2024-2025: A Year in Review
It is amazing how many things run like clockwork. We have great committees that are doing fantastic work awarding grants and scholarships and awards and scheduling programs and service projects.
Although we are smaller in size than we used to be, we are mighty. We have a great club that does great work and serves as wonderful stewards to our Appleton Rotary Foundation funds. Our endowments support projects in our community and around the world.
These are a few things we should be very proud of from this past year:
- We served meals at the Salvation Army with Indus each month.
- We supported The Monthlies by packing feminine hygiene products each month.
- We volunteered for diaper repacking for United Way Fox Cities.
- We sorted clothes at the Community Clothes Closet.
- We packed supplies for the Wisconsin Nicaragua Partnership.
- We packed hygiene kits at the Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes.
- We volunteered and received funds for helping out at Octoberfest and Fox Valley Pride.
- We collected shoes for funds2orgs who ships the shoes to micro-enterprises in developing countries, where they help small business owners (many of whom are women) build better lives.
- The Art Scholarship Committee awarded grants in the amount of $3,646.00 to SOAR Fox Cities, Friends of the Appleton Library, Creative Downtown Appleton and the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. .
- The Appleton Rotary Foundation Scholarship Fund paid out $12,000 in scholarships.
- The Appleton Rotary Foundation Charles Heeter Fund transferred $4,771.50 to The Rotary Foundation.
- The Appleton Rotary Foundation Paul and Elaine Groth World Service Fund provided $6,983.41 in grants to ShelterBox USA for Stock the Box emergency preparedness, Rotary Club of Mbabane for medical and dental outreach and the Little Chute School District for Hope for Hydration.
- The Appleton Rotary Foundation Community Service Committee approved grants of $4,375.00 to organizations such as Fox Valley Memory Project, Pillars, Greater Fox Cities Area Habitat for Humanity and Ebb and Flow Connections Cooperative.
- The Appleton Rotary Foundation Helen Thom Roemer Fund provided $27,310.00 in grants to Bergstrom Mahler Museum, The Building for Kids, Exceptional Equestrians, Girl Scouts of Northwestern Great Lakes, Down Syndrome Association of Wisconsin – Fox Cities, Hear in the Fox Cities, myTeam Triumph, SOAR Fox Cities, WisconSibs, YMCA Fox Cities Camp Hope and VPI.
- The Appleton Rotary Foundation Bright Futures Scholarship Fund was established to provide scholarships to Bright Future Award recipients. This year, there were 9 students recognized by the club and 6 who applied for the $500 scholarship.
- We acquired the Herbert and Dolores Berg Rotary Fund when Appleton West Rotary disbanded. The Berg fund matches any donations directed to one of the funds within the Appleton Rotary Foundation funds at the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region up to the Community Foundation’s annual disbursement. These funds will be used for service projects consistent with the Club’s Five Avenues of Service as recommended to the Appleton Rotary Foundation by the Rotary Club of Appleton Board.
So, thank you to ALL of you including the board, who is a wonderful group of dedicated folks that do all the behind the scenes stuff to make sure that the committees can focus on their work.