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Each year the Iowa Parks and Recreation Association recognizes one service club in Iowa with a "Service Club Award". The Rotary Club of Ankeny was honored on March 27th as the 2019 recipient. This was in recognition of the numerous service projects the club conducts each year including selling root beer floats to aid Special Olympics, conducting the golf ball drop to aid the Ankeny Service Center, coordinating the setup of the Summerfest parade, assisting with Ankeny Clean Up Days and several other fundraisers and service projects. The most noteworthy was the leadership the club provided in the fundraising, design, and construction of the Ankeny Market Pavilion. Nick Lenox and Ryan Harkema represented the Ankeny Parks & Recreation department and Dave Mercer, Doug Beech, and Terry Peter represented the Rotary Club of Ankeny at the awards ceremony.

Jack Pennington Named Paul Harris Fellow

Jack Pennington became the newest Paul Harris Fellow in the Rotary Club of Ankeny one April 2, 2019 when the club's Foundation Chairman, Steve SchraderBachar, presented him with a pin and certificate. This signifies that contributions to the Foundation in his name of both recognition points and dollars now exceed 1,000. Congratulations Jack!!

Juan Arias Completes Leadership #3

Juan Arias attended the Leadership training

Rotary Foundation Minute

The lack of access to clean water, sanitation facilities, and hygiene resources is one of the world’s biggest health problems – and one of the hardest to solve. Rotary has worked for decades to provide people with clean water by digging wells, laying pipes, providing filters, and installing sinks and toilets. But the biggest challenge has come after the hardware is installed. Too often, projects succeeded at first but eventually failed. Rusted water pumps and dilapidated sanitation facilities are familiar sights in parts of Africa, South America, and South Asia – monuments to service projects that proved UNSUSTAINABLE. That is why Rotary has shifted its focus over the past several years to emphasize education, collaboration and sustainability. Now TRF requires clubs and districts that apply for grants in other countries to show that local residents have developed a project plan that includes sustainability. In doing so, projects are successful.

Your contribution to TRF enables this to happen. Giving to the Foundation is easy – just go to rotary.org/donate, Thank you.

Steve Van Oort - April Rotarian of Month

Polk County Superviser, Steve Van Oort, was instrumental in obtaining a $5,000 sponsorship from Polk County for the club's fundraiser, "Raise the Stakes for Community". Steve also obtained several auction items including: A Backyard Dinner to Remember with Simon Estes, Dinner for Four with Van Harden, Behind the Scenes with Van & Bonnie, Do it Yourself Experience, and the Principal Charity Classic Golf Package. He also purchased a Double Diamond Table Sponsorship and donated it to "100 Women Who Care - Ankeny" and assisted with producing the videos used the night of the fundraiser. This resulted in over $9,000 being generated for the club. In recognition of his efforts and contribution to the success of the fundraiser, President Digmann named Steve the "Rotarian of the Month for April".

May Rotarian Birthdays

The following Ankeny Rotarians will be celebrating birthdays in May:

1st - Cory Johnson

12th - Damon Miller

13th - Kurt Backes

19th - Rick Andriano

26th - Jon Lowman

May Rotary Board Meeting

The May board meeting for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be:

When: Thursday, May 9th
Time: 12:00 PM
Where: Wig N Pen, 2005 South Ankeny Blvd.

All members are welcome and it counts as a make-up!

Root Beer Float Sales May 25th

Once again this year, the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be making and selling root beer floats at both Ankeny HyVees on Saturday May 25th to benefit Special Olympics. A sign up sheet to work the booth will be available the next couple weeks. Contact Tom Friedman with any questions.

Annual Meeting and Awards - June 25th

The 2019 annual meeting and awards banquet for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be held on Tuesday evening , June 25th. There will not be any golf this year. There will be a social hour beginning at 5:30 with dinner to follow at 6:30. The charge will be $15 per person,including guests, with the club paying the balance. The meeting will begin at approximately 7:00 PM and will include some Paul Harris presentations, perfect attendance awards, the naming of the "New Member of the Year" and "Rotarian of the Year" as well as the passing of the gavel to next year's president. Plan to attend and celebrate all the accomplishments of the club during the past year.

District 6000 Conference - May 2-4

The 2019 District 6000 Conference will be held at the Sheraton West Des Moines from Thursday, May 2 through Saturday May 4th. If you cannot attend the entire conference, you are encouraged to attend the Friday, May 3^rd luncheon and the club will pay the registration fee for your lunch. The tentative agenda for the Friday lunch includes the Flag Ceremony for the Rotary Youth Exchange students, a Rotary moment by a West Des Moines Valley Interact student, and the key note speaker, Suku Radia, former Banker's Trust CEO. Club awards including the "Guardian of Integrity Awards" will be presented later Friday afternoon.

Registration forms will be available at next week’s meeting or let Nate Burnham know if you are planning to attend.

Congratulations On a Great Fundraiser!!

The Rotary Club of Ankeny's 2019 fundraiser, "Raise the Stakes" for Community, not only broke every record for fundraisers, but we shattered them. This was all made possible due to the involvement of nearly every member for ticket sales, obtaining auction items and volunteering. Of course, this would not have been possible without the ideas, leadership and many hours of service by our co-chairs, Laura Luetje and Stacey Koeppen. We cannot thank them enough.

We hope everyone that attended “Raise the Stakes” this year had a good time and will want to return for a similar event next year. The date is set and the FFA Center has been reserved for April 18, 2020. Its not too early for you to “Save the Date” and to ask your guests to do the same. To keep the momentum going, the committee would ask each of you to send thankyous too your guests and anyone that you obtained an auction item from. The event was sold out with approximately 400 in attendance compared to about 200 last year.

There are still a couple final bills we are waiting on but here is an estimate of our final numbers compared to last year.

2019 2018

Total income $109,837 $43,168

Total Expenses 33,735 13,120

Net Income $76,102 $30,048

Paddle Raisers

Pinky Swear $11,910

ASC 4,950

FUEL 2,750

Total $19,635

Perhaps the best new of all is that Laura and Stacey have agreed to co-chair our 2020 fundraiser with the idea that it will be a similar event with casino or some form of gaming again.

Ankeny Clean Up Days - May 18-19

Ankeny Clean Up Days for 2019 will be Saturday, May 18th, from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM and Sunday, May 19th from noon to 4:00 PM. Members are encouraged to sign up for a two hour shift and wear their Rotary shirts. The City will provide donuts, water, and soft drinks. Members will be credited with a make up for each shift they work. Sign-up sheets will be available at the next several meetings. Contact Justin Carlton if you have any questions.

"Raise The Stakes" Fundraiser April 13, 2019

The Rotary Club of Ankeny's 2019 fundraiser, "Raise The Stakes" for Community Fundraiser will be held at the FFA Enrichment Center on the campus of DMACC in Ankeny on Saturday, April 13, 2019. Silent auction items may be viewed and bid on a week prior to the event by going to https://bidpartner.net/rotary/. They will also be on display and open for bidding until 7:45 PM the night of the event.

The evening will begin at 5:00 PM with appetizers and professional Las Vegas style gaming tables open for action. Everyone purchasing a ticket will received chips to play the games which will include Black Jack, Roulette, Craps, Poker, Three Card Poker and Let It Ride. The gaming tables will close at 7:45 PM. Complimentary wine and beer will be available throughout the evening and a buffet dinner will be available from 6:30 to 7:45 PM. The live auction will begin at 8:00 PM and will include, "Heads or Tails", desserts, paddle raisers, "100 for 100 Raffle", and Casino chip prize winners in addition to several live auction items.

Available sponsorships include:

Double Diamond Gaming Table Sponsorship including signage, event promo and a table for 8 guests - $750 (Limited number available)
Single Diamond Gaming Table Sponsorship including signage and two tickets - $250 (Limited number available)

Individual tickets are $60 each or reserve a table for 8 for $440. Tickets may be purchased from any Ankeny Rotarian or on line at https://bidpartner.net/rotary/.

Sofia Marales Speaks to Evening Club

Rotary exchange student Sofia Marales from Kopan, Mexico was the speaker at the evening meeting of the Rotary Club of Ankeny on March 26th. She made a nice presentation titled "Where My Heart Is". She showed her home town in Mexico, her family both back home and her new family in Ankeny, and the foods she enjoys.

"Raise the States" - April 13, 2019

Our 2019 fundraiser, "Raise the Stakes" will be Saturday night April 13th which is now only 12 days from today.

All auction items received to date have been entered onto the on-line bidding site. We have a few more pictures to take but should have the site activated so bidding can begin by Friday, April 5th. If you have committed to providing an auction item or need to provide a description or certificate for an item, please give it to Rich Job or Nate Burnham as soon as possible. We need to make sure all items are described correctly. Once we go live and bidding starts, we can not change it. We have some fantastic auction items including: Free LASIK eye surgery, 100th anniversary Green Bay Packer autographed football, box seats to the Twins, Cubs, Cardinals, and Royals, a baseball personally autographed by Mike Trout, a ride with an Ankeny police officer, dinner for 6 with Simon Estes, four tickets to watch an ISU football game from AD Jamie Pollard's balcony off the Jacobson building, and many more unusual items as well as many repeats form last year.

Ticket sales are going well but we know there are still several members that have not gone on line to purchase their tickets. Again, please do so as soon as possible. We will need to give our caterer a number early in the week of April 8th. To purchase tickets, go on line to https://bidpartner.net/rotary/. Individual ticket sales are $60 each or you can purchase a table of 8 for $440. Remember each Rotarian is responsible for two tickets. We hope everyone is planning to attend and will bring some guests. If not, you will be invoiced for two tickets.

A few more volunteers are needed. Contact Laura Leutje or Stacey Koeppen if you can help with set up at 9:00 AM at the FFA Center or the night of the event.

Evening Club Entertains at Penelope Park

The Evening Rotary Club of Ankeny completed a service project on March 19th by providing a fun evening for the senior citizens at Penelope Park. The group served punch and snacks and provided word games. They also played Jenga and Yatzee with the residents.

Board Approves Donation to Boy Scouts

During their meeting on March 14th the Board approved a donation request to the Mid-Iowa Council Boy Scouts of America in the amount of $1,250. This donation is in support of their 2019 Friends of Scouting campaign. The Rotary Club of Ankeny has been a supporter of Scouting since 2011.

Nick Testino is Officially Inducted

Andrew Testino, Cory Johnson and James Benda were inducted into the Rotary Club of Ankeny on December 4th. Unfortunately, the fourth designee for the company has had meetings on Tuesdays and has been unable to attend the noon meetings. Nick Testino now plans to attend the evening meetings and attended the meeting on March 19th. During the meeting, the Evening Club President, Steve Wieneke, officially inducted Nick into the club. Welcome Nick!

Juan Arias Completes RLI Part 3

Juan Arias recently transferred his Rotary membership from San Pedro Sula, Honduras to the Evening Rotary Club of Ankeny. While in Honduras, he had completed the first two parts of Rotary Leadership Institute classes. On March 23rd, he attended the RLI training in Mt Pleasant, Iowa and successfully completed Part 3. Congratulations Juan!

Rotary Foundation Minute

Clean water, sanitation, and hygiene education are basic necessities for a healthy environment and a productive life. When people have access to clean water and sanitation, waterborne diseases decrease, children stay healthier and attend school more regularly, and mothers can spend less time carrying water and more time helping their families. Through water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs, Rotarians mobilize resources, form partnerships, and invest in infrastructure and training that yield long-term change. Rotary has partnered with the US agency for International Development in Ghana, Madagascar, and Uganda to implement such programs. It has done the same in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, India, and Kenya. Since 2013, the Foundation has invested in more than 1,000 such programs in more than 100 countries.

2030 is the year Rotary hopes to finish providing everyone with safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. Your contribution to The Rotary Foundation enables this to happen. Thank you for your generosity.