On June 28, 2024 we celebrated Lincoln South Rotary Club Moving from the 2023-24 Rotary Year to 2024-25.
Mary took us through the year in pictures (link at the end of story) and shared stories. She thanked of the Club officers, Committee and Project chairs.
Projects and activities of the club for the year included the Dictionary Project and the Lincoln South Rotary Club Foundation Wine Tasting and Grant to Villa Marie. We also participated in the Salute to Business by the Rotary Clubs of Lincoln honoring Allo.
Mary pointed out that we were active at the District Conference including the presentation of the Golden Wheel Award to Elton Edmond, our Club 2022-23 recognition for our contributions to Polio Plus and also being No. 1 in the District in Foundation Per Capita giving. We also earned the Rotary Citation.
During the Holiday social, gifts were collected for donation to The Center for People.We had visitors brought to us through Friendship Force and students from UNL that asked about Rotary for a project to enhance our image.
Lincoln South Rotary Club has a tradition of strong support of The Rotary Foundation and we celebrated with many new Paul Harris Fellows, Paul Harris + Members, and Paul Harris Society Members.
Our District Grant Project was to No Footprint Too Small and the club granted funds to Our Biswas a nano-finance program.We had a number of articles in The Lincoln Journal Star about our club activities.
Our 40-Year Anniversary celebration was a great success and included 18 Past Presidents of the club as well as visitors from other Rotary Clubs.
For the 2nd year we provided a scholarship to a student at Brian Health. This was the result of a re-writing of our scholarship program to be more effective - have a bigger impact. The club even visited Brian Health for an off-site meeting and had the opportunity to see some of the latest tools for training nursing students.
We had a variety of speakers and learned about Education, Health and Healthcare, Government, Non-profit organizations, Civic institutions, Business and Arts. And, we learned a lot about hope and turtles with the weekly Hope Meditation and stories about turtles.
Rotarian of the Year was presented to Clay Ehlers. She pointed out his advice and support, representative to the Lincoln East High School Interact Club and streamlining technology.Mary thanked our service team:
Clay Ehlers
Tom Hyde
Bob Vrana
John Herdman
Stand-ins - Chan Tyrrell, Suni Kasibhatla, Srini Ampavati and Bobby Cunningham
She also thanked:
The Team at Venue especially Jay
DeEtta Vrana - her advisor on the Board
Suchitra Pattnaik - her work with Our Biswas and enduring the tech failure during her pesentation
Nicki Klein - club's executive secretary for her knowledge of the club and how to get things done
Scholarship Committee - worked to revise the scholarship program, working on a way to fund it through the Lincoln South Rotary Club Foundation, and to have a greater impact on our community. The members she recognized:
Chan Tyrrell
Joe Roberts
Audrey Richert
Matt Horak
Scott Delisi
Nikki Isemann
She passed the Presidency to Suni who presented Mary with a Past President Lapel Pin and Badge and a commemorative gavel. Suni received the President Pin.
Suni shared why she joined Rotary - what she believes in.
Service Above Self
Connect with other like-minded people
Make a positive impact locally and globally
Personal Growth
Connect with other like-minded people
Make a positive impact locally and globally
Personal Growth
She quoted Rotary's vision statement: Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.
She shared her thoughts about Martin Luther King, Jr. - “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope” suggesting in times of great difficulty or despair, there can emerge a foundation or opportunity for hope.
This year we created Hope in the World and in 2024-25 we will show the world the Magic of Rotary by taking more action and having more service projects.
Click here to view the power point slides.
Click here to view the photos taken during the meeting.