Last week, President Nuzhat Mahmood presided the meeting. Susan Thomas gave the Invocation. Kari Hannan, Karin Lombard, and Ron Niederhaus served as Greeters, while Anne Fuhrman was Cashier. Carl Philo was Sgt. At Arms. Kim Kuhle was Chair of the Day. Kim and her Family of Rotary Committee planned our Holiday luncheon in close coordination with Past President John Morey. John led our Holiday Program with Pianist Kristi Treu. Dr. Manhart read "Twas the Night before Christmas" with full dramatic emphasis. Manny Paz wowed the crowd with his joke. It was a fun holiday luncheon. For our pictures, visit our Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/RotaryOmahaWest/
(this picture is a collage)
L to R: John Morey, Kristi Treu, Nuzhat Mahmood, Susan Thomas, Kim Kuhle, Matt McKeever
The Rosenberrys had a perfect family attendance
L to R: Nick, Margot, Violet, and Carrie
Youngest guest is 2-year old Margot Rosenberry
Oldest guest is Phyllis Johnson, 97 years old, Kim Kuhle's guest
Matt donned his Santa hat to greet the great number of guests friends attending the Holiday Luncheon as friends and family members of Rotarians. Guest Rotarian Jill Woodward from Southwest Rotary joined us. Red Badge Members were recognized. A number of Rotarians shared good news. Matt fined himself for an article about Bitcoin sent from Carol Gendler. To some applause, Matt announced that there would be no further fines today as part of the celebration for the Holidays. To even greater applause, Matt announced that he did not have a joke for the day, either.
Christmas came early for our Rotary Club when Jim Otis donated a brand new iPad mini. Jim Otis, President of The Otis Company, responded to our request for iPad donation in order to continue providing the members the convenience of using credit card or debit card for lunch payments and membership dues. Thank you, Jim!
Rebecca Miller is the Owner and Managing Director of FixLexia, a clinic dedicated to the needs individual affected by dyslexia or other reading-related difficulties. As an Educational Consultant, she has collaborated with various school districts in the Omaha area. Rebecca is also a Board Certified Educational Advocate allowing her to help parents navigate the special education process on behalf of their school-aged children. Before opening FixLexia, she co-owned and managed a private in-home tutoring company for 13 years serving nearly 3,200 Omaha area students. Rebecca's experience as an educational consultant and parent advocate have provided her with a unique opportunity to understand educational issues from varying perspectives. Prior to working in the educational field, Rebecca was an Investment Broker for Wells Fargo Advisors.
While a new Rotarian, Rebecca has been a long time Rotarian at heart as she has been helping Omaha West Rotary by providing her expert assistance for our Rotary Readers project. Rebecca's membership to West Rotary was proposed and sponsored by Don Otis.
Rebecca Miller
L to R: Don Otis, Rebecca Miller, & Nuzhat Mahmood
Dr. Ray Kurowski: Retired Dentist and Teaching Part Time at Creighton Dental School
Dr. Ray Kurowski is married to Kathy Hoarty Kurowski. They have two children and three grandchildren. Ray was active in the US Army from 1976 to 2002 and he was assigned a tour of duty in Georgia, Korea, Germany and in the US - Texas and Kansas. Ray was in private practice as Dentist in Kansas until 2014. He's currently teaching part time at Creighton Dental School. Ray joined Rotary in June 2017 and he was sponsored by another dentist, Jim Gerner.
Kari Hannan, Development Director at Ronald McDonald House Charities
As the Development Director for the Ronald McDonald House Charities in Omaha, Kari Hannan is a nonprofit leader focused on connecting individuals and businesses who are interested in helping families who come to the Omaha area to seek medical treatment in one of our outstanding hospitals. She directs and oversees development activities including major gifts, corporate giving, and grants. Through her previous experience at Kiewit as well as a small business owner who taught ballet for 15 years, she brings with her a wide array of talent, leadership, and unwavering vision for how we can make this world a better place.
Kari's membership to Omaha West Rotary was proposed and sponsored by Rotarian Dick Sturgeon, Senior Vice President at Premier Bank. Dick introduced Kari to club members on Dec. 8th and she received a warm welcome from Omaha West Rotarians as she made one of the best decisions in her life by joining Rotary.
The Ecology Committee is looking for volunteers for our annual Christmas Tree Recycling project on Dec. 30th & Jan 7th. Volunteers will help unload Christmas tree from people's vehicles and stack them for recycling. Please sign up during our Friday meeting on Dec 8th and 15th, or visit our website www.omahawestrotary.org and sign up via the website calendar. This service project will be documented and you will be on our YouTube Channel caught in action doing Service Above Self. Hurry, the spots will go fast!
The 2018 Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) Seminar will be held April 6-8, 2018 at Camp Kitaki near Louisville NE. High school juniors are eligible to apply. RYLA camp is an intensive 3-day training program for High School Juniors that helps participants think critically about important issues and share ideas with talented peers, earn how to coordinate and lead community service projects, discuss the importance of good governance and civil society to the world, and finally, learn to think globally and explore issues that transcend national borders.
The camp, in its 6th year, focuses on youth leadership development. Students learn about how to make a positive impact as emerging leaders in their communities as well as internationally. One of the running themes of the camp is the “Country Challenge”. This unique group activity allows teams of students to conceive and develop model global humanitarian initiatives. The teams discuss how to work cross culturally to develop sustainable projects. They do research on assigned countries to determine needs and then design projects collaboratively with an international partner.
Our RYLA Committee will be releasing more details soon to help facilitate in nominating high school juniors for RYLA.
We are now offering 10 punch lunch tickets ($160) and 10 punch meeting-only tickets ($70) for sale at the meetings. Get one and don't worry about having cash or getting out your credit card! For sale at check-in.
MONDAY BELLEVUE 12:00 PM (DJ's Dugout, 10308 S. 23rd St.) NORTH 12:00 PM (Omaha Eppley Airport Conference Room) MILLARD 12:00 PM (German American Society, 3717 South 120th Street) - NO MEETING on Oct 9
TUESDAY MORNING 7:00 AM (Happy Hollow Country Club, 1701 S. 105th St.)
NORTHWEST 12:00 PM ( Effective August 15th Northwest Rotary will meet Tuesday's at noon at Jerico's, 11732 W Dodge Rd, Omaha, NE 68154.)
SOUTHWEST NIGHT 5:15 PM (DJ's Dugout at 17666 Welch Plaza, northeast corner of 180th & Q streets)
WEDNESDAY COUNCIL BLUFFS CENTENNIAL 1st Wed 7:00 AM; 3rd Wed floating event; no meeting other weeks (Hy-Vee in Mall of the Bluffs, I-80 Exit 5) DOWNTOWN 12:00 PM (Field Club, 3615 Woolworth Ave.)
THURSDAY COUNCIL BLUFFS NOON 12:00 PM (The Center, 714 S. Main St.)
SUBURBAN 12:00 PM (Anthony's, 7220 F St.)
WESTERN DOUGLAS COUNTY 7:00 AM (Elkhorn Common Ground Community Center, 1701 Veteran's Drive)
FRIDAY WEST 12:00 PM (Champions Run, 13800 Eagle Run Drive)