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June 23 - Board of Realtors

Join us today at noon at the Waterloo Convention Center to hear from the North East Iowa Regional Board of Realtors. Our guest speaker is incoming President of the Board of Realtors, Karmen Schwake. She will be discussing the real estate market in the Cedar Valley both residential and commercial. Karmen is a native of Waterloo, graduated from West High School and attended school in Arizona. She is currently a broker for Oakridge Realty. She has a family of 4 and resides in Waterloo.

**UPDATE** Our guest was unable to share several interesting charts and info with us on the big screen, so it has been uploaded here.

Habitat for Humanity Service Project

We'll begin a sign up to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity in July. They can take groups of 10 Monday thru Thursday mornings 8:30-11:30 the week of July 14th.

There will be no regular Rotary meeting that week. Lunch will be provided to volunteers. This is an opportunity for service to help build homes to those in need plus have some fun with your fellow Rotarians.

Training will be provided. Currently there are 6 project homes.

President-elect Larry will have more details at our next few regular meetings.

Upcoming Programs

Our upcoming programs offer a wide variety of topics that you can offer to guests - maybe you could reach out and re-connect with your network and invite them to join us for lunch?

June 30 - Waterloo Black Hawks, Jay Dobes, Director of Sales.

July 7 - NO MEETING / 4th of July Holiday

July 14 - NO NOON MEETING / Volunteer week for Habitat for Humanity.

- - Monday-Thursday, 8:30-11:30. Lunch will be provided.

July 21 - Cedar Valley TechWorks by Paul Pfeiffer.

July 28 - NO MEETING / Rotary Family Picnic @ Rotary Reserve Wednesday July 30.

June 16 Program - Food Bank

Fellow Rotarian Barb Prather is the Executive Director of Northeast Iowa Food Bank, and will bring some friends to our meeting Monday:

Ron Steele is the Capacity Campaign’s Volunteer Spokesperson. Ron has lived and worked in the Cedar Valley more than 50 years, recently retiring as Senior News Anchor for KWWL-TV. He hopes to help the NEIFB reach its goal of increased capacity to serve the tens of thousands in 16 Iowa counties who depend on daily meals provided by the Northeast Iowa Food Bank.’

Dr. Michelle Swanson is a life-long resident of the Cedar Valley and a recently retired professor from the University of Northern Iowa. She continues to serve the community as a volunteer at the Northeast Iowa food bank and numerous other local charities, demonstrating her deep commitment to helping others. Michelle is married to her husband, Chad - a local attorney - and together they have raised two adult children, Elizabeth and Matthew.

June Birthdays

Join us Monday to celebrate these Rotarians who are all 1 year wiser!

Kathleen Wernimont	Jun 2
Dusty Wilson	Jun 6
Jacob Bates	Jun 16
David Buck	Jun 19
Jacylne Heller	Jun 19
Chris Kemp	Jun 22

Highlights from UNI Football Program

Rotarians heard from NEW UNI Football Coach - Todd Stepsis - last week! Thank you to everyone for making the trip to the Dome!

Committee Meetings Updates

Last week, three committee met after the Club business meeting.

Memorial Day - No Meeting

Today, we honor those who died while serving our country in the Armed Forces. We will not meet today so you can spend the unofficial kick off to summer with your family. Next meeting will be June 2 at the Waterloo Convention Center with a Rotary business agenda.

May 19 - Habitat For Humanity

Ali Parrish is the Executive Director of Iowa Heartland Habitat for Humanity, where she has worked for the past 11 years, helping to lead efforts that expand access to affordable homeownership and strengthen neighborhoods across the Cedar Valley. A Waterloo native, Ali is committed to bringing people together to create lasting change through housing and community partnerships. She and her husband Nathaniel have three grown daughters and enjoy being part of the place they’ve long called home.

Summer Kickoff

Summer in Waterloo starts with FridayLoo and the 4th Street Cruise THIS WEEKEND!

The first FridayLoo of the season will start at 5:30 in Lincoln Park and will feature local favorites - Dead Presidents. Admission is FREE Click HERE to learn more!

Bring your family and bring your chair - there will be music and food down at National Cattle Congress on May 23rd prior to the parade of classic cars on May 24th. Please click HERE for updates and more information.

Rotary Flag Project in California

Inspired by the American flags placed beside headstones at military cemeteries, Rick Clark asked officials at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego if Rotary clubs could similarly pay tribute to service members interred there.

Clark, a past president of the Rotary Club of La Jolla Golden Triangle, is a Vietnam veteran who served as a Seabee, as members of the U.S. Navy’s construction battalions are called. He enlisted District 5340 leaders to recruit 400 volunteers to participate in the project, dubbed 2024 Operation Flags for Vets. “It was a powerful event that impacted so many people, including countless survivors who expressed their gratitude,” says another organizer, Michael Fuqua, a member of the Rotary Club of Rancho Bernardo and a retired naval captain. The district plans to repeat the event this Memorial Day. The initiative is supported by a new district committee formed to coordinate projects related to military members and veterans. The committee helped raise about $14,000.

May 12 Program - Child Protection

Katie Strub is the Senior Clinic Administrator at the Allen Child Protection Center and Allen Women’s Health. She has been in her current position since 2021, and has been employed at UnityPoint Health in the Allen Child Protection Center since it opened in 2010. Katie has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in mental health counseling from the University of Northern Iowa. Katie is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. She represents Allen Women’s Health and Allen Child Protection Center on numerous state, regional and national committees and coalitions.

2025 District Conference

The Rotary District #5970 conference was held in Decorah, IA May 2-4. The meeting was attended by about 75 people, including Rotary Exchange students, members, past, present, and future District Governors, and others. We began Saturday morning with a presentation from Patricia Kennedy Davanzo, who told us how Rotary and the 4-way test changed her life. She told us how her father who was a Rotarian for many years, insisted she go off to New Zealand as an exchange student when she was in high school. That experience changed her life, and she knew she wanted to be involved with travel as a career. She went to work for Northwest Airlines, now Delta Airlines, after college. Today, 30 years later she has moved all over the county and successfully moved up the ranks at Northwest. Throughout here career she had a 4-way test plaque sitting on her desk and she tried to follow it every day, especially in difficult situations.

We then participated in a Gratitude Scavenger Hunt. We were split into about 10 teams and given $100 in cash. Our goal was to go out and spread joy and tell others about Rotary in about an hour. We started on Main Street, and we gave money to a family who was on their way to buy some hot chocolate for their two young children. We then headed down to the Farmer’s Market and met a local farmer and his young daughter, who runs a farm with everything from chickens to cows to potted plants. We treated his family to a future dinner out. It was a lot of fun to see how surprised people were when we gave them cash for a treat.

The last speaker was Tim Felton, a retired County Sheriff’s deputy from Winneshiek County. He told us of several trips to Ukraine in the last 4-5 years in which he has gone over and trained their local fire and police forces on how to deal with trauma and PTSD in the warzone. It was an interesting and inspiring talk and reminded us of how luck we are to live in a county where we take peace for granted.

The day ended with pizza from Mabe’s and family trivia.

Cathy Nicholas

2024-2025 Waterloo Rotary President

Main Street Sweep Volunteer Sign-Up

Main Street Sweep – Saturday, May 17th | 10am–1pm

We invite you to be a part of our annual Main Street Sweep, a community spring clean-up day dedicated to revitalizing downtown Waterloo after a long winter. This is more than just picking up trash — it’s about coming together to restore the beauty, health, and welcoming spirit in the heart of our city. When we unite with a common purpose, even the simplest actions — like sweeping a sidewalk — we create a powerful ripple of pride and connection. Volunteers will receive supplies and assignments before heading out to "sweep" downtown. After the cleanup, we’ll gather for lunch and a well-deserved celebration. Let’s work side by side to make downtown shine again — we can’t wait to see you there! Sign up here to join the movement.

Rotarian brings Home Mental Health Support

When Ugandan village elders meet with Stuart Raymond Kasule about supporting people with mental health struggles, they volunteer ideas to show more empathy.

They want to know, for example, how to open a conversation with a person who is suffering. “That shows you that the people are crying out to say, we need help, we need support,” Kasule says. He travels from his adopted home of Australia to his Ugandan homeland about twice a year to share his training on mental well-being and suicide prevention, skills that are part of his job with a counseling firm in Canberra.

Read the full story here:

Rotarian brings home mental health support | Rotary International

May 5 program - UNI Director of Athletics

Join us Monday to hear from Megan Franklin - she was named the University of Northern Iowa's ninth Director of Athletics in May 2024, bringing over a decade of athletic administrative experience in the Missouri Valley Conference to Cedar Falls.

Franklin earned her bachelor's degree in Community Health Education at the University of Nebraska and later received a master's degree in Educational Administration specializing in student affairs from Nebraska. She owns a PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Virginia Tech.

May Birthdays

We'll celebrate these Rotarians on Monday and be sure to wish them a Happy Birthday later this month!

Vicki Mueller	May 19
Troy Smith	May 22
Todd Wordel	May 31

April 28 Program - Honor Student Luncheon

We celebrated the brightest high school seniors at our annual Academic Recognition program. Our keynote speaker was Glen Keith, Executive Director, Love, INC of the Cedar Valley

Glen Keith is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and is the current Executive Director of Love In the Name of Christ of the Cedar Valley, also known as Love INC. Glen spent 25 years in the military and served as logistics officer throughout the globe with multiple deployments to the Balkans in the mid-1990s and multiple deployments to Afghanistan during the Global War on Terrorism.

Glen is a native of Tennessee with the Army bringing him to the Cedar Valley in 2013 to lead the University of Northern Iowa Army ROTC program, where he retired from the Army in 2017. His education includes a Bachelors in Sociology from Tennessee Technological University, a Masters in Administration from Central Michigan University and Master of Military Studies from Marine Corps University.

NewAldaya Fundraiser April 25

Rotary National Convention is in Calgary

Thousands set to gather in Calgary for Rotary’s international convention, one of the ‘Blue Sky City’s’ most multicultural events to date.

CALGARY (10 April 2025) - More than 15,000 Rotary members and participants from over 120 countries will gather in Calgary from June 21 to 25, 2025, for the membership service organization’s annual international convention.

“I am thrilled to welcome my fellow Rotary members from around the world to Calgary and Alberta,” said Alberta Premier, Danielle Smith. “As changemakers who recognize the needs of their communities and then take action to address them, Rotary members are fostering positive and lasting impact – and much needed inspiration at this moment in time.”

As the largest event yet to be held at the newly expanded BMO Centre, the convention is expected to account for more than 30,000 hotel room nights, inject $81 million CAD to the local economy, and drive significant business for Calgary’s hotels, restaurants, retailers, and tourism attractions.

Click below to read the full story:

Thousands set to gather in Calgary for Rotary’s international convention, one of the ‘Blue Sky City’s’ most multicultural events to date

Black Hawk County Soil & Water Conservation

Jeri Thornsberry serves as a Black Hawk Soil and Water Commissioner and currently chairs the Board. First elected in 2008, she has also held leadership positions at both the regional and national levels. Today, she serves as President of the Conservation Districts of Iowa, representing 500 locally elected commissioners across the state.

Jeri lived in Nevada’s Great Basin region, where water was more precious than the silver mined from the mountains. Her passion for protecting Iowa’s soil and water was reignited when she returned to her childhood home. Jeri hopes the citizens of Black Hawk County will continue to support conservation practices that promote sustainable agriculture on rural lands and expand these efforts into urban areas as well.

Welcome New Rotarian Ed Gruenwald