Two new Secondary Designees for corporate member, The Bridges at Ankeny were inducted into the Rotary Club of Ankeny on September 18th.  They were: Kris baker, Community Relations Director and Brodey Hanson, Administrator.    Doug Johnson will continue as the Primary Designee. 

Through academic training, study and practice, The Rotary Peace Centers program develops leaders who become catalysts, for peace and conflict prevention and resolution in their communities and around the globe.  Each year, up to 100 Rotary Peace Fellows are chosen to participate in a master’s degree (lasting 2 years) program or a certificate program (lasting 3 months) at one of our partner universities.  Fellows study subjects related to the root causes of conflict and explore innovative solutions that address real-world needs.  As of 2016-17, there were 1247 Rotary Peace Fellows working around the world.  Peace centers can be found in Bangkok, North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tokyo, England, Australia and Sweden. 

Former Iowa Hawkeye quarterback Chuck Long is scheduled to speak to the noon Rotary Club of Ankeny on October 8th.  Chuck is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and played professionally in the NFL for the Detroit Lions and Los Angles Rams.  After his professional career, he served as an assistant coach at Iowa and Oklahoma and head football coach at San Diego State.  Long is the CEO and Executive Director of the Iowa Sports Foundation, the organization that runs the Iowa Games, the Senior Games and the Live Healthy Iowa challenge. 

 

Chuck will be talking about his recently published biography “Destined for Greatness – The Story of Chuck Long and Resurgence of Iowa Hawkeyes Football.”  It relives his life and career as one of the Hawkeyes' greatest players and the resurgence of Iowa football under Coach Hayden Fry.  The book also includes perspectives from Fry, Kirk Ferentz, Hap Peterson, Mark Vlasic and Jonathan Hayes and their reflections on a variety of topics including the farm depression that impacted Iowa in the 1980s.  Chuck plans to share his memories of taking a snap in a record five college bowl games, claiming a last-second win over No. 2 Michigan in 1985, finishing runner-up to Bo Jackson for the 1985 Heisman Trophy and being selected in the first round of the 1986 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. This would be a great opportunity to invite a guest and prospective new members to attend a Rotary meeting!!

A few years ago the club acquired about 25,000 small solar powered calculators from past District Governor John Ockenfelds.  These calculators were destined to be trashed if Gary Welch had not said our club would take them.   For the past 3 years, we have been giving a calculator with each dictionary that we distributed annually to 4th graders.  A few of the calculators found there way to Cozumel with Dean Lange and others some have been donated to churches for mission trips to Africa but we still have over 14,000 in storage in a warehouse being provided by CJM Financial.  

 

The club has now been contacted by a representative of Samaritan's Purse about our club donating some or all of the remaining calculators to their organization.  Samaritan's Purse is a nondenominational Christian organization that provides spiritual and physical aid to victims of war, natural disasters, disease, famine, poverty, and persecution in more than 100 countries.  They are headquartered in Boone North Carolina with affiliate offices in Canada, the United kingdom, Germany, and Australia as well as field offices in 16 developing countries.  Their President and CEO is Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham.  

 

Samaritan's Purse has a project, Operation Christmas Child, that collects gift wrapped shoeboxes filled with gifts such as school supplies, hygiene items, and fun toys and delivers them to children in need around the world.  For many of these children the gift filled shoebox is the first gift they have ever received.  We believe a small solar powered calculator will make a great addition to the gifts in the shoeboxes.  At their September meeting, the Board for the Rotary Club of Ankeny agreed to donate all remaining calculators to this project.  A local volunteer from Operation Christmas Child will be the speaker at our noon meeting on September 25th to provide us with more information regarding this project.

During the meeting on September 4th, President Ben Digmann named Carmen Davis the "Rotarian of the Month" for September.  This was in recognition of her coordinating the volunteers for the parade set up at Summerfest.

The Rotary Foundation has a unique funding cycle that utilizes contributions for programs three years after they are received.  The three-year cycle gives districts time for program planning and participant selection, and allows The Rotary Foundation to invest the contributions.  The earnings from those investments help pay the Foundation's administration, program operations, and fund development costs.  At the end of the three year period - say in 2021-22, 1/2 of district's contribution made in Rotary year 2018-19 is returned to the district for district projects while the other half is placed in the World Fund which is used to match project expenses and support the fight to eradicate polio.

 

This approach of using donations wisely has won a four star rating from Charity Navigator for many years.  Please consider supporting The Rotary Foundation now and get involved in planning future projects.  Thank you.

Members of the Evening Club, along with some guests, participated in the packaging of meals for Meals from the Heartland at HyVee Hall on August 30th.  A total of 21 cases, 756 meals were packed during their 2-hour shift.

About one year ago the Rotary Club of Ankeny agreed to participate with other Rotary Clubs in a Rotary Global Grant for the Blessman International.   The grant will fund a project called "Teach a Man to Fish".  A total of $10,000 was committed with $4,00 being disbursed last year and $2,000 disbursed this year and the next two years.  Dr. James Blessman, founder of Blessman International was the guest speaker at the noon meeting on August 28th and provided an update on this project and other activities of Blessman Ministries in South Africa.  He will also be the speaker for the evening club on September 25th.

Two new exchange student from Kopan, Mexico arrived in Ankeny on August 15th and attended their first Rotary meeting on August 21st.  They are Jesus Esteban Rojas and Sorio Portillo Haaks.