Mrs. Miriam Luedecke, a Littleton resident since 1976, was recognized at the Sept. 11 Littleton Rotary Club for her generous bequest to The Rotary Foundation. Attending were Rotary District Governor Ms. Sandy Mortensen; Ms. Gail Lehmann, the District foundation chair; Dr. Kea Gordon, from the Evanston, Ill. office of The Rotary Foundation; Mrs. Janet Sothan and the club’s members.
Miriam retired as a federal employee in 1996 but started her career at the Pentagon where she met Norm Sothan. Mr. Sothan and his wife have been friends with Mrs. Luedecke for more than 40 years. As an active Rotarian, and past president of the Littleton Rotary, Norm increased Miriam’s awareness of Rotary goals. She has never been a Rotarian, but she has made a substantial gift to Rotary International because she heartily supports the overall mission of the organization.
Mrs. Luedecke said, “I really believe Rotary effectively matches resources with objectives. I love that 90% of the money Rotary receives goes to worthy programs all over the world.”
Upon her death, her gift will become the Miriam A. Luedecke Humanitarian Endowed Fund with the principal remaining untouched but the interest put to use for The Rotary International Foundation causes. The most well-known of Rotary’s philanthropic efforts is the goal to make the world certified polio free. Rotary’s contributions to the global polio eradication effort since 1988 will exceed US$2.2 billion, including US$985 million in matching funds from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.