🎄🧣 Rotary Christmas and Holiday Party Ugly Sweater Contest! 🎅👕
Get ready to sleigh the fashion game at Rotary Christmas and Holiday Party with our Ugly Sweater Contest! Embrace the festive spirit and show off your most eye-catching, outrageous, and downright ugly holiday sweaters for a chance to win a whopping $25 gift card from Big Red Keno, courtesy of the generous Bill Harvey!
🎉 How to Participate:
Wear your ugliest holiday sweater with pride.
Register with James Mackiewicz on the Ugly Sweater Contest sign-in sheet upon arrival.
Strut your stuff on the Ugly Sweater Contest runway during the designated time.
📸 Photo Ops:
Our event photographer will be capturing all the ugly sweater glory! Pose for the camera and make your sweater immortalized in holiday infamy.
Our first round of Engagement Extravaganza concluded and as announced recently, the Mavericks Team led by Susan Koesters won first place and will be treated to an all-paid Happy Hour by President Larry Guenther. Congratulations to team leader Susan Koesters, members Harrison Abbott, Rahul Agarwal, Matt Boulay, Larry Guenther, Bill Harvey, Yolanda Hoffman, Susan Koesters, Nancy Kuhl, Itzel Lopoez, Nash Mahupete, Carl Mammel, and Aileen Warren.
While the first round of Engagement Extravaganza has recently concluded, the Engagement Committee led by Brad Burklund and Jill Slupe is planning their next move, everyone engaged in Rotary Engagement activities will continue to get points, such as the following Rotary Social gatherings.
At the recent Douglas County Republican Party, L to R: Hal Daub, Fletcher Reel, Christopher Tooker, Steve McCollister, and John Sullivan
Bill Harvey, Terry Patton, and Gretchen Harvey at the Pinnacle Bank Christmas Party
The Honor Roll Committee is currently busy with preparations and fundraising for the 97th Honor Roll, which is scheduled for April 30, 2024. As the event was conducted virtually for the last three years, the preparations required are massive. The middle schools that participate in the annual Honor Roll had a popular request that it be held in person again. Many Rotarians have already pledged to support the 97th Honor Roll event, and their pledges are listed below in the order they were received:
Hal Daub, John and Viv Ewing, Bill and Gretchen Harvey, Deb Skinner, Larry Guenther, John Mock, John Marburger, Todd Johnson, Heather Legge, Tobi Mathouser, Dawn Gonzalez, Michelle Trawick, Susan Koesters, Jim Suttle, Tom Gouttierre, Brad Burklund, Jim Stewart, Dianne Desler, Lisa Tonjes Moritz, Brett Frevert, Fr. Lloyd Gnirk, Paul Cohen, LeRoy Swedlund, Fletcher Reel, Jim Murphy, Omaha Downtown Rotary Foundation, Okley Gibbs, Camille Metoyer-Moten, Bob Keefer, Yolanda Hoffman, Gene DeBoer, James Mackiewicz, and Adam Leong
If you have not yet submitted your pledge, please email Yolanda at director@omaharotary.org or click the amount to donate: $125$250$500$1,000. Your donation is fully tax-deductible.
On November 29, 2023, the Rotary Club of Omaha faced the challenge of relocating its meetings due to the ongoing construction at Field Club. The Swing Room at Field Club, our temporary room at Field Club, had become too cramped for our growing group. With aspirations to expand our membership, it was imperative to secure a more spacious and comfortable meeting venue.
Fortunately, Rotarian Vanessa Clark, the Dean of the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, graciously extended an offer to utilize their ground-floor meeting room along Capitol Avenue. A heartfelt thank you goes to Rotarian Vanessa Clark for her generosity in providing a temporary home for our Rotary meetings.
The seamless transition to the cathedral's meeting space was facilitated by our dedicated Sergeant at Arms, Okley Gibbs, who played a pivotal role in coordinating the move. While we temporarily convene at the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, we eagerly anticipate our return to Field Club once the renovation is completed, and the ballroom is ready for our use. The expected completion date for the renovation is set for September 2024.
Rotarians are making a difference at Stephen Center. CLICK HERE to sign up.
Stephen Center partners with the community, families, and individuals to overcome homelessness, addiction, and poverty. Stephen Center has served the homeless and low-income in Omaha since 1984 through its three programs: Emergency Shelter, HERO Program, and Transitional Living Program. The Omaha Downtown Rotary partners with Stephens Center in serving hot meals to its residents.
Pictured here at L to R: Steve McCollister, Scott Kinnaird, Colleen Brennan, Mike Mancuso, and Fletcher Reel
Earl Knauss got a lesson in food waste when he received a neighbor’s gift of three bushels of red peppers that had been cast aside by a farm because they were misshapen. “I discovered that odd-shaped, blemished, and imperfect vegetables were dumped or destroyed,” says Knauss, of the Rotary Club of Hamburg in western New York state. He asked the farm’s owner for more of the unsalable produce and collected 18-gallon totes of vegetables that he sent to food pantries. The Farm to Family project has since expanded to include three farms, and the Hamburg club formally adopted it in 2018. From May to December, Rotary members and friends work alongside Knauss delivering vegetables to about 3,000 families. In 2022, they provided more than 100,000 pounds of vegetables to 23 distribution sites. Among them is the Resurrection Life Food Pantry in Cheektowaga, where pantry director Kim Reynolds says the site would not have many fresh vegetables without the program. “Our clients rely on Farm to Family to fill that gap,” she says.
PERU
Much of the milk produced in Peru never leaves the farm: It’s consumed directly by farming families, fed to calves, and used to make artisanal cheeses. The Rotary E-Club of Fusión Latina Distrito 4465 teamed up with the nonprofit CEDEPAS Norte to help subsistence farmers in the country’s northern highlands. Last year the club delivered stainless steel presses and molds to open two cheese production facilities. A global grant of more than $50,000 helped pay for the equipment, training, management, and marketing. “So far there are 21 new employees and 63 families served, and 25 pregnant cows were gifted” through the Peruvian government program Agroideas, says Club President Fernando Barrera, who lives in Trujillo.
Jim Cavanaugh
Paul Cohen Sean Connolly
Hal Daub
Gene DeBoer Dianne Desler
John Ewing
Viv Ewing
Brett Frevert
Dawn Gonzales
Okley Gibbs
Larry Guenther
Dee Haj Bill Harvey
Gretchen Harvey
Yolanda Hoffman
Bob Keefer
Susan Koesters
John Marburger
Steve McCollister
Camille Metoyer-Moten
Lloyd Meyer
Jim Murphy
Jim Scott-Miller
Mike Schlickbernd
Jim Stewart
Michelle Trawick
Aileen Warren
PERU
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