Home Page | Rotary Club of Omaha (Downtown)

The Rotary Club of Established Leaders, Emerging Leaders, Developing Leaders

Are you an established professional who wants to make positive changes in your community and the world? Our club members are dedicated people who share a passion for community service and friendship. Becoming a Rotarian connects you with a diverse group who share your drive to give back.

Our meetings are Wednesdays, from noon to 1 PM. They are usually held at the
Field Club of Omaha, 3615 Woolworth Street, Omaha, Nebraska

Check out the calendar for upcoming programs and possible changes in location.

President's Pen

Greetings Everyone,

It was great to see all the engagement this week. We had a couple of committees working on great service projects before the meeting and 4 greeters at the door welcoming a full house today. I can see lots of members working to step up their engagement and earn some bling for their name badges and it is awesome!!

Congratulations to Camille for completing her Rotary Leadership Institute course. It is great to know she will be so well prepared to take over next year and get things back on track. Lol. Also congratulations to Gretchen Bren for earning her Paul Harris +5 - Wow! Thank you Gretchen for your amazing dedication to Rotary. We also congratulated Liz Caspers and Chad Wetzel on earning their permanent badges and welcomed back Charlie Peters to the club.

Thanks to Pete Sakaris for bringing in Lauren, the recipient of one of our People with Disabilities grants, and her mother. They gave us a very heartfelt thank you for the work we do as a club to help those in need.

Karen Borchert COO of Flywheel, a high tech web hosting company, spoke this week and gave us a great insight to the growing high tech industry right here in Omaha. This young vibrant company has grown to over 200 employees and expects to more than double again in the near future. Flywheel has nearly doubled in size every year for the last 6 years and continue to knock it out of the park. They have recommitted to staying downtown and are currently working to renovate the Ashton building for their new headquarters. Thank you to Karen for their continued efforts to attract and retain the highly talented young people in our region and beyond.

Please step up to help sponsor and to help at the upcoming Honor Roll Luncheon. Look for information from Leigh on how to sign up. This is our clubs signature event and I hope all of you will make every effort to attend.

Let's get out there and make a difference in our world.

Brad

Permanent Badge

Congratulations to the following on receiving their Permanent Badges:

Liz Caspers - Sonesta ES Suites

Chad Wetzel - Douglas County Health Department

Charlie Peters, Omaha Home Sales - WELCOME BACK!

Prospects for Membership

The Rotary Club of Omaha has received membership applications from the following:

Nicholas Bermel, owner of Royalty Roofing, Sponsored by Brad Burklund.

Anyone with objections to a membership proposal needs to reach out to the Club Administrator or Membership Chair.

Salvation Army Flood Relief Needs

The Salvation Army is looking for donations of the following supplies for Flood Relief.
Information on how to donate is below.

Nominating committee Report

President Elect (to be Club President 2020-2021 Rotary Year):

John Sullivan

President Nominee (to be Club President 2021-22 Rotary Year):

Hal Daub

Board Nominees for three year term beginning 01 Jul 2019:

Aileen Warren

Dawn Gonzales

Jeff Matuella

Shane Sullivan

Board Nominee to fill two year term beginning 01 Jul 2019 (this fills the seat vacated by Pam Petersen):

Lori Bechtold

Omaha Downtown Rotary Club Foundation Board for three year terms beginning 01 Jul 2019 (to be approved by the Foundation Board):

Clark Rosenlof

John Ewing

Any objections should be sent to Bill Harvey.

APRIL BIRTHDAYS

Connolly, Sean Apr 01

Johnson, Chris Apr 03

Perkins, Gary Apr 03

Wineland, Taylor Apr 03

McLellan, John Apr 05

Frasier, Bruce Apr 10

Smith, John Apr 11

Ewing, John Apr 18

Thompson, Greg Apr 20

Contreraz, Theresa Apr 22

Heffernan, Suzie Apr 22

Tonniges, Emily Apr 22

Daub, Hal Apr 23

Zandbergen, Peter Apr 27

Link, Hans Apr 28

Hames, Herb Apr 29

Kuhl, Nancy Apr 29

Rock the Block

Sat, May 18, 2019 - 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM - location in Omaha will be announced closer to the date.

This event is all about bringing communities together and promoting healthy neighborhoods. Months before the event, our staff meets and surveys the existing neighbors in the areas we serve. With your help, we will assist these folks with a variety of tasks, which usually include light repair, clean-up, sanding, painting, staining, and landscaping. At the end of the day, the neighborhood shines a little brighter and new relationships are made. New in 2019 – Rock the block days will end with a small block celebration! Partners are needed to provide food, entertainment, and cleanup assistance. This event allows us to serve more families outside of our core programs. It also allows us greater flexibility with group size and volunteer ages.

Tools and supplies are supplied by Habitat. Volunteers just need to wear closed toed shoes or boots

We will need a total of 10 volunteers with each volunteer needing to sign up with the below link at least 2 weeks prior to May 18^th.

Flood Relief Efforts

As a Rotarian we are sure you are aware of the recent flooding in eastern Nebraska and southwestern Iowa. It has impacted many of the communities our clubs serve. As a district, know we are here to help in any way we can. We have had several Rotary districts outside Nebraska contact us to make donations. We have decided to direct cash contributions directly to the American Red Cross as they are best suited to respond to help those most in need. If you or your club would like to make a cash contribution to the relief effort, donations can be made payable to and sent to:

American Red Cross - Nebraska Flooding

2912 S 80th Ave

Omaha, NE 68124

These donations will stay locally and benefit the communities most affected in Nebraska and SW Iowa.

As the waters recede and recovery efforts begin we will begin coordinating efforts in the district to help our clubs most effected serve their communities as they recover from this devastating event. We will be reaching out to all of the members of District 5650 to enlist your help to help our fellow Rotarians and their communities recover from this monumental disaster.

Yours in Rotary,

Julie O'Hara

District Governor

Mick McKinley

District Governor Elect

Roxy Orr

District governor Nominee

Carol Horner

District Governor Nominee - Designee

Charitable Statements

The Charitable Statements went out on October 26 via email.

You can view the letter from Brad and the Statement HERE.

Thank you in advance for supporting Omaha Rotary.

Honor Roll luncheon

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

Thank You Letters

We have a few more thank you letters that came in the mail.

You can click the link to read them.

Wheelchairs 4 Kids 12.2018

Methodist Hospital 10.16.18

RESPECT 2018

Wheelchairs 4 Kids 2018

MerryMakers 9.2018

Methodist Hospital Foundation 9.2018

Boys and Girls Club 8.2018

Midlands Mentoring Partnership 8.2018

Community Grant Thank Yous 2018

HETRA Thank you 2018

Mosaic Thank You 6.19.18

Merry Makers 5.2018

Arbor Day Foundation 5.2018

ONE ROTARY SUMMIT

Apr 27, 2019 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM

ESU #3
6949 S 110th St
LaVista, NE 68128
United States of America

WHAT IS ONE ROTARY SUMMIT?

A One Rotary Summit (ORS) is all about the synergy among Membership, Public Image, and Humanitarian Service.

Those attending the ORS will jointly develop creative ways to achieve and sustain membership growth and retention, to increase Rotary Foundation giving and project engagement, and to gain enhanced public image in their communities.

This year’s ORS places emphasis on the synergy described above, People of Action, this year’s Rotary Theme: Be the Inspiration, and “Why Rotary?” That synergy is explained in Welcome to ORS - a two-minute video by Jennifer Jones, past Rotary International Vice President.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

This is for ALL CLUB MEMBERS – new and experienced members. It is suggested that all club president elects also plan on attending as the second part of their PETS training. Since this is replacing Assembly this year, be sure to also invite your committee chairs and board members. We also recommend that anyone who is a member of your club's membership committee to attend (And we all know we are all on the membership committee, right?)

There is no cost to attend this interactive event! But we do need you to sign up. Go to the District Page to do so HERE.

Once we know about how many people we are expecting, we will send out the location in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area.

Use the comments box to detail how many people from your club will be attending if you can't take the time to register individual people.

ROTARY DISTRICT CONFERENCE - SHAPE THE FUTURE

Before we know it, this snow will be gone and it will be time for District Conference. The theme this year is “Shape the Future”.

Save the date: July 26 and 27^th – Lied Lodge and Conference Center, Nebraska City.

We have many things planned – one of which will be a cruise on the Belle of Brownville boat!

Other family opportunities will be offered and available at discounted prices. Registration is open and can be done by clicking here.

Additional information previously published:

Attention: This is NOT your Grandpa’s conference!

This will be a fresh and exciting weekend with inspirational, informative speakers and family events.

Bring your family! Plan to come early or stay late. Nebraska City Rotarians are working hard to put together deals and discounts for family in their community.

Other conference features:

- - Service project for all conference attendees including your guests - Service Above Self

- - Rotary International Representative attending on behalf of the Rotary International President

- - Registration is open (click here) - $100 through March 31; $140 after that

- - Blocks of hotel rooms for the conference have been booked and the links to those are below (see separate article).

Many more details are being worked out and will be released as they are finalized.

Rotary Car Show