Service Projects and Service Above Self Donations

Fellow Rotarian,

 

The Lincoln South Rotary Board has done an extensive review of our budget for the 2020 – 21 fiscal year.  In doing so, we also identified five projects that we included in the budget.  These projects are only identified as potential efforts by our club and are far from fully developed and supported projects.  These “Service Above Self” projects are:

 

The support of awarding three high school graduating seniors with scholarships has been a long-standing tradition at Lincoln South Rotary.  The board discussed the long-term impact of scholarships on the future of our club and Rotary in general.  The board felt that this effort needs to continue to be supported and potentially expanded.  Therefore, we included $5,000 in the budget to allow potential expansion of our scholarships to a well vetted college junior.  We would award a $1,000 scholarship during his/her junior year and also $1,000 during her/his senior year.  There are many details to be worked out and our Scholarship Committee lead by Audrey Richert is working through the details.

 

Lincoln South Rotary has a great history of helping those who need food assistance.  We have done this through our holiday Food Bank donation and Meals on Wheels, just to name a couple.  In this time of separation because of COVID-19, we are looking for new ways to help feed an increasing number of people in need in our community.  We included $1,000 in the budget to address this effort.  We will be looking for some members of our club to examine how to carry out this goal through both direct cash donation and through other ways such as volunteer efforts.

 

Last year we had a presentation about an apartment project behind the old Veterans Hospital for homeless veterans.  The Director spoke about a pantry that they have where veterans can go and get a variety of necessities.  She told us that they always need supplies to fill the pantry.  The board included $500 in the budget to support this project.  Jim O’Hanlon has agreed to lead an effort to determine what is needed by Heroes Into Homes that could be addressed by Lincoln South Rotary.  If you are interested in helping with this project, please reach out to Jim O’Hanlon (402.310.1648, 27ohanlonj@gmail.com),  Thank you, Jim!

 

When Kay Wunderlich was President and Tom Cardwell was District Governor our club planted a tree at a new house built by Habitat for Humanity.  It was a great project and was so well received by the new homeowners.  The board supports the renewal of this project and expansion to include more homes built by Habitat for Humanity.  This project will give us all a chance to get out with each other in a low risk environment, get our hands on some tools, and do something good.  We included $1,500 in our budget for this effort.  We will be counting on support from our club to make this happen.

 

After listening to President Darrin Good and his affinity toward Rotary, the board thought we should investigate the opportunity to start another Rotaract Club in Lincoln.  The University of Nebraska Rotaract Club is a joint effort between Downtown Rotary and Lincoln South Rotary.  If started, the Wesleyan Rotaract Club would be sponsored only by Lincoln South.  The board will be working to form a committee to research the possibility of starting a Rotaract Club at Wesleyan.  The board has included $500 in our budget to support this effort.

 

 

You may question whether this is the time to launch into all of these projects.  The answer is simple.   We are not a social club, we are a service club.  Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have not had the opportunity to serve our community beyond the faithful Rotarians who deliver Meals on Wheels each week.  We need projects that will meet the needs of the community and our need to serve. 

 

Remember “Service above Self” is not a slogan but a call to action. 

 

The budgeted dollars for these projects is $8,500.  Our budget for 2020 -21 has a shortfall of $4,630 because our expected revenues are lower due to the slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.  In the past we had opportunities to raise money for our projects through fund-raising activities, which are not available to us this year. 

 

The typical Lincoln South Rotarian, on average, spends $30 when we have our annual nut sales, $100 on raffle tickets for the Grocery Grab, $100 donation to the Food Bank at our annual Christmas luncheon, and if you attend Rotary meetings 50% of the time you will spend $315 for lunch.   This is a total of $545 per year above our dues, donations to the Rotary International Foundation, Happy Dollars, and donations to the Lincoln South Rotary Foundation. 

 

The shortfall of $4,630 amounts to just less than $90 per Rotarian.  If we can raise on average this $90 per-person, we can fund all the projects mentioned above. 

 

To this end, please consider a donation to our Club’s “Service Above Self Projects.”  We know that not everyone can contribute $90 and not everyone will participate.  But for those who are blessed, we ask you to consider a larger donation of at least $200; for others please contribute $90; and for those of us who do not have the financial resources, please contribute what you can.

 

 

 

Dave Dietz

Lincoln South Rotary Club President 2020-21

402-209-1292