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            This week we'll get an update on the club's financial position, our drive to add 40 members and future projects.

            Presenters will include Treasurer Todd Rohlfsen, Membership Chair Tom Arthur, Program Chair Amber Jedlicka and Web Master Mason Fromm. Be with us as we plan for the future.

            We'll also hear from the three charities which received the profits from our Hops and Grapes Event last spring on their plans on how they'll use the money. They are the Food Bank, the Boy Scouts and the Boys and Girls Club.

At our October 5 meeting, Program Chair Amber Jedlicka presented checks to the three organizations we selected to support at our spring Hops and Grapes Event.

             The three are the Cedar Valley Food Bank, the Boy Scouts and the Boys and Girls Club.

            Representatives of the three groups will return October 12 to explain how our funds will be used.

President Steve Carrignan gave a warm welcome to the group, and those working to increase membership thank the sponsors whom brought guests, and congratulations to Mason Fromm who had three guests in attendance.  All our guests have been added to our emailing list and an electronic copy of the Reporter will arrive in their inboxes each Thursday.  Tom Arthur, Membership Chair, thanks all Rotarians who sponsored a guest, and for making the day a wonderful success. 

Program to invite high school students to Rotary resumes

            Last Monday we resumed our practice of inviting outstanding high school seniors from all six Waterloo high schools to attend Rotary for a month. Rotary provides the meal and club members provide transportation. Al Ricks oversees the program.

Please make an effort to meet them and make them feel welcome.

            Allbaugh, a 1970 graduate of IowaState with a BS degree in aerospace engineering, won the honor for outstanding contributions to human welfare that transcend purely professional accomplishments and bring honor to the university.

            After serving in the Air Force as a pilot in Vietnam, Dave worked at Deere and Company. Since retirement he acted as project manager the recently opened Sullivan Brothers Veterans wing of the GroutMuseum. He and his father Ken also headed up efforts to ship over 70 bicycles to Nicaragua.

            He is a trustee of the First Congregational UCC Church and a past member of the Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area board of trustees, as well as the Cedar Valley Boys & Girls Club's board of directors.

The 21 October babes are:

October 2: Roger Olesen

October 4: Brad Smith

October 7: Bob Heaton

October 8: Chris Hurley

October 10: President Steve Carignan, Chuck Paulson and Greg Schmitz

October 12: Gene Enderlein , Sam Bovenmyer, Stacy Van Gorp

October 13: Sue Beach and Mark Durbahn

October 15: Doug Stanford

October 16: Steve Schmitt, Betty Steege and E.J. Gallagher

October 19: Mark Kuiper

October 25:  Marcelle Ericson

October 27: Betty Erhardt, John Beecher and Janet Van Note.

Our district will have a group study exchange next year with district2230 which includes Poland, Belarus and Ukraine. It is tentatively scheduled for four weeks from mid April to mid May.

            While the team leader will be a Rotarian, team members cannot be directly related to Rotarians. The Rotary Foundation pays for travel and insurance and members of district 2230 will cover food, lodging and travel in the district. Applicants will be responsible for small gifts for their host and personal care items.

            You can learn more about district 2230 on the internet at http://rotary2230.pl/.

Candidates must:

Be currently employed for at least two years in any recognized business or profes­sion on a full-time basis and be 25 to 40 years of age at the time of application

 Work or live in the sending district

 Be citizens of the country in which they reside

 In good health

 Neat in appearance and able to express themselves clearly and logically

 Of a sound, general educational back­ground and cultural awareness

 Interested in and clearly enthusiastic about their chosen vocations, and possess outstanding vocational skills

 Open-minded, tolerant, and flexible

 Proficient (preferably fluent) in the major language(s) of the host district

 Able to travel for four with their employer's consent

 Able to receive a visa to the host country or already have one

 Able to depart from the same location and on the same date as the rest of the team

            Application for team members is available on the internet at             http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_doc/161en.doc. They should be submitted to President Steve Carignan for club endorsement at steve.carignan@uni.edu.

Applications for team leader have already closed and interviews will be held this month.

Mayor Tim Hurley will not seek another term as mayor, so three citizens have thrown their hats in the ring.  Reggie Schmitt, Buck Clark, and Steve Schmitt will join us in two weeks to answer your questions about their ideas for the direction of our fair city.  If you have an issue or question to bring before the candiates, please email Kevin McCrindle before Friday, October 23rd.  You may also call Kevin at his office, 234-0535.

Rotary's Council on Legislation vote in 1989 to admit women into Rotary clubsworldwide remains a watershed moment in the history of Rotary.

"My fellow delegates, I would like to remind you that the world of 1989 is very different to the world of 1905. I sincerely believe that Rotary has to adapt itself to a changing world," said Frank J. Devlyn, who would go on to become RI president in 2000-01. The vote followed the decades-long efforts of men and women from all over the Rotary world to allow for the admission of women into Rotary clubs, and several close votes at previous Council meetings.

            Prior to 1989 clubs in the US and Canada had voted overwhelmingly to admit women, but were outvoted by Rotarians in countries where women had little or no voice. A Rotary club Duarte, CA admitted three women in 1978 and Rotary pulled their charter. The matter went to court and in 1987 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-0 against Rotary.

The response to the decision was overwhelming: By 1990, the number of female Rotarians had skyrocketed to over 20,000. Our club admitted its first two women in 1990- -Kathleen Wernimont and Betty Steege.

Twenty years after the Council on Legislation's vote, Rotary has nearly 188,000 female Rotarians. Women have served in leadership positions as high as the RI Board of Directors and The Rotary Foundation Board of Trustees. 

Timeline of women in Rotary

1950

An enactment to delete the word male from the Standard Rotary Club Constitution is proposed by a Rotary club in India for the Council on Legislation meeting at the 1950 RI Convention.

1964

The Council on Legislation agenda contains an enactment proposed by a Rotary club in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) to permit the admission of women into Rotary clubs. Delegates vote that it be withdrawn. Two other proposals to allow women to be eligible for honorary membership are also withdrawn.

1972

As more women begin reaching higher positions in their professions, more clubs begin lobbying for female members. A U.S. Rotary club proposes admitting women into Rotary at the 1972 Council on Legislation.

1977

Three separate proposals to admit women into membership are submitted to the Council on Legislation for consideration at the 1977 RI Convention. A Brazilian club makes a different proposal to admit women as honorary members.

The Rotary Club of Duarte, California, USA, admits women as members in violation of the RI Constitution and Standard Rotary Club Constitution. Because of this violation, the club's membership in Rotary International is terminated in March 1978, only to be reinstated in September 1986.

1980

The RI Board of Directors and Rotary clubs in India, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States propose an enactment to remove from the RI and club constitutions and bylaws all references to members as male persons.

1983-86

In a lawsuit filed by the Duarte club in 1983, the California Superior Court rules in favor of Rotary International, upholding gender-based qualification for membership in California Rotary clubs. In 1986, the California Court of Appeals reverses the lower court's decision, preventing the enforcement of the provision in California. The California Supreme Court refuses to hear the case, and it is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

1987

On 4 May, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that Rotary clubs may not exclude women from membership on the basis of gender. Rotary issues a policy statement that any Rotary club in the United States can admit qualified women into membership. The Board "encourages all clubs in the U.S. to give fair and equal consideration to candidates for membership without regard to gender."

The Rotary Club of Marin Sunrise, California (formerly Larkspur Landing), is chartered on 28 May. It becomes the first club after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling to have women as charter members. Sylvia Whitlock, of the Rotary Club of Duarte, California, becomes the first female Rotary club president.

1988

In November, the RI Board of Directors issues a policy statement recognizing the right of Rotary clubs in Canada to admit female members based on a Canadian law similar to that upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

1989

At its first meeting after the 1987 U.S. Supreme Court decision, the Council on Legislation votes to eliminate the requirement in the RI Constitution that membership in Rotary clubs be limited to men. Women are welcomed into Rotary clubs around the world.

1990

As of June, there are about 20,200 female Rotarians worldwide. 

1995

In July, eight women become district governors, the first elected to this role.

2005

Carolyn E. Jones begins her term as the first woman appointed as trustee of The Rotary Foundation, serving from 2005 to 2009.

2007

In July, 63 women begin terms as district governors. Women are members of 25,227 clubs around the world. There are 177,859 female Rotarians.

2008

Catherine Noyer-Riveau begins her term as the first woman appointed to the RI Board of Directors. She will continue to serve through June 2010.

2009

There are 187,967 female Rotarians worldwide. Sixty-three serve as district governors.

Women in Rotary clubs?? "No Way","Does not happen", would have been the answer in 1986.

Only 22 years ago Betty Steege a young female professional employed as a financial advisor, got an invite to a Rotary meeting from a colleague, Rotarian David Sparks. Betty had entered the brokerage industry as a registered representative in 1978 and at that time was one of only 3 women advisors employed in her entire company of almost 700 advisors. Betty was no stranger to a male dominated setting and welcomed the opportunity to get involved with Rotary and on October 5th, 1987 became a member of the Waterloo Rotary Downtown club.

    Rotary was a male only organization and in May of 1987, only a few months prior to Betty becoming a Rotarian the supreme court had ruled that as a service organization Rotary must admit women into the club. David Sparks, was a strong Rotary supporter told Betty he thought she should join. He explained the club and the Rotary mission very thoroughly. Betty liked the idea of service without a profit motive. "To people in business there is a selfless attraction to Rotary", said Betty.

   During her time with Rotary she has helped bring in new members David Lederman, Robert Smith, Mary Kettwig, Audrey Adams Sorge. She has been involved on different committees including the new Rotary Reserve building when it was built. She helps with the shoebox project annually and was instrumental in getting the Rotary to honor the local High School volleyball standouts and teams each year as done with football.

   I asked Betty what keeps her coming back? "The people, service and the programs, they are very broadening," she said. What is your wish for the club? "We do such great work internationally. If we didn't Bill Gates would not continue supporting us. I would very much like to see us as a club do more locally."

   Betty is a financial advisor for Stifel Nicolaus. Her and husband Ron have a daughter Mindy (in Waterloo) and a son Andrew (in Iowa City). Her birthday is Oct 16th. Happy Anniversary as a Rotarian and Happy Birthday Betty! Thank you for continuing your support of Rotary. This is the first story of "Women in Rotary" in a series of 6 stories. We now have 43 active women Rotarians in our club alone and would certainly like to have more. Please share Betty's story with women that you feel should be a part of our club.