On December 9th I volunteered to contact all the Utah Rotary clubs and try to get 25K in contributions to match the Salt Lake City’s 25K contribution so that we can maximize the 50K challenge that the Utah Community Foundation came with.
On December 10th I sent my first email below and made my first phone call. On January 11th, I was notified by our foundation office that that the district clubs had surpassed the 25K goal with a total of $25,495.
Thank you so much for your participation and congratulations to you all. Donations are continuing to come in and the amount continues to climb.
So, thirty days after I started, all the Utah Rotary clubs joined in and contributed over $25,000. This is just amazing to me, and WOW, the power of the Rotary club when we come together.
I joined Rotary when I retired from the military in 2013. I have really only participated in just our club’s activities. I did not have much interaction with any other clubs except as a guest speaker at a few clubs in support of Veteran’s Day telling my war stories.
You are all amazing and you have inspired me to do more, to give more, and to participate outside of my own club more, so thank you.
The SLC Rotary club president, Scott Rosenbush, assisted by our District Governor, Judy Zone, are continuing to seek other matching funds from places like Walmart and Rotary International. From this point on, they will keep the District informed on our progress with the Afghan Resettlement Project. I am shifting gears and going to try to assist with employment of these newly arrived refugees.
I tried my best to write a personal thankyou to all those who contributed. It is possible that you donated to the Salt Lake City Rotary foundation and I was unaware of it. If that is the case, please accept my apologies.
So again, thank you for all that you do. I hope I did not drive you crazy with all my phone calls and email. It has been a pleasure speaking with you and hopefully one day I can thank you in person.
Sincerely,
Donald R. Weakley Jr. (Ret. U.S. Army)
Vice President
Salt Lake Rotary Foundation