rotarian Tim Cox. One of the "Paddle Raisers" at, Rotary Olympics, the 2018 fundraiser, was the Puppy Jake Foundation. This paddle raiser raised $2,440 which will be used to provide wounded American military veterans with the assistance of well-bred and professionally trained service dogs. The dogs are provided at no cost to the families. |
Gavin Jerome, the "Morale Mechanic", has been a professional entertainer for over 20 years and has worked with the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Reiser, Steve Harvey, and Pat Paulson. He has never had a day job and has never sold Amway products but has been a comedian and motivational speaker for companies and associations world wide. On March 20th, he entertained the noon club with his jokes and message, "If you can laugh at it you can live with it". Thank you Carmen Davis for arranging for this entertaining program. |
The evening Ankeny Rotary Club conducted the raffle during "Rotary Olympics". The raffle raised $1,544. The club decided these funds would be donated to the Ankeny Service Center. On March 20th, Kathy Sibbel and Tom Friedman, both Rotarains and members of the Board for the Ankeny Service Center attended the evening meeting of the Ankeny Rotary Club to receive a check for the raffle proceeds. |
District Governor Mike Ruby and Jo Anne attended Rotary's meeting on March 20th to accept a check from the club in the amount of $3,950 for the World Bike Relief. These funds represented the proceed from one of the paddle raisers during the 2018 fundraiser, "Rotary Olympics" and will purchase about 26.5 bikes for families in rural Africa. In these areas where walking is the only mode of transportation, one of these bikes offers a real and immediate benefit of reliable access to essential goods and services. |
The time is now for Rotarians to make a decision to attend District 6000's annual conference. This year's conference will be held at 5 different locations throughout District 6000 so every member can attend at least one session without driving a long distance or staying overnight. Ankeny Rotarians should plan to attend the "Toast" on April 14, 2018, at the West Des Moines Marriott from 5:30 to 9:00 PM. The event will start with a social hour followed by a delicious buffet meal. The diverse program will feature Rotary International President's Representative, Lisa Herring from Texas, and Mary Beth Johnson from World Bicycle Relief. Various clubs and young Rotarians will also be featured. There will be displays, awards, a great opportunity to meet Rotarians from other clubs, fun, fellowship and door prizes! This is a wonderful opportunity to participate in a district event that is close to home, short time commitment, and cost friendly in a business casual environment. The time is now to get registered. Forms will be on each table during the next few weeks or you can go to www.Rotary6000.org and register online. The registration fee of $49 per person will be paid by the Rotary Club of Ankeny. |
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According to Bill Gates, "We are achingly close to getting rid of polio - more than 99% of the way there. Finishing the job is a big challenge, but it is very doable if we keep up the effort.” Your generous contribution will enable us to immunize 400 million children against polio every year. It will improve the ability of surveillance and monitoring systems to diagnose new cases and detect the wild poliovirus. It will help hire more than 150,000 health workers to go door to door to find every child that needs to be vaccinated and will also be used to track the virus in water, and sewage and provide National Immunization Day materials. Polio is Rotary’s #1 priority! If polio is not eradicated, hundreds of thousands of children could be paralyzed. Global health costs will rise dramatically, and many children’s quality of life will be drastically diminished. Your donation will save lives and give a child a chance at a prosperous future. |
The 2018 "District Training Assembly" will be held on Saturday March 24th from 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM at the Newton DMACC campus, 602 N. Second Ave. W. This training is especially beneficial for incoming club leaders and officers but all Rotarians are invited to attend. There is no charge for the training and lunch is included. There will be breakout sessions for Membership, The Rotary Foundation, Innovation and Flexibility, Club Secretary or Club Treasurer Training, Rotary Youth Exchange and District Newsletter / Public Image. Registration is available on the District 6000 web site. |
The annual Rotary Multi-Club Program will be held on Monday, May 17 from 4:30 to 6:00 PM at Des Moines University, 3200 Grand Ave. The program will be on mental health. Speakers are being finalized and will include a keynote speaker and a panel represented by a first responder, educator, parent, and individual living with mental illness. Heavy hor d'oeuvres and networking will follow the program. The registration fee is $20 per person. More information will become available when all the speakers have been finalized but for now "Save the Date!" |
On January 23rd, Jim Patton, from the Rotary Club of Ames, spoke to our club regarding a water project his club is leading. The project will be a Rotary Humanitarian Global Grant Project for the development of a water system in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania, Africa. This will be the third water project lead by the Ames club in this area. The total cost of this project over the next 3-4 years will be approximately $350,000. Several District 6000 Rotary clubs and Rotary clubs outside the district will be participating in this project. The plan shows a donation of $1,000 will be matched by a District 6000 - District Designated Funds at $1.64 per $1. These funds are then matched by a Rotary Foundation World Fund Match for another $1,640 and a Rotary Foundation World Fund Club Match of $500. In total, the Donation of $1,000 becomes $4,780 after the matches. The Rotary Club of Ankeny's Board has agreed to contribute $3,000 towards this project over a three year period at the rate of $1,000 per year. |
The Rotary Club of Ankeny completed a donation in the amount of $1,500 to the Ankeny Family YMCA at the March 6th meeting. This donation is in support of the YMCA's annual campaign to raise funds to provide scholarships for low income families so they may participate in activities offer by the YMCA. Pictured are: Rotarian and YMCA Board member - Stacey Koeppen, YMCA representatives - Todd Kasperbauer, Amanda Doerffel, and Cameron Nicholson, and Rotarian and YMCA Board member - Kathy Sibbel. |
One of the three paddle raisers at the club's 2018 fundraiser, "Rotary Olympics" was FUEL, "Filling Up Every Learner". Ankeny Superintendent of Schools, Bruce Kimpston was in attendance at the March 13th noon meeting to accept a check for proceeds of the paddle raiser in the amount of $2,640. To experience maximum learning, students need nutritious food but according to a report from United Way, 31% of households struggle to support themselves. They are either living below that poverty line or considered "Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed". FUEL offers parents access to a paid student lunch program until they are equipped to again pay for their lunches. |
The final deadline for early registration to the Rotary International Convention in Toronto June 23-27 is March 31, 2018. After this date the registration fee goes up from $410 to $495. Registration is available on the Rotary International web site. |
June 19th has been set as the date for the "Annual Meeting" for the Rotary Club of Ankeny. Due to conflicts with the Rotary International Convention and the schedule of other events at the Ankeny Golf & Country Club, the date needed to be moved from the usual Thursday night and there will not be any golf this year. This does, however, provide the opportunity to start the program earlier and we plan to have a higher quality meal. Perhaps steak instead of hamburger?? |
It was a year ago this month that our club had a strategic planning session to determine the vision for the next few years. One of the action steps turned into a goal for the year: host a city- wide summit. After months of planning with the Chamber of Commerce, Lions, Kiwanis and Optimists, the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be part of “The Showcase: An Evening with Ankeny Service Clubs” on March 27th. Flyers will be distributed at club meetings and on Facebook. This will be an opportunity to tell our story, recruit prospective members and begin to collaborate with the other service organizations to promote our community. Please reach out to someone who would make a contribution to service and invite them March 27th from 5-7 at the Ankeny Golf and Country Club. |
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District Governor Nominee Erna Morain, a member of the Waukee Rotary Club and her husband Steve, a member of the Des Moines Downtown Rotary Club, visited both the noon and evening Ankeny clubs on February 20th. The main reason for their visit was to promote the District 600 "Toast to District 6000". The Toast will be a new format for the District Conference. There will be 5 separate events across the district for members to attend. The one in central Iowa will be at the West Des Moines Marriott on April 14, 2018. The event will start with a social hour followed by a delicious buffet meal. The diverse program will feature Rotary International President's Representative, Lisa Herring from Texas, and Mary Beth Johnson form World Bike Relief. Various clubs and young Rotarians will also be featured. There will be displays, awards, a fellowship, and door prizes. The registration form is available on the District web site. |
On February 20th, Allison Piazza, Director Corporate Relations for the Easter Seals of Iowa, attended the noon Rotary meeting to receive a check from the club in the amount of $500. This donation is will provide a "Bronze" level support for the Easter Seals of Iowa"s Walk for Independence to be held on May 5, 2018. |
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The three paddle raisers during "Rotary Olympics" raised a total of $9,030. The breakdown was $2,440 for Puppy Jake, $3,950 for The World Bike Relief, and $2,640 for the FUEL, Filing Up Every Learner. |
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The Rotary Club of Ankeny's 8th annual fundraiser, "Rotary Olympics" was a success despite less than ideal weather conditions and attendance being about 20 less than last year. Preliminary numbers indicate net income should be about $30,052 compared to $32,815 last year. Thank you to Ryan Bach for chairing this year's fundraising committee, to Tim Cox for acting as our Master of Ceremonies, all the committee chairs including Teri Crist - Decorations, Lewis Todtz - Logistics, Abbi Rickelman - Ticketing, Todd Wehr - Registration, Rich Job - Auction, the Evening Club members - Raffle, and everyone that donated auction items, bought /sold tickets, and attended the event. A breakdown of income and expenses compared to last year are as follows: Income 2017 2018 Tickets Sales $10,900 $11,440 Live Auction 18,070 10,925 Silent Auction 11,060 10,479 Paddle Raisers 9,860 9,030 Raffle 1,300 1,543 Donations 200 1,250 Total Income $52,955 $46,545 Less Winspire 5,100 3,395 Income $47,855 $43,272 Expenses FFA Center $3,146 $3,335 Catering 6,930 5,091 Printing 636 594 Decorations 501 454 Advertising 510 486 Auctioneer 350 350 Other 100 100 Total Expenses $15,040 $13,220 Net Income $32,815 $30,052 The Board will be reviewing the success of the fundraiser at their meeting on March 8th. If you have comments or suggestions for next year, plan to attend the Board meeting or submit your comments to a Board member before the meeting. |
For the 10th consecutive year, The Rotary Foundation has received the highest rating , four stars, from Charity navigator, an independent evaluator of charities in the U.S. In the most recent ratings, the Foundation earned the maximum of 100 points for demonstrating both strong financial and commitment to accountability and transparency. In a letter to the Foundation, Charity Navigator notes that "only one percent of the charities we evaluate have received at 10 consecutive 4-star evaulations, indicating that The Rotary Foundation out performs other charities in America. This exceptional designation form Charity Navigator sets The Rotary Foundation apart from its peers and demonstrates to the public its trustworthiness." The rating reflects Charity Navigator's assessment of how the Foundation uses donations, sustains its programs and services, and practices good governance and openness. Be proud that you give generously to the Foundation! And please continue giving. |
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The March board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, March 8th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in March: 7th - Andrew Larson 8th - Craig Block 9th - Trent Murphy 11th - Kendall Sather 12th - Zane Smith 18th - Stacey Koeppen 21st - Troy Boelman 23rd - Brian Weber 27th - Raj Reddy 31st - Mark Walker |
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During the meeting on February 13th, President Sally Schroeder presented Abbi Rickelman with a certificate naming her "Rotarian of the Month" for February. This was primarily in recognition of the work she did for the club in arranging to the art work and printing of the save the date postcards for the Rotary Olympics fundraiser. Congratulations Abbi!! |
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"Rotary Olympics", the 2018 fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be this Saturday, February 24th, at the FFA Enrichment Center on the Ankeny DMACC campus. Check in begins at 6:00 PM. Dress is business casual or wear your favorite winter Olympics attire. There is still plenty of space available for more guests. If you have not registered yourself or your guests, please do so as soon as possible so we can get a head count for our caterer. Any last minute sales will be appreciated since ticket numbers are down significantly from prior years.
All auction items have been entered on our web site and the silent auction is now open for bidding! You won’t want to miss this chance to view the items being offered and to place early bids. To start bidding now, please visit: bidpartner.net/rotary. If you have not already registered a credit card, go to “Credit Card Registration”. You will be asked to put in your email address and then follow the instructions to enter your credit card information. Now you are ready to go to “Auction Bidding”. You should have previously received an email with your Bidder Number or you can login using your email address. You can also bid from your smart phone or tablet by typing in bidp.co and then choosing "Rotary (02/24/18)" and log in to bid.
When bidding, you will have a choice of three bidding options: “By Picture”, “By Item”, or “By Category”. Note when bidding on an item you can also put in “Set a Maxbid”. All items you bid on will go into your “My Items” folder so you can keep track of your items throughout the auction.
If you are attending the event, be sure to bring your fully charged smartphone or tablet to assist you in making your bids. Also, please note silent auction bids may not be submitted on Items #101 through #120 since these items will be sold during the live auction.
Finally, if you are unable to attend "Rotary Olympics" but would like to bid on some auction items, go to bidpartner.net/rotary and go to "Register As New Bidder". You will be assigned a bidder number and asked to provide your credit card information. |
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Several additional volunteers are still needed to help set up and assist during our fundraiser, Rotary Olympics. Please sign up at this week's meeting. If everyone does a little, no one has to do a lot. |
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Through the efforts and expertise of The Rotary Foundation our clubs and districts have accomplished a great deal around the world. There is still much to be done and many of our clubs labor with the problem of funding these projects. Some clubs and districts are able to pay entirely for the project through fundraising events, such as charity dinners, walkathons or online auctions. These events will not only help you raise money for your project, but build awareness for Rotary and The Rotary Foundation. Some other ideas are: Hold a raffle, skip a meal at your club meeting and donate the cost; organize a walkathon, bike-a-thon or skate-a-thon. Honor a special person in your life or your community. And many clubs struggle to find an international partner. To help TRF has created an International Service Chair. Zone 28 & 29's chair is Craig Leiser from Distict 5960. Don't hesitate to contact him at Craig@RotaryCraig5950.com. He will be happy to help. And don't forget, "When you focus on making a difference in people's lives, your life is the one that improves the most". (Quote by Roxanne Emmerich). Thank you for your support. |
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The Board has approved an application for membership to the Rotary Club of Ankeny from Jim Foreman. Jim is the CFO for On With Life in Ankeny. Comments regarding Jim's proposed membership may be forwarded to any Board Member. |
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During the February meeting the Rotary Club of Ankeny's Board approved the following donation requests: Epilepsy Foundation of Iowa - $500 - For a Bronze sponsorship for the 2018 Iowa Walks for Epilepsy. Ankeny Family YMCA - $1,500 - In support of their annual campaign to provide scholarships for income members. Easter Seals of Iowa - $500 - To support their Walk for Independence at the bronze level. |
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It is now only 18 days until our 2018 fundraiser "Rotary Olympics". Here are a couple reminders: The auction brochure needs to go to the printer by Friday, February 16th, and it cannot be assembled and completed overnight. That means for the committee to package and put the auction in order, it would be preferable to have all auction items in hand by Friday, February 9th. We may be able to add a few items early the following week, but they may not make it into the brochure. We will be needing to give a head count to our caterer the week before the event. Please register yourself and your guests as soon as you can. We plan to ask members at this week's meeting how many guests they epect to bring to the fundraiser. Hopefully this will give us an indication of the approximate number planning to attend. Remember, each active member is responsible for purchasing or selling at least two tickets. If they do not purchase or sell two tickets, they will be invoiced for two tickets. So, everyone should plan to attend or find someone to use their tickets. To purchase tickets go to https://bidpartner.net/rotary/ and click on "Ticket Purchasing" in the banner at the top. Enter the quantity of tickets, Individual and/or tables of 8 and click on "Add to Cart" and then "View Cart". Enter your Name, Address, and Contact information and the Name and email address for your guests. If you have any questions or need to fill in the name of a guest after registering you may contact Leigh Murry at BidPartner, murray@bid-partner.com or 612-716-1091 and she will assist you. If you used your credit card to purchase your tickets, you will not need to complete the “Credit Card Registration”. Your guests will need to complete the “Credit Card Registration”, preferably prior to the night of the event. |
During the Ankeny Area Chamber of Commerce's annual dinner on February 1, 2018, Kathy Sibbel was named the "2017 Outstanding Citizen of the Year"!! She was given this award by JoAnn Kochheiser the 2016 Outstanding Citizen. Congratulations Kathy!! |
RYLA, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, for 2018 will beheld at Grinnell College July 15-20, 2018. Applications are now available for students finishing their sophomore or junior year of high school. If you know of a student that has an interest in RYLA, please refer them to the Iowa RYLA web site, http://www.iowaryla.org/ They will find the application there as well as other details. |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in February: 2nd - Mike Goedeke 5th - Eric Hockenberry 6th - Doug Parker 8th - Terry Peter 21st - Ryan Bach 22nd - Derek Baker 26th - Jody Savage 26th - Steve SchraderBachar |
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The February board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, February 8th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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According to Mark Little, founder of the Rotary Action Group Against Slavery, the Rotary Foundation has just approved a global grant for the biggest anti-trafficking project to date. Two District 5180 Rotarians from California masterminded the project. They partnered with districts in the Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, Australia and Argentina. The project addressed the need for education both for those who were most vulnerable and also for the general community population. The grant will consist of a sex trafficking education program rolled out to selected teachers, administrators and students in 5th, 7th, 9th and 11th grades within their district as well as a 30 month human trafficking public awareness campaign aimed to make their communities aware of these atrocities.
Raising awareness of the existence and extent of human trafficking and slavery is the raison d’etre of the California project. As Matt Friedman (CEO of the Mekong Club and author of his book “Where Are You?”) states, “ If we don’t know about a problem, we can’t care about it. If we don’t care about it, we will never act! If we don’t act, it is inevitable that the problem will continue to exist or more likely get worse. So we need to raise awareness on this issue of modern slavery to increase the number of those people who care …”
With the help of The Rotary Foundation, and your contributions, Rotarians - People of Action- have taken on the responsibility of opening the eyes of as many people as possible to the unseen world where millions languish in slavery everywhere because of poverty, corruption and greed. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. “ Thank you |
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there will be again be a raffle at this year's fundraiser, "Rotary Olympics" and the grand prize will again be a "Wall of Wine". Another prize will be the "Tower of Beer". To fill the tower and the wall, we ask each member to bring a bottle, or two, of wine or a six pack of beer to one of our next Rotary meetings. All the proceeds from the Raffle will be donated to the Ankeny Service Center. |
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The Rotary Club of Ankeny's eight annual Dinner/Fundraiser/Auction, “Rotary Olympics”, will be held, at the FFA Enrichment Center on the campus of DMACC in Ankeny on Saturday, February 24, 2018 beginning at 6:00 PM. This event will include a catered dinner with complimentary wine and beer and both a silent and live auction. The proceeds from this event will be utilized by the Rotary Club of Ankeny in their continued support of local and international projects. Each year, the Rotary Club of Ankeny provides hundreds of hours of volunteer support for numerous local events and fundraisers and contributes $35,000 - $40,000 to local charities and service projects. We would appreciate your giving consideration to supporting this event and your community in one or more of the following ways: · Donate an item for the auction such as merchandise, a gift card or an unusual item that may not be easy to find in a local store. Larger items will be sold during the live auction and smaller items will be sold during the silent auction or packaged with other items for the live or silent auction. · Purchase tickets and attend the event. Tickets are $50 each or reserve a table with your name on it by purchasing a table for 8 for the discounted price of $360. You may purchase tickets online at https://bidpartner.net/rotary or by contacting any member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny. · Purchase an ad to be placed in the auction brochure. These may be a quarter page, (3.75” x 2.25”) for $100, ½ page, (3.75” x 4.5”) for $150 or a full page, (7.5” x 4.5”) for $200. All donors will be recognized in the auction brochure and at the fundraiser. To make a donation, purchase tickets, or place an ad, please contact a member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny or Nate Burnham at nfburnham@gmail.com or 515-238-6589. |
It is now less than five weeks until our fundraiser, "Rotary Olympics". For the fundraiser to be a success, each member must do their part by helping to obtain auction items and selling tickets. As of January 22nd, only 22 guest have registered and the value of auction items donated so far is only about a quarter of last year's total. If you have an auction item, please bring it to a meeting as soon as possible or at least send an email to Nate Burnham to let him know what to expect. If you have not obtained an auction item yet, please consider obtaining one. Please note that each Active member and Corporate member is responsible for selling or purchasing at least two tickets. If a member does not purchase or sell at least two tickets, they will have the cost of two tickets added to their next Rotary invoice. |
All unsold tickets to the 6th annual PolioPlus Night at the Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday, February 3, 2018 will need to be turned back in to the Wolves by January 26th. If you wish to purchase tickets, please plan to pick them up at the Rotary meetings on January 23rd or contact Nate Burnham. If you are unable to attend the game, please consider purchasing tickets to be donated to On With Life in Ankeny. As in past years, tickets are $16 each with the Wolves refunding $8 per tickets sold back to the club. It will be "Hoops & Hounds" night at the game and you are welcome to bring your dog to the game!! The Wolves will be playing the Oklahoma City Blue and the halftime entertainment will be a special performance by the K9's in Flight. |
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According to Rotary International, the African country of Nigeria has only one physician for every 2,500 individuals. In rural communities, people seeking health services had to made long, arduous trips to find treatment which results in many not receiving care. While it would be ideal to get more doctors in remote regions, it would take years. To solve this problem, Dr. James Gude of Sebastool, California and Mikel Cook of the Rotary Club of Sebastopol Sunrise brought technology to bear by using telemedicine. This is the use of information technology to provide health care from a distance - virtually bringing doctors to patients. Thanks to a global grant from TRF, a team of health care professionals from Nigeria has been trained in this process. Telemedicine allows physicians to connect with patients remotely as well as consult with colleagues all over the world. At its simplest, it consists of a chat via online video, but it can also allow a physician to examine a patient remotely using a robot. Telemedicine technology and training is used in several hospitals around the world, allowing health care for the underprivileged, for the underscored, in remote areas. Your contribution to The Rotary Foundation enables this to happen. Thank you. |
Tim Cox was named the "Member of the Month" by President Sally Schroeder at the January 9th meeting. This was primarily in recognition of all he did to plan the Christmas social. Congratulations and thank you Tim! |
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Rotary International President-elect Barry Rassin laid out his vision for the future of the organization to incoming district governors at the Rotary International Assembly in San Diego, California on January 14th. He said he wanted the incoming district governors to inspire Rotarians and the community at large for something greater. To drive to do more, to be more, and to create something that will live beyond each of us. Rassin, a member of the Rotary Club of East Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas, then unveiled the 2018-19 presidential theme, "Be the Inspiration" Rassin stressed the power of Rotary’s new vision statement, “Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.” This describes the Rotary that leaders must help build, he said. To achieve this vision, the president-elect said, Rotarians must take care of the organization: “We are a membership organization first. And if we want to be able to serve, if we want to succeed in our goals — we have to take care of our members first.” |
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On January 16th, the members in attendance during the noon meeting, reviewed the details of several experiences offered by Winspire and selected two to be included in the live auction at this year's fundraiser, "Rotary Olympics". The trips selected are: Nashville Unplugged - This experience includes a "Gold Pass" to the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum, a Backstage tour of Ryman Auditorium and a three night stay in a standard room at the Renaisanace Nashville Hotel Kentucky Bourbon Trail - Included in this experience are a private tour and tasting of Bulleit Bourbon for two at Stitzel-Weller Distillery, a tour and tasting for two of Maker's Mark Distillery, lunch for two in Bardstown, a tour and tasting for two at the Jim Beam Distillery, 8 hours of private chauffeured Escalade service, and a three night stay in a standard guest room at the Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, or comparable hotel. |
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In September, Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico, the strongest storm to make landfall on the island in 85 years. More than three months later. people are still struggling to recover. The immediate response from Rotarians in District 7000 was quick and precise. Several clubs around the island began to provide humanitarian aid to those affected. The help included non-perishable food, water, hygiene kits, water filters, solar lights and power generators. Now local Rotarians are focusing on recovery and reconstruction. Plans are underway to work with pumping systems for renewable energy products in communities without potable water, the installation of water filtration systems, and the rollout of community economic development projects for the most affected areas. Disease prevention efforts in areas affected by the hurricane are also taking place among other initiatives. Rotary International has established a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) of the Rotary Foundation to support projects for the recovery of Puerto Rico. Given the great work that remains ahead, contributions from Rotarians to this fund will be essential to help Puerto Ricans get back on their feet. Visit District 7000 website to learn more. Your contribution will make a difference in lifting Puerto Rico. Thank You. |
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The 6th annual PolioPlus Night at the Wells Fargo Arena will be Saturday, February 3, 2018. The Iowa basketball team is now owned by the Minnesota Timberwolves and known as the Wolves. As in past years, tickets will be $16 each with the Wolves refunding $8 per tickets sold back to the club. It will be "Hoops & Hounds" night at the game and you are welcome to bring your dog to the game!! The Wolves will be playing the Oklahoma City Blue and the halftime entertainment will be a special performance by the K9's in Flight. Tickets will be available at the next several meetings or contact Nate Burnham to let him know how many tickets you would like to purchase. If you are unable to attend the game, please consider purchasing tickets to be donated to On With Life in Ankeny. As an additional incentive to sell tickets, the Minnesota Timberwolves will give 10 tickets to a Timberwolves game of their choice, in Minneapolis, to each Rotary club that purchases tickets to the PolioPlus game. |
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It is now less than 7 weeks until "Rotary Olympics", the Rotary Club of Ankeny's eight annual fundraiser. If members have not as yet already acquired an auction item or started selling tickets, now is the time to get to. Very few items have as yet been submitted for the auction and only two tickets have been sold so far. Remember, each Active member is responsible for buying / selling at least two tickets. If you do not buy or sell any tickets, you will be billed for two tickets. To assist you with contacting prospective donors and prospective ticket buyer, the donation request letter, that was discussed at the December 19th meeting and a copy of the post cards with ticket information has been email to all members. The post cards will also be available at the next several club meetings or you can also obtain them from Abbi Rickelman. |
A few weeks ago, President Sally Schroeder, asked each member to complete a short survey. Here are the responses: 1.) What should we keep doing? a.) Work with city-wide organizations to improve Ankeny; youth exchange; RYLA; fundraising; PR – Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat; new members- make sure everyone has a task (100 members) b.) Dictionaries and calculators seem outdated c.) City- wide service summit; Summerfest; Iowa Wolves polio plus night, or successor program d.) Don’t make any changes, thumbs up! e.) Rotary minute – this is excellent, definitely continue this – refresher for older members & good info for new members; I like the fact that we sing – and I think we should continue; unfortunately not everyone feels that way, but I appreciate you for trying Sally f.) Summit; Facebook; minute g.) I like the Rotary minute & I like to hear from individual members, helps us get to know each other h.) Rotary minute i.) Dictionaries j.) Facebook & assigning service/activities to each member k.) Sustain & improve; membership social events every quarter; annual fundraising project l.) Monthly events; Facebook – share to personal pages & post once/year on the Rotary page m.) Keep evening group & all service projects 2.) What should we start doing? a.) Focus on chartering evening club within 12 months or combine b.) Something to promote new members; incentives for bringing guests to promote new members; more individual committee meetings during Tuesday meetings! c.) Focus on completing Market Pavilion landscaping d.) Concentrate on trees @ AMP e.) Facebook f.) Consider new location to boost membership , ex – The District g.) More self-promotion of what we accomplish h.) Quarterly non-member/spouse/significant other fireside chat orientation meeting/social – food, drinks & program for 1 hour or less i.) Get noon members to join at least one evening service event per year to get to know each other better 3.) What should we stop doing? a.) No singing b.) Plant a tree for each member c.) Singing d.) ? e.) Speaking pessimistically about membership & noon & evening lack of interaction; speak positively – it makes new members to stay instead of focusing on the negative |
The Evening Rotary Club of Ankeny met at Nate & Annette Burnham's home on December 19th for a holiday gathering. There was plenty of snacks and beverages and even a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus. |
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A summit of all service clubs in Ankeny will be held on Tuesday, March 27th from 5-7 PM at the Ankeny Golf & Country Club. The event is being called "The Showcase: An Evening With Ankeny Service Clubs". The evening will provide each service club with the opportunity to talk about the projects that they have participated in in the Ankeny Community. More information will be coming soon. |
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he following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in January: 2nd - Luke Nelson 3rd - Travis Carlsen 6th - Jack Pennington 20th - Sally Schroeder 25th - Justin Carlton 25th - Bruce Kimpston 27th - Jeff Damman 28th - Roger Spahr |
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The January board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, January 11th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
On December 19th, the last meeting for 2017, President Sally Schroeder presented a Christmas card to the AG&CC staff, Cindy and Brian, that served us all year. Each card had a $100 bill in it as a thank you for their taking such good care of us during 2017. Thank you Cindy and Brian! |
Laura Leutje became the newest Paul Harris fellow on December 19th. Jim Gocke had made a contribution in Laura's name to enable her to receive this recognition. Steve SchraderBachar, Foundation Chair, presented her with the emblems of a Paul Harris Fellow, a certificate and pin. The certificate states: "In appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations between peoples of the world." Congratulations Laura!! |
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The decision has been made to again have a couple trips offered by Winspire included in the live auction at our fundraiser, Rotary Olympics, on February 24th, 2018. In early January, we will be voting on which trips to include. Get ready to vote by going to http://www.winspireme.com/experiences?filter=all to check out the options and pick your dream trip. Yours may include a Monterey Golf Experience, Nascar Driver for a Day, Nashville Unplugged, Ireland Adventure, or Pinehurst Resort Golf. Take a look and be ready to vote. |
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During it's meeting on December 14th, the Board decided on the three paddle raisers to be offered at the 2018 fundraiser, Rotary Olympics. They will be World Bicycle Relief, Puppy Jake, and the Ankeny School Lunch Relief. The World Bicycle Relief is one of the projects Mike Ruby has promoted during his year as our District Governor and mobilizes people through the power of bicycles. Dependable bikes help students, healthcare workers and entrepreneurs access essential goods and services. Puppy Jake is dedicated to help wounded American military veterans with the assistance of well-bred and professionally trained service dogs. The Ankeny School lunch program is in need of $35,000 to $38,000 to continue to offer free lunch to kids of families in need. |
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It is now less than ten weeks until the 2018 fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Ankeny, Rotary Olympics". Hopefully, each member is working on obtaining auction items. As they are collected, give them to Rich Job or bring them to any Rotary meeting. The sooner we have them in hand the sooner we can add them to our list of items which will be posted on our auction web site. We will be using Bid Partners which will allow for online bidding again this year. |
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For more than 100 years, The Rotary Foundation has been supporting the work of Rotarians in order to create sustainable solutions for our world's most pressing needs. But there is still much to do and we need your help! Rotary gives in countless ways, focusing our service efforts in the six areas of focus: fighting disease, providing clean water, saving mothers and children, supporting education, growing local economics, and, of course, in the eradication of polio. Your contribution to The Rotary Foundation of $10 will provide a mosquito net in countries like Uganda where malaria is a major health concern. A gift of $15 can protect children for life from polio in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and/or Pakistan. For $50 deadly waterborne diseases can be eliminated by purchasing personal water filters in Guatemala, and an $85 contribution can pay for business classes in the US for low-income entrepreneurs. $100 and a microloan can purchase a sewing machine to launch a business in a developing country. A $500 donation helps communities create a safe and positive atmosphere where children can thrive, and $1,000 can help secondary school students learn to resolve conflict. Your gift to The Rotary Foundation accomplishes many things and truly makes a difference in the world. Thank you for your generosity and support. |
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During the meeting on December 5th, Foundation Chairman, Steve SchraderBachar, recognized Todd Wehr for becoming a Paul Harris Fellow Plus One and Kevin Brooks for becoming a Paul Harris Fellow Plus Two. Each received a new PHF pin. Todd's contained one sapphire stone and Kevin's contained two stones. Congratulations Todd and Kevin!! |
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The annual Christmas Social for the Rotary Club of Ankeny was held December 12th at The Fletcher. About 65 Rotarians and guests were present for dinner and about 45 boarded a bus to take the tour of lights through the Jolly Holiday Lights, Beaverdale area, and Gingerbread Lane in Ankeny. Tim Cox should have won the ugly sweater contest but declared himself ineligible and presented the award to Nate Burnham who wore a colorful Christmas jacket. Thank you to Tim for all he did in planning this event and making it very enjoyable for everyone in attendance!! .JPG)  |
President Sally recognized Anne Porter for organizing the Rotary Ring Day for the club. Anne also recently completed a make-up by visiting the Rotary club of Decorah, attended the Rotary One Summit, and served a meal at St Joseph's Family Shelter with the evening club. |
Early registration for the 2018 Rotary International Convention in Toronto, Canada, June 23-27 ends December 15, 2017. After this date the registration fee increases $75. Remember the club will reimburse each member and one guest for the $335 registration fee after the convention. You can go to the RI web site, www.rotary.org, to register. |
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The 6th annual PolioPlus Night at the Wells Fargo Arena will be Saturday, February 3, 2018. The Iowa basketball team is now owned by the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Iowa team is now know as the Wolves. As an incentive to purchase tickets, the Timberwolves will give 10 tickets to a Timberwolves game of their choice, in Minneapolis, to each Rotary club that purchases tickets to the Iowa Wolves PolioPlus game. As in past years, tickets will be $16 each with the Wolves refunding $8 per tickets sold back to the club. The Wolves will be playing the Oklahoma City Blue and the halftime entertainment will be "Hoops & Hounds". Tickets will be available at the next several meetings or contact Nate Burnham to let him know how many tickets you would like to purchase. If you are unable to attend the game, please consider purchasing tickets to be donated to a local organization. |
Ankeny Rotarian Mark Martin and his family participated in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's annual Team in Training bike ride in Tucson on November 18th. President Sally Schroeder recognized Mark at the Rotary meeting on November 28th for having completed this bike ride and acknowledged the club's support of "Team Martin" with a check in the amount of $500. |
During the meeting on November 28th, President Sally Schroeder, presented a check to Rotarians Tom Friedman and Kathy Sibbel, representing the Ankeny Service Center in the amount of $750. The contribution will be used by the ASC for their holiday assistance program. It will be used to purchase gift certificates and food for families in need in the Ankeny community during the holiday season. |
The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in December: 2nd - Chuck Stewart 3rd - Scott Port 8th - LeAnn Larson 12th - Rich Job 14th - Tim Cox 21st - Doug Beech 25th - T. J. Brand |
The Board for the Rotary Club of Ankeny first considered the idea of the construction of a trailhead on the bike path in Ankeny in July 2011. Terry Peter announced at the noon Rotary meeting on November 21st that after about 800- volunteer hours and $2.2 million being raised, the AMP project is finally nearing completion. He thanked Doug Beech, Dave Mercer, Mark Martin, Damon Miller and Todd Wehr for serving on the committee to plan and fund raise. He also presented a $110,000 check representing the amount that was donated toAMP by Ankeny Rotarians and the club. There was also nearly $200,000 donated by businesses affiliated with an Ankeny Rotarian. The foundation for the restrooms will be poured in the next few days with the building scheduled for delivery in early December. Landscaping will be completed next spring. A skating rink has also been constructed on the site. Thank you to Terry Peter and his committee for all the hours they worked on this project during the past 5 years. |
President Sally Schroeder attended the evening satellite club meeting on November 21st and recognized three members for their support of the Rotary Foundation. Anne Porter and Jim Hudson have both became Paul Harris Fellows and Sally presented with a lapel pin and certificate. She also presented Steve Wieneke with a lapel pin containing a sapphire stone representing that he has become a Paul Harris Fellow plus one. Congratulations Anne, Jim and Steve. |
President Sally Schroeder announced at the meeting on November 21st that Damon Miler was being recognized as Rotarian of the Month for November. This was primarily due to his work and leadership with the Dictionary project during October. Sally presented Damon with a certificate and lapel pin to acknowledge this recognition. |
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As a global organization that operates in nearly every country in the world and deals in 29 currencies, Rotary takes stewardship of its funds seriously. Our money is spent on life-changing, sustainable grants, as well as programs and services that support our member's transformative work. We have invested $3 billion in thousands of projects over the past 100 years. Donating to The Rotary Foundation means clean water and sanitation - health and hope in areas that were once ravaged by disease line polio - economic development and new opportunities. Your financial help makes all this happen, and more. As the holiday for giving fast approaches we hope that you will consider giving where the need is greatest. Giving to The Rotary Foundation works because Rotary works. Over 90.8% of donations go straight to supporting services. Our 35,000 clubs carry out sustainable humanitarian service projects. Using your donations we've wiped our 99% of all polio cases. Your donation trains future peacemakers, support clean water, and strengthen local economies. Your donation can save a life and many more. Please consider donating generously to The Rotary Foundation this coming season. It will definitely "Make A Difference". |
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The Board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny is held on the second Thursday of each month. The December Board meeting will be: When: Thursday, December14th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
The theme for the Rotary Club of Ankeny's 2018 fundraiser will be "Olympics". The fundraiser will be on February 24th at the FFA Center on the Ankeny DMACC Campus. The 2018 Winter Olympics Games will be in Pyeongchang, South Korea form February 9-25. |
The Ankeny Mayor’s third annual tree lighting will offer residents a new experience this year – the event is moving outdoors to the Ankeny Market & Pavilion (AMP), 715 W. First St. It will feature the lighting of the 15 foot Concolor white fir tree that was donated by the Rotary Club of Ankeny and a fireworks finale. The event will be held on Friday, Dec. 1st, 6 – 7 p.m. The Mayor’s Tree Lighting is an opportunity to come together as a community to kick off the holiday season. Mayor Lorenz and the Ankeny City will welcome guests at AMP starting at 6 p.m. There will also be kids’ activities, an ice carving demonstration, music, Iowa Wild slap shot hockey and more. At 6:50 p.m., Santa will arrive to help the Mayor with the official tree lighting and the event will close with a spectacular fireworks finale. After the fireworks, Santa will travel to Porch Light Coffeehouse, 417 SW Third St., for a meet and greet until 8 p.m. |
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Claudio Sanchez, Andrea Rodriguez and Marie Hanoire, the three inbound Rotary Exchange students to Ankeny, were the guests of Nate and Annette Burnham, Jacquelyn and Jason Duke, and the Rotary Club of Ankeny at the Iowa State vs. Oklahoma State football game in Ames on November 11th. It was a cool morning for tailgating but with plenty of hot chocolate, extra sweatshirts and blankets, everyone enjoyed everything but the final score as the Cowboys edged the Cyclones 49-42. .JPG)  .JPG)  |
The city of Ankeny has completed the construction of a skating rink on the Ankeny Market Pavilion. Assuming we have some colder weather, the City hopes to open the rink around the first of December. The foundation for the restrooms should be complete in the next few days and the building is to be delivered December 7th. |
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Rotary has added two service partners that offer clubs new ways to collaborate with other organizations and strengthen their projects. They are Habitat for Humanity and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. Habitat for Humanity has a long history of working with Rotarians and Rotaractors to build homes for families in need, and provides opportunities for hands-on community service. Their values are closely aligned with that of Rotary, and the desire to help others run deep in both organizations. This is very much the same with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. Both Rotary and the Agency bring together government and non-governmental agencies, academics and private providers to plan and implement sustainable eye care programs. They promote greater awareness of the need for eye clinics and blindness prevention activities. Working together and networking accomplish Rotary's theme of "Making a Difference". Your contribution to The Rotary Foundation enables this to happen. Thank you for your generosity. |
Scott Port became a newest member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny with his induction on November 14th. Scott is a Civil Engineer with JEO Consulting Corp. in Ankeny and was proposed for membership by his father Dale Port. Scott's mother, Marty, also attended the induction ceremony. Congratulations and welcome Scott!! |
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There are more than 35,000 Rotary Clubs worldwide. The Rotary Club of Ankeny was one of 5,034 worldwide to attain status as an "Every Rotarian, Every Year Club" for th2016-2017 Rotary year. To achieve this status a club must contribute an average of at least $100 per member with every Active member personally making a contribution to the Rotary Foundation's Annual Fund. The certificate read: Ankeny is presented a certificate of appreciation for its financial support of End Polio Now; Make History Today Campaign. Together, we will fulfill our promise to the children of the world and eradicate polio. |
Gary Welch, representing the Rotary District 6000 leadership, had the honor of presenting to past president Carmen Davis with a certificate indicating the Rotary Club of Ankeny had received a Presidential Citation for the Rotary year 2016-2017. This recognition is given to clubs that successfully achieve goals in the areas of Membership, Foundation Giving, Online Tool Adoption, Humanitarian Service, New Generations and Public Image. The certificate reads: "2016-2016 Presidential Citation awarded to the Rotary Club of Ankeny for helping Rotary make a difference in the lives of people all over the world." This is the second year in a row the Club has achieved this distinction. In 2015-2016 the club was one of only 3 in District 6000 to qualify. Last year, 2016-2017, the Rotary Club of Ankeny was the only club of the 66 clubs in District 6000 to qualify for the Presidential Citation. |
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During their November meeting the Board approved the following donation requests: The Ankeny Service Center coordinates the distribution of gift certificates, toys, gifts, and food to families in need in the Ankeny community during the holiday season. A donation of $750 will assist with the purchase and distribution of thee items. Dollars for Scholars has distributed over $1,078,240 in scholarships over the past 35 years to Ankeny high school seniors. The club approved a donation of $2,000 to be divided into four scholarships of $500 each to be given to two students at each Ankeny High school. As part of the criteria for winning the scholarships, at least one scholarship in each high school must have attended RYLA been a Rotary Youth Exchange student or have a connection to a Rotarian such as a child or grandchild of a Rotarian. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will be having their annual Team in Training bike ride in Tucson on November 18th. Mark Martin and his family will be participating in this event. The club agreed to support them with a $500 contribution. |
To allow all members to enjoy the holidays, both the noon and evening meetings for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be cancelled on December 26th and January 2nd. Also, there will not be any meetings on December 12th since the Christmas social will be that evening at The Fletcher. |
Bill Konnath the President of the Ankeny Community Chorus attended the noon meeting of the Rotary Club of Ankeny to accept a check from the club in the amount of $500. This donation will be used by the chorus to purchase copyrighted music. The Ankeny Community Chorus is in its 17th year of organization and currently has 80-85 members. They will have four major performances this year including their annual Christmas concert on Friday, November 17th at Prairie Ridge Church. |
The 5th Annual World Polio Day was October 24th. President Sally Schroeder challenged club members during the regular meetings on that day to make a contribution to the Rotary Foundation and designate it to go to PolioPlus. On that day contributions totaled $520. These contributions will be matched 2-1 by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Thank you to those that contributed. |
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The Board has approved an application for membership to the Rotary Club of Ankeny from Scott Port. Scott is a Civil Engineer with JEO Consulting Group in Ankeny. He is being proposed for membership his father and current member, Dale Port. Comments regarding Scott's proposed membership may be forwarded to any Board Member. |
On Halloween Day some strange characters attended the noon meeting of the Rotary Club of Ankeny. |
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Foundation points are awarded to donors who contribute to The Rotary Foundation through the Annual Program Fund or PolioPlus. Donors are recognized by being named “Paul Harris Fellows” or “Multiple Paul Harris Fellows” at increments of 1,000 Foundation points. In addition, a donor receives one Foundation “recognition” point for every U.S. dollar contributed. These Foundation points are then available for the Rotarian to gift to a family member, another Rotarian, or non Rotarian. The Rotary Club of Ankeny currently has 22 members with more than 1,000 Foundations recognition points. Contact Steve SchraderBachar if you would like to know how many points you have or if you would like to make a gift of some of your recognition points to another person. |
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November is Rotary Foundation Month and is a good time to review your personal commitment to the Rotary Foundation and its programs. The Rotary Club of Ankeny presently has a total of 48 Paul Harris Fellows. Included in this number are fifteen PHF+1s, five PHF+2s, three PHF+3s, one PHF+5, one PHF+6, and one PHF+7. |
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The November Board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, November 9th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in November: 3rd - Steve Wieneke 4th - Nate Burnham 11th - Laura Luetje 21st - Lowell Vine 25th - Jan Franck 25th - Del Mohler 26th - Kathy Sibbel |
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Approximately 1,000 dictionaries and calculators will be delivered to Ankeny 4th graders by Ankeny Rotarians the week of October 16-20. Volunteers need to check in at the school's office 10 minutes prior to the scheduled time and you will need to show identification and get a visitor's name tag. School coordinators need to pick up the dictionaries and calculators from Tom Rice at CJM Financial. Contact Damon Miller with any questions. |
Shive-Hattery hosted Rotarians from District 6000 for One Rotary Summit on October 12, 2017. Those attending from Ankeny were Anne Porter, Steve Wieneke, Jim Hudson, Kathy Sibbel, Rich Job, and Sally Schroeder. The educational evening was at no charge and included dinner. The 3 pillars of Rotary - membership, foundation, and public image were discussed in the large group and breakouts. A few takeaways were:
We will follow up on these ideas. |
Santa is available to come to your home or business to brighten your holiday. He does ask for a donation which he will then donate to the Rotary Club of Ankeny. To get on Santa's schedule, contact his favorite elf, Gary Welch at 515-419-3707 or gwelch3002@msn.com. |
The 2017 Christmas Social for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be held Tuesday, December 12th at The Fletcher, 1802 N. Ankeny Blvd. The evening will begin with a social hour at 5:30 and dinner will served at 6:30. Following dinner, at approximately 7:30, buses will be available to take us on a tour of holiday lights in the area. The cost to members and guests will be $45 per person for the dinner and tour. Sign up sheets will be available at future Rotary meetings. |
At their October meeting, the Board approved a donation request of $500 for the Ankeny Community Chorus. The funds will be used to aid with the purchase of copyright sheet music for the 85+ members of the chorus. The club will receive recognition as a major donor in the chorus' "Standing Ovation" program booklet. |
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The 5th annual Rotary World Polio Day event will be co-hosted with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on October 24. It will be streamed live from the Gates Foundation headquarters in Seattle, Washington to bring together more than 50,000 viewers around the world. Global health experts and celebrities will share the progress being made on the road to polio eradication. A Polio Update: There have only been 10 new cases reported this year of the Wild Polio Virus. The last case was reported in late August in Pakistan. However, there have been 47 cases reported of the CVDPV, a form of polio which is caused from a circulating virus, which is common in places where regular Polio immunizations have not been completed regularly. Therefore children get symptoms from the vaccination itself. These cases would be far less if places like the Congo and Syria, where both countries are in internal war and conflict, had completed regular immunizations. The polio eradication effort, however, to eradicate the disease with in the next three years is still on target! Further good news: The US Senate has recommended to approve $59 million towards Polio eradication, and Rotary has committed to raising $50 million a year for the next three years which will generously be matched 2-1 by the Gates Foundation. Let's all make a difference and help End Polio Now!! We are almost there!! |
A "Thank You" card has been received from the Boy Scouts of America - Mid Iowa Council. It states: "Thanks to your Rotary Club for a gift of $1,250 supporting scouting in Ankeny. We are grateful for all you do." |
Dave Kissinger of Project Fresh Start attended the noon meeting of the Rotary Club of Ankeny to collect a check in the amount of $1,500 which he will use to purchase snow pants. The club also purchased 96 "Warm Coats" to be donated to Project Fresh Start and distributed with the snow pants to children and adults in need in the Ankeny Community. |
The City of Ankeny has completed the planting of a tree at the AMP site. The tree is a Concolor white fir about 15 feet tall. It will be decorated by the city will be the center of attraction for the 3rd annual "Mayor's Tree Lighting" to kick off the holiday season. In addition to the tree lighting, there will be festive entertainment, holiday crafts, a visit from Santa, hot cocoa and more! The event will be held Friday, December 1st from 6-7 PM. The club will be purchasing a bronze plaque which the city will attach to a boulder to recognize the tree was donated by the Rotary Club of Ankeny. The boulder with the plaque attached will be placed in front of the tree and will read "Donated by The Rotary Club of Ankeny 2017". |
Lowell Vine became a new member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny with his induction on October 10th. Lowell is the Director of IT Services for Infomax Office Systems and was proposed for membership by Nate Burnham. Welcome Lowell!! Also, Edward Jones became a new corporate member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny on October 10th. Terry Peter, a Financial Advisor with Edward Jones, has been a member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny since September, 1998 and will now be the Primary Designee for Edward Jones. Kent Patterson, also a Financial Advisor, will be the Secondary Designee. Congratulations and welcome Kent!! |
During the meeting on October 3rd, President Sally Schroeder named Dave Mercer the "Ankeny Rotarian of the Month" for October. Dave took the lead in working with Dave Kissinger of Project Fresh Start on the Warm Coat Project. Ninety coats were order and Project Fresh Start was also given $1,500 to purchase snow pants to distribute to families in need in Ankeny. |
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Nearly 800 million people live on less than $1.90 per day. Rotary members are passionate about providing sustainable solutions to poverty. Our members and our foundation work together to strengthen local entrepreneurs and community leaders, particularly women in impoverished communities. In Guatemala, most women living in rural communities do not have the collateral to get loans from regulated financial institutions. The Rotary Club of Guatemala de la Ermita helped 400 local women complete financial literacy courses so they could pool their money and fund their own micro-lending program. In Esmeraldas, Ecuador, Rotary members helped grant more than 250 microloans and train more than 270 community members in sewing, baking, plumbing, microcredit, business management and leadership. And in West Cameroon, soil erosion and loss of soil fertility have significantly reduced farmers' harvest. Rotary members gave farmers the skills they needed to improve soil fertility, control soil erosion, and market their produce. The results increased crop yields and profits. The Rotary Foundation has spent $9.2 million to grow economies and reduce poverty last year. Your donation to the foundation allows this to happen. Thank you. |
District Governor Mike Ruby and his wife Jo Anne visited Ankeny's evening satellite club on September 26th in addition to visiting the noon club earlier that day. Mike shared his thoughts on attracting and engaging new members and his World Bicycle Relief goals. The members also shared a pizza and the birthday cake left over from the noon meeting. |
Colleen Welch, assisted by Shar Dunlap, had the privilege of presenting a basket full of gift from Ankeny to DG Ruby and Jo Anne during the noon meeting of the Rotary Club of Ankeny. Since he likes to eat popcorn with chopsticks, the basket included chopsticks and both caramel corn and regular popcorn. |
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The fall training event for District 6000 is One Rotary Summit which brings Rotary leaders together to exchange ideas on energizing and boosting our club's growth, service and public interaction. Rotarians are leaders!! Plan to attend and engage fresh new thinking and take home hands-on tools to strengthen membership, public image and involvement in Rotary Foundation programs. This is a synergistic learning experience for ALL ROTARIANS! The session closest to Ankeny will be Thursday, October 12 at the Shive-Hattery office building, 4125 Westown Parkway, West Des Moines with a light supper at 5:30 PM and a program from 6:00-8:30 PM. This event is FREE but advance registration is required to plan for food and sufficient seating. Please plan to attend and register by Monday, October 9th by logging on to the District 6000 web site or email Carolyn at dis6000admin@Lisco.com or call 877-976-8279. |
It just happened that District Governor Mike Ruby's birthday was September 26th, the same day he made his official visit to Ankeny. In recognition of this occasion, the club presented Mike with a birthday cake that was shared with the members of both the noon and evening clubs. Happy Birthday Mike!! |
District Governor Mike Ruby and his wife Jo Anne made their official visit to the Rotary Club of Ankeny on September 26th. Mike met with the Board prior to the noon meeting and led a discussion on the strengths of our club and the challenges we face. One challenge all clubs face is "Attracting" and "Engaging" new members and several interesting ideas were discussed some of which will likely be implemented in the coming weeks. During his presentation to the entire membership, Mike discussed the three goals of Rotary International President Ian Riseley - 1. Report volunteer hours, 2. Report money spent on projects in the name of our club, and 3. Plant a tree for each member of club. A press release is planned at year end to report the total hours and dollars all 35,000 Rotary clubs in the world contributed to Rotary projects during the past year. Mike also discussed his "pilots" for his year as District Governor of raising money for the World Bicycle Relief Mission, mailing the quarterly District 6000 newsletter to all members instead of sending them by email, and having a "Toast to Rotary District 6000" instead of a District Conference next spring. |
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District Governor Mike Ruby will not be having a District Conference at the end of his term. Instead he will have a "Toast to Rotary District 6000". The toast will be held in 5 different cites beginning on Thursday, April 12, 2018 and then moving to Coralville and Ottumwa on Friday and Carroll and West Des Moines on Saturday. Members of the Rotary Club of Ankeny will probably want to attend the last session which will be on Saturday, April 14th from 5:30 to 9:00 PM at the Marriott, West Des Moines. The registration fee is only $49 and includes a social hour, meal, speakers, door prizes, entertainment, fun, fellowship. networking and more!! |
President Sally Schroeder surprised the club by wearing a red nose and colorful hair during the meeting on September 19th. Apparently, she had just seen the movie "It" and wanted to see what it was like to dress up like a clown. Fortunately, Sally is not as evil as the clown in the movie. |
During the meeting on September 12th, President Sally Schroeder presented Tom Friedman with a certificate naming his "Rotarian of the Month" for September. This was in recognition for all he does for the club and in particular for again chairing the committee for the golf ball drop held again this year during the Summerfest celebration in Ankeny to benefit the Ankeny Service Center and the making of root beer floats at the HyVee stores to raise funds for Special Olympics. Congratulations Tom!! |
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The Board has approved an application from Terry Peter for a corporate membership to the Rotary Club of Ankeny for Edward Jones. Terry would be converting his membership to the Primary member and Kent Patterson would become a Secondary member for Edward Jones. Kent and Terry are both Financial Advisers with Edward Jones. Comments regarding the proposed corporate membership of Edward Jones, conversion of Terry's membership to a Primary corporate membership and Kent Patterson new membership as a Secondary corporate member. |
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The Board has received an application for membership to the Rotary Club of Ankeny from Lowell Vine. Lowell is the Director of IT Services for Infomax Office Systems. He is being proposed for membership by Nate Burnham. Comments regarding Lowell's proposed membership may be forwarded to any Board Member. |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in October: 1st - Eric Pasanchin 4th - Dick Marshall 4th - Kraig Vry 5th - Mary Cochran 16th - Art Moeller 20th - Kristofer Orth 24th - Sharlene Dunlap 24th - Cameron Fitzgerald 27th - Mark Densmore |
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The October Board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, October 12th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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The dictionaries have been received and will soon be ready to deliver to Ankeny 4th graders during the week of October 16-20. Local boy scouts will again be helping to put the labels in the dictionaries and on the calculators that will also be given to the 4th graders. There will be a sign up sheet available at meetings for the next few weeks or you can contact Damon Miller at DMiller@bankcsb.com to let him know when and where you would like to help distribute the dictionaries and calculators. Thank you to CJM Financial for receiving the dictionaries and storing them for us and also to Mark Densmore for agreeing to print the labels. |
Rotary 6000 District Governor Mike Ruby and his wife Jo Anne will be making their official visit to both the noon and evening clubs in Ankeny on Tuesday, September 26th. The Board will be meeting with DG Ruby at 10:15 AM prior to the noon meeting at the Ankeny Golf & Country Club. All members are welcome and it will count as a make up. Mike & Jo Anne were married in 1969 and lived in Atchison, Kansas for several years. Mike taught high school business classes and Jo Anne was a consumer and family science instructor at Benedictine College. While living in Atchison they both earned a master's degree in education. In 1978 they moved to Muscatine. Mike taught at Muscatine High School and Jo Anne was a Christian Education Director for a local church. In 1986 they became the Administrative Staff Couple for the Marriage Encounter Support Foundation, an international Christian ministry to strengthen marriages, where they were employed for 24 years. Mike joined the Rotary Club of Muscatine in 1979 and served as President in 2004-2005 and 2011-2012. For several years he chaired the District Membership Committee, served as an Assistant Governor for Area 9, and was active on several district committees. Mike is a member of the International Skiing Fellowship of Rotarians, attended several Rotary International conventions, participated in a Rotary Friendship Exchange in New Zealand and Australia and was a Rotary volunteer for RYLA. Last year he was part of a team who went to Haiti to meet with residents who are directly benefiting from a District 6000 global grant that built 9 water wells. Since retiring in 2010, Mike and JoAnne have made travel a high priority. They have visited most parts of the United States and 25 countries. They have two married children and one grand child. Mike writes a monthly newspaper column and would like to author a book. He had ridden RAGBRAI five times, plays the piano, is active in his church and for some odd reason prefers to eat popcorn with chopsticks. |
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Nearly 20 years ago, Ignacio Holtz was suffering from chronic kidney disease and in need of a transplant. His wife, Beatrice, made the lifesaving donation of a healthy kidney. When he joined a Rotary club a few years later, he talked with fellow members about how to help less fortunate patients in the same situation. Working with the Heart 2 Heart program, a decade long collaboration among clubs in Mexico and the United States, Hottz led efforts to provide 10 disadvantaged young people with kidney transplants. The program has since saved more than 500 lives, with the help from six global grants from The Rotary Foundation and matching funds from a local nonprofit. Holtz and members of his club work with local hospitals to screen potential donors and ricipients, negotiate rates, and offer logistical support to participating families. The inspiring stories of recovered patients motivated Holtz to keep going. Holtz is still in touch with the first patient they helped, then a 15-year old girl whose uncle donated a kidney to keep her alive. The project covered the fees for the operations and today she is the healthy mother of a young daughter. "It took me some time to discover the miracles that Rotary can achieve. By multiplying what we give, The Rotary Foundation gives us the opportunity to make a better world," says Holtz. Your continued support of the Rotary Foundation enables such things to happen, Thank you. |
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The 2018 Rotary International Convention will be in Toronto, Canada June 23-27, 2018. A tentative agenda and other information, including the registration site, is available on the Rotary International web site. The registration fee is $335 per person if you register prior to December 15, 2017, $410 if you register between December 16th and March 31 and $495 thereafter. However, the Board has agreed to pay the $335 registration fee for any member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny and their spouse if they attend the convention. If you are considering attending, you should at least reserve a hotel room as soon as possible since many are already sold out. |
One of the special obligations of membership in Rotary is regular attendance at the weekly meetings; it is the basic method of fulfilling the principle of fellowship as well as a way of representing your vocation. The Rotary Club of Ankeny has regularly ranked in the top 15 among clubs in District 6000 in the percent of its members attending meetings however our attendance has dropped during the first couple months of this year. During 2015-2016 our average attendance was over 76%. This dropped to 72% last year and is 63% so far this year and we have several Active members that have fallen below the Rotary International guideline of attending at least 60% of all meetings. |
The Rotary Club of Copenhagen, Denmark, initiated the first Rotary Youth Exchange in 1927 and the Rotary Club of Nice, France followed suit soon after in 1929. Although exchanges today usually last ten months, the first exchanges took place during school vacations for only a couple weeks. The year-long Rotary Youth Exchange program was created in 1958 in Lake Placid at a Rotary Governors assembly. Here many rules and procedures were established that still exist today. The first exchange students to travel to the U.S. arrived in 1962 with seven students from Europe and Scandinavia including District 6000 hosting a girl from Sweden. This year, approximately 9,000 students will travel between 80 countries including 30-40 to and from District 6000. The host club is responsible for many of the student's expenses while they are being hosted. Gary Welch presented an estimate of these expenses to the Board at their September meeting. These expenses include: School Expenses:
Total estimated cost for hosting an exchange student - $2,782 |
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We are now into the third month of my term as president. It's been a productive time and the goals for the year are moving along. Here are four of my goals and the progress on each. 1.) Begin to use Facebook. Thanks to Renee, we have joined the evening club with a presence on Facebook. 2.) Plant a tree for each member. Art and his committee have been in contact with the city regarding the possibility of beginning this fall after Board approval. 3.) Use Rotary Minute at 2 meetings per month. Members have used a variety of resources to present at most meetings. 4.) Host a city-wide summit. Julie Todtz has facilitated a planning meeting with representatives of all service clubs and a date of March 22, 2018 has been set for a meeting of all service clubs. City and school representatives will also be invited. The purpose will be to share calendars, learn about each club and how we may collectively determine and assist with community needs. In addition to the above club goals, I also have a few personal goals. Have you received a note from me? I've been reaching out to members to say thank you for your active participation, inquire about being on a committee and if there is anything else I can do to help you have a meaningful Rotary experience. Have you noticed the singing? It’s a start and I promise we won’t do it every meeting! Thank you for coming to our meetings! I look forward to every week and I’m having fun – are you? |
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The Ankeny Service Center has a part-time position available. The pay will be $15-$17 per hour. Computer skills and working with people is a big part of this position. Anyone interested or wanting more information may contact Kathy Sibbel at kid1kat@aol.com or 515-249-4873. |
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One of the goals of the Rotary Club of Ankeny's satellite, evening club is to complete a at least one service project each month. In August, they participated in the preparation of "Meals from the Heartland". On September 5th they helped harvest peppers and raspberries and pull weeds at AGAPE Garden in Ankeny. They also got to see the tractor and loader the club helped purchase earlier this year in action.  AGAPE Garden is located on the grounds of Faith Chapel Methodist Church in Ankeny and is the church's ministry to provide fresh produce for area feeding ministries. From spring planting through fall harvesting all work is completed by volunteers. Last year, 23,750 pounds of produce was raised and donated to area agencies. So far in 2017, 14,000 have been harvested. This puts AGAPE Garden over 110,000 pounds in the last 8 years. |
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The Rotary Club of Ankeny's Board has approved the purchase of a 12-14 foot Christmas tree to be placed at the AMP location. Art Moeller had contacted the City of Ankeny regarding a possible tree planting project in Ankeny. The city quoted a price of $150 per tree for 1 1/2" - 2" caliper tree for 90 trees to be planted around the city. The city would locate, provide a machine to dig holes and a post. The Board will be discussing this project at the September Board meeting. The city also asked if the club would be willing to help with the cost of placing the Christmas tree at the AMP location. This will be a live tree that will be spaded in between the two pavilions. This tree will be decorated each year going forward and several Christmas activities are planned for the AMP facility. The total cost to purchase and move the tree is $1,500 which the Board has approved. The city will place a sign near the tree indicating it was donated by "The Rotary Club of Ankeny". Thank you to Art Moeller for making this contact with the city and leading this project. |
 The Evening Rotary Club of Ankeny completed a service project on Thursday, August 31st by preparing meals for Meals from the Heartland. During the evening the group prepared and boxed approximately 500 meals. Each meal contains rice, soy protein, minerals and dried vegetables. These meals will be distributed globally, most commonly to orphanages and schools. Oftentimes, children in developing area will only eat one meal a day and when these meals are distributed at school it ensures they get nutrition and an education. A total of 4,525,200 were packaged by volunteers during the week which put Meals from the Heartland over 100 million meals packaged since they held their first "Hunger Fight" in 2008.  |
Steve SchraderBachar presented Dave Mercer with a Paul Harris pin with one sapphire stone representing that he has become a Paul Harris Fellow plus one. An individual becomes a Paul Harris Fellow when his contributions to the Rotary Foundation total $1,000 or more. With each additional contribution of $1,000 the individual is recognized as a plus one, two, etc. depending on the level reached. Congratulations Dave! |
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The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in September: 7th - Teri Crist 7th - Tom Friedman 7th - Mark Martin 9th - Jacquelyn Duke 13th - Adam Boeding 16th - Todd Wehr  20th - Kevin Brooks 20th - Lewis Todd 22nd - Tom Rice 25th - Jim Hudson 29th - Tim Hawkins 29th - Anne Porter Happy Birthday Rotarians!! |
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The September Board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be: When: Thursday, September 14th All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up! |
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The Rotary Club of Ankeny will be hosting three exchange students in 2017-2018. All three arrived on August 14th. They are:  Claudio Sanchez Zertiche from Mexico City, Mexico. He will be staying with Andrew and Dawn Martin. Claudio will be attending Ankeny High School.  Andrea Ivana Rodriguez Negrete also from Mexico City, Mexico. She will be staying with Jason and Patrisia Rottinghaus.  Marie Hanoire is from France and will be staying with Jacquelyn and Jason Duke. |
Marie Hanoire, our exchange student from France, attended her first Rotary meeting in Ankeny on August 15th. During the meeting, she exchanged a banner from her home club with President Sally Schroeder. Marie's host for the first semester is Jacquelyn and Jason Duke. |
.JPG) Eight students that attended District 6000's 2017 RYLA camp reported their experiences to the club during the noon meeting on August 22nd. All indicated it was a life changing experience and they would like to go back again next year as councilors. |
Barry Rassin, of the Rotary Club of East Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas, is the selectin of the Nominating Committee or President of Rotary International for 2018-2019, and will be declared President-Elect on September 1, 2017 if no challenging candidates have been suggested. Rassin's nomination follows Sam Owori's death in July, just two weeks into his term as Rotary International President-Elect. Barry recently retired after 37 years as president of Doctors Hospital Health System, where he continues to serve as an adviser. |
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Northwest Rotary's 5th annual golf tournament will be held Friday, September 15th at the Urbandale Golf & Country Club. The entry fee is $100 per player and includes 18 holes of golf, cart, lunch and a free gift. The lunch will be served at 11:30 with a shotgun start for golf at 12:15. Raffles and awards will follow the golf. You can register a foursome, as a single , twosome or threesome by emailing Mitch@urbandalegolf.com or calling 515-276-2983 or Ed Arnold at 515-979-6215. |
The Rotary International Nominating Committee has selected Mark Daniel Maloney, of the Rotary Club of Decatur, Alabama to be the President of Rotary International for 2019-2020. He will be declared the President-Nominee on October 1, 2017 if no challenging candidates have been suggested. Mark, a Rotarian since 1980, is a principal in the law firm of Blackburn, Maloney, and Schuppert LLC, with a focus on taxation, estate planning, and agricultural law. |
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During the August meeting, the Board of Directors for the Rotary Club of Ankeny approved the following donation requests: Blessman International - The request is to participate in a "Rotary Global Matching Grant" in a project named "Teach a Man to Fish". The projected total cost of this project, over a 5 year period, is over $134,000. The project will include a needs assessment and teach local schools, children, and adults to farm so they may feed themselves. Other clubs in the District, including Waukee, will be participating. The funds will finance the needs assessment and provide meals for the trainees, purchase tools, hire teachers, and purchase seedlings. Blessman International will be providing oversight and Dr. Blessman will personally be matching our donation. The club agreed to contribute $4,000 this year and $2,000 in 2018, $2,000 in 2019, $2,000 in 2020 for a total of $10,000.
The Dictionary Project - The Board agreed to again distribute dictionaries to the Ankeny 4th graders. It is estimated this will require 1,000 dictionaries at a cost of $2,500. Warm Coats & Snow Pants - The Board allocated $3,000 to be split between the purchase of coats through the District's "Warm Coat" project and snow pants through Project Fresh start. This will be the fourth year the club has participated in the Warm Coat project. Meals from the Heartland - The evening satellite club will be packaging meals on August 24th for Meals from the Heartland. A donation of $100 was approved to help cover the cost of the meal for the volunteers and the overseas transportation of the packages M.O.S.T. - The Board agreed to contribute $425 to "Iowa Miles of Smiles Team" to assist them in their continued efforts to provide needed surgeries to individuals with cleft lip and cleft palate deformities. |
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AMOS is a nonpartisan advocacy group composed of 33 churches and nonprofits in Ankeny and the surrounding area. They have completed a needs and services assessment to look at the past, present and future of the Ankeny community including research on demographics, economic security, mental health, substance abuse, housing, public safety, public schools, transportation and senior population. The report will be presented on Thursday, August 31st from 7:00 to 8:30 PM at Our Lady's Immaculate Heart Church, 510 East 1st Street, Ankeny. The entire Ankeny community is welcome to attend this important discussion. |
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