I found some interesting Rotary trivia this week. Many Rotary clubs were disbanded in Europe during the World War II era: Spain, Netherlands, Finland, Austria, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Yugoslavia, Luxembourg, and Hungary. In addition, clubs in Eastern Europe and other communist countries were disbanded by 1946. However, as nations opened up again, Rotary clubs were again welcomed in those countries, especially with the polio program. Rotary now has 1.2 million members in 32,282 clubs around the world.
We had 18 members present. Our speaker, Al Batschelet is also a Rotarian with the Omaha Suburban Club
Treasurer’s report: $4,228.84
Announcements/discussion:
Jim shared several items of note and opportunities to help out in the community during the holiday season. If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact Jim at 402-669-1019 or jtomanek@copeinfo.org
On Thursday, 12/13 the West O Chamber Food Basket program will need volunteers to gather all the food items from the area schools that have been involved, and deliver the items to Bethany Lutheran Church. This begins at 9:00am
On Friday, December 14th, volunteers are needed at Bethany to start sorting food and filling the food baskets. There is help requested at 9am, 1pm and 3pm for various phases of the project.
On Saturday, December 15th, people are needed for food basket deliveries across Western Douglas County. This begins at 9:00am at Bethany.
Tod said that those that have helped with the scholarship selection process will be on the email list and will get the opportunity to help in that process again. Anyone else interested should let Tod know.
The Rotary Scholarship Golf Outing is June 17th. It will be here in no time at all! Get used to seeing this reminder often!
Presentation: Judy introduced Al Batschetet, President and CEO of The First Responders Foundation of Greater Omaha. Al is a retired 2-Star General of the US Army and joined the Foundation a year ago to help direct their efforts. In its ten years of existence, they are the only foundation in the greater Omaha area that focuses on the police, fire fighters, and emergency response teams with support of their needs. There are over 8,000 people in the community that are eligible for their support. To learn all about the foundation, visit them at https://firstrespondersomaha.org/
Next Week’s Speaker: TBA. Potentially Tyler Curnes with information about the upcoming Snow Sculpting Competition scheduled for downtown Elkhorn February 7-10th. Future speakers are in demand. Please let Neil know if you can get someone lined up.
Drawing Winner: Duane Prokop was the drawing winner.
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