Tag Archives: Rotary Club of Madison

Highlights from 6th Annual Rotary Mentor-Scholar Picnic

Posted on July 19, 2012 by joannamartinez | 1 comment

–submitted by Stu Levitan

About 25 Rotary scholars and their respective club mentors enjoyed themselves at the now-traditional summer picnic at Nate Brand and Regina Millner’s beautiful Fuller’s Woods home on July 15. The kitchen crew of Kevin Hoffman, Mike Hoesly and Jim Ruhly, led by co-chair Gary Peterson braved the sweltering heat to staff the grill, as members supplemented the menu with salads, sides and desserts. Admiral Dick Pearson, who with Noel, hosted the first two Mentor-Scholar picnics, took several groups on tours of mighty Lake Mendota in his deck boat. A fine time was had by all.

Following are quotes from those attending the picnic:

“Ismat and I had a great time seeing scholars from last year and welcoming new scholars. The food, fellowship, boat ride and hospitality (thanks Nate and Regina) were wonderful! It was good to connect with a couple scholars who were having challenges during their freshman year away from the Midwest. This event allows for both celebration and problem solving.” —Deb Raupp

“The beauty of the lake and the gracious hospitality of Regina and Nate provided the perfect setting to celebrate and share with some absolutely amazing young adults! As I left I told my husband, this is another reason why I am grateful to be a Rotarian!” —Lin Grace Rohr

“We had a super GREAT time at the picnic and we felt it was the best ever. Leslie loved the opportunity to get to know the other students and she loved the food, the BOAT RIDE and the beautiful home of Regina and Nate!!!! Sharyl loved the opportunity to connect with the other students and other Rotarians as we don’t often have a chance to relax and chat at Wed lunch meetings. Sharyl REALLY loved the food, it all seemed extra yummy this year and special thanks to the “grill guys” who grilled to perfection on such a hot day!! Best, Sharyl Kato

1 Comment

Posted in 2. Meetings, 3. Committees, 4. Fellowship Groups, 5. Members, 6. Youth, Kitchen, Scholars & Mentors

Tagged Fellowship, Madison Rotary Foundation, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Mentors, Rotary Scholars, Youth

Rotary Hikers on the Ice Age Trail July 14

Posted on July 17, 2012 by joannamartinez | Leave a comment

–submitted by Jocelyn Riley & photos by Jeffrey Steele

Patty Franson & Ralph Cagle at the Trailhead

   About an even dozen Rotarians and guests (the numbers varied a little throughout the day) headed for Parfrey’s Glen near Devil’s Lake State Park on Saturday July 14. The weather grew progressively warmer and more humid as we wound our way up hill and down dale on the Ice Age Trail that leads to Parfrey’s Glen. The trail was narrow and rutted, filled with large and small stones and exposed roots that kept everyone looking down at the path to avoid tripping. “It’s a trippy path,” a complete stranger called out as some of us neared the end of the long route before the somewhat-paved shorter path leading to Parfrey’s Glen itself.
    There were many strangers passing by and many opportunities to talk to them briefly as we (unexpectedly) shared the path with participants in an event called Dances with Dirt. Dozens and dozens and more dozens of people raced up behind us, called out ”On your left!”, “Hi!”, “How’s it going?”, and “Thank you!” as they waited for us to move over into the foliage on the edge of the path as they zoomed by on their way to completing 10K, half/full marathons, and 50K/50M events. They were uniformly polite and some were fun to watch. One woman carried a construction-paper Olympic torch as she ran “the whole 31 miles!” And not all of the racers were complete strangers. “Professor Steele!” called out one runner as he raced by. “I took your class in 1986–great class!”
    We retired for lunch at the Blue Spoon Café in nearby Prairie du Sac, overlooking the Wisconsin River. The Blue Spoon advertises “food with personality” and it lived up to its description as our tired crew of ten enjoyed looking out at the river, having some prolonged conversations, and being, at last, not in the sun, on our feet, or dodging runners.

Commitment to Service

Posted on July 11, 2012 by joannamartinez | 3 comments

You know, there is nothing like the joy of helping others. This year marks 100 years of dedication to the ideals of “Service Above Self” for the Rotary Club of Madison, Wisconsin.

Many years ago, during my undergraduate years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, my fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., embarked on a journey to establish a food drive for needy citizens in the Madison area. We stood outside of the Copps and Sentry grocery stores at Hilldale and Park Street and collected canned goods to be donated to local food pantries. During the winter month of November, we stood in the cold, laughed, joked, collected cans, and froze, but it was great fun. I still look back on those days with many fond memories. I remember thinking of how much more effective we could be if we just had a few more members. We could cover more ground in less time. We would have a greater presence at the grocery stores and the exiting shoppers would be more willing to donate more food. More members would increase our overall enjoyment and camaraderie.

I guess, in some ways, I’ve always been searching for an experience like the Rotary Club of Madison. Chartered on June 2, 1913, our Downtown Club is pretty special. Not only are we considered a large Club with a size that measures within the 10^th largest Rotary Clubs in the world, but we truly have a lot of helping hands and warm hearts. I had the right idea, during my fraternity’s food drive; it’s great to be part of a group with so many community advocates and business leaders. It has been a busy season, getting ready for a new Rotary year. I’m especially proud of our Club because we really care about this community and making the City of Madison a great place to live. We have over 40 Club committees totally consisting of volunteers. What a group! As President, it will be my pleasure to spend an hour a week with so many of you that truly appreciate the joys of helping others.

Yours In Service,
Wes Sparkman
Club President

3 Comments

Posted in 1. President's Messages, 4. Fellowship Groups, 5. Members, History

Tagged Fellowship, Membership, Rotary Club of Madison

A Fine Year – Farewell from President Paul Riehemann

Posted on June 28, 2012 by joannamartinez | 2 comments

It’s been a remarkable year with many significant accomplishments. Thank you for your commitment to our local and global community through Rotary.

Here are two year-end summaries: 1) the Powerpoint from the June 27 meeting (lots of photos) and 2) a One-Pager with all the information.

Kudos to the Roast Committee – I’m ‘grateful’ to have survived!

In Service, Paul

2 Comments

Posted in 1. President's Messages, 2. Meetings, 4. Fellowship Groups, Board of Directors

Tagged Fellowship, Membership, Rotary Club of Madison

20th Annual Vocational Fellowship Luncheon Day

Posted on June 26, 2012 by joannamartinez | Leave a comment

Brent Lindell, Mike Franzen, Tim Muldowney & Gerry Ring at UW Foundation Luncheon

On June 20, members and guests participated in our 20^th 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:

BadgerBOTS Education Center (Maggie Peterman host)
Fromagination (Ken Monteleone host)
Madison Children’s Museum (Ruth Shelly host)
Mid-West Family Broadcasting (Ted Waldbillig host)
Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries (Joe Xanthopoulos host)
Placon Corporation (Tom Mohs host)
St. Mary’s Hospital (Frank Byrne host)
University of Wisconsin Foundation (Walt Keough host)
Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, The Morgridge Institute for
Research & WARF (Steve Mixtacki, host)
Wisconsin Legislative Council (Terry Anderson host)

: Ruth Shelly leads the tour at Madison Children’s Museum

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

Rotary Club of Madison Board’s Year-End Party

Posted on June 20, 2012 by joannamartinez | 1 comment

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.