Des Moines Sertoma Club

The Des Moines Sertoma Club looks forward to a fun year of serving the community through hearing and speech education and work with the Ruby Van Meter School.

We will start our year with a special meeting focused on boosting our membership on January 6. Bring an open mind and your thoughts on how we can get more folks involved in our good work. In these tough economic times, Sertoma is needed more than ever.

Our lunch speaker for January 13 has yet to confirm; watch this space for the latest news.

Deborah Brewer, the Executive Director of the Des Moines YWCA, visits us January 20 to bring us the latest news about what this important institution is doing for our community.

Our first evening outing for 2007 will be a trip to the Wells Fargo Arena to see the NBA D-League Iowa Energy take on Tulsa. Last year's game was a blast, and we look forward to another fun evening.

Upcoming events:

Drake Mens Basketball outing: the SIU Salukis come to Knapp Center February 25 to seek revenge for their first loss in Carbondale to the Bulldogs since 1996.

Sertoma will return to Wells Fargo Center to see the American Hockey League's Iowa Chops take on the Houston Aeros on March 31.

See you on Tuesdays at noon, 801 Grand, 40th floor!

As the year draws to a close, the Des Moines Sertoma Club is just getting warmed up. We start our December with a rare day-night Sertoma doubleheader!

We start our busy December 2 by David Nadler, "Chief Brain Trainer" for Learning RX. Their website says:

LearningRx learning centers provide cognitive skills training that empowers anyone of any age to learn faster and easier. Tutoring and other programs reinforce WHAT students must learn (information). LearningRx learning centers identify and strengthen the skills behind HOW students learn. We provide testing and life-changing training for students of all ages who desire to learn and read better for life.

We then reconvene in the evening at the Knapp Center to see the Drake women's basketball team take on Coppin State. Contact Joe Kristan if you still need tickets, or pick them up at the Tuesday afternoon meeting.

Our December 9 meeting will be something different. We will have a special presention on building club membership. Des Moines Sertoma has a good thing going, and it's only polite to share.

On December 15 the club will man the Salvation Army kettles on the Des Moines Skywalk system.

We top off our December with our annual holiday dinner on December 16, where we will present our Service to Mankind award to an area resident who has gone beyond the call of duty in serving the community.

Des Moines Sertoma: Serving Mankind in Des Moines since 1921, and going strong into 2009! Join us!

However the elections turn out, you will win with the Des Moines Sertoma Club!

Our first November meeting happens to fall on Election Day. Our featured speaker November 4 is Mentalist Bill Mogolov, presenter of the "Magic of M" show. Maybe he knows what happened to the hanging chads...

We welcome Joel Severinghaus, International Trade Analyst from the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, November 11 He will talk about "The effect of today's credit markets on Iowa Ag Exports." As finance and Ag are two key industries in Iowa, this is a must-see.

Watch this space to see who our November 18 speaker is; Max Thompson is making the arrangements. Update! Our speaker will be Max Thompson himself, discussing "History and Understanding Today's Global Society."

For our November evening meeting, we are trying a new innovation: having it in December! On Tuesday, December 2 we will watch the Drake women's basketball team take on Coppin State at the Knapp Center. We will have our first December lunch meeting that day too, so it could be somewhat confusing.

In another event of note this month, our own David Beery will help sing the national anthem for the Iowa Chops November 13! You won't want to miss this!

Mark your calendar for our December 16 Christmas lunch! Iowa Governor Steve Brown will be our speaker, and we will honor a distinguished local citizen with our Service to Mankind award.

Other upcoming Sertoma evening outings include an Iowa Energy basketball game January 27 and a Drake Men's basketball game against the mighty Salukis of Southern Illinois.

Sertoma - winner by a landslide! Contact Joe Kristan or any Sertoma member and get on the bandwagon!

The election season is heating up, but Sertoma is always on fire. We kick off our October 2008 calendar with a visit from Kim Schmett, a candidate for Congress in Iowa's third district, on October 7. Sertoma has a tradition of hosting a wide range of viewpoints; in recent years we've had visits from Ed Fallon and Chet Culver to Charles Grassley. This is a fine opportunity to take the measure of Congressman Boswell's opponent.

Our semi-annual I-235 cleanup project is Saturday Morning, October 11. Sertoma volunteers will assemble at the Macedonia Baptist Church parking lot on 31st street, just north of I-235, to clear a summer's worth of debris from alongside Iowa's busiest stretch of highway.

Drake Womens Basketball Coach Amy Stephens returns on October 14 to tell us about the 2008-2009 edition of the Drake women's basketball team.

Our October 21 meeting features Danielle Clark, a senior account executive with Iowa Energy NBA Development League team.

Election season is a great season to be a Sertoman. Join us!

We've had a huge summer at the Des Moines Sertoma Club! Our educational booth at the Iowa State Fair hosted 550 hearing screenings, gave away 14,000 pairs of earplugs, and distributed countless pieces of hearing safety educational materials. Our Fantasy Baseball Camp provided an unforgettable experience to 10 hearing-impaired kids; the grown-ups who helped out, including two Iowa Cubs pro baseball players, also had a great time. We had great speakers, and we topped off the month with a picnic dinner at historic Salisbury House.

But we have no time to rest on our laurels! We kick off autumn with a great lineup of luncheon speakers and great plans for continued Service To Mankind!

On September 2 Mike Salvador visits from Iowa Farm Bureau.

Dutch Geisinger of Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management visits September 9. That has been one busy organization this year, so it should be an excellent session.

We gave a visit from Dick Hewins, retired Roosevelt High teacher, on September 16. Oh, and he was also Olympian Lolo Jones' track coach. He represents the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in Iowa, and we look forward to learning more about that responsibility.

The September 23 speaker will be Polk County Republican Party Executive Director Ted Sporer. It's an interesting political season, and it should be fun to hear from somebody in the middle of the battle.

Our evening meeting on September 30 will be at Legends, 50th Street and Mills Civic Parkway in West Des Moines.

We're always moving the ball at Sertoma. Join us!

August sees an important educational event on our calendar: our hearing testing and education booth at the Iowa State Fair. Sertoma clubs from all over Iowa join forces with volunteer audiologists to provide free hearing tests and to distribute hearing education materials and earplugs to thousands of fairgoers. Stop by our booth on the East end of the Varied Industries Building during the fair from August 7 through August 17!

If you are manning the State Fair booth, you may you may click here for the booth schedule.

But that's only part of the excitement at the Des Moines Sertoma Club this month. We have a fine set of speakers lined up.

On August 5 we welcome Walter Wittoff from Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation. This fine organization has a lot to offer; find out how the current challenging loan market affects their work.

Our own Craig Randall will provide a wrap-up of our Fantasy Baseball Camp for deaf and hard-of-hearing kids on August 12.

Scott Kleckner from FC Stone will join us on August 19 to talk about Carbon Credits, a hot topic in the current political campaign.

We wrap up a busy month with our annual evening picnic on August 26 at historic Salisbury House. So - haven't you missed out on enough fun? Join the Des Moines Sertoma Club today!

It's Fantasy Baseball Camp month for Des Moines Sertoma! This is the tenth year of our partnership with the Iowa Cubs to provide a baseball experience for hearing-impaired youth. We still have a few spots open, so if you know of a boy or girl who is hearing-impaired and would like to work with real pro ballplayers, send an e-mail to Paulette Taylor at taylord53@aol.com or call her at 515-224-6408.

The camp will be held at Johnston this year, ending with a day at Principal Park, home of the AAA Iowa Cubs, where the campers will work with actual Iowa Cubs on the stadium field. That evening they will sign the National Anthem before the game.

The camp is just the high point of another great Sertoma month. We have a great set of speakers lined up.

Drake Athletic Director Sandra Hatfield-Clubb makes a return visit to Des Moines Sertoma July 1.

It's been a very quiet year for Drake athletics, so we have no idea what she'll want to discuss.

On July 8, 2008 we host Kent Zimmerman, president and CEO of the Wallace House Foundation. It's a great opportunity to get to know more about an important national historical family with deep Iowa roots.

The July 15 meeting will feature a pet cause of the Des Moines Sertoma club. Dagny Fidler, Vice-Principal of the Ruby Van Meter School, will talk about the latest news at this special and important institution.

Our annual golf outing is slated for July 22 at the Lake Panorama National Golf Course. If you don't care for the golf, come for the food and the fun at the Noyce place!

Remember: every month is a great month to be a Sertoman! Helping others, great lunch speakers, and good friends are all part of the Sertoma experience. Join us!

In May the Des Moines Sertoma Club learned about pro racing in Newton. This month we'll hear from some folks who race for love, not money.

June opens with Don Wauters, the owner of Priority Express, Inc., one of Iowa's largest small parcel carriers. He will keynote the June 3 luncheon meeting by telling us about his hobby as an amateur race car driver.

Randyl Taber, a Senior Vice President at A.G. Edwards, joins us on June 10 to talk about the issues behind soaring energy prices. This is a return visit for Mr. Taber; he spoke to us a few years ago about the Enron scandal.

Our own Kip Peters headlines the June 17 meeting. He will team up with his sons, Sebatian and Tristan, to talk about Kart racing. He says he'll be bringing speakers, so expect some noise!

We will celebrate another year of Service to Mankind at our annual Inaugural Dinner on June 21; we will inaugurate Jeri Le Henri and Diana Van Vleet as co-presidents for the Sertoma year begging July 1. Before-dinner entertainment will be provided by The Max Wellman Trio. Good food, good fellowship, good times -- and helping others! If you aren't part of Sertoma, you're missing out!

We start our month of Service to Mankind with our annual highway cleanup at our stretch of I-235 May 3. Meet at the Macedonia Baptist Church on 31st Street just north of the freeway at 7:45 a.m.

The cars go somewhat faster in Newton. On May 6 we hear from Craig Armstrong, general manager of the Iowa Motor Speedway in Newton.

Living legend Jim Zabel returns to the club May 13. Jim has seen a lot, and he'll have some thoughts on the singular year in sports we've just had here in Iowa.

Our own Max Thompson has the floor May 20. Max will talk about how mechanization and high tech have changed farming, and he'll discuss and some of the economic, social, and environmental effects that come with these changes.

Our annual pitch tournament is set for Calvin Manor on May 27. Registration at 5:15, play starts at 5:30 SHARP! Sign up now as a player or sponsor. You don't even have to know how to play - trust me, you'll learn in a hurry. All proceeds go to the Ruby Van Meter School, so it's good fun for a great cause.

SPEAKING OF RUBY VAN METER: On May 1st at 1:00 PM Ruby Van Meter School will present its Spring Musical, "I Need A Vacation" in in the Ruby Van Meter School gymnasium. It is a great experience.

ALSO SPEAKING OF RUBY VAN METER: Their annual activity day is June 2, from 8:00 a.m. until noon. Our club will be setting up and running the batting cage so help will be needed to set-up and tear down. It is an exciting and fun day for the students and a great way for Sertoma to stay in touch with Ruby Van Meter School.

There's a lot going on with Des Moines Sertoma. We're about Service to Mankind and making good friends every month. Come join us!

Only a very few dirty piles of snow still skulk in the shady corners of parking lots. That means it's time for another great Sertoma spring!

We start a full slate of speakers this month with an April 1 visit by Jeff Lantz of the Iowa Cubs and Paulette Taylor, our Fantasy Baseball coordinator. Fire up for Fantasy Baseball and the I-Cubs season!

Bill Stowe, Des Moines Assistant City Manager for Public Works and Engineering, will be our guest on April 8. We can expect some insight on how his department copes with its difficult weather and political challenges.

April 15 is tax day. Be sure you finish your taxes early so you can lunch with Des Moines Police Chief Judy Bradshaw.

The legislature should have things about wrapped up by April 22, when Associated Press political reporter Mike Glover visits our club. Mike was unexpectedly called away when he was originally scheduled to visit us last month. He'll have some great perspective about what they've been up to under the big dome.

Our April evening meeting will be Tuesday, April 29, when we officially launch activities for this year's Fantasy Baseball camp at the Cub Club at Principal Park. Social hour begins at 5:00, dinner at 6:00. This was a great outing last year, and you want to miss this edition.

April 2008 -- like every month, a great month to be a Sertoman. It's time you joined! E-mail Joe Kristan to learn how.

Mark your calendar:

Sertoma Board of Directors: April 28.
Great Plains Regional Convention: May 1-3:
Ruby Van MeterPitch Tournament: May 27
Board Meeting: April 28 Inaugural Dinner: June 21
Sertoma International Convention, Denver: July 17-19
July 26-30: Fantasy Baseball Camp