Welcome Rotarians!

Hello Rotarians,

Last week we had three wonderful opportunities to represent Trenton Rotary in our community!

On Thursday evening, a group of Rotarians attended the Rotary Foundation Dinner, where our club was recognized with several awards for our generous giving. A special thank-you to Bill Jasman, who served as a speaker and shared valuable insights about district grants.

That same evening, another group of members represented us at the Salvation Army Civic Dinner, helping kick off the annual Red Kettle Drive—a great example of “Service Above Self.”

On Friday night, we continued our community involvement by supporting the Ryan Hoshaw 1st Annual Memorial Fundraiser. Thank you to all the Rotarians who took the time to attend and support these meaningful causes.

Marvelous Monday

Last week's well-deserved recognition goes to Vickie Brown, a true champion of our Rotary Club!

Vickie’s dedication shines through at every event—whether she’s helping with the Walmart project, securing sponsors and prizes for the Spring Break Fundraiser, or simply lending a hand wherever it’s needed.

Vickie, your enthusiasm and commitment make a real difference. We appreciate you!

Thank you to John Martenson, John Howey and Mark Angellotti for their conversation on the Foundation accounts. It was very insightful and informative.

Today’s Speaker

We’re pleased to welcome Emily Oetting from the Downriver YMCA, who will share the incredible work they’re doing to strengthen our community.

Lastly, I want to personally thank everyone who has reached out with prayers and kind words as I start my battle with breast cancer. Your support means the world to me. I’ll be meeting with my surgeon next Monday to determine the next steps, so I won’t be at that meeting—but rest assured, the Club Assembly will still take place as planned.

See everyone today at Truago at noon!

Yours in Rotary,

Ronnie

Thank you, Trenton Rotarians for coming out Friday night to help support our first fundraiser for the foundation we have set up in memory of my son Ryan, who died October 6, 2024, just one month shy of his 30th birthday due to the rare genetic cancer he was diagnosed with at age 23.

I’d have to say the evening exceeded even our best expectations and set the stage for us to be able to provide support to causes that were important to Ryan. The idea was discussed last December at Ryan’s Celebration of Life as several of us talked about finding a way to bring his friends and family members together each year — and possibly develop that into “something more” where we could do some good in the community in Ryan’s honor in the process. So, this summer and fall, as we planned the event, we also took the steps needed to set up a foundation in his name to be able to raise money for charitable purposes.

We intentionally tried to keep the event atmosphere casual and low-cost for attendees. RiverTown Tavern provided a great backdrop and the management and wait-staff there were super helpful and supportive of everything we asked them to do. The admission cost was $25 a person and raffle tickets were sold basically at a rate of two for $1. We were hoping we’d maybe have eight or 10 gift baskets and other prizes to raffle off, but much to our surprise and delight we ended up with 23 awesome prizes! We also ended up with several generous checks that we were not expecting.

If you were among the numerous Rotarians who attended (many of whom stayed the whole evening!), you already know what a great turnout there was. WOW! It was wall-to-wall at times and solidly busy the entire four hours. We haven’t yet determined a head count, but we’re pretty sure it was well over 100 people. It was totally heart-warming to see so many people there and be on the receiving end of so many good words.

On Saturday morning we all gathered at Carly’s house to pull the raffle tickets and contact the winners, as well as totaling the proceeds. We are happy to report that so far we have raised a total of nearly $5,300, so we are expecting a net of at least $4,000 to $4,300 after expenses.

It’s going to be our mission to try and support the causes Ryan cared most deeply about. Key among those was a concern for the daily personal struggles of cancer patients, so we are going to find a way to make that our main priority for now. Depending on the type of resources we can build, a couple of other areas of special interest are genetic cancer research and possibly even advocating for shelter animals. There are also a few existing organizations that Ryan had a particular interest in, including First Descents, an adventure camp for young adult cancer fighters that he was a participant in in 2019; and the Terry Fox Foundation, which supports cancer research. I don’t know how many of you remember Terry Fox but google him if you are not familiar. Ryan was fascinated with the Fox story and admired what he accomplished before his death in 1981 at age 22, as well as the legacy engendered by his efforts.

I think as we start out though our emphasis will be on keeping the money local. We will be meeting in the coming weeks to plan our next steps.
If you have any questions or need more information, please feel free to get in touch. We also have launched a website to help spread the word at RPHMemorial.org.

Thank you,

Joe

Salvation Army Civic Dinner

Spread the Love - Peanut Butter Drive

Our Spread the Love campaign is running through November 17th.  Please consider helping the St Philip's food pantry and Salvation Army by donating a few jars of peanut butter.  We are also collecting cereal.  There is a great need in our commujity!  Help Spread the Word!