The Westward Ho May 8, 2018 (May 08, 2018)

Upcoming Event: Backyard Cookout, Thursday, May 10th, 5-7 PM

Backyard Cookout hosted by Vaughn & Donna Wiebusch

It's a backyard cookout! You don't want to miss this event. Sign up and bring your family! Click here to sign up. See you on Thursday! We will have hotdogs, burgers, fruits and vegetables, and lots of games. May 10, 2018, Thursday, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM, 2720 Mary St., Omaha 68112 BYOB
Vaughn's cellphone number: (402) 708-7108

This Friday at Rotary

Presiding Officer: Nuzhat Mahmood

Secretary: Matt McKeever

Chair of the Day: Dick Lerner

Invocator: Gail Veitzer

Cashiers: Anne Fuhrman

Sgt. at Arms: Gretchen Radler

Greeters: Bob Lovgren and Pat Knowles

Speaker: Tarina Cox-Jones

Tarina Cox-Jones
Principal, Skinner Magnet Center

Topic: The Omaha West Rotary's Projects at Skinner Magnet Center

Bio: Tarina graduated from UNL in 2001 with her bachelors in Elementary Education and started teaching 4^th grade at Western Hills Elementary. She was there for one year while working on her masters degree in Elementary education at UNO through the CADRE Program. She then went on to teach 6^th grade science at King Science and Technology Magnet Center for 3.5 years. She then was the Science Lead Teacher for 1.5 years at the TAC in Curriculum & Learning. She enjoyed working at TAC, but missed the daily interaction with kids, so she began using her admin degree as an Assistant Principal at Kellom Elementary. She was there for 2 years before becoming the Principal at Dodge Elementary. After 2 years as Principal there, Tarina was given the opportunity to become the Principal at Skinner Magnet Center. This is her 7^th year as the Principal at Skinner.

In addition to her work at Skinner, she also serves as the President of CACE (Concerned & Caring Educators) an organization of African American Administrators in the Omaha Public Schools.

She is also active in her church at Bridge Church. She co-leads a 4^th, 5^th and 6^th grade Bridge Kids Group (Bridge’s version of a Sunday School Group)

Over the years, she has served as a member of the Board of Directors for several organizations. She currently serves on the Board for the Butler Gast and Maple Street YMCA’s and will be restarting her term on the board for Banisters Leadership Academy later this month.

She is currently working on my doctorate at UNL. Her dissertation will focus on the recruitment and retention of teachers of color.

Last Week at Rotary

Last week, President Nuzhat Mahmood presided the meeting. Russ Iwan gave the Invocation. Vaughn Wiebusch and Bob Fell served as greeters, while Gail Veitzer was Sgt. at Arms. Tim Neal was Cashier. Martie Coradro was Chair of the Day. Martie introduced our speaker, Colleen Wachter, Executive Director at The ALS Association Mid-America Chapter. Colleen spoke about her organization's 40 years of Help and Hope in fighting ALS. If you missed Colleen's presentation, please visit ALS' website by clicking here.

L to R: Matt McKeever, Nuzhat Mahmood, Colleen Wachter, and Martie Cordaro

Matt McKeever Secretary Report

Omaha West Rotary Club Secretary Report for May 4, 2018.

We had one Guest Rotarian this week: Lee Myers from Suburban Rotary. Guests of Rotarians and their hosts included Jean Duffy (Jill Slupe), Starla Waite (Yolanda Hoffman) Stan Dulinski (Russ Iwan), Mark Manhart (Dr. Mark Manhart) and Mo Javaid (Nuzhat Mahmood). Gail Veitzer once again introduced her husband, Irv Veitzer, as guest for the eighth consecutive meeting. Matt pondered aloud about fining club members who could not match Irv’s perfect attendance record over the last eight weeks, but declined to do so.

We recognized Red Badge Members in the club membership. John Morey then led us in singing the Happy Birthday Song to the Rotarians with birthdays in May.

There were so many Rotarians with good news, it was difficult to keep track of them all! Rotarians with good news included (but were not limited to) Dick Lerner, Dr. Mark Manhart, Martie Cordero, Rich Secor and Manny Paz. Matt was fined for a Bitcoin article from Kim Kuhle as well as another article from Martie Cordero. Matt was also presented with a pile of Bitcoin fines from Carol Gendler and he promised to dole them at future meetings. Matt told a joke submitted by President Nuzhat Mahmood about Larry the Cable Guy undertaking archeology. As in the past, Matt reminded Mo Javaid in advance to laugh at his wife’s joke. Also as in the past, the club assembly received Nuzhat’s joke well.

Meet Newest Member Shonna Dorsey

Last week, Deb Neary introduced our newest member Shonna Dorsey. Shonna is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for AIM Institute. She serves on several boards/community councils. She is an Omaha Girls Rock Board Member, a Defy Ventures Nebraska Board Member, Business Ethics Alliance Trustee, Fund for Omaha Committee Member, Heartland 2050 Metropolitan Area Planning Agency Executive Committee Member, the Chairperson of the Heartland Workforce Solutions Youth Council, and a Nebraska Department of Education's Department of Postsecondary Career Schools Community Council Member. In 2018, Shonna was selected by Governor Pete Ricketts to join the Nebraska Information Technology Council. Please be sure to welcome Shonna when you see her at our Friday meeting.

Shonna Dorsey

L to R: Deb Neary, Shonna Dorsey, and Nuzhat Mahmood

Rotary Tree Planting, A Huge Success

Fresh from a successful 62nd Senior Recognition Day, Omaha West Rotarians in collaboration with several organizations, planted a total of 125 trees along Minne Lusa Boulevard in North Omaha. Ecology Chair Manny Paz, thanks all Rotarians and their families who came in droves, excited to plant trees. Past President Kent Templien even came to participate, though he said, he brought his "workers" to plant the trees for him.

RI President Ian Riseley should be proud to see these People of Action, Omaha West Rotarians, working with shovels and some on their knees planting trees

No one can be more ready than these Rotarians to plant trees

L to R: Butch Ethington, Pat Knowles, Kim Kuhle, Dwayne Brown, Starla Waite (soon to be Rotarian), and Nick Rosenberry

Past President Kent Templien and his family, Ecology Chair Manny Paz and several volunteers

Rotaract Wheelchair Project

Rotaract Wheel Chair Project

The Rotaract Club based at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, has embarked on a wheelchair project. The Rotaractors are raising money to send 120 wheelchairs to Ivory Coast and support the momentum of polio eradication in that country. Please make your gift to the Rotaract Wheelchair Project, Rotary Club of Lincoln 14 Foundation, PO Box 83843, Lincoln, NE 68501. Details about this project can be found here.

Jill Slupe, Membership Committee Chair

Spread the News! It's a great time to join Omaha West Rotary!

Please spread the news, the fee for joining West Omaha Rotary has been discounted from $540 ($340 plus $200 application fee) to $113 from now till June 30th. Because of the generous “new member” contributions from Nizar Mamdani, Dwayne Brown and John Morey, the application fee has been waived and the membership fee has been supplemented for all new members. This is a great opportunity to encourage prospects to test out our club and join at a reduced rate. For more information please reach out to Jill Slupe at Jslupe@verdemartin.com or 917-416-7498.

Happy Birthday, May Celebrants!

May Birthdays
Rich Secor 04 Don Klein 05 C. Latta 08
Kent Templien 11 Carol Gendler 13 Jim Meier 13
Ric Miller 16 Mary Sue Riley 17
Luke McNeese 20 Steve McWhorter 25 Mike Jones 31

Let's go to Toronto for the RI Convention!

Let's go to Toronto in June 23-27, 2018 for the Rotary International (RI) Convention!

There is no experience for a Rotarian quite like an International Convention. Meet old friends and make new ones from around the world. Hear great speakers and enjoy fabulous entertainment. Participate in the many breakout sessions on topics of interest to you. Stroll through the House of Friendship. Enjoy the many restaurants and tourism opportunities that Toronto has to offer. The next several RI Conventions will be outside of North America, so it's a good time to go this year. You will not believe it, but it's really not expensive to fly to Toronto. We did a random search online and the round trip ticket ranges from as low as $220 to $400. Of course, it could go higher if you fly business class, but the general fares are pretty good.

To register for the RI Convention, please click here. If you need help with your registration, please contact Jill or Yolanda.

Watch this promotional video:

Check Out Other Rotary Club's Weekly Speakers

To find out about speakers at other Rotary Clubs in the area, you can conveniently see the list of Club websites here. Then click on the home icon to the left of the club name. The list of speakers are listed on their Homepage.

Club Vision Statement

We are a service organization with projects that support education and building understanding locally, nationally and globally.

Rotary Leadership Institute - Get More Out Of Rotary

How to engage members . . .

Making our projects more successful . . .

Understanding the value of The Rotary Foundation . . .

When asked what participants want to get out of Rotary training and meetings, we hear things like the statements above.

Meeting all of those needs is a challenge - but there is an answer – the Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI).

RLI has been available in District 5650 since 2006. The curriculum and format were improved in 2009 and we expanded to partner with District 6000 in Iowa in 2012. There have been nearly 275 Rotarians participate in our local program.

Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) was designed to provide discussion and activity-based programs. There is time to go into detail on many topics. It is not focused on a particular Rotary position but allows an opportunity for participants to truly discover Rotary.

All Rotary members benefit from the RLI experience. Rotary Club leadership can be more effective because of their expanded knowledge and connections made during RLI sessions.

RLI is a three-part program. Each RLI participant attends three one-day sessions. Our goal is to offer each Part with every meeting date (pending a sufficient number of registrations).

Upcoming session dates:

March 3, 2018 - Hosted by District 6000 in Iowa City

April 21, 2018 - Hosted by District 5650 likely in Omaha

October 6, 2018 - Hosted by District 5650 likely in Omaha

November 3, 2018 - Hosted by District 6000 likely in Des Moines

Registration and Details: rli-heartland.org

For brochures and photo albums, see the Rotary Leadership Institute page on this website - or click here.