Brent Lindell, Mike Franzen, Tim Muldowney & Gerry Ring at UW Foundation Luncheon
On June 20, members and guests participated in our 20th Annual Vocational Fellowship Luncheon Day. Instead of our regular meeting at the Inn on the Park, members enjoyed this opportunity to get to known one another better in a small group setting as they learned more about various members’ businesses.
Mike Knetter of UW Foundation with Rotarian Londa Dewey
The idea behind this luncheon dates back to the founding of the organization in 1905 when Paul Harris met with three friends to discuss an idea that he was developing. From this discussion came the concept of a business club to promote fellowship and, by rotating weekly meetings at their various places of business, become better acquainted with one another’s vocations. This practice of rotating meeting is how Rotary got its name.
Ken Monteleone of Fromagination
We thank the following hosts for their hospitality last week:
John Bonsett-Veal and Lin Rohr
Cathy Durham
We extend a special thanks to Rico Goedjen, chair of our Vocational Opportunities Committee and his committee for organizing this year’s Fellowship Luncheon Day.
The luncheon held at the Wisconsin Legislative Council warranted the following comments from two of our members:
“We enjoyed a tasty lunch and a very interesting, informative overview of the nonpartisan LRB by Sen. Joan Ballweg of Markesan. Afterwards, the group was treated to a climb to the topmost reaches of the Capitol, at the foot of lady Forward.” –Rick Kiley
Donna Beestman, Lynn Phelps and Philip Petrowski
“Terry–You literally took the site visit program to new heights. It was fantastic. Thank you for organizing this. I learned a lot from you and Joan and I will never look out my office window with the view of the Capitol the same way again. What a rare and wonderful treat to trot to the top (well, not exactly trot!)”
–Joan Collins
Paul Karch
Rick Kiley, John Faust and Nancy Young
Posted in 2. Meetings, 4. Fellowship Groups, History, Vocational Fellowship
Tagged Fellowship, Membership, Rotary Club of Madison
On Monday, June 4, it was picture-perfect weather for the Rotary Club of Madison Board of Directors year-end party held at the home of Karl and Mary Janet Wellensiek.
For this last board meeting of the Rotary year, spouses/significant others were also invited, and there were 45 people in attendance. The board meeting was shortened for this month to give members and guests an opportunity to enjoy some fellowship time together.
President Paul Riehemann gave special thanks to outgoing board members Juli Aulik, Ted Ballweg, Bryan Chan, Jim Christensen, Neil Fauerbach, Patty Franson, and Larry Zanoni as well as outgoing Sgt.-at-Arms Tim Stadelman. Thanks to these members for their service to Rotary!
Our Kitchen Committee served a picnic style meal with all the fixin’s in the beautiful backyard of the Wellensiek’s. A good time was had by all!
We extend our thanks to Karl and Mary Janet for hosting the group, to Kevin Hoffman and A to Z Rentall for supplying the tables and chairs, and to the Kitchen Committee for preparing another terrific meal.
Posted in 3. Committees, 5. Members, Board of Directors, History, Kitchen
Tagged Fellowship, Membership, Rotary Club of Madison
We arrived for the Business Meeting where we got to vote on the budget and other operational issues, before attending a very fun and inspiring lunch. We were addressed by a remarkable woman – Rotary International’s first female corporate officer and cancer sufferer, who was clearly in poor health, but spoke with confidence, energy and passion about the origins of the Four Way Test. She was to address us 4 more times before the conference ended. A display of resilience that we were all proud to witness!
Afternoon presentations on The Holocaust, the plight of children around the world and programs that help youth adopt and live by life-enhancing values made for a very informative and fast-paced afternoon. Inbound RYE students shared cultural insights about their country before supper. Our first Oktoberfest in June, was colorful and celebratory, as you can see …
It’s June 8th it must be Oktoberfeste!
Lots of connecting and re-connecting over dinner, made for lively breakfast meetings the next morning. After you dined with a District Governor clad in leiderhosen, it’s hard to stand on ceremony ever again! We celebrated gifts to the RI Foundation, and were in awe of the impact of RI dollars, and the creativity of clubs around the district who had doubled and quadrupled funds by leveraging Rotary and non-Rotary grants to expand their reach.
Mary Kessen shares the RI Foundation update.
Jerry Mcnellis tells us why Polio is one of the gifts of his life.
Rotary Club of Madison’s Honored Hero, Nelson Cummings
At lunch on Saturday we honored Rotarian’s, selected by their own clubs as Heroes. Here Nelson Cummings is greeted by Emily, a very bright RYE student who presented him with a certificate.
The afternoon flew by with programs on wellness, Rotaract, Interact and Rotary Youth Leadership Awards – the future of Rotary and the world seems to be in great hands if the young people who addressed us are the measure.
The faces of Rotary’s future. Pauline, Charlotte and Emy.
At dinner John Hewko and Betsy Demaray spoke about the importance of documenting Rotary’s true impact in the world, before the conference concluded with the (slightly early) installation of Rob Stroud as 2012-2013 District Governor.
Rob took the pin and then the stage, from where he invited Rotarian’s to assemble in Madison on May 31st and June 1st next year to celebrate 100 years of Rotary Service and Fellowship in WI, at Monona Terrace.
Paul and I headed out of LaCrosse at about 9;15 p.m. As we compared experiences on the journey home we realized that we each had new friends, new appreciation for the works and opportunities of Rotary, and an invigorated Rotary spirit to bring to our best efforts in the coming months. I am already excited for next year!
Posted in 2. Meetings, 8. Honors, a. Rotaract, District 6250 Conference, History, Youth Exchange
Tagged District 6250, Fellowship, Membership, New Members, Youth
Submitted by Rotarian Linda Baldwin
Who knows networking? Rotarians. We displayed our prowess on May 30 with a fast round of Speed Rotary.
For the 2nd time this year, Rotarians spent five minutes each with five different Rotarians learning a little bit more about their lives. Speed Rotary sped along, and those five-minute conversations seemed over in an instant.
Overheard and tweeted…
“Old dogs can learn new tricks…when they are taught them by younger dogs.”
“Having your legacy go on after you are gone involves bringing in new blood.”
“Take your wife to your favorite places in the world before it’s too late.” “LinkedIn has all these bells and whistles I could really use.”
“As a guest, I was totally impressed that Rotarians would take this time to get to know one another.”
“Different generations talked today – someone asked me how old I was!”
“People are job hunting….subtly.”
“Caught up with some old friends.”
“Made a return phone call in person.”
“Met a techie who doesn’t tweet.”
Try it – tweeting that is, go to twitter.com, find #speedrotary and comment about today. Then touch tweet.
Rotarians – what an interesting bunch.
Mary Gaffney-Ward & Dora Zuniga
Volunteers began arriving at The Legend at Bergamont at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 20th, to begin the registration and course set-up for our Rotary Club of Madison’s Inaugural Tri-Quest Event. We had over 50 Rotary volunteers to help throughout the day, and the location and staff at Bergamont were superb.
By 7:00 am, many participants were on site—some were on the golf course and others getting ready for the 8:00 am 5K Run. The 31K Bicycle Race started by 9:15 a.m. and we also had an afternoon golf event.
Weather cooperated in general, although many of our participants would tell you that it was a little warmer than they preferred and the wind presented more of a challenge for parts of the course.
Registrations totaled 129 for our event, and this was a good level for our first time around. We will provide news on the total amount raised for our Madison Rotary Foundation Synergy Fund in the coming weeks but expect it to be at the $25,000 level.
Congratulations to the following winners:
Corporate/Relay Division
Mens’s Group Health Cooperative
Women’s Sun Prairie Rotary
Coed CUNA Mutual
Individual Division
Men’s Dave Nelson
Women’s Karen Mittelstadt
Two-Person Team
Men’s John Ratkovich & Tim Schertz
Coed Paul & Debbie Zampelli
Four-Person Team
Men’s McGladrey
Individual Medalists
Run- 1st place Men’s David Schneekloth (Smith& Gesteland)
Run- 1st place Women’s Jennifer Norr (CUNA Mutual)
Bike- 1st place Men’s Jon Furlow (CUNA Mutual)
Bike- 1st place Women’s Glenda Hodge (M3 Insurance)
Golf-1st place Men’s Rob Peters (CUNA Mutual)
Golf 1st place Women’s Carrie Wall (Rotary Team #2)
Dave Nelson
From left: Tri-Quest Committee Chair Scott Haumersen, Steve Goldberg (CUNA Mutual) and Larry Zanoni (Group Health Cooperative)
For additional photos in a slideshow format visit:
Rotary Tri-Quest
Thanks to everyone—sponsors, participants, volunteers and those staffing the event—for helping us to make our 1st annual Rotary Tri-Quest event a huge success.
Rotary Club of Madison, Wisconsin 