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Club Meeting Information

Our meetings are 7:00 AM on Friday at Newcastle Place, 12600 N Port Washington Rd, Mequon, WI 53092. Our next meeting is 7/9.

Note: Masks are not required in our dining area, but we are asked to wear masks from the front door to the dining room and back.

Our guest this Friday will be Brian Hamilton a Loyola University Student. Brian's topic will be the Borgen Project. (Scroll down for details) 

The greeter will provide either the thought, a Rotary minute, share a family moment or a cultural tradition ... anything they would like to start off the day positive.

Upcoming "It's your Rotary moment" assignees:

  • Dan O'Connor (7/9)
  • Lance Parve (7/16)
  • Steve Peterman (7/23)
  • Connie Pukaite (7/30)

Note: If you are unable to act as "It's your Rotary moment" assignee when scheduled please arrange for your replacement.

Visit our website at mtsunriserotary.org.

Thought of the Week

Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward. - Oscar Wilde

MT Sunrise Rotary 2021 Awards

Story by Bob Blazich, Photos by Dean Johnson

One of the highlights of the annual Changing of the Guard ceremony is the announcement of our club’s annual awards. This year was no exception. 

The first award announced was the Family and Community Service Award. This year’s recipient was Lucia Francis in recognition of her year-long series on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Lucia organized a monthly series of speakers and panelists who engaged our club members in thought-provoking Meaningful Conversations. In presenting the award, Connie Pukaite noted, “This Rotarian, with relentless dedication and persistent effort, connected our Sunrise Rotary to a wider community than we have ever connected to before.”

Dave Schlageter was awarded our club’s 2021 Service Above Self Award. Dave is one who consistently raises his hand when help is needed. He was active in this year’s Candlelight Walk in the Woods, he organized a fundraiser to help pay for the buckthorn-eating goats, he organized tree planting in the woods, and is chairing the club’s main fundraiser, Around The World, in fall. Dave has also been active in the community where he served as the President of Family Promise and trained as a volunteer EMT.

The highest award given by our club is the Paul Harris Fellowship Award. Recipients are nominated and selected by members of our club, and a donation of $1,000 is made to the Rotary International Foundation in their name. Recognition as a Paul Harris Fellow dates back to 1957 and includes past recipients Mother Theresa, Jimmy Carter, Boris Yeltsin, Pearl Bailey, and someone very close to Rotarians and our eradication of Polio, Dr. Jonas Salk.

This year, our club awarded two Paul Harris Fellowship Awards. The honorees exemplified the highest ideals of Rotary and demonstrated their longtime commitment to Service Above Self.

The first person honored was Mequon resident and non-member, Jeff Wenzler. In granting a Paul Harris Fellowship to a non-Rotarian, the recipient must have a demonstrated a sustained record of service to humanity and be respected as a leader in our community. In presenting the award, Brian Monroe stated, “Our PHF recipient not only embraces Rotary's motto of ‘Service Above Self’, but his local and international service work embraces all of Rotary's Areas of Focus.”

The second Paul Harris Fellowship recipient was our member Father Mike Shay. For Father Mike, this was his sixth Paul Harris award, but it was his first awarded by our club. In presenting the award, Lynn Streeter noted that, “Our honoree brings life experience, a commitment to ‘service above self’ and a deep knowledge of Rotary.”  His multiple Paul Harris Fellowship awards clearly reflect his many years of service as a Rotarian. 

The big surprise of the evening came when we learned that the event was being held on Father Mike’s 80thbirthday!! Luckily our member Rene Settle-Robinson was in attendance and entertained us all with her rendition of Happy Birthday Baby (Baba-doo, Baba-doo).

Gathering on the Green
For more information visit www.gatheringonthegreen.org
A Rotary LOL Moment

Dilbert Classics by Scott Adams

Meet Rotary’s New President

Our new president, Shekhar Mehta, envisions Rotary’s next chapter – and is ready to make it a reality

by John Rezek

Over the years, I caught glimpses of Shekhar Mehta when he came to One Rotary Center in Evanston, Illinois, for Board of Directors meetings. I met him formally during one of the days of back-to-back meetings with various staff members that every incoming Rotary president participates in. During the session I attended, he was the most relaxed person in the room, despite being the only one suffering from jet lag. He was alert, patient, and asked perceptive questions — not surprising for someone as successful as he is in his professional and philanthropic life. I kept thinking that he was assessing each of us to see how we could be recruited to help him achieve his dreams for Rotary.

I was lucky to have met Shekhar in person back when we could meet in person. We are now well into the second year of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and as I write this, India is in the depths of a tragic outbreak. Rotary has had to make adjustments, but the business of Rotary goes on.

Online Version
Upcoming Speakers
Aug 06, 2021
TBD
TBD

I am a wife, a mother, a teacher, and an active community volunteer. I’ve worked for large international companies, political campaigns, trade associations and non-profit organizations. I've spent 17 years in our district working hard to make our neighborhoods better for our families, but I believe that things are headed in the wrong direction.

My career began in politics. After graduating from Syracuse University, I moved to Washington DC where I worked for the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group of large and small renewable energy companies. While working full-time I earned my master’s degree in political management at George Washington University. When my husband’s career moved us to Chicago, then Houston, and then finally Milwaukee, I was a press secretary on a Congressional re-election campaign, a communications director and lobbyist at the Environmental Law and Policy Center of the Midwest, and a Vice President at FleishmanHillard Public Relations.

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