Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch News 2.16.23

ROTARY CLUB OF LAKEWOOD RANCH NEWS

FEB. 16, 2023

2022-23 Leadership

RI President Jennifer Jones

District 6960 Governor Neil Snyder

Club President Carmen Spagnola

THIS WEEK

Club member Joan Frey and President-Elect

Sybil Porter will address human trafficking issues in a quest to make people aware of its extent here Florida is among the top 10 states for trafficking If you see something, say something They will share where you can find accurate information Joan Frey

Password: 907278

LAST WEEK

Suncoast Walk for Water Committee Chair Steve Gottlieb and committee members talked about the club's seventh annual event, which will be March 25. We depend on the money raised to help fund international water and sanitation projects. Ron Myers updated us on some of the projects in Peru. See Pages 7 to 9 for more information.

FEB. 16

AT LAKEWOOD RANCH COUNTRY CLUB JOAN FREY AND SYBIL PORTER HUMAN TRAFFICKING

FEB. 23

AT LAKEWOOD RANCH COUNTRY CLUB BOOKS FOR KIDS' ANNUAL APPRECIATION LUNCHEON

MARCH 2

AT MANATEE TECHNICAL COLLEGE, 6305 STATE ROAD 70 E , BRADENTON SPEAKER TBD

MARCH 9

AT LAKEWOOD RANCH COUNTRY CLUB JENNIFER ORSI, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, SARASOTA HERALDTRIBUNE/FLORIDA-GEORGIA REGIONAL EDITOR, GANNETT

MARCH 16

AT LAKEWOOD RANCH COUNTRY CLUB

JULIE POULIN, BOYS AND GIRLS

CLUBS' YOUTH OF THE YEAR

CHECK US OUT!

Sybil Porter

CALENDAR

Feb. 17: Bradenton Rotary Comedy Night, 7 p m at Manatee Performing Arts Center with comedians Joe Divito and Gid Pool Tickets are $60 by calling 941-7485875 Proceeds go to Rotary projects

Feb. 19: Sarasota Sunrise club poker tournament fundraiser at 4:30 p m at One Eyed Jacks Poker Room, Sarasota Tickets are $115; for details, click here

Feb. 22: Club board meeting, 6 p m at the River Club at Waterlefe, 995 Fish Hook Cove, Bradenton; meetings are the last Wednesday of each month Info: President Carmen Spagnola at carmenspag1@gmail com

Feb. 25: District 6960 Foundation Gala event in Venice; details and registration on DACdb; see Page 6

March 1: Wine Down Wednesday social at 5:30 p m the first Wednesday of each month at McGrath's Irish Ale House, on Lakewood Main Street RSVP by Feb 27 with Lang Wooddy at lang66@comcast net

March 9-12: District 6960 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards; details to come

March 18 and May 13: 8:30 a m to 4 p m Rotary Leadership Institute Parts 1, 2 and 3 plus GraduateLevel sessions in northern and southern district locations; registration info on DACdb.

March 25: Seventh annual Suncoast Walk for Water, our club's fundraiser for clean water and sanitation projects. See Pages 7 to 9 for details.

March 30: Save the date for our club's annual Suncoast Food & Wine Fest grants award luncheon.

April 22: District Assembly and Master Class University; details to come.

May 27-31: Rotary International Convention, Melbourne, Australia; details to come.

June 16-17: Save the dates for the District 6960 Conference at Hyatt Regency Coconut Point, Estero; details to come.

PLAN TO ATTEND BOOKS FOR KIDS' APPRECIATION LUNCHONE

The annual luncheon during which Books For Kids thanks its volunteers will be Feb. 23. Because we will have extra guests, Rotarians are asked to arrive at 11:30 a.m.

NEED HELP WITH DACDB? Anyone who needs help using DACdb for various functions, especially when registering for meetings and events, can contact club member Christi Womack Villalobos for a tutorial Learn now how to also update your profile and see what is happening throughout District 6960

ORDER A LICENSE PLATE; YOU'LL SUPPORT ROTARY YOUTH PROGRAMS!

Pre-order your Florida Rotary license plate at FloridaRotaryTag com or by clicking here For each order, $25 goes toward Rotary youth programs

MEMBER CELEBRATIONS

BIRTHDAYS

Ron Myers 2/4

Paul Hoenle 2/7

Steve Briggs 2/10

Julie Poulin 2/13

Chris Fils 2/14

Donna Layrisse 2/17

Mark Midyett 2/21

Andy Sandhu 2/24

WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES

Karen McLoughlin and Hermann

"Hans" Boettcher 2/6

Carey and Eric Leichter 2/14

Gary and Kelly Houseworth 2/18

Susan and Adam Courter 2/27

CLUB ANNIVERSARIES

Judy Berlow 2/2/12

Andy Sandhu 2/3/22

25 previous years in Rotary

Jerry Long 2/9/17

Joan Frey 2/17/22

18 previous years in Rotary

Pres Olinger 2/24/04

Who's up for a fun baseball game?

Club member Russ Sexton is organizing a club social to go see the Bradenton Marauders play baseball vs. the Daytona Tortugas. Please sign up during an upcoming club meeting or contact him at drsexton45@gmail.com or 941-773-7280; RSVPs are due before April 1. The Marauders. based in Bradenton, are the Minor League Baseball team that is part of the PIttsburgh Pirates organization. The Tortugas are affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds. Tickets include admission, food and drinks; you will pick them up at the will call window. Gates open at 5:30 p.m., food (hamburgers, hot dogs, mac 'n' cheese, sodas and water) will be served at 6 p.m. and the first pitch is at 6:30 p.m. We will be in a private area of the ballpark. For details about the team, click here.

Are you familiar with our club's Small Group Meals Program?

Our club offers an ongoing way to get to know other Rotarians in a meaningful way and include spouses or partners so they can also appreciate the value of being involved in Rotary A sign-up sheet to be a host, guest or both will be distributed at our club meetings

As a host, you decide how many guests (four to six is common) for any type of meal that fits your entertaining style Suggested guidelines for a Small Group Meal and a guest invitation template will be sent to all hosts As a guest, you give the host $25 per person or a check made out to the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch This money goes into our club’s discretionary fund If you have questions please contact Dorothy Bodenburg, Small Group Meals coordinator, at 941-714-0971 or Dorothy@Bodenburg com

VOLUNTEER TO HELP RENOVATE HOMES TO GIVE TO DESERVING VETERANS

We are down to the final touches on Unit 63 in Pescara Lake. All that remains is painting the carport and Florida room floors, and the interior walls of the Florida room.

It's pretty impressive to see the transformation of this 50-year old mobile home that was severely damaged by Hurricane Ian into a safe and reliable home for an at-risk veteran. All of the thanks goes to the volunteers who devoted their sweat and sometimes tears to making this happen. If you know of a veteran over 55 who is looking for a home, let us know. Our current applicant is struggling to meet the requirements of paying the monthly ground rent/fees of $900/$1,000.

We have also committed to replace the carport for a veteran in the park next week a few doors from Unit 63.

Rotarians Terry Byce and Russ Sexton worked several days this past week, adding to over 160 of volunteer labor from our club on this project. This week, we are working from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday the week of Feb 13 at Pescara Lake, 570 57th Ave W , Bradenton We will finish installing the carport, gutters, and roof trim, as well as the Florida room

We need help identifying prospective veterans for the

refurbished homes. A candidate is an “at-risk” veteran who has at least an annual income of $25K-$35K per year with a good credit score. The park does the background check and Our Next Mission verifies their veterans status. We also have a unit in Colony Cove in Ellenton that could be ready as early as March 1 and we have a third unit near Pescara Lakes west of U.S. 41.

Check with your friends, neighbors and work associates to see if anyone meets the criteria. If you have a candidate, let me know and ONM will interview him or her.

Thanks (and looking forward to seeing you at the work site),

Terry Byce

Rotay Club of Lakewood Ranch Veterans Committee

Home: 941 351 0092

Cell: 703 627 7765

Email: terry byce@verizon net

Work is nearly complete on the exterior and interior of another one of Our Next Mission's newly renovated, move-in ready mobile homes in Pescara Lake

Learn more about our water projects

A few of our hard-working members on the Clean Water and Sanitation Committee took time at the Feb 9 meeting to help promote activities, especially Walk for Water on March 25 Pictured, from left, are: Susan Courter, Alyssa Cromie, Ron Myers, Anne Ross, Russ Sexton, John Freeman, Marie Thompson and Chairman Steve Gottlieb.

John Freeman and Anne Ross are shown in Peru during a 2018 visit to check on progress of one of our water projects.

Club members