Minutes from November 28, 2016

 

President Jim Ruble called the meeting to order promptly at 12:29, with the ring of the bell and welcomed everyone to today’s meeting.

Brad Bodoh and Nicol Kramer were the greeters today, and Brad introduced the members who brought guests:

Gary Pehrson had us all stand and lead us in singing “God Bless America”

Eve Stahl, sponsored by Dennis Jack, was inducted into the club today. Welcome to Rotary!!

We were pleased to have Drew Hansford from Roosevelt High School with us today; he is a great young man with a great future ahead of him.

President Jim let us know that Sheryl Foland is having eye surgery today.

President Jim and Eric Easton said that Martha Rakestraw had eye surgery last week and hopes to be back to Rotary next week.

Brad Cundy and his wife were nominated for cooking a Thanksgiving meal for the Mills School children.

Susan Thomas was nominated for walked 60 miles in 3 days for a good cause.

Larry King was nominated for retiring from State Farm.

Jim Ruble was nominated for being one of the tether rope holders on the Sinclair Dinosaur Balloon at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC.

Jim Porter was nominated for always jumping in to help with the exchange students when they need a ride anywhere.

Claudia, our exchange student, was nominated for traveling with the Ruble Family and being very patient with the children as she helped out on their trip to NYC.

Claudia then nominated President Jim Ruble and Family for all they do for her.

 

Elise Verbooman, our exchange student from last year gave us a quick report on what she has been up to for the past year. She has been working at a hotel in the south of France getting some experience before she starts her school for Hotel Management. She is waiting to see if she was accepted to her first choice of school in Holland. She will be visiting for a little while and said it feels good to be home.

 

PE Richard Schwahn introduced our speaker today, our friend and fellow club member Liz Becher who is here to speak about the Rotary Foundation and making sense of giving. Each November we celebrate the Rotary Foundation which will be 100 years old in 2017. It started in 1917 so next year will be a yearlong birthday celebration for the Foundation. It was started by Arch Klumph with a donation of $26.50. He stated that the purpose of the foundation was to do good in the world. This endowment is now over a billion dollars strong. Liz stated that our club has the goal of having each member donate $26.50 this year to the foundation. The first funds were used for a project for crippled children in Chicago back in 1927 and that program turned into Easter Seals. Then in 1947 when Paul Harris passed away the Paul Harris Fellows was created for those who donate $100 a year and that money is rolled into the Foundation. RI is constantly investing in itself. Liz put together a slide show to present how to make sense of the foundation and giving in Rotary, the different ways we can give and why we give. We have taken advantage of some of these grants for our club projects. There is sometimes confusion about giving to Rotary since we have our local foundation as well as the Rotary Foundation so on each table is a pamphlet that explains the different ways to give and where the money goes. The reasons for giving are as vast as our membership; everyone has their own personal reason for giving. Liz told us of a banner she saw at a church while traveling that said “Love Does” which made her think of Rotary and giving, we do it for love. Some of the money goes into the annual fund for running Rotary International and some donations go into the endowment permanent funds. There are many different levels of giving and we are encouraged to give to the level that we are able to give. There are also different ways to give whether it is through naming the Foundation as a beneficiary of your life insurance or estate or just making a small monthly donation. You can go online to donate or mail a check, they have created the online Rotary Direct way to give to make the money available sooner and for you to get credit sooner than mailing in a check. Each club has goals for giving and our club has the goal of creating one new Paul Harris society fellow with a $1,000 donation this year. Liz recognized our club members who donate on each different level. You can find more information in the pamphlets and online so please consider giving or giving more this year. The club board of directors will be looking at each person’s donations and let them know how close they are to getting to the next level of giving. We will be having our annual dinner to celebrate those who do give. The money is very well taken care of and wisely invested and protected to make sure that the money does what it is intended to do. The donations that we give today will come back to us as grants in three years so the money is cycled through RI and grown so that we have a large percentage come back for us to do our projects for our local clubs. As a district we are a very giving District per member and for the total amount we give, we are one of the top in the world. Remember, Love Does!

 

 

President Jim Ruble concluded the meeting at 1:18, after giving us a brief report on his visit to NYC and walking in the parade, with the ring of the bell and reminded us that next week we will be at the Ramkota Inn.