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Monday's guest was Shelly Bottoff who introduced the membership to "Stage Door Productions" and the upcoming "Forever Plaid" production this weekend at the Opera House in Fort Dodge. Shelly brought with her the four lads who form the total cast who performed several songs of the musical. Alyssa Sparks in the program director. The premise is four young men who form a band while still in high school and are lucky enough to sign for a major gig. While en-route to the performance the four lads are killed in a car wreck. They are reincarnated and come back to perform the show originally staged. In addition to good music is also a wide range of banter between the lads. Cost is $10 for adults with tickets at Hy-Vee or at the door.

Stage Door Productions attempts to provide the following:

Organize performance opportunities and hands-on training for the youth of the area. Two Youth Theater events occurred last summer and are scheduled for duplication next summer.
Coordinate two Cabarets at the Smeltzer House each year.
Schedule one major music production each year (Forever Plaid this year).
Support local high school musical events.

Rotary Welcomes International Rotarians

Rotary was visited Monday by Ernest McCutcheon from a Club in Columbia, South Carolina and his son who lives in Hanover, Germany. President Stanek met both while attending the International Conference in Hanover last summer and they passed through Fort Dodge after a family wedding in Rochester, Minnesota. It is always fun to meet and visit with International Rotarians.

Rotarian Matt Maggio Awarded Paul Harris +1

Monday Rotarian Matt Maggio was awarded his Paul Harris +1 pin representing the next step in giving to the Rotary International Foundation, named the most efficient and best managed Foundation in America. Congratulations to Matt and his Family for this contribution.

Rotarian Pictured in "The Messenger"

Rotarian Mary Gibb appeared in "The Messenger" last week with a special edition insert commemorating Catholic Schools Week.

Rotarian in "The Messenger"

Rotarian Jesse Ulrich appeared in the Sunday "Messenger" providing an update to the status of moving the 5th Grade to a renovated Arie School and moving the administration to the former HyVee building.

Rotarian in the Messenger

Rotarian Kuhlman provided the monthly update for the Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way in the January "Fort Dodge Business Connection." The article stressed the substantial tax breaks one would receive by contributing to the Foundation. The example given was that a $100,000 contribution could lead to $69,000 in tax breaks.

In addition to Randy, Rotarians Don Woodruff and Jesse Ulrich provided testimonies to the work of the Fort Dodge Area Growth Alliance.

Rotarian in the "Messenger"

Our President puts in many hours working for Rotary and supporting her family on the plastic/aluminum sports bleachers and we often forget that she also has a very important job working with families in the Fort Dodge area. In today's "Messenger" Elizabeth was pictured participating in a Fort Dodge forum held by Governor Reynolds as she provided testimony to support the need for additional day care in the Fort Dodge area. Elizabeth is the Executive Director of Linking Families and Communities.

Rotarian Receives Highest Award from Crime Stoppers

Rotarian Larry Bushman received the highest award offered by Crime Stoppers, their "Top Gun" award awarded periodically to the best supporter for that valuable service group. Congratulations to Larry and the Messenger for their valuable support to Crime Stoppers.

Rotary International Approves Grant for Community Health Centers

The Fort Dodge Rotary Club participated in an application to Rotary International for a $194,306 grant to support dental and general health initiatives for underserved children and adults in Eastern Iowa. The Fort Dodge club placed approximately $5,000 to the pool of funding which will return to Fort Dodge Community Health Center in an approximate amount of $20,000. The funds will be used to purchase mobile equipment carts for eye care and dental health to assist in the Center's services. Other funds came from Brazil (District 4590), India (District s 3011 and 3132), 9 Rotary Clubs in Iowa and Minnesota (Cedar Rapids, Marion-East, Dubuque, Cedar Falls, Fort Dodge, Cedar Valley, Waterloo, Bellevue, and Edina MN., and District 5970 of Iowa and 5950 in Minnesota. This grant was an unprecedented act of collaboration that hopefully can be used again in the future.

Fort Dodge - What Was There, But What is There Now

Monday's program was provided by David Fierke and Vicky Reek showcased the impact of economic development being a three prong circle of taxes, private investment, and public investment in which public investment spurs private investment, which generates more taxes. To stress this point a two team game was developed in which one member from each team came to the podium and viewed a picture of a former area of Fort Dodge. The first participant to ring a bell , such as with Jeopardy, had the opportunity to answer what the picture was of and what is there now. Failure to answer correctly permitted the other participant to answer. Examples were primarily along the Corridor of Commerce with its substantial changes over the past few years. An example was the former pawn shop and bar that is now the recently opened Community Credit Union on 5th Avenue South. For all questions the slide of what is there now indicated the tax value gained by the improvement and the payback in years for the public investment that helped facilitate the improvement. Most paybacks were of several years, with the longest being a ten year return on investment for the Fareway project. It is important to know that Team Randy Kuhlman bested Team Cameron Nelson 10 to 9. Not only was the presentation very interesting and knowledge building, but everybody was having a fun experience.

Easy Way to Contribute to the Rotary Foundation

Posted by Stephen Hoesel on Oct 20, 2019

Your Rotary Club provides an easy way for you to contribute to the Rotary Foundation, the major financial arm of Rotary that does Polio Plus and Foundation Grants. The program permits you to ask the Treasurer to add an amount each quarter to your quarterly dues statement as a contribution to the R.I. Foundation. The Treasurer then collects these amounts and writes a joint check to the Foundation for all funds contributed by members. If you are interested please complete the following form and provide to Treasurer John Nielsen.

Monthly Program Chairs

Posted by David Fierke on Oct 01, 2019

The following are tentatively identified as the key person each month that will schedule club meetings for that month. Please contact the appropriate person to ask for a program to be scheduled.

July - Cameron Nelson

August - Cheryl O'Hern

September - Rhonda Fitchett

October - Cameron Nelson

November - Amy Bruno

December - David Fierke

January -

February - Kraig Barber

March - Elizabeth Stanek ???

April - Michael Devine

May - Teresa Naughton

June - David Fierke

Invocation Leader for February 3rd is Michael Devine

Posted by Teresa Naughton on Jan 27, 2020

The following have volunteered to provide the weekly invocation as our meetings start. If you are unable to make your assigned schedule please contact a substitute that will then check-in with the President prior to the meeting.

February 3 - Michael Devine

January 10 - Dave Beekman

January 17 -

January 24 -

Minutes and Financial Reports

Posted by Stephen Hoesel on Jan 19, 2020

Minutes and/or Financial Reports for the 2019-2020 Rotary Year have been posted to the members only section of the Website and are available for viewing by accessing the Members Only Section.

The latest addition were posted by Monday Afternoon (1/20/20):

Minutes for the January 20th Board of Directors meeting
Financial Statements for Month Ending December 31st 2019.

Club's Application for Funds for Various Projects

Posted by Stephen Hoesel on Oct 20, 2019

Rotary is a service organization comprised of community leaders of various professions dedicated to humanitarian causes locally and throughout the world. The club budgets funds annually for a variety of local causes that may be made available for requests made throughout the year for which the Board of Directors may want to support. To make application for funds, complete the application online by clicking HERE.

Fort Dodge Noon Rotary Club Grant Guidelines

Mission: Rotary is a service organization comprised of community leaders of various professions dedicated to humanitarian causes locally and throughout the world. Simply put, Rotary is an organization that is out to do "good" in the world.

Vision: It is incumbent upon the Fort Dodge Noon Rotary Club and its Board of Directors to be good stewards of available resources. The club budgets dollars annually. The budget may fund identified programs. The club also has a small “Special Fund” available for requests made throughout the year for unbudgeted causes, which the club and Board may want to support.

Eligibility for the Special Fund: Grants must have the support of one or more members of the Fort Dodge Noon Rotary Club. Funds are granted in support of humanitarian causes. Causes may relate to youth, poverty prevention/intervention, community betterment, health care, human services, and more. There are many, many good causes. There are also limited dollars. Grant awards will not exceed the dollars available in the special fund. Preference may be given to one-time projects or to programs that are deemed to have sustainability. For example, grants may be given to a building projects to provide some seed money to start an educational program that the schools will fund in the long term. Collaboration with other funding sources is encouraged.

Process: A Fort Dodge Noon Rotary Grant Application must be completed for consideration utilizing the on-line application form.

Once received, the Club President will present the Grant Application to the Board at the next regular Board meeting. The President will also communicate the balance of the Special Fund.
The Board will consider the Grant Application and vote on the request, deciding one of three outcomes:
- The request will be fully funded
- The request will be partially funded
- The request will not be funded.
The Club President will communicate the decision with the grant requestor.
If dollars are to be awarded, the Grant Application, with approval note, will be given to the Club Treasurer to pay and the treasurer will cut a check.

Welcome to Fort Dodge Noon Rotary

Service Above Self

Elizabeth Stanek, President