Mayor Quentin Hart is the first African American elected to the office of Mayor for the City of Waterloo, Iowa. Preceding the election, Mr. Hart was the Associate Director of Multicultural Affairs for Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, Iowa, providing leadership for multicultural initiatives and promoting awareness and appreciation for diversity on campus and the community. In the eight years preceding his mayoral election, Mayor Hart represented the citizens of Waterloo as Ward 4 Councilman and was the first African American-appointed Mayor Pro-Tem for the City of Waterloo.
Hart currently is a doctoral candidate at Iowa State University in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. He received his MAE in Postsecondary Education: Student Affairs from the University of Northern Iowa and is also a 2013 graduate of the Thomas Lakin Institute for Mentored Leadership. Hart is happily married to Cassandra Hart, a 2007 Gold Star Award Teacher, and is the father of two sons, Quentin Jr. and Quenden; and one daughter, Halayah.
Mayor Rob Green spent a decade on active duty as a U.S. Coast Guard commissioned officer in Alaska and Washington, D.C.; then he happily settled down in Cedar Falls with his Waterloo-native wife, Jocelyn, in 2004. He holds a degree in government/public policy from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and a masters degree in Instructional Technology from UNI. The Greens have two school-age children and two cats. Rob was a full-time web developer at the University of Northern Iowa prior to being Mayor, and is interested in neighborhood vitality, increased resident civic engagement through technology & social media, and community-wide strategic planning.
April Service Opportunity
We have a service volunteer opportunity for Camp Ingawanis in Waverly on Saturday April 17th.
The District Conference is for EVERYONE! You do not have to be a club officer or committee chair to attend. Best of all, this year its FREE and on ZOOM! Everyone in our club is encouraged to register, log-on, and tune in as you can! The District Conference is an excellent way to get to know Rotary beyond our club.
The District Conference is going virtual! Join us to learn about what is going on in District 5970 on April 30 and May 1. Check out the District Conference tab on the website - www.district5970.org for a great video!
Friday, April 30
Session 1: "Reimaging Clubs and Starting New Ones”: Tom Gump, District 5950 Governor
Session 2: “Hope, Rebounding, & Energy Looking Forward - Ideas to Share for Your Clubs”: PDG Tina Hall, Decorah Rotary Club
Session 3: Polio Update: PDG Newell Krogmann, District 5960
Rotary International Awards Ceremony
Zoom social and wrap up presentation
Saturday, May 1
Welcome video and message from DG Lowell Stoolman
Session 4: National anthem performed by ICC Interact students
Session 5: Keynote:“The First 15 Seconds,” a presentation about making first impressions by Michael Angelo Caruso
Session 6: “Membership Strength is in Our Diversity” by Emily Tucker, Regional Membership Officer
Auction Bidding and Duck Pluck
Session 7: “Global Scholarship Experience: A Year in Brighton, England” by Connor Roth, 2019-2020 Global Scholar
Session 8: “Three Ways Interact & Rotaract Can Boost Your Club” by Katie Wilford, District Rotaract/Interact Chair
Session 9: “Unconscious Bias” by PDG Michelle Bell
Video by Rotary International President Nominee, Jennifer Jones
Session 10: “District Grant Seminar” by Don Meyer DRFCC
Session 11: “Going Hybrid – Engaging In-Person/Virtual Club Meetings" by John Crudele, District 5950
Saturday Optional (Awesome) Sessions with Katie Wilford:
“Nuts and Bolts of Interact”
"Wholly Wrapped Rotaract”
This year’s “Duck Pluck” will take place on May 1, 2021, virtually. The winning ducks will be plucked out of PDG Michelle Bell’s hot tub during the District Conference!
Here’s how it works:
1. Each club and individuals from that club will be represented by a single duck in the race.
2. The first three ducks to be plucked will be the winners. Once the winning three clubs have been
determined a computer pick at random will occur to choose one winner of a Paul Harris Fellow
designation for each of the three winning clubs.
3. Each club participating in the race will receive Foundation Paul Harris Fellow points for the full
amount of dollars contributed by the club through the purchase of ducks.
Ducks are $5 each and checks can be made payable to The Rotary Foundation and mailed to (must be mailed to arrive by April 20, 2021):
After a very long break due to the COVID-19 pandemic our bi-annual Sack Lunch event is finally back this spring. This year the event will be happening on Thursday April 22nd and Friday April 23rd. This is a great way to both support the Food Bank and receive a great lunch. This year lunches will include a pulled pork sandwich prepared by Blue Barn BBQ in Cedar Falls, with meat donated by Tyson Foods, coleslaw from Culver’s, cookies, chips, fruit and a bottle of water for just $8.
With an estimated over 52,000 food insecure people in northeast Iowa and 19,000 of these being children, we need your help to close the Meal Gap. Every lunch ordered will provide up to 32 meals for those who are hungry in northeast Iowa. With your help we can work on helping those people find where their next meal is going to come from. Money raised from this event will go back into the community to help fulfill the mission of the Food Bank.
A sack lunches will be delivered to your office for you and your co-workers. Orders are due on Friday April 16th.
Are you interested in leading our club into the future?
We are currently looking for Rotarians to take on leadership roles for the 2021-2022 Rotary year. There are Board positions that will be opening up and you could be the right person for the job! Please contact Tom Marquez or Cynthia Gitta if you are interested, or would like more details.
Board meeting to immediately follow our regular meeting.
All members are invited to stay and participate in the conversation.
Last week we heard from Jocelyn Williams and Bryan Berry the volunteer coordinators for this year's Iowa Irish Fest planned for August 6-8 2021 in downtown Waterloo. Jocelyn and Bryan shared their excitement for the return of the festival which is one of the top 5 Irish Fests in the country anchored by the popular band, Gaelic Storm. The weekend will feature bands including local support acts, a family area, food, drinks, Irish culture and education, Highland Games, and more including a 5K and a Sunday Mass. They also shared how the festival always gives back to our community and how it could not be possible without over 1500 volunteers each year. They hope that we will consider some of the many volunteer opportunities ! We thank Bryan and Jocelyn for speaking with us and for all they are doing to help bring back this amazing event to our community !
Rotary is not just a club you join. It is an invitation to endless opportunities. It opens opportunities to serve in a project as big and historic as End Polio Now and also in a small community project, where you just plant a tree. It opens opportunities for you to live a richer, more meaningful life, with friends around the world, based on our core values. Everything we do opens another opportunity for someone, somewhere.
The 2020-2021 theme is: Rotary Opens Opportunities.
