The Feb 29th Rotary luncheon, lead by President Gwen Kiser, turned out to be a very informative one including a surprise for one of the long time Rotary members. The meeting started with Christina Dougherty, the District Governor Elect, giving us a reminder of the upcoming District Conference on June 1st and 2nd that is being held at the Blue Chip Casino. This is a great opportunity for club members to see what is happening beyond the weekly meetings in this country and around the world.
Next up was the Portage Township School Superintendent Michael Berta who spoke about one of his favorite topics: the Education Foundation along with what it does for the teachers and students who benefit from it. His main point was the upcoming Foundation Fundraiser the 5th Annual Wine Tasting and Silent Auction scheduled for Thursday, April 26th at Woodland Park.
But, the real star of the program was long time Rotarian Henry Hansen who was awarded the Paul Harris Fellowship award to his great surprise. Becoming a Paul Harris Fellow, which is named in honor of Rotary founder Paul Harris, is based on contributions to various Rotary programs, the club elected to complete this for him because of his many contributions to the club and to other factors befitting the honor of becoming a Paul Harris Fellow. Congratulations Henry.