Click photo collage above to open full-size image.
Rotary District 5790 Governor Dan Steele last week joined LNR Foundation Committee chair John Kazor for a special presentation to hand out pins to several Rotarians for their contribution to the Rotary Foundation: Kyle Shipp, Spud Newton, and Karen Johns all received pins as Paul Harris Fellows +3. Dennis Song was honored with a Paul Harris +6 pin, and Steve Griffin was recognized as a major donor for giving $10,000 or more to the Rotary Foundation.
The Paul Harris Society honors Rotarians who elect to contribute $1,000 or more annually to the Paul Harris Fund, PolioPlus Fund, or approved global grants. The club receives back 50% of member contributions to the Paul Harris Foundation after three years, when we allocate matching funds raised through our own fundraising efforts. Thanks to these and other generous club members, the Lewisville Noon Rotary can continue to fund the food banks at several LISD schools and support other initiatives that benefit the local community.
The Lewisville Noon club last week made a special exception to standard protocal and honored two local high schoolers with the May 2023 Student of the Month award.
Sonika Harish is Valedictorian of the 2022-23 graduating class at Lewisville High School (LHS) and Meghana Chinta is this year’s Salutatorian. Both students participated in the Four Way Test competition, and Chinta soon is continuing on to the district level competition in Mineral Wells. Meanwhile, Harish will be attending a national speech competition in Phoenix this year.
“These young ladies are genuinely amazing,” said LHS principal Jim Baker. “It’s not only their intelligence, but the hard work, the leadership, and the ability to push through” and manage a large load of volunteerism and academic activities, he added.
Chinta will be attending the University of Texas at Austin, majoring in Computer Science. Harish plans to attend Stanford University and major in Public Policy. “I’m so proud of these people,” Baker said, beaming. The members of the Lewisville Noon club are likewise proud to have these two remarkable young women representing our school and our city!
This year's BIG FORE Charity Golf Tournament was a resounding success, with players enjoying spectacular weather on the fairway at Oakmont Country Club last week. The final tally is still pending, but Lewisville Noon Rotary raised at least $35,000 at this year's event, thanks in large part to the very generous donations of major sponsors. The club would especially like to acknowledge the event's title sponsor, Republic Services, and Gold level sponsors, Bank of the West, Buck Properties, and Dankensreiter & Emmet, LLP Law Firm. Huge shout-out also to the Golf Committee Co-Chairs, Karen Johns and David Seaman for the hundreds of hours they dedicated to planning, to Sue Bowman for pulling together dozens of fantastic raffle prizes, and to every single club member (and their family members) who volunteered their time and talent to make the BIG FORE a big hit once again!
L to R: Rotarian Leslie Thompson, Allison Quisenberry, Director of Development for Serve Denton, Kristen Gramling, Director of Operations for Serve Denton, and LNR club president Dennis Song. Click image above to open full-size photo.
In 1976, Denton mayor Elinor Hughes proposed the idea of a one-stop human services center to help local residents in need. Although well received, the city lacked funding to bring the idea to fruition, and it was all but forgotten until 2011. At that time, Denton Bible Church explored the idea of turning excess property owned by the church into a nonprofit office complex. By 2012, the vision finally took shape with the launch of Serve Denton, a 501(c)(3) charity that exists to help other nonprofits grow capacity and make their services more accessible to those needing assistance.
Over the past decade, Serve Denton has continued to expand its reach, and the organization will be opening a new campus in Lewisville this summer. Last week's guest presenter, Kristen Gramling, Director of Operations for Serve Denton, shared how the project has taken shape, and what local residents can expect from the new facility.
After two years of feasibility studies and planning, Serve Denton identified the former DATCU building on Edmonds at Fox in Lewisville as the prime location for the new hub, which will be called Serve Lewisville. The city provided funding for the organization to acquire the building through a public private partnership, and the new facility will provide affordable office space and shared resources to several local nonprofits, so they can maximize their impact in the community. Serve Lewisville also will provide a bilingual client greeter, a shared printer/ copier, tours, professional development programs, support from Serve Denton staff, and fun events to help the nonprofits at the Lewisville hub.
The renovated facility will have its official Phase 1 Ribbon Cutting event on July 20th at 9 a.m. Partner organizations that will be moved in by the ribbon cutting include the City of Lewisville Co-care Team, Denton County MHMR, Boys & Girls Club of Tarrant County, MHMR of Tarrant County Early Childhood Intervention, and Mission Market Pantry, supported by the Tarrant Area Food Bank. In addition to partners who will have shared office space on site, Serve Lewisville also offers support services to off-site members.
In preparation for the grand opening, Serve Lewisville is hosting a volunteer work day on June 24th from 8am - noon. The charity also is hosting a large fundraising event at Sneaky Pete's on Lake Lewisville on Thursday, August 24th, starting at 5pm. For details on how to get involved and support the work of Serve Denton / Serve Lewisville as an individual or a business, visit www.servelewisville.org.
Lewisville Noon was thrilled to see Dean Ueckert back at Bistecca again last week, and we continue to keep him in our prayers as he begins radiation treatments for throat cancer.
Please also pray for Rotarian Philip Herr and his family after the recent passing of his aunt Linda.
Lastly, please continue to lift up Sheila Collins' daughter, Tiffany, in prayer. She is undergoing a complex series of treatments for her pancreas and needs to first gain weight prior to a transplant procedure.
You can send any specific prayer requests or praise reports to be included here to Audrey Stansbury at audreystansbury@gmail.com.