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November Rotarian Birthdays

The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in November:

3rd - Steve Wieneke

4th - Nate Burnham

11th - Laura Luetje

12th - Jim Foreman

21st - Lowell Vine

25th - Jan Franck

25th - Del Mohler

26th - Kathy Sibbel

Donation Completed to Ankeny Library

Five representatives from the Ankeny Library were in attendance at the noon meeting of the Rotary Club of Ankeny to accept a check in the amount of $5,220. This check represents the proceeds form a District 6000 Community Service Grant I the amount of $2,610 and an equal match from the Club. These funds will be used to purchase a virtual reality processor, a laptop cart, with five laptop computers for use in classrooms for children as part of the Hatch Program. The Hatch Program is a library program for students to utilize the library for various education uses such as CAD drawings for redesigning buildings, bridges, digital sewing machines, creation of videos using a green screen, and other uses. Also, the equipment will allow after school hours use for students who are unable to access a computer or a network at home.

Terrace Elementary Receives Donation

For the pat three years the Evening Rotary Club of Ankeny has been presenting a certificate to each of their speakers stating that a book will be donated to the Terrace Elementary Library in their name as a thank you for them having presented to the club. Sheryl Dales a Digital Learning Teacher at Terrace Elementary attend the meeting on October 2nd and accepted a check from the club in the amount of $350. This will enable the club to continue donating a books in the name of speakers for approximately another year.

Eveninig Club Fills Boxes for Operation Christmas Child/

Heather Rowley, a central Iowa volunteer with Samaritan's Purse attended the Rotary meeting on the evening of October 16th at Wig & Pen. She talked to the club about a project called Operation Christmas Child. For the past 25 years, this project has been filling shoeboxes with gifts and delivering them to children in need around the world. After her presentation, the Rotarians and guests present filled 40 boxes with items that had been donated including, hygene items, toys, pencils, calculators, stuffed animals, cayons, note pads and more. Also, pictures of those filling the boxes were taken and attached to a Christmas card that was placed in the box. Our two exchange students from Mexico, Sofia Marales and Jesus Esteban and two of last year's RYLA students, Aaron Haung, and Benton Renaud also helped fill the boxes.

Rotary Invoices Forwarded Oct. 5th

The invoices for the Second quarter of the Rotary year, October through December, were forwarded on October 5th by email to each member. Let Jim Ramsey know if you did not receive your invoice. We know some invoices find their way to spam folders. If you find yours in your Spam folder, try adding jramsey.bank-northwest.com@clubrunner.email to your contact list.

Prompt payment of your invoice allows the club to stay on budget and reduces the number of follow-ups necessary by our treasurer and secretary. Remember, payment of your invoice is due by October 26, 2018!

Friday Morning Coffee

The Club's monthly Friday morning coffees are held on the third Friday of each month at 7:30 AM at Wig & Pen, 1005, South Ankeny Blvd. The coffee for October will be on Friday, October 19th. All members are welcome and it counts as a make up!

Chuck Long Speaks to Rotarians

Former Iowa Hawkeye quarterback Chuck Long was the guest speaker at the noon Rotary Club of Ankeny on October 9th. 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 highlighted some of the stories contained in his recently published biography “Destined for Greatness – The Story of Chuck Long and Resurgence of Iowa Hawkeyes Football” including 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. The book 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. Also in attendance was the author of the book, Aaron Putze, a visiting Rotarian form Waukee.

Chuck and Aaron brought several books which were purchased by members and guests and autographed for Chuck. He also autographed a Hawkeye football which along with an autographed book will be sold at the club's 2019 fundraiser on April 13th.

Proposed New Members

The Board has approved a request from Lincoln Savings Bank to add three new "Secondary Designees" to their corporate membership in the Rotary Club of Ankeny. Doug Parker will continue to be the "Primary Designee. The new members will be: Tracy Frette, Mortgage Lender; Laura Brassell, Branch Manager; and Nick Andriano, Portfolio Manager.

Comments regarding these proposed memberships may be submitted to any Board member.

Welcome New Member Laura Meeker

Laura Meeker, with the University of Iowa Community Credit Union was inducted into the Rotary Club of Ankeny on October 9th. She was a member of the Rotary Club of West Des Moines and is transferring her membership now that the UICCU has opened their new office in Ankeny. Welcome Laura!

Rotary Christmas Social To Be December 8th

The 2018 Christmas Social for the Rotary Club of Ankeny will be held on Saturday, December 8th at The Fletcher Full Service Restaurant & Bar. The evening will begin at 5:30 PM with a social hour followed by dinner at 6:30.

Rotary Foundation Minute

In 2017, the majority of The Rotary Foundation's global grants were awarded to clubs and districts outside the United States; however many of our districts have recognized immediate needs within our own country working within the grant process:

1. A health service center was created in Salinas, California to assist homeless residents in their community and helped them obtain references to healthcare professionals.

2. In Greensboro, Alabama, Rotary provided financial literacy and small business development trainings for at risk youth.

3. Rotary provided a social skill program targeting unemployed and underemployed residents of West Coconut Grove, a Bahamian founded community in Miami, Florida.

4. It equipped a mobile vision unit to serve patients in a region of rural Appalachia.

5. And in Up State New York, it developed a grant to address the severe epidemic of opioid/heroin abuse.

Your generous donations to the Rotary Foundation enable this to happen!

Ankeny Rotary Ring Day

The Rotary Club of Ankeny will be ringing the bell for our local Salvation Army again this holiday season. We will be ringing bells on Saturday, December 8^td at the North Ankeny Hy-Vee, 410 N. Ankeny Blvd from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Ideally, we would like two people to sign up for each two hour shift. A sign up sheet will be available soon. You can sign up your spouse, child, co-worker, or a friend to work with you. Call Anne Porter at 515-571-4213 with questions.

October Rotary Board Meeting

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

When: Thursday, October 11th
Time: 12:00 PM
Where: Wig N Pen, 2005 South Ankeny Blvd.

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

October Rotarian Birthdays

The following Ankeny Rotarians will celebrate birthdays in October:

1st - Eric Pasanchin

4th - Kraig Vry

5th - Mary Cochran

16th - Art Moeller

16th - Abbi Rickelman

20th - Kristofer Orth

24th - Shar Dunlap

24th - Cameron Fitzgerald

27th - Mark Densmore

16,000 Calculators to Operation Christmas Child

All of the club's remaining calculators have been donated to Samaritan's Purse to be used in their Operation Christmas Child project. A calculator will be placed in each shoebox to be distributed this Christmas. The final count was 16,000 calculators that were picked up last week by Heather Rowley, a volunteer with Operation Christmas Child. The following thank you note has been received from Heather:

Dear Ankeny Rotary Club Members,

Thank you so very much for the wonderful donation of solar calculators and for the opportunity for me to share my heart for Operation Christmas Child with you. Calculators are cherished and valuable as part of the Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. May God bless you and thank you.

Thank You From Operation Warm

The following thank you was received from "Operation Warm" in response to the club's donation of $1,512 to purchase winter coats to be distributed by Project Fresh Start.

Genuine joy at the sight of bright, warm coats piled on cafeteria tables. Stunned surprise that you get to choose your own to take home. Smiles that are contagious. Walking through the halls of school, sitting on the bus or playing at the playground all become different experiences when a child has a new coat on. Thanks to the Rotary Club of Ankeny's support of $1,512 to Operation Warm, moments like this happen, and begin a new story about expression, confidence and generosity!

Our clothes can show the world what we like, who we think we are, and where we belong. Partners like you give kids the chance to pick out their favorite color and style, and leave with what could be their first piece of brand new clothing. You give them something to wear that makes them feel great and sends a message that they are worth it. Giving an Operation Warm coat is giving a tangible token of empowerment. Committed partners like the Rotary Club of Ankeny make it possible to give children a gift of warmth. Thank you for giving children not only warmth for the winter, but hope and happiness, and warmth to last a lifetime.

New Paul Harris Fellows Recognized

At the regular meeting on September 25th, Foundation Chair Steve SchraderBachar recognized Mark Densmore, Jody Savage, Renee Murphy, and Kent Patterson for becoming new Paul Harris Fellows. Mark Martin was also recognized for becoming a Paul Harris Fellow plus 2.

Invite Santa to Your Holiday Party

Would you like Santa and Mrs. Claus to attend your family or business Holiday party? Gary Welch is now reserving dates for Santa Claus to make guest appearances. If you would like to reserve a date, send Gary an email, at gwelch3002@msn.com or call him at (515) 419-3707.

Golf Ball Proceeds Donated to Ankeny Service Canter

On behalf of the Ankeny Service Center, Tom Friedman accepted a check from the Rotary Club of Ankeny in the amount $3,278.71. This represented 60% of the net proceeds from the golf ball drop held this summer at Ankeny's Summerfest. Thank you to Tom for his leadership in conducting the golf ball drop.

Proposed New Member - Laura Meeker

The Board has approved an application for membership to the Rotary Club of Ankeny from Laura Meeker. Laura is currently a member of the Rotary Club of West Des Moines and would like to transfer her membership to Ankeny. She is the Regional Branch Manager for the University of Iowa Community Credit that recently opened in Ankeny at 2610 SW White Birch Rd.

Comments regarding Laura's proposed membership may be forwarded to any Board Member.

Rotary Club of Ankeny

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