Summary of the Iowa City Noon Rotary Meeting on April 7, 2016
Ron Corbett, President, Engage Iowa
Fellow Rotarian Josh Schamberger introduced Mayor Ron Corbett, a member of the Cedar Rapids Downtown Rotary and a Paul Harris fellow, for today’s program on Engage Iowa.
Mr. Corbett graduated from Newton High School and then from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, before moving to Cedar Rapids. From there, he built a storied career in public and private leadership positions including being elected in 1986 to the Iowa House of Representatives serving seven terms, at 34 became the youngest Speaker of the House in Iowa history, in 1999 became President and CEO of the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce leading the organization for six years, an insurance agent for The Equitable Co., led special projects for CRST International and finally being recruited back into public service following the Flood of 2008 and was elected mayor of Cedar Rapids in 2009.
Engage Iowa is a private, non-profit, conservative, freedom-focused think tank and policy incubator formed just last year by Mr. Corbett. Created by Iowans for Iowa, Engage Iowa is bringing together the brightest minds and leaders from across our state to start a statewide debate about some of Iowa’s most serious problem. It exists to craft research based, pragmatic, common sense solutions that will move our state forward by bringing rural and urban Iowans together to modernize the tax code, build great schools and protect our environment.
For more information or to make a donation, please visit: http://engageiowa.org/.
MEETING
Singing: Aaron Schaefer led singing of America the Beautiful and Smile with Jim Conard on the piano.
President Thais had the following announcement:
Please consider supporting Rotary District 6000’s Annual Cleft Lip and Palate Surgical Mission to Guatemala (IowaMOST) by taking advantage of this unique opportunity to purchase Wild Caught Alaskan Sockeye Salmom freshly caught in the Cook Inlet as they’re headed to the Kenai River by Rotarian Dan Jorgensen. Orders must be in quantities of 25 lbs. or 50 lbs. and will be shipped FedEx directly to your door July 20th to August 10th 2016. For every pound of salmon ordered, $10 will be donated to IowaMOST which equates to $20,000 toward the project if all of the salmon is sold. Consider teaming up with your friends to order salmon that helps bring Miles of Smiles to Guatemalan children born with cleft lip or palate defects. Orders can be placed online at www.iowamost.org.
Jody Braverman had the following announcement:
Jody attended the Rotary District 6000 conference last Friday and Saturday in Des Moines. He collected three awards for the club which he presented to the club at today’s meeting. Third place among large clubs (80+ members) for highest percentage of new members, an award for sending over $1500 to Polio Plus, and an award for public image for our 100th anniversary awareness.
Bruce Kout had the following announcement:
The annual “Fore the House” golf outing is coming up on Monday, June 6 at Finkbine Golf Course. Tickets are $150 per person or $600 per team. On May 1, individual tickets will go up to $200 and to $800 per team. Foursomes are filling up fast so if you are interested you should register soon. In just 14 years, Fore the House has raised more than $625,000 for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Eastern Iowa & Western Illinois and is co-sponsored by our club. For more information, contact Sam Bredlau at 319-356-8302 or sbredlau@rmhc-eiwi.org.
Please forward any newsworthy items and/or photos to Casey Kidwell to include in the weekly presentation. You can send information to: secretary@iowacitynoon.rotary.org or to: casey-kidwell@uiowa.edu. 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.
Guests and Visiting Rotarians
Art Nowak introduced Visiting Rotarians Gordon Epping (Cedar Rapids Downtown) and Jeremy Reynolds (Somerset-Pulaski Morning) as well as guests John Langhorne (Ron Corbett), Carly Ambrisco (Bill Ambrisco), Matt Geneser (Art Nowak), Brent Bonner (Joe Hughes), Sara Sedlacek (Eric Weiler), Jenn Van Noy (Christina Kimerle), Aaron Warner (Thais Winkleblack).
COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
Program: Tom Cilek; Attendance: Nancy Droll; April 14 – Michael Broadston and Linda Dasher, April 21 – Mike Walsh and Sherry McKay, and April 28 – John Culshaw and Brad Johnson.