ROTARY CLUB OF APPLETON

Service Above Self GUSTO

December 12th, 2017
Upcoming Programs
December 19th, 2017
HOLIDAY CELEBRATION
Thought of the Day: Andy Micheletti
December 26th, 2017
NO MEETING
January 2, 2018
NO MEETING
Officers 2017-2018
President
Gary Hermsen
President-Elect
Chad Hershner
Past President
Jennifer Stephany
Secretary
Nancy Leipzig
Treasurer
Tony Gonzalez

Directors

Mary Downs
Jenni Eickelberg
Andrew Dane
Amy Flanders
Chris Mings
Ron Altenburg
Gail Enke
Barb Merry
Sergeant-At-Arms
Dan Flannery
Rotarian of the Year
B. S. Sridhar
Admin. Assistant
Meghan Warner
Phone 205-5255

Membership – 136
Downtown Gusto
Meghan Warner, Editor
Dist. 6220, Club 2656
P. O. Box 703
Appleton, WI 54912
/ CHARLES AND ADELE HEETER AWARDS OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP AWARDS
The Charles and Adele Heeter Outstanding Community Leadership Award is bestowed on Rotarians or individuals of the Appleton/Fox Cities community who exemplify the Rotary Motto of “Service Above Self” by providing significant Rotary and/or community leadership and/or service through the use of his/her time, talent or treasury. Such leadership and/or service should reflect the standards described in the Rotary Four Way Test. These individuals should also demonstrate a strong commitment to volunteerism in one of the four Rotary Avenues of Service outside the scope of his/her normal job responsibilities. The Rotary Club of Appleton has a tradition of giving out this award which is accompanied with a Paul Harris Fellowship. It originated when Charles Heeter made a donation in the amount of $25,000 to the Appleton Rotary Foundation. The Charles Heeter Fund was then started to recognize outstanding community leaders. Today, this endowment fund is over $100,000 because of the generous donations from Rotarians and investment results.
This Rotarian joined our club in June of 1966, when there were only men who were business owners or up and coming executives. Lifelong friendships were formed in Rotary. He was Club President in 1978-79 and attended the World Conference in Philadelphia when Rotary started Polio Plus, a project to eradicate polio worldwide, a project that continues today. Our honoree attended another world conference in Chicago which led to a connection with members of the Beaconsfield, England Rotary club. Invitations were issued to visit their club and during a subsequent business trip to Belgium, Dick Calder stopped in Beaconsfield. Because of that connection, the Beaconsfield, England exchange started and students went back and forth in alternating years. Those exchanges led to family friendships. Dick and his wife Chris made several trips to Beaconsfield and one time even enjoyed a ride in a member’s Rolls Royce. Dick was our District Governor in 1986-87. Chris attended most of the club visits with Dick which became a family adventure. They attended the District Governors conference in Singapore which included the Council of Legislation that addressed admitting women in Rotary. Many wives of Rotarians were in the back of the room and witnessed the vote that resulted in women being invited to join Rotary. Our honoree is a Paul Harris Fellow multiple times over. His wife and four children have also been honored with Paul Harris Fellow memberships. Dick was involved with the Group Study Exchange Team, hosting an exchange team from South Africa. Two African physicians were part of that team whose tour included a visit to our local hospital. With our abundance of supplies, the idea was born for our club to collect expired and outdated hospital supplies and ship them to Africa which became SAMP - South Africa Medical Supplies. Rotarian Jerry Otteson and Dick with their spouses made the initial trip to Africa to set up the supply line which became for years our club project of shipping medical supplies to hospitals in South Africa. Together he and Chris have 4 children, Steve and Mary who live in the Fox Cities another son Andy in Fort Myers, FL., and Tom in Pewaukee (who was instrumental in starting a Rotary Club in his community). Rotary and the Four Way test has been a way of life for Dick and the Calder family. The Four Way test has been spoken and practiced as a principled way of life in his home. To this day his children live the Rotary Four Way Test which all started with Dick. A quote from daughter Mary “It gave us a lot of who we are. Rotary was a family affair for us”.
Owen “Tony” Kuehmsted” is a long time Fox Cities resident. Born in Chicago, Tony’s parents moved to Appleton in April 1929. A few months after the move his father purchased the Peerless Paint factory, located down in the flats (which is under the current Skyline Bridge). As a reminder, the stock market crashed in October 1929. Tony was one of 4 children and is the only surviving sibling, having 3 sisters. His first year in college was at the UW extension, and then he transferred to Lawrence where he graduated, was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity and MOST importantly, where he met his future wife, Arden Polzin, in the LU library. They were married in 1952 and had 3 children - Bill who is deceased, Barb who lives in Naperville IL., and Peg who lives in Evanston, IL.After graduating from Lawrence he took over Peerless Paint and married Arden in 1952. He joined Rotary in 1953, being one of the youngest members of the club, receiving lots of teasing from the membership. Other members

at the time were OC Boldt, Dick Calder and Gus Zuelke.In Rotary he served on many committees, primarily oriented towards education and scholarship. The early Christmas parties were men only with their children and grandchildren. Kids used to sing the R-O-T-A-R-Y, that spells Mickey Mouse, and Santa would attend. They served hot dogs and jello, red one year, and green the next. Rotary was the first local community service organization actively involved in charity work, Tony was also active in Red Cross and was chairman of one of their fund drives. Other noteworthy endeavors for Tony includes: Traveling to Washington DC to lobby congress for anti-smoking legislation, Our club awarded Tony a Paul Harris Fellow for his cancer fighting efforts, He was President of the club in 1992-93, a past District Assistant Governor in 1998. One year this club had 100% attendance for the year. Every Rotarian attended one Rotary meeting each week for a year which has not been duplicated since. During Tony’s tenure he helped sponsor a new clubs, one in Waupaca with the help of Doug Millin, Dick Calder and a several others. Rotary Breakfast club is another which is an active club today with 85 members.While he was club President, our club started packing medical supplies from WI hospitals. Don Sturtevant and Chick Fenlow were actively involved and we shipped these supplies to Africa. Later on a shipment was sent to Pakistan and as a result the president of the Pakistan club visited our club. Tony currently belongs to both Appleton and Waupaca Clubs.

Our third Heeter award is to a person who served as District Governor in 2014-15. He has been a Rotarian for over 30 years. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Extended Instrumental Music and played the tuba with the Marching Chiefs at UW LaCrosse. After graduation, this person became a Junior High Band Director for 5 years and later, as a volunteer, he directed the Central High School Show Choir Band. Because of, or maybe I should say in spite of his love of music, he serves as a member of our Rotary Music Committee and regularly leads us in song. In 1986, he left teaching to become a branch manager for Piper Jaffray and has continued to work as a financial and investment manager, now as Senior Vice President/Investments, Branch Manager for Stifel Financial Group. By now you know that I am talking about Tom Berkedal. Tom joined the LaCrosse Downtown Rotary in 1986 where he was active on many committees and projects and became their president in 1996. He was awarded the James Snow Award for Community Service in LaCrosse. As a member of the LaCrosse Public Education Foundation, he proposed the formation of a fund in each school that teachers and administrators could draw from when they saw a child in need of something like school supplies or a winter jacket. The idea was embraced and the “Random Act of Kindness” fund was established. Originally the fund supplied a few hundred dollars to each school. Now it donates over $20,000 each year to the schools. The fund demonstrates the power of a simple idea expressed in one meeting. Tom and his family moved to Appleton in the spring of 2002 and he joined the Rotary Club of Appleton in 2003. Again he has been actively involved, participating and chairing many of the Rotary committees and being passionate in his support of young people and the importance of the Rotary Youth Leadership Conference. Tom became President of our club in 2010, Assistant District Governor in 2011 and District Governor in 2014. As a leader of our club and of the district, Tom has always stressed the importance of communication and cooperation between Rotary Clubs and he regularly met with presidents from other Rotary Clubs in our area. So, it should come as no surprise that when he was District Governor, he organized the very successful first Multi-District Conference (TriCon 2015) involving our District and two other adjoining Rotary Districts. It was so successful that our current District Governor is again making our District Conference in 2018 a three-district conference (TriCon 2018). Tom is a Paul Harris Fellow, a Bequest Society Member, a past Heeter Award recipient and he received the Appleton Rotarian of the Year Award in 2011.

Our last recipient has had a very eclectic professional career … He started as a teacher ... in Milwaukee. He then led the Neenah Menasha Chamber of Commerce. Later he helped Outlook Graphics capitalize on their strength of printing Trivial Pursuit cards and expanded into printing baseball (and other sport) trading cards. From curve balls to curved architectural wood products; in 1993 our recipient purchased Elipticon Wood Products. Twenty two years later, he fulfilled a dream by selling Elipticon to his dedicated employees. In addition to this he had a swing set company, a loan company and is involved in a firm related to drywall installation. By now you certainly know that John Wiley is a very busy individual … and a recipient of the Charles and Patricia Heeter Outstanding Community Service Award. John’s community volunteering is extensive. Some of the activities he’s been involved in include: Power Flour – addressing malnutrition in children in developing countries, Providing laptops to students in developing countries, Promoting the importance of affordable housing by championing the book Evicted and A strong advocate for apprenticeship programs As stated earlier, this being our Centennial year, we decided to honor Rotarians who have provided exceptional leadership and volunteerism. John Wiley is one of these special people we all need to thank. I believe John’s involvement in Rotary started with the Oshkosh Club. He was very active … indeed he’s a life member of the Appleton Rotary Club, but left our group in 1993 (confirm) to help save the Appleton Breakfast Club. He was successful in that endeavor and still is very active in the Breakfast Club. John has served as club president in two different clubs, past District Chairman of the World Community Service (1986 – 1992), past District Governor (1994 – 1995 … Rotary District 6270). John is a member of the Arch Klumph Society, Rotarians who have contributed $250,000 or more during their lifetime. John has received multiple Paul Harris Fellowships … and he’ll receive another much deserved Fellowship with this Heeter Award.

T. Berkedal, D. Calder, T. Kuehmsted not pictured J. Wiley

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HELP FOR THE HOMELESS HYGIENE DRIVE

Last year 245 Fox Cities employers, churches and schools joined 91.9/91.5 The Family radio by placing collection boxes with posters in their high traffic areas and promoting the annual “Help for the Homeless” hygiene drive to their staff, members, students and friends. The Fox Cities community gets this! Most of us can afford to buy an extra tube of toothpaste or bottle of shampoo. They donated more than $166,000 worth of supplies; stocking the shelves of 19 local crisis agencies. This year the drive takes place from February 18-March 11, 2018. It takes place in 15 communities in the listening areas; Appleton/Fox Cities/New London, Chilton, Fond du Lac, Green Bay/Brown County, Manitowoc, Marshfield, Oconto/Marinette, Oshkosh, Rhinelander, Seymour, Sheboygan, Stevens Point, Waupaca, Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids. For a list of the collection sites please visit Help for the Homeless webpage at TheFamily.net. Please include The Family’s Help for the Homeless in your spring activity schedule and plan to help them fill the shelves of local Fox Cities crisis agencies with a year’s worth of personal hygiene and cleaning products. The agencies need and appreciate all the help! If you have questions about the hygiene drive please contact Heidi Prahl at 920-749-9364 or .

2017 HOLIDAYCELEBRATION ANNOUNCEMENT

The holiday season is here and this year is a special annual Rotary Holiday luncheon in honor of our club’s centennial anniversary and hosted by the Holiday Celebration Committee!

This year’s event will be held at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel on Tuesday, December 19 from 11:30 to 1:00pm. Entertainment will be provided by the NewVoices. You may email your RSVP to Meghan at RSVP…sign up by Dec. 15th! There will be a $13.00 charge for guests and “attendance not required” members.

As is our holiday tradition, we will again collect cash donations and items for those in our community who are less fortunate. This year’s charitable recipient is the Salvation Army- Fox Cities. Donations of cash and goods will be collected at the Holiday Lunch.

Below is a brief “Wish List” of items provided by the Salvation Army:

  1. New, unwrapped toy
  2. Red kettle for donations
  3. “Dip jar” which allows people to swipe their credit card to make a $5 donation

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • It is with a heavy heart that I share with the fellow members of the Appleton Rotary Club that Doug Dugal passed away late Wednesday night. I ask that we all take a moment today and reflect upon what made Doug so very much a special part of our lives and vow to carry some of that with us for the remainder of our own days. The Family is having a celebration of his life on Friday, December 22nd from 3 to 6 pm at the Paper Discovery Center in Appleton.
  • Please keep OC Boldt in your thoughts as he took a fall this past week and broke his pelvis.
  • The 2017-2018 World Service Grant Request form is now available on our Club’s website. Applications are due on January 15, 2018 and should be submitted following the instructions on the application form. If you have any questions after reading the material, please contact Committee members Steve Taylor, Paul Hilmer, Gail Enke or Sridhar.

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GUESTS THIS WEEK

Visiting Guests today were Mary Calder, Chris Calder, and Marshall Kods with Dick Calder, Kelly Stoil with Jan Smith, Arden Kuehmsted with Tony Kuehmsted and Heidi Prahl with the club.

There Were No Visiting Rotarians this week

There Were No Make ups this week

The Rotary Club of Pakuranga invite you to join The Ultimate

17 Day Rotary Tour of New Zealand 6th – 22nd April, 2018.

The Tour Key points and Highlights are:

  • The Tour includes 4 Rotary fellowship events.
  • The Tour size is limited to 26 persons. (Within a 30/33 seater coach.)
  • Accomodation will be 4 to 5 star and includes all breakfasts.
  • A professional ‘Top Tour Guide’ will travel throughout the Tour.
  • An optional 4 day pre-tour to Northland/Bay of Islands is also offered.

Here are some of the 62 tours/visits, of which all but one is included within the Tour price:

Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium, Auckland Sky Tower, 2 hour tour of ‘Hobbiton’, Te Puia ( Rotorua centre of Maori culture and geothermal wonders), Huka Falls, Napier wine tasting, Wellington’s

Te Papa Museum, Weta Workshops, Ferry to Picton, Hanmer Springs, Lake Tekapo, Lake Pukaki, Arrowtown, Queenstown, Milford or Doubtful Sounds, Dunedin and Christchurch City Tours.

Below are two of the typical comments we received from all our 2017 Rotarian tourists:

  • We thought the tour was fantastic. Sharron (the Tour Guide) was brilliant.
  • We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the tour and you are to be congratulated.

The 17 day Tour Price is approximately: US$4,870pp share-room. US$6,300pp single.

The 4 day pre-tour Price is: US$1,125pp share-room. US$1,420pp single. To receive the full 9 page itinerary email both and