Tag Archives: Service Above Self

Lynne Sexten Receives Club Service Award – August 3, 2022

Posted on August 3, 2022 by jaynecoster | Leave a comment

–presented by Charles McLimans

I serve on the Member Recognition Committee and am pleased to introduce a member who is receiving a 2022 Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award. This recognition is part of our Five Avenues of Service Awards Program which recognizes members for their efforts on behalf of our Rotary club in one of the five avenues of service which are club, community, international, vocational and youth.

Lynne Sexten joined our Rotary Club in 2013 and has been President and CEO of Agrace HospiceCare since 2012.

Lynne served on our club board of directors for a two-year term ending last June 30. Immediately following her term on our board, she stepped into the role of chairing our Ad-hoc Governance Committee. She spent countless hours, pulling together materials and leading meetings for this group. I was part of the group and saw her leadership skills firsthand. The end result of this group’s meetings was the development of a succession plan for club president, creation of a conflicts of interest policy and disclosure of conflicts for our board, the creation of a board expectations document as well as the restructuring of our Governance Committee. We are indebted to Lynne Sexten who led the group through this lengthy process over the past year.

For her dedicated service to help strengthen our Rotary Club, we are presenting Lynne with our 2022 Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award. The Club has made a $200 gift in Lynne’s name to The Rotary International Foundation as part of this recognition.

Congratulations, Lynne!

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Posted in Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Club of Madison Club Service Award

Tagged Lynne Sexten, Madison WI, Rotary Club of Madison, Service Above Self

New Book Tells Goodman Brothers Impact on Community

Posted on December 11, 2014 by jaynecoster | Leave a comment

–submitted by Linda Maremont; photo by Stacy Nemeth

Doug Moe, long-time Madison journalist, shared several anecdotes and points of interest gathered during his research for his new book, Good Men: The Lives and Philanthropy of Irwin A. and Robert D. Goodman. When the Goodman Foundation Board approached Moe about writing the book, he acknowledged that he accepted with some trepidation. The Goodman brothers were famously private throughout their lives and Moe had never personally met them.

Moe was able to interview 35 people who had known the Goodmans and shared some amusing stories about the rarely seen personal side of the brothers’ lives. Irwin and Bob’s father came to America with $12.00. After changing his surname from Gutmann to the anglicized Goodman, he joined his brothers to open Goodman Jewelers. The State Street store opened in 1934 and Bob and Irwin ran the store together until they sold the store to the manager in 1998. The brothers shared a passion for healthy living, sports, their business, their mother, each other, and their extraordinary devotion to philanthropy.

Their charitable works in the community were significant both in size and scope. The local community can thank the Goodmans for sizeable donations which funded the city’s first public community pool, the UW women’s softball diamond, a Jewish community center campus in Verona, and the Goodman Community Center on the east side of Madison.

Moe’s presentation was followed by a number of comments by those who had personally experienced the kindness and generosity of the Goodman brothers. Irwin and Bob clearly left an indelible mark on the community and Moe’s book provides engaging insight into the background of the men who impacted the lives of so many.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

Tagged Doug Moe, Goodman Brothers, Rotary, Rotary Club of Madison, Service Above Self

Rabbi Manfred E. Swarsensky Humanitarian Service Award Program on November 12, 2014

Posted on November 13, 2014 by jaynecoster | Leave a comment

–submitted by Donna Hurd; photos by Mike Engelberger

Club President Tim Stadelman (left) presenting award to Jonathan Gramling

Jonathan Gramling was awarded the 2014 Manfred E. Swarsensky Humanitarian Service Award, 32 years since its inception in 1982.

Patty Loew (pictured at left with Jonathan Gramling), a past recipient of the award and Mr. Gramling’s nominator, says of him “Jonathan Gramling has devoted his life to civil rights and promoting racial equity. From volunteering on self-help projects benefitting African-Americans in the South, to fundraising for United Farm Workers in Madison to supporting Native people on environmental threats associated with mining. Gramling’s service has been inspirational and exemplary.”

In remembrance of Rabbi Swarsensky, Rotarians and guests viewed the 2000 award-winning video production chronicling his life. In addition, Rotarian Mario Mendoza (pictured at right) provided the club with excerpts of the November 22, 1967, address to the Rotary Club of Madison, entitled “Thanksgiving – Holiday or Holy Day.” The address, by all accounts, is as relevant today as it was in 1967. Paralleling the first Thanksgiving to that of 1967, Rabbi Swarsensky penned, “The work of the Pilgrims is no longer our world. We could not go back to it, even if we wanted to. But the recollection of the first Thanksgiving of 1621 can have meaning for us in 1967 [and 2014], if we learned again to be grateful for the simple things in life, which are the most priceless blessings: life and health, home and love and friendship, the privilege to give of ourselves and the determination to make our country and the work a better place so that our children and our children’s children may be proud of us, as we are proud of and grateful to those who have gone before us.”

Pictured above from left: Club President Tim Stadelman, Carol Toussaint, Mercile Lee, Sr. Mary David Walgebach, Sr. Joanne Kollasch, Melanie Ramey, Andy Davison and Mitch Javid

The Club was privileged to host 11 past recipients of the award: Sr. Mary David Walgenbach & Sr. Joanne Kollasch, Patty Loew, Richard Davis, Mitch Javid, Rotarian Carol Toussaint, Rotarian Bill Rock, Rotarian Andy Davison, Norval Bernhardt, Rotarian Melanie Ramey and Mercile Lee.

In addition, we were honored that Rabbi Swarsensky’s daughter, Sharon Swarsensky Bilow and her husband, Paul Bilow, were able to join us for this celebration. They are pictured above with Jonathan Gramling.

The Manfred E. Swarsensky Humanitarian Service Award was established in 1982 and identifies individuals who have, through their voluntary efforts, made a particularly outstanding contribution to the humanitarian service in the greater Madison community, in the tradition so well exemplified by the life of Rabbi Swarsensky. The award-winning documentary video, “A Portrait: Rabbi Manfred Swarsensky,” that was created and produced by Rotarian Dick Goldberg with assistance by Wisconsin Public Television, provides background on Manfred Swarsensky and can be viewed on YouTube, and the Rotary office also has a copy of the video for any member wishing to view it.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker, Swarsensky Humanitarian Award Committee, Weekly Rotary Guest Speaker

Tagged Manfred E. Swarsensky, Membership, Rotary, Rotary Club of Madison, Service Above Self, Swarsensky Award Committee

“It’s Never Too Late to Change”

Posted on October 16, 2014 by jaynecoster | Leave a comment

–submitted by Mark Stover; photo by Pete Christianson

Keynote speaker Leslie Ann Howard, President and CEO of United Way of Dane County, delivered this message to a full house at the 51^st Annual Madison Area Service Clubs luncheon on Wednesday, October 15, at the Sheraton.

Evidence that Howard’s message of changing the human condition is not only possible but happening today in our community echoed throughout the program.

Bill Battista, winner of this year’s Ruth Gordon Service Award changed the human condition for children in the West Madison Little League. During his involvement, the Little League has grown to encompass participation of over 700 boys and girls in baseball and softball. Giving kids positive encouragement makes a big difference in their lives and the lives of people around them.

Christine Hodge, winner of this year’s Community Youth Volunteer Award is helping to change the human condition by her focus on children’s education. She is founder and Director of the Mt. Zion Academic Learning Center which provides after-school tutorial support for all children in the church community and throughout the Madison Metropolitan School District.

Howard noted that “making change at scale” is often less expensive and creates greater measurable improvements in real people’s lives than many of the traditional ways of addressing social needs. Howard cited data in three areas of the United Way’s recent work.

The initiative called Housing First seeks to insure that homelessness is addressed at its root: keep people in their homes in the first place. Research shows that once a person enters a shelter they only have a 37% chance of leaving it – that is, getting out of a support situation. Instead, a smaller investment providing short term support to keep people in their homes results in an 80% chance of long-term independence.

Similarly with people reintroduced to their neighborhoods from prison there is a 67% recidivism rate without intervention. Journey Home, another United Way initiative, cuts that to less than 5% with an annual investment of $500 per program participant. By comparison it costs $38,000 a year to keep an offender in prison.

Finally, parenting skills are critical to getting children off to a healthy start in life. Low income participants in the Parent Child Home Program with only two years of involvement find their kids graduate from high school at that same rate as middle income kids do.

There’s a lot to be proud of among the service providers and service clubs of the Madison area. CLICK to view Neil Heinen’s recent editorial, “Service Clubs Continue to Thrive in Madison.”

Our thanks to Leslie Howard for her presentation and to Brad Hutter and Kristine Mirelle for providing special music.

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Posted in 2. Meetings, Rotary Weekly Guest Speaker

Tagged Rotary, Rotary Club of Madison, Service Above Self

Highlights from 9th Annual Rotary Scholar-Mentor Picnic on July 13

Posted on July 15, 2014 by jaynecoster | Leave a comment

–article submitted by Ellie Schatz; photos submitted by Noel Pearson and Ellie Schatz

On Sunday, July 13, nearly 80 Rotary scholars and mentors attended our 9^th Annual Rotary Scholar-Mentor Picnic. The following photos don’t quite tell it all, but they give the flavor of a day filled with the excitement of shared goals and dreams, the bonding accomplished through conversation and caring, the comforts of an idyllic environment, good food, and people we are so lucky to have in our lives.

Upperclassman Patrick Mather shared the ropes of college with Austin Coppernoll, incoming freshman.

Club President Tim Stadelman heard of dreams and plans, like Sheikh Jammeh’s possibility of working and studying in the Galapagos Islands.

Cheryl Weston spent some quiet moments with Kiran Silwell as she prepares for her senior year.

Alan Rubio and Cristhian Hernandez talked about classes at Madison College (and soccer?).

Our hostess, Noel, never took a breather. When she wasn’t behind the scenes organizing food, chairs, etc., she was behind the camera capturing the fun and future that’s represented at her lakeside table. Thank you Noel and Dick Pearson.

Graduate scholar Chie Yang began a conversation about majors, graduation, graduate school and careers. Mentors reveled in hearing all the BIG ideas and plans.

A picnic on the lake must include a boat or two?! Brett Stratton helped Captain Dick bring the boat up for a very popular annual activity. Seeing Madison from the lake adds new perspectives for many scholars.

New Rotarian Jason Hunt and scholar McKenna Crossen shared some get-acquainted time.

The Kitchen Committee, as always, got a big heads up as do all the mentors for the delicious dishes, from chips and dips to cookies and pies. Terry Heinrichs, did you make that scrumptious raspberry pie yourself?

It was a perfect day in a perfect setting. If this is “service above self,” we enjoyed living our Rotary motto.

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Posted in 5. Members, MRF Scholarship Committee, Networking

Tagged Annual Rotary Scholar-Mentor Picnic, Fellowship, Rotary, Rotary Club of Madison, Rotary Mentor, Rotary Scholar, Service Above Self

Photo Highlights and Video Clips from 2014 SummerPalooza

Posted on June 17, 2014 by jaynecoster | Leave a comment

–submitted by Juli Aulik, Ellsworth Brown and Paul Riehemann

It was picture perfect weather for our second annual SummerPalooza held on Saturday, June 14th on the Capitol Square. We had 2007 people enjoy free admission to the Madison Children’s Museum and outside activities for children, including crafts, a bounce house and a dunk tank. A parade around the Capitol Square started at noon, and we had 300 participants in the parade with 1000+ viewers. Shown on the next page are photo highlights. Our thanks to Steve Goldberg and Deb Gilpin for organizing this year’s event and to 45+ Rotary volunteers who helped make it another great event!