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Christmas Banquet Dec 15th

December 15 will be our Christmas program and our last meeting of the 2025 calendar year.

We will have a special meal prepared by the Waterloo Convention Center; this is an excellent time to bring your spouse or a guest to Rotary.
The Salvation Army will be at the door with their Bells and Kettles, A group from the West Waterloo Band will entertain us with Christmas music. Also, we traditionally pass the basket for our servers at the Convention Center to show our appreciation for those that prepare our meals each week. (we will try to keep this part discrete)

If you plan to bring a guest, please contact Larry Steffens or Jordan Bancroft BEFORE Friday at 4pm so the Convention Center has a headcount.

Rotary Raffle

We kicked off our Rotary Raffle on December 8th; tickets will be distributed to members to sell over the next few weeks - 250 tickets at $25/ticket. Rick Morris has graciously donated the top prize; a week at his condo in Florida!

The drawing will be held on January 12th.

Click here to see the complete rules of the raffle.

Matching Funds Available

District 5970 has released a program called Rotary Rush for matching funds to encourage donations to the Rotary Foundation. Rotary Rush is available for a limited time and will conclude February 28th, 2026. Matching funds between $100 and $500 have been generously donated by district Rotarians and those funds may be exhausted before the end of February, so get started today! Click this link for more details and see Deb or Larry if you are interested in participating in this program.

December 8 Program GBPAC

Join us Monday to hear from fellow Rotarian and soon-to-be-retired GBPAC Executive Director Steve Carignan. After leading the region's best performing arts center for 27 years, Steve is going to give our club a glimpse into the process of selecting shows for the upcoming season.

Operation Warm UPDATE

THURSDAY, December 4 - All the coats for operation warm have been distributed to these elementary schools: St Edward's, Cunningham, Lincoln, Lowell, Highland, and Irving. Our club provided just short of' 500 coats for students in need! A huge thank you to Dave Lee and Jim Seeley for all their work leading and organizing this project. Also to the members of Rotary that were able to be a part of this wonderful project.

December 1st - Business Meeting

Operation Warm is under way and there are 4 schools remaining. The kids are very excited for their coats and very appreciative.

Today's December 1st meeting we will be upstairs in the convention center, and our agenda is a Rotary business meeting with updates on our financials for Operation Warm and the recent sports banquets. Also a briefing on our upcoming raffle to be held soon.

Deb Pullin Van Auken will provide information on the Rotary Foundation; what it does and how it benefits communities.

December 8th Program will be presented by Gallagher Bluedorn and involve reviewing potential performances. This should be very interesting ..... we will get first hand input on what we may be seeing in the future.

December 15th will be our Christmas program; there will be a special lunch if you what to invite your spouse or a guest you are welcome ... Cost is $25. There will be special Christmas music provided by the West Waterloo High School Band. If you plan to bring a guest, please let Larry or Jordan know for an adequate meal number. Also the Salvation Army will be on hand with their bells and kettles.

December Birthdays

We'll celebrate 3 birthdays today at our meeting!

Frank Seng	Dec 02
Elizabeth Locke	Dec 14
Ryan Cose	Dec 21

***NO MEETING NOV 24th***

No Meeting on the 24th in observance of Thanksgiving

Waterloo Rotary Club Business Meeting on December 1st - we'll discuss financials, Operation Warm, Football and Volleyball Banquets, The Rotary Foundation, inbound/outbound exchange students, and we'll roll out a fundraising raffle.

Christmas Dinner will be December 15th; Salvation Army will be there with their bell ringers, and we are finalizing details for live music during our feast.

2025 Football MVP - Carson Nielsen, West High

Congratulations to West High School's Carson Nielsen - our 2025 Glen "Doc" Miller MVP!

Click here to see photos from the ceremony held November 17th

Since 1946 the Waterloo Rotary Club has enjoyed the honor each year to celebrate outstanding performance by high school athletes in the city of Waterloo and surrounding areas. Football coaching staffs at each school in the city nominate a senior MVP from their team. In a secret ballot, area sportswriters make the citywide selection. The winner receives the Glen "Doc" Miller traveling trophy and is entitled to display the trophy at his school for the next twelve months.

The traveling trophy is given in memory of an outstanding Rotarian, Glen "Doc" Miller, a great athlete and president of the Waterloo Rotary Club in 1954. "Doc" was captain of the University of Iowa football team in 1923, and a player on the great Iowa teams of 1921-22 which beat Yale.

Learn about a Rotary Club in Italy

Meet the Rotary club doing things a little differently. Global ROOTS in Italy brings young professionals together to create impact, connect globally, and turn ideas into action in a new and fresh way

Four individuals smiling and posing together on a waterfront promenade with sailboats and hills in the background. They are dressed in smart-casual attire.

As a teenager in southern Italy in 2005, Maria Vittoria “Mavi” Gargiulo was “kind of forced” to join an Interact club that her father’s Rotary club was trying to reestablish. The students wore suits (or at least coats and ties), and the atmosphere was very formal. “Everybody was pretending to be adult while I just wanted to be 15,” she recalls.

She quit as soon as her father was off his club’s board, but she reconnected with Rotary while attending the University of Salerno when she found a “more chill and relaxed” Rotaract club.

There, her Rotaract career took off. In 2022, she decided to also join a Rotary club at the urging of her closest friend, whose father was serving as president. It was what she calls a “legacy club,” focused on lunch meetings and weekly speakers. The dues of 1,400 euros amounted to her entire salary as a post-doctoral student. “They were a good club, and a lot of district governors come from it,” Gargiulo says. “Some people really look forward to that kind of social gathering every Thursday, which is fair — that’s the experience they want. That’s just not the experience I like.”

So she created the club she wanted to belong to instead. The result was the Rotary Club of Global ROOTS – District 2101, which chartered in April and has become a space for Rotaract members and others who had expressed interest in Rotary but hadn’t found a club where they fit in.

Click below to read the rest of the story:

From the ground up, Global ROOTS club builds its own experience | Rotary International

November 17 - Football Banquet

This week we have our largest meeting of the year - The Waterloo Rotary Club Football MVP Banquet. Please arrive early as we'll have over 100 hungry athletes, parents, coaches, administrators, and Rotarians. A plaque will be presented to this year's MVP along with the traveling trophy. This tradition has been going on since 1946. Thank you to Wade Itzen and Rick Morris for organizing this event. Once again we will be upstairs in the convention center. Our guest speaker will be UNI Head Football Coach. Todd Stepsis.

Football Banquet Keynote Speaker

Todd Stepsis was named the 24th head football coach at the University of Northern Iowa on Dec. 3, 2024. Stepsis joined the Panthers after a six-year stint as the head coach at Drake University.

The Shelby, Ohio native guided the Bulldogs to consecutive appearances in the FCS Playoffs after winning back-to-back Pioneer Football League championships. Drake compiled a 16-7 record over that two-year span in 2023-24, including a 15-1 mark in conference play. Stepsis earned Pioneer Football League Coach of the Year honors for a second consecutive year in 2024.

UNI Director of Athletics Megan Franklin said. “Todd is a mentor of men. His winning culture is predicated on the cultivation of the very best from the brotherhood of the team. Coach Stepsis has been a winner from his playing days to serving as head coach. His experience as both an offensive and defensive coordinator gives him a unique edge in the head coaching role.

“Todd is the absolute right leader of the next era of men in the UNI locker room and on the coaching staff, and he will embrace our storied alumni,” Franklin continued. “Todd's vision to recruit and mentor men who lead on the field, on campus, and in the community will result in winning championships and graduating men of service to their families, professions and communities."

2025 Volleyball MVP - Allyson Landers, West High

Congratulations to Allyson Landers from West High - she is our 2025 Most Valuable Volleyball Player!

Since 1936 the Waterloo Rotary Club has enjoyed the honor each year to celebrate outstanding performance by high school athletes in the city of Waterloo and surrounding areas. Area volleyball coaches choose their MVP's and then by ballot of all the coaches award the trophy for overall Most Valuable volleyball player. The winner is entitled to display the trophy at her school for the next twelve months. You can see photos from the ceremony here.

November 10 - Volleyball Banquet

This week we honor our Volleyball teams from the Waterloo Schools. Thank you to Barb Prather and Jaclyne Heller for leading this event. We will meet upstairs to accommodate the larger crowd. Players, coaches and parents will be in attendance. Please sit with our guests when possible to welcome them.

Next week we will host the Waterloo area football banquet... This is our largest event of the year.

Each team will nominate a MVP and a selection from the candidates will be chosen. The winner will receive our traveling trophy. Our guest speaker will be the Unit Football Coach.

This past week our Rotary Club received their gaming license. This will help us be able to reach out with fund raisers for Rotary and Community Projects. More to come on this in the near future.

This week we celebrate Veterans Day on November 11th. We encourage all Veterans to attend our meeting today as we wish to honor you for your service.

Our next board meeting will be Monday, November 17th, any Rotary member is welcome to attend.

Larry Steffens President- Waterloo Rotary Club.

Meet our Volleyball Keynote Speaker

Andrea Greve Coello serves as the Associate Athletic Director for Student-Athlete Development at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). In this role, she leads the Office of Student-Athlete Development, overseeing academic advising and life skills programming to support the holistic success of all UNI student-athletes. She currently provides academic guidance to the volleyball and women’s basketball teams, while also directing Panther Life Skills—a comprehensive program designed to support student-athletes in their personal growth, leadership development, and career readiness, while also overseeing Varsity Club—UNI's former student-athlete membership organization.

November 3 - CV Hospice GUIDE Program

Today our program will be from Cedar Valley Hospice, Susanne Benda and her associate will present a program about a new service providing help for those living with dementia and their caregivers. This is one of three such programs in the state of Iowa.

November Birthdays

Join us for a very small, tight-knit group of Rotarians with November birthdays -

Jay Crisp	November 6
Luke Jenson	November 8
Donna Miller	November 12
Zachary Zumwalt	November 16

Also, we have 2 Rotarians on the list to borrow the Rotary Birthday Machine - if you want to get your name on the list, please email Mason.

Sponsor the Upcoming Student Luncheons

Would you like to help sponsor students and coaches/administrators recognized at the upcoming Volleyball, Football and Honors Luncheons?

Club Updates

NOVEMBER 3, 2025 - Next week we will have the Volleyball luncheon - Barb Prather and Jaclyne Heller are in charge of this program and would love your support. Then we'll honor the football seniors November 17th, committee chair Wade Itzen is also seeking support.

Operation Warm update... we have received the numbers and placed our coat order, now we are waiting for an invoice which will need to be paid to finish the order. If you haven't had a chance to donate - it is not too late. The total amount is estimated at just under $10,000 for the coats. Thank you to everyone who has participated in this project. Once the coats arrive we will need help with distribution...more to come.

Larry Steffens

October 27 - Mayoral Forum

UPDATE - Click here to view the Facebook LIVE video of our mayoral forum last week

Monday, Oct 27th we will be having a Waterloo Mayor's forum. All 3 candidates will be in attendance (4th candidate on the ballot Gary Hall has dropped out). Rick Morris will be the moderator. If you have specific questions you would like to ask the candidates please e-mail Rick. His email is rmorris@beecherlaw.com.

Also we would like to start our meeting early; serving will start @11:45 and our program will start at 12:00. This will allow candidates time for comments and answer questions.

The screenshot above was taken from a League of Women Voters candidates forum October 16th, you can watch the full video here:

https://youtu.be/_z63fymK128?si=584lejtb1ex_kjxF

Here is a list of all the candidates running for office in Black Hawk County:

https://blackhawkcountyelections.iowa.gov/files/candidate_list/2025_cityschool_election_13651.pdf

The election is Tuesday November 4th and early voting is available at the Black Hawk County Courthouse.

Upcoming Programs

Consider inviting friends or colleagues to have lunch with us!

November 3rd - Birthdays and Cedar Valley Hospice

November 10th - Volleyball Luncheon

November 17th - Football Luncheon

Rotary Board Meeting 10/27

Any member is welcome to attend our monthly executive board meetings - October's meeting is Monday the 27th at 10:45 am in the conference room at the Waterloo Convention Center.

October 20 - Iowa Deer Program

Jace Elliott is the state deer biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, in charge of overseeing the research and population management of white-tailed deer in Iowa. Growing up on a small Central Wisconsin farm, Jace fostered a deep passion for the natural world through hunting, fishing, and camping outings with family and friends. He completed his undergraduate degree at University of Wisconsin - Madison, then pursued a masters degree at the Auburn University Deer Laboratory. Upon graduation, Jace accepted a deer research specialist position with the Iowa DNR and was promoted to his current role a year later.

This week, Jace is presenting on the Iowa Deer Program, with emphasis placed on deer diseases such as CWD and EHD. He will also provide an overview of Iowa's harvest-based management strategies and why Iowa remains the nation's premier whitetail hunting state.

October 13 - The Anxious Generation

Join us Monday 10-13 to hear from our own Steve Carignan and Erin Tink about a growing epidemic of mental illness for young Americans. The rise of smartphones, social media, and overprotective parents have resulted in a "rewiring of childhood" since the early 2000s.

Rotarians in the News

Our very own Jordan Bancroft was recently on the KWWL News @ Noon, then Steve made his own appearance on his birthday!