The "Annual Meeting" of both the Elmbrook Rotary Club and the Elmbrook Rotary Foundation occurred on Friday, December 3.
Part of this online gathering included the election of new leaders for both the club and the foundation.
Elected to the Board of Directors for both organizations for a three-year term (Class of 2024) were Jeanne Allen and Bonnie Bertram. Past President Paul Langer was also elected to the Board of Directors for a one-year term (Class of 2022). Their tenure of office takes effect on July 1, 2021.
ERC member Tom Steinbach was elected to serve as Sergeant-at-Arms, beginning on July 1, 2021, and succeeding to Secretary, Vice-President, & President in succeeding years.
Congratulations to all, and thanks for being willing to serve!
ERC's historic, first-ever, ONLINE SILENT AUCTION experienced awesome, smashing results! A total of $11,299 was raised (bids, $8,824; donations, $1,475; & auction sponsorship, $1,000).
Combined with the annual "Spikes for Tykes" fundraiser results, this amount has already enabled ERC committees to authorize nearly $30,000 through the Elmbrook Rotary Foundation to support the charitable activities of 17 different organizations. Fantastic!
Thanks to all for your participation! Please contact anyone on the committee with any follow-up questions.
Online Silent Auction Committee:
Kevin Roche, Chair; Tom Hochuli, Honorary Member; Kathy Becker; Bonnie Bertram; Kate Bloomberg; Mike Groth; Jackie Radomski.
Because of COVID-19, sponsors of graduating students at the Common Hope School in Guatemala were not able to attend graduation events in person. However, the Common Hope organization arranged for two Zoom events in order to connect sponsors with their graduating students. Sergio Cuc C(Z)elada, who has been sponsored by the Elmbrook Rotary Foundation, was among the graduates.
Sergio hopes to attend a university in order to study Agriculture or Civil Engineering. Click here to read letters of gratitude from both Common Hope and from Sergio himself.
On November 1, Common Hope also debuted its "Salute to Hope," a video that explains and celebrates its work in Guatemala. Click on the image below to access the video, available on YouTube.
Share Hope this Holiday
This holiday season, please consider sharing hope with students and families in Guatemala. You can shop the Special Edition Gift Catalog in support of Covid-19 Crisis Response, send a note to someone in Guatemala to let them know you’re thinking of them, or order the NEW limited edition Holiday Boxes in the Common Hope Holiday Shop! Click here or on the image below to shop and order. Thank you for helping to deliver hope this holiday!
December is Rotary's "Disease Prevention and Treatment" month.
Disease results in misery, pain, and poverty for millions of people worldwide. That’s why treating and preventing disease are so important to us. We lead efforts both large and small. We set up temporary clinics, blood donation centers, and training facilities in underserved communities struggling with outbreaks and health care access. We design and build infrastructure that allows doctors, patients, and governments to work together.
Our members combat diseases like malaria, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and polio. Prevention is important, which is why we also focus on health education and bringing people routine hearing, vision, and dental care.
HOW ROTARY MAKES HELP HAPPEN
We educate and equip communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases. Rotary members have hundreds of health projects underway around the world at any given time.
OUR IMPACT ON DISEASE
The Rotary Foundation is changing the world by providing grants for projects and activities around the globe and in your own backyard.
Rotary makes amazing things happen, like:
Providing clean water: Rotary has worked with partners to provide more than 80 percent of Ghana’s people with clean water to fight Guinea worm disease.
Reducing HIV infection: In Liberia, Rotary members are helping women get tested for HIV early in their pregnancies. They used prenatal care to reduce new HIV infections in children by 95 percent over two years.
Ending polio: Rotary members have played a key role in bringing the world to the brink of polio eradication. Their efforts have not only ended polio in 122 countries but also created a system for tackling myriad other health priorities, such as Ebola.
Veterans in Focus (VIF) trains veterans in photography, videography, and film. The local program at the Zablocki VA Medical Center has been financially supported by the Elmbrook Rotary Club's annual Mini-Grants effort for the past several years. Because of COVID-19, there will not be a VIF public display this year. However, do view the short video below which explains the objects of the program and some results of the 2020 training sessions.
If unable to access when attempting to view on a mobile device, click on the Veterans Day 2020 image below.
Through the Milwaukee VA Veterans in Focus program, veterans are able to express themselves and possibly even begin to prepare themselves for a career.
On October 30, 2020, Elmbrook Rotary Club had the privilege of being visited by Special Agent Tyrone ("Ty") Daniels of the U.S. Secret Service. However, rather than "investigating" Elmbrook Rotary, Special Agent Daniels provided a most interesting overview of the history and mission of the United States Secret Service. Keeping ERC members stumped with historical trivia, SA Daniels enlightened all participants with a most interesting presentation. Click on SA Daniels' image below to access the 45-minute presentation.
SA Daniels provided an overview on the following topics: whom the Secret Service is authorized to protect; the types of crimes the Secret Service investigates; how the Secret Service differs from other federal law enforcement agencies; the role the Secret Service had in Milwaukee’s DNC Convention (working with ERC's own Linda Wickstrom); and why agents seem to always wear sunglasses.
If you are not yet joining Elmbrook Rotary at 07:00 a.m. on Friday mornings, do consider it.
So states the popular song in Hamilton, the broadway musical.
However, it appears that it won't be as quickly as we had hoped. In-person attendance on Friday mornings has not been what was originally projected, and The Western Racquet Club cannot financially justify the low numbers.
In-person meetings for Elmbrook Rotary Club are therefore suspended once again. We return to Zoom only.
District 6270 Global Grant Scholarship: A Global Grant Scholarship in the amount of U.S. $30,000 is being offered by Rotary International District 6270 for matriculation in the Fall 2021 or Spring 2022. Must be for a graduate level program overseas, not in the United States, and must align closely with one of RI’s Areas of Focus. Applicants must hold at least an undergraduate degree or anticipate graduation within the current year. Application deadline is January 15, 2021; interviews, February 6; announcement of grant recipient, February 15. Application form and applicable reference documents are accessible in the Scholarship Resource Center of the RI District 6270 web site (www.rotary6270.org).
Please pass along this information to any aspiring scholar whom you know or meet who might be qualified to apply. Feel free to contact Larry Myers with any questions.
Rotary Million Dollar Journey Reaches its Goal… and Continues
After reaching a $1,000,000 fundraising goal early, Rotary International Districts 6220 & 6270 extend the goal deadline and dollar amount to support the Rotary Foundation during trying times.
A joint effort between the Wisconsin & Michigan Rotarians of districts 6220 and 6270 to raise $1,000,000 for the Rotary Foundation by October, 2020, reached its goal four months early. With that success, and with even greater need, the districts will continue the journey by raising more funds, and a new conclusion in April, 2021.
A bit over one year ago, on the recommendation of Rotary International District Governors Steve Handrick and Steen Sanderhoff, their respective districts embarked on a path to collectively raise one million dollars of new gifts to the Rotary Foundation; a Million Dollar Journey. With many generous gifts – each in excess of $10,000 – from both districts, the goal was reached early, in July of 2020.
When the Journey launched, the districts planned a celebratory dinner for all of the contributors along the fundraising pathway, to have taken place in November 2020. The presence of the COVID-19 pandemic will make that celebration impossible at that time, and the districts agreed that it should be postponed until April 29, 2021.
Seeing the postponement as an opportunity, now past-governors Handrick & Sanderhoff and current district governors Scott Knaffla and Craig Burnett agreed that the districts should continue the Journey’s effort, and have set a new goal of $2,000,000 to be reached by April 1, 2021.
As with the first part of the Journey, the minimum amount of gifts within the journey is $10,000 to qualify for attendance at the celebratory dinner. Gifts may be made in a number of ways:
Outright gifts of cash or appreciated securities
A three-year pledge of cash or appreciated securities
A Life income agreement funded with cash, appreciated securities or real estate, including charitable gift annuities, charitable remainder trusts, or pooled income funds.
A bequest commitment via a will, life insurance policy, revocable trust, or a retirement plan
Each district has a team of Rotarians who stand ready to discuss the continuing campaign, give a presentation about the journey, or to interact directly with a potential donor. Donors or clubs are encouraged to contact PDG and Endowment/Major Gifts Advisor Nancy Rhodes to discuss the opportunity to add needed funds to the Rotary International Foundation during this time of pandemic and worldwide economic challenge.
Rotarians and others are encouraged to join in this important Journey at a time when it is truly needed.
Holger Knaack, member of the Rotary Club of Herzogtum-Lauenburg-Möln, Germany, is Rotary International President for 2020-2021.
A Rotary member since 1992, Knaack has served Rotary as treasurer, director, moderator, member and chair of several committees, representative for the Council on Legislation, zone coordinator, training leader, and district governor. He is an endowment/major gifts adviser and was co-chair of the Host Organization Committee for the 2019 Rotary International Convention in Hamburg. Knaack and his wife, Susanne, are Major Donors to The Rotary Foundation and members of the Bequest Society.
Rotary Opens Opportunities is the theme chosen by President Knaack for 2020-2021. At the International Assembly in San Diego in January 2020, he had the following to say about his theme: "So as you can see, Rotary is not just a club that you join. It is an invitation to endless opportunities. It opens opportunities to serve in a project as big and historic as End Polio Now and also in a small community project, where you just plant a tree. And it opens opportunities for you to live a richer, more meaningful life, with friends around the world, based on our core values. As Rotarians, we are very blessed to take on leadership roles at this wonderful moment for our organization. Everything we do opens another opportunity for someone, somewhere. Therefore, the theme for our year is: Rotary Opens Opportunities."
It is now possible for members of Elmbrook Rotary Club (ERC) to make online payments and donations both to ERC and to the Elmbrook Rotary Foundation (ERF).
Two separate commercial merchant accounts have been activated which intend to keep transactions separated between ERC and ERF.
To make payments to ERC, simply follow the link provided in one's individual club account (and quarterly statements). A surcharge of 5% is billed to one's club account when utilizing a credit card or debit card.
To make donations or payments to ERF, simply click the "Donate" or "Donate Now" button that can be found on multiple pages on the ERC web site. Or, one can click the URL link that will be provided in ERF invoices to club members. Please ensure that donations or payments intended for the ERF account are not made to the ERC account. The opposite is also true. And, please remember that not all payments to the Foundation [a 501(c)(3) entity] are tax-deductible. IRS rules and policies must be followed.
Finally, one can always use the old-fashioned (and least expensive) way of payment/donation with an individual check or bank check via "Bill Pay" at one's bank.
The ClubRunner Mobile App is your key to connect to your club on the go!
Completely free to download and use, this app will let you access the key info you need while you're on the go. Password protected just like the ERC website, the ClubRunner Mobile app allows you to to view the ERC member directory, contact your members and executives, read the latest articles posted to the ERC website, learn more about ERC upcoming events and speakers, view ERC meeting details, and track your attendance statistics—right from your smartphone or tablet! Download the ClubRunner Mobile App either from the App Store (for Apple products) or from Google Play (for Android devices).
When we say "WE RISE & SHINE” to others, it means:
WE RISE to meet early every Friday.
WE RISE to the occasion by helping those in need.
WE RISE to make a difference in our community and the world.
WE SHINE by living the Rotary 4-way Test.
WE SHINE by staying positive and encouraging others.
WE SHINE by lighting the way for service above self in Brookfield, Elm Grove, and beyond.
The tagline appears on our Coffee Mugs, on our Web site, on club emails, and on other communications going out. Try using the tagline the next time you’re talking to someone about Elmbrook Rotary or Rotary in general. In fact, consider purchasing an Elmbrook Rotary Coffee Mug for $7.
Enjoy this humorous video about what Rotary really is. Click me to view!
Filmed in 2017 in the Fargo-Moorhead area (North Dakota Minnesota border region), where there are five Rotary Clubs. Video was supported by Rotary District 5580.
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