Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch News 2.2.23

ROTARY CLUB OF LAKEWOOD RANCH NEWS

2022-23 Leadership

RI President Jennifer Jones

District 6960 Governor Neil Snyder

Club President Carmen Spagnola

THIS WEEK

Ramona Jubar Schaefer has been with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office for 29 years She has implemented numerous social service and criminal justice grants during her time there She is Program Services Supervisor within DDC and oversees a variety of programming for approximately 2,900 inmates at the Pinellas County Jail in Clearwater and is responsible for programming at the agency's homeless shelter, Pinellas Safe Harbor. Ramona also is the vice chair of the Florida Crisis Response Team. A graduate of both the University of Florida and Springfield College, she lives in Parrish with her husband and 11-year-old on. Fun fact: Ramona participated in a Rotary Group Study Exchange to the United Kingdom.

LAST WEEK

Isn't it amazing how fast the 2022-23 Rotary year seems to be progressing? It's six months in, and club President Carmen Spagnola gave his Mid-Year Report. The consensus is that the club is in great financial shape. We lost five of our members, but gained 10 and we continue to concentrate on Rotary's Avenues of Service. There are any things for us to celebrate, but there is more work to be done and fun to be had before July 1.

FEB. 2

AT LAKEWOOD RANCH COUNTRY CLUB RAMONA SCHAEFER FLORIDA CRISIS RESPONSE TEAM

FEB. 9

AT LAKEWOOD RANCH COUNTRY CLUB PREVIEW OF OUR CLUB'S SUNCOAST WALK FOR WATER

FEB. 16

AT LAKEWOOD RANCH COUNTRY CLUB JOAN FREY HUMAN TRAFFICKING

FEB. 23

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

MARCH 2 AT VENUE TO BE ANNOUNCED GERARD SOLA, DISTRICT 6950 MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN

Carmen Spagnola

Ramona Jubar Schaefer

CALENDAR

Feb. 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 Jan. 30 with Lang Wooddy at lang66@comcast.net.

Feb. 4: Help label books for Books For Kids at 10 a.m. in the Annex behind City Hall, 600 Eighth Ave. W., Palmetto.

RSVP to JoAnn Shakon at jc.shakon@gmail.com

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. 23: Save the date for the club's annual Books For Kids luncheon.

Feb. 25: District 6960 Foundation Gala event in Venice; details and registration on DACdb; see Page 7.

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

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

March 25: Seventh annual Suncoast Walk for Water; details coming soon about the fundraiser for clean water and sanitation projects See Pages 3 an 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

AMAZON FUNDRAISING: Shop at smile amazon com and 0 5% of eligible purchases will be donated to the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch no fees, no extra cost Click here to select our club as your charitable organization and help us continue to do good! Donate soon; the program ends Feb. 20.

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

KNOW YOUR FOUNDATION

In our first segment, we learned about Paul Harris levels of giving, which are from $1,000 to $9,999. Segment 2 discussed Major Donor levels, which are from $10,000 to $249,999

Our Club is proud to have the following number of Major Donors:

--Major Donor Level 1: 13 members

--Major Donor Level 2: 2 members

--Major Donor Level 3: 1 member

The next level is the world of the Arch Klumph Society The Society was named after the sixth President of Rotary and recognizes The Rotary Foundation’s highest tier of donors

Membership in the Arch Klumph Society is lifelong Each member can have his or her portrait etched in glass and placed in the Arch Klumph Society Gallery, located on the 17th floor of Rotary International World Headquarters

Society members can choose to be inducted in one of several ways:

--at a multi-day ceremony at Rotary World Headquarters

--at a ceremony during a Rotary Institute function

--at a ceremony during the Rotary International Convention

Arch Klumph Society levels begin at $250,000 and progress for 6 levels of giving through $10 Million+. This is the highest level of personal giving in Rotary. Our Club is proud to have Judy Berlow and Stephen and Pam Schlueter, who are members of this illustrious group.

--Submitted by John Bodenburg, Foundation Chairman for the Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch

President Carmen Spagnola inducted Angelo Tramontelli, top middle, into our club on Jan. 26.His sponsor is Paul Ryden, top right, who he met at our club's Suncoast Food & Wine Fest. His mentor wLang Wooddy, top left. Angelo's Classification is Financial Advisor. He works at Wells Fargo Advisors in Sarasota as a Senior Vice PresidentInvestment Officer. He enjoys sports and is a former wrestler for Cornell University. Welcome to the club, Angelo!

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 email him 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 For details about the team, click here

Scenes from the sunset beach party

Another great sunset social

All had a wonderful time watching the sunset on Siesta Key Beach on Saturday, Jan 28 Member Karin McLoughlin and her husband, Hermann Boettcher, and member Paul Hoenle and his wife, Ursula Heitmann, and our club's Social Committee invited Rotarians and guests to Karin's home on Siesta Key

Thank you for your hospitality

See more event photos provided by hostess Karin, shown above, and Bill Porter by clicking here

Scenes from the sunset beach party

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 can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it is shining brightly The final punch list for the interior of Unit 63, Our Next Mission's current project at Pescara Lakes in Bradenton, is being completed, and the exterior has been wrapped with vinyl A game plan to install the carport has been finalized It's been a tremendous job by all Rotarians Terry Byce and Russ Sexton worked several days this past week

We are working from 7:30 to 11:30 a m Monday, Tuesday and Thursday the week of Jan 30 at Pescara Lake, 570 57th Ave W , Bradenton We will be finishing the carport, putting new screens in the Florida room and doing the touchup of any loose ends

The candidate for this unit is an 82-year-old veteran who uses a motorized wheelchair to improve his mobility If he is approved by the park for occupancy, we will install a handicap ramp that we are repurposing from a park next to Pescara Lakes The hallways, doors and bathroom were already built for occupants who need accommodations

We need help identifying prospective veterans for the refurbished homes A candidate is an “at-risk” veteran – over 55, honorable discharge, possibly disabled, struggling to find a home, low-income limited family support – who has at least an annual income of $25K-$35K per year with a good credit score

background check for the lease and ONM verifies their veterans status Unit 63 will be finished by Feb 1 and ready for an occupant 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

if you are interested in this learning opportunity, click here to learn more and register.

Please note that this is a different program than the Rotary Leadership Institute offered by our District 6960.