Rotary Club of Lakewood Ranch News 2.9.23

ROTARY CLUB OF LAKEWOOD RANCH NEWS

FEB. 9, 2023

2022-23 Leadership

RI President Jennifer Jones

District 6960 Governor Neil Snyder Club President Carmen Spagnola

THIS WE

Suncoast Walk for Water Committee Chair Steve Gottlieb will talk about the club's 7th annual event. We depend on the money raised to help fund international water and sanitation projects. Ron Myers will give an update on some of these projects. Don't miss this important program to learn how you can help. See Pages 7-8 for details.

LAST WEEK

Ramona Jubar Schaefer

Ramona Jubar Schaefer has been with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office for 29 years. She is Program Services Supervisor within DDC and oversees programming for 2,900 inmates at the Pinellas County Jail and is responsible for programming at the agency's homeless shelter, Pinellas Safe Harbor. She also is the vice chair of the Florida Crisis Response Team, which sends volunteers all over the country to help victims of violence, natural disasters and more. Ramona lives in Parrish with her husband and 11-year-old son.

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 MANATEE TECHNICAL COLLEGE, 6305 STATE ROAD 70 E , BRADENTON GERARD SOLA, DISTRICT 6950 MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN

MARCH 9

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

CHECK US OUT!

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. 23: Save the date for the club's annual Books For Kids luncheon; arrive at 11:30 a m for the special event

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

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; 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.

June 16-17: Save the dates for the District 6960 Conference at Hyatt Regency Coconut Point, Estero; 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! Please 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

Club Foundation Chairman John Bodenburg, left, presented member David Sluzevich with his first Paul Harris Fellow award at the Feb 2 meeting Thank you, David, for your continued support of The Rotary Foundation David was a Rotarians for 22 years elsewhere before joining our club in April 2020

Club member Abdul Gaffar passed away unexpectedly Feb. 2. He is shown here at a Nov. 3 club meeting, where he and his wife, Maria, received Paul Harris Fellow awards They joined our club Sept 12, 2019 Please read Abdul's obituary by clicking here A celebration of his accomplished life will be in March

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

Good news! Except for the Florida room, the interior of Unit 63 is complete Special thanks to the "angel" who made arrangements to have the interior professionally cleaned and detailed

We hope our applicant will be approved early next week for occupancy This applicant said the gift of this mobile home is the best thing that's ever happened to him He is an 82-year-old veteran who uses a motorized wheelchair 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

This is why we do what we do! None of this would be possible without the individual and collective contributions of all

Rotarians Terry Byce and Russ Sexton worked several days this past week This 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 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