The Ankeny Club's 2026 fundraiser, "The Roaring 20s Charity Event" is now history. A survey has been sent to each club member, whether they attended or not, asking for comments, both positive and negative. Please return your completed survey to Nate Burnham at nfburnham@gmail.com prior to May 14th.Your Board will be making a decision on the future of these joint fundraisers at the May Board meeting, and we would like input from each member. Please return your survey while the event is still fresh in your mind. Thanks.
In our history, the Rotary Club of Ankeny has never had a repeat Club President. That will change in 2028-2029 when Todd Wehr becomes the Club's 52nd President. . Todd was the President in the 2020-2021 year, but had to deal with many challenges, and was cheated out of actually being able to lead the club in the way he wanted to due to COVID. He will now have that opportunity!!
In March 2020, Rotary meetings were cancelled for several weeks. Then the Club begin meeting by zoom for several more weeks. In person noon meetings finally began on June 23, 2020, just in time for Todd to take over the presidency. The meetings were also being zoomed so members that were not comfortable yet with in-person meetings could participate. Members that did attend in person were required to sit at least 10 feet apart. Attendance was significantly lower than pre-COVID. Then late in the year meetings and socials were cancelled again as COVID cases were increasing. In person meetings did not return until February, 2021. All board meetings were held by Zoom through May of 2021. The 2020 Christmas social was even held remotely on zoom. No fundraiser was held that year after first being postponed from April to October, 2020, and then finally postponed until October 2021.
Congratulations Todd and hopefully your second term as President will not have as many challenges, but will be exciting, fun, and productive!!
Mary Cochran was a member of the Rotary Club of Ankeny since 2005. Unfortunately, she passed away in October, 2025. At the 2026 District 6000 Annual Conference, she was recognized during the memorium ceremony with other Rotarians in District 6000 that had passed away during the past year. Her husband, Danny Cochran, was able to place a yellow rose in a vase in her name. She was then recognized as a recipient of the Paul E. Hellwege Guardian of Integrity award for 2026 along with 24 other district 6000 Rotarians. Danny accepted this award for her.
We are glad we were able to recognize Mary at the District Conference for all she meant to our club and to Rotary. We will truly miss her.
The Rotary Club of Ankeny's monthly board meetings are held on the 2nd Thursday of each month at noon at Wig & Penn, 2005 South Ankeny Boulevard. The May meeting will be on Thursday, May 14th all members are invited to attend, especially new members.
Not only is it a great way to learn more about Rotary and the projects your Club is involved in but it also counts as a makeup for attendance. Hope to see you there!!
The "2026 Annual Celebration and Recognition Banquet" for the Rotary Club of Ankeny, will be held on Tuesday, June 30th at the Ankeny Golf & Country Club. The evening will begin at 5:45 PM with a social hour including drinks and appetizers and the buffet line for dinner will open at 6:30. The program will begin at approximately 7:15 PM and will include "Perfect Attendance Awards", "Foundation Donor Recognition" the naming of the "Outstanding New Member of the Year" and"Rotarian of the Year"and the passing of the gavel to next year's president.
Plan to attend, bring your spouse or a guest, and celebrate all the accomplishments of the club during the past year. Registration will be available soon.
Many of the guests at the Club's "Roaring 20s" charity event were dressed in their best 20s attire. Jamie Silver and Susan Mitchel had the difficult task of picking pick the winners of the "Best Dressed Awards" but pick them they did. The winners were, "Best Dressed Doll" -Victoria Ogier, "Most dapper Guy" - Todd Wehr, and "Spiffiest Dressed Couple" - Nate and Annette Burnham.Also,Noel Fiscuswas the winner of the "Heads or Tails" contest.
The Ankeny Rotary Clubs, Noon and Evening, held their 14th major fundraiser, "Roaring 20s Charity Event", a decade of music and fashion, on Saturday evening, April 13th. It proved to be a very entertaining evening with good food, plenty of jazz music, and another very successful auction. Thanks to everyone that obtained auction items, bought and sold tickets, attended the event, bid on auction items, and volunteered to help at the event. It was truly a team effort.
A special thanks to the fundraiser co-chairs, Todd Eipperle and Steve Wieneke and to everyone that served on a committee especially Any Ratekin for the beautiful decorations and Tim Cox for acting as the MC for the evening. Most of the guests were dressed in typical "20s" attire including the ladies in fringe flapper dresses and feather headbands and men in their pinstripe gangster tweed suits and fedora hats. Congratulations to the winners of the best dressed guests, Victoria Ogier for being named the "Best Dressed Doll, Todd Wehr wonthe "Most Dapper Guy" in his bright yellow suit and Nate and Annette Burnham for winning the "Spiffiest Dressed Couple" award.
Preliminary numbers for the event show income was higher and expenses lower than last year. The numbers compared to last year are as follows:
20252026
Sponsorships & Tickets $42,975 $40,800
Silent Auction 18,810 14,380
Live Auction 22,475 25,575
Paddle Raiser 27,100 13,750
Heads/Tails Beads 1,150 760
Race Raffle 2,480 ---
50/50/Raffle --- 12,500
Whiskey Pull --- 2,500
Cash Donations 1,250 100
Total $115, 640 $110,365
Expenses $31,710$29,109
Net Income $87,931 $81,256
Less Paddle Raiser 13,550 ---
Less 50/50 payout --- 6.250
Net to Rotary $70,381 $75,006
The split between the two clubs will be approximately 72.4% to the Noon club -$54,304 and 27.6% to the Evening club - $20,702.
