Rotary Club of Madison, Wisconsin

Madison Rotary – Speed Dating Rotary Style

Posted on September 1, 2011 by gThankYou! | 6 comments

Typical Rotary lunch: “Hi, may I join you? How’s your day going?”

Speed Rotary: “Please take a minute to tell me what you really want out of life.”

Scary? Maybe, but today’s speed Rotary session was so successful; a loud whistle was needed to bring the group back to order as the session ended. It’s not that we can’t ask personal questions during normal Rotary meetings, but it may seem a bit unnatural when it is not moderated.

Today’s speed Rotary session highlighted members in short, focused conversations with people that they probably didn’t know well. When the 5-minute time was up, it was off to the next person and the next conversation. Judging by the buzz in the room and the reluctance of people to stop sharing, many Rotarians felt special, unique and cared about.

If you missed today’s speed Rotary, you missed a special day. Try to make the next one; you’ll be glad that you did! Check out this video of the action.

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According to About.com, “Rabbi Yaacov Deyo of Aish HaTorah is the first to be credited with the idea for speed dating, a concept he introduced to Jewish singles with the intent of meeting and eventually marrying.” While I’m confident that my conversations with Bruce Petersen, Paul Riehemann, Paul Ranola or Tracy Perkins won’t lead to marriage, I know them more meaningfully because of the five minutes I spent with them today than I ever have. I even got to know John Faust better because I kept hustling him out of his seat to greet my next person!
One theory on the subject of speed dating asserts that the need to feel special, unique or cared about heightens our attraction to people that make us feel this way. Human beings have an innate capacity to judge this level of attraction in other human beings very quickly.

(Click on photos to expand them.)

Thanks to the following Rotarians who served on the Speed Rotary Ad-Hoc Committee: Deb Raupp (Chair), Richard Bliss, Lew Harned, Heather Hopke, Donna Hurd, Craig Klaas, Paul Riehemann, Susan Schmitz, Jim Taylor and Bob Winding.

Our thanks: to Peter Cavi for this review article; to John Bonsett-Veal for coordinating photography and video for the first-ever Madison Rotary video blog post; Uriah Carpenter, a member of Oregon Rotary, for capturing video and photo highlights of our Speed Rotary session.

The Rotary Club of Madison has 500 members from business, academia, healthcare and public and community service. It is one of the ten largest Rotary International chapters in the world and will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2013. Rotary International is a service club with local and global reach. It’s 34,000 chapters in over 200 countries have 1.2 million members who meet weekly to develop friendships, learn, and work together to address important humanitarian needs.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Speed Rotary, Video

Madison Rotary Beer Fellowship – Habitat for Humanity Build Event

Posted on August 29, 2011 by gThankYou! | Leave a comment

Saturday, August 27 was a beautiful day for volunteering at a Habitat for Humanity project. Rotarian Steve Landry invited the Beer Fellowship group to join him at the project in Mount Horeb. He promised a trip to the Grumpy Troll Brewpub afterward. Keith and Juli Baumgartner, and Neil Fauerbach joined Steve bright and early at the site. Fellow Rotarian and Habitat CEO Perry Ecton joined us for the afternoon.

Steve volunteers for Habitat and assists with fundraising. It was a first experience for Keith, Juli, and Neil. The project we helped with is a duplex on a beautiful lot on the outskirts of the city. The future owners, Karen and Jean were with us all day, coordinating our paperwork and pounding a few nails. They spend a great deal of their time working on their new homes.

Since 1987, Habitat for Humanity of Dane County has helped 190 families own their own home. Their process for educating the new owners on the economics and responsibility of home ownership has shown astonishing success. Of those 190 homes, they have only had to take back one. Part of that success is due to the required involvement of the owners in the planning and building process. Just being selected as an owner is a competitive process requiring a good deal of education and research. New owner, Jean, explained the joy she and her family felt when they were selected to be the next HFH family.

Here's the new homeowner, Jean.

On Saturday, we pounded nails, mudded drywall, swept floors, installed siding and made some new friends. It was a beautiful day for “service above self.”

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Posted in 4. Fellowship Groups, Beer

Rotary Club of Madison Honors Jim Ruhly

Posted on August 25, 2011 by gThankYou! | Leave a comment

Jim Ruhly was honored Wednesday August 24 by President Paul Riehemann for his outstanding service to our Club as Program Committee Chair.

President Paul presented Jim with a Rotary baseball cap signed by the Club’s Board of Directors.

Jim Ruhly receives congratulations from President Paul Riehemann

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Posted in 8. Honors

Tagged Jim Ruhly

Madison Rotary – Scotch Whisky Lew Harned Society Fellowship

Posted on August 25, 2011 by gThankYou! | Leave a comment

Tthe Scotch Whisky, Lew Harned Society Fellowship Group was hosted by Lew Harned at his home on Lake Mendota on Monday, August 22. It was a beautiful evening with 35 people in attendance!

Ellis Waller and friends entertained the group with music from Scotland

Rotarians and guests enjoying the Sounds of Scotland.

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Posted in 4. Fellowship Groups, Scotch Whisky, Lew Harned Society

Madison Rotary Mentor-Scholar Picnic

Posted on August 12, 2011 by gThankYou! | 1 comment

In recent years our Rotary Scholarship Program, led by Ellie Schatz, has taken on new dimensions. Already a program that touched 80 young people a year with college financial support that helped them to achieve their education and career dreams, a mentoring component added social and emotional support to the equation. Many of our college scholars have experienced tragedy, abuse, or hurdles in their short lives that are beyond what we can imagine. Many are first generation college students. All have dreams for the future that include completion of their college degrees. All, we hope, will graduate from college. In order to help achieve these successes, more than 50 members of our club volunteer time with scholars each year as their one-to-one mentors.

On July 17, more than 60 scholars, mentors and guests attended the 6th annual picnic of the mentor-scholar group, hosted this year by Nate Brand and Regina Millner. The event epitomizes the club’s strategic goals of service and fellowship. Mentors give service above self by being there for their scholars over the entire time they are undergraduates. Our statistics show that our scholars graduate not only because of the financial support and their personal dreams and determination, but because a professional liaison has answered their questions, put them in touch with resources, helped them through difficult situations, or just been there for them over time. The picnic brings together rising freshmen through recent graduates as well as their adult mentors from all fields. As one mentor mentioned after this year’s picnic, “there wasn’t a wallflower in the group.” Everyone was interacting, everyone was having fun, and as another mentor mentioned, “the food was great.” Thank you to everyone involved in this fellowship and service experience.

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Posted in Scholars & Mentors

Tagged Scholar-Mentor Picnic

Vocational Fellowship Luncheon – Madison College

Posted on July 7, 2011 by gThankYou! | Leave a comment

Downtown Madison Rotary thanks Madison College for sponsoring a Vocational Fellowship Luncheon on July 6. Thanks, too, to hosts Bob Dinndorf, Bettsey Barhorst and. Roger Price.