iowa city noon rotary summary, April 20, 2017
Posted by Shawn Reineke on Apr 20, 2017
President Elect, Mike McKay presided over our meeting today, subbing for our current President, Usha Balakrishnan who is away in Las Vegas for a reunion!
Announcements:
Rtn. Casey Kidwell announced the Rotary Bike Racks are to be installed by the City of Iowa City next week. Please come for a photo-opp on Monday, April 24th. Casey will be sending an email with details. Thanks to Rtn. Casey Kidwell, Brent Bonner and Bryan Lawler for their work on this project. Casey also announced the Bike Rodeo Event will be at Horace Mann Elementary on May 13, volunteer opportunities are available.
Rtn. Joe Vens announced “Bring an Entrepreneur to Rotary” day which is next Thursday, April 27. Come to hear the entrepreneur speakers. There will be a drawing for a $50 dinner at the Clubhouse for all participating Rotarians who bring an entrepreneur that day!
Rtn. Christina Kimerlie announced on behalf of Rtn. Katharine Marshall “Fore the House Golf Outing” charity event for the Ronald McDonald House. Volunteer opportunities are available, please get in touch with Katharine Marshall for details.
Rtn. Art Nowak invited us to the 2nd Annual Bird Bash happening tonight at 5:30p to support Hospice Home of Johnson County which has been in operation for 1 year, serving 40 guests so far. Funding for the Hospice Home comes from insurance, Medicare and other fundraisers. We are invited to attend their upcoming fundraiser, today at Big Grove on Gilbert St. for food, music and auction items. Big Grove is donating 10% of all beverage sales to Hospice Home.
Rtn. Tom Cook: Presented our club with a flag from Rotary Club of Ikoye, Nigeria
The club heard from two Goat-Riders today; Rtn. Jessica Andersen and Rtn. Minda Hamann
The program speaker was introduced by President Elect, Mike McKay.
PROGRAM Speaker Cedar Rapids Rotarian Shannon Ramsay, Founding President & CEO Trees Forever
Shannon founded Trees Forever as a volunteer in 1989, and continues to lead Trees Forever with passion and dedication. Recognized both nationally and locally for her leadership and accomplishments, Shannon was the 2011 recipient of the Frederick Law Olmsted Award from the National Arbor Day Foundation and a Women of Influence Award from the Corridor Business Journal. She serves on numerous boards and task forces, including the national Forestry Research Advisory Council, and is a member of the Cedar Rapids Downtown Rotary.
Shannon visits several Rotary Clubs and gives our club an “A” for our signing!
Shannon shared the Tree’s Forever Mission: Working with communities to empower people through hands-on planting projects. “Since our beginning, Trees Forever has involved people in hands-on conservation projects. We help communities with local tree-planting projects by providing technical, planning and financial assistance. And we help local committees engage others in the projects they work on. If trees and other native plants are going to survive and thrive, it’s important that the neighborhood and greater community are encouraged to get involved.
Trees Forever, a non-profit organization has planted 3.5 million trees in over 200 different communities in Iowa and Illinois with the help of volunteers. Volunteers are the roots of our organization and we can’t thank our volunteers enough for their hard work.
Major program areas for Trees Forever are: community forestry, roadways, disaster recovery and water quality initiatives. This organization also executes advocacy work, working on a course on conservation and forest health. Shannon shared that Iowa was originally 20% forest, however today the forest percentage is only at 4%. Most of the loss is due to farmland clearing. For every 1 tree planted in towns, we remove 4 to 5.
Iowa City partners are: Backyard Abundance, Project Green, City of IC, Johnson County, Conservation Board, Iowa DNR and many others. Supporters of Trees Forever are: Johnson County Community Foundation, Gannett Foundation, MidAmerican Foundation and others.
Shannon reported that the Rotary Youth Exchange prioritized a recent tree planting on April 1st. Shannon’s program concluded with a Quiz titled: Trees in Your Backyard!
For more information check out the website: www.treesforever.org You may contact Shannon Ramsay shannon@treesforever.org or Maxine Webb mwebb@treesforever.org Tree’s Forever office: 319-373-0650 Shannon provided handouts and fact sheets at each table on best pollinators as well as several events scheduled in Cedar Rapids and Marion to recognize Earth Week April 22-29, 2017.
President Elect, Mike McKay thanked Shannon Ramsay for her excellent presentation and information shared with us today.
President Elect, Mike McKay led the recitation of ROTARY’s FOUR WAY TEST. The meeting was adjourned with the ringing of the bell, promptly at 1:00 pm.
MEETING:
Singing: Bob Crane with Jim Conard on the piano leading us with the Smile Song.
Please forward any newsworthy items and/or photos to President Usha to include in the weekly slide decks emailed to members prior to each meeting and shown just before Rotary meetings at the Club. You can send information to: usha.iowa@gmail.com The pre-meeting PowerPoint is a great way to reach fellow Rotarians who may not be at the weekly meeting.
For questions related to Club administration, please contact us at secretary@iowacitynoonrotary.org.
It is our policy to have all members silence their cell phones before the meeting and refrain from answering their cell phones during the meeting out of respect to the speaker and fellow members.
Greeter, John Brown announced the Visiting Rotarians: Shannon Ramsay, Cedar Rapids Club
Guests of Rotarians: Brooke Lozono and Kelly Schaer (Tom Cilek); Bethany Clemenson (Usha Balakrishnan); Shawn Hargrave (Anne Hargrave)
Program: Tom Cilek; Attendance: Nancy Droll.
Greeter Schedule:
April 27: Dawn Oliver Wiand