With style and spirit, the Denver Cherry Creek Rotary Club recently commemorated its 30th birthday. Along with our many accomplishments over the years, we celebrated our laudable chartering history. We were the first breakfast club in the District chartered by Club 31, and the first in the world to charter with women. We chartered with no Rotarians as members and had the first woman president in the District.
Although we moved five times in the first ten years, it did not affect our ability to get things done! Our small club (of approximately 30 members each year) has had two Rotarians, Jim Mayhew and Jim Hoops, receive Rotarian of the Year awards from District 5450. Two members, Scott Johnson, DDS and Robert Mintz, received the Rotary International Service Above Self award. We have won many more awards, listed below!
But back to our celebration! It was a black-tie affair, held at the beautiful Cableland home of the Mayor of Denver, with valet parking. It was a pleasure to see everyone dressed in their best finery, enjoying an open bar and excellent food catered by Footers. There were many comments like “The food was really good! I wanted to take all of the leftovers home!” We dined and danced to the fourteen-piece band “Serenade in Blue.”
We were honored to have six out-of-club charter members attend. They were Karol Shupe, LaVonne Adams, Hal Goldback, Micky Bixler, Julian Izbicky and Robert Mintz. Some traveled long distances to be with us. Charter members still with the club who were in attendance were Jeff Maen.
The Cherry Creek Rotary Foundation is strong, with a corpus that we continue to build. We raise most of our money through the Denver Cherry Creek Rotary Open, chaired by Dr. Jeff Maen, raising some $300,000 in 21 years. Our club foundation has given over $400,000 in grants, and in 23 years our Dental Mission has donated over $3,000,000 in free dental work in Latin American companies.
We have donated thousands of hours to hands-on projects, including Brother’s Reconstruction, Denver Food Bank, Salvation Army, Operation Warm, Dental Mission, Homeless Women’s Initiative, McAuliffe International Essay Contest, and donation of over 100 tablets to low-income schools. We are proud of the achievements of our small club of 30 members over the last 30 years and look forward to many more accomplishments. Following is a list of other awards:
- 1989 - The Ed Bemis Award for “Best Club Bulletin” published by Karen Buxton.
- Lavonne Adams was recognized as the first Woman President of a Rotary Club in District 5450 for her presidential term in 1989-90.
- 1992- Vocational Service Award by Norwest Bank for the “Women’s Bean Project”.
- 1992 - Scott Metcalf Award for Outstanding Club Project “Dentists to Guatemala”.
- 1996 - Best Club Growth Award on District 5450
- 1997 - Rotarian of the Year Award by the district “Jim Mayhew”
- 2000 - 2nd Place, Bemis Award for Best Newsletter. Editor, Tom Carr
- 2003 - Scott Johnson, DDS, was awarded the “Service Above Self Award” by the Rotary International board for starting the Dental Mission in 1992. This is the highest honor bestowed on a Rotarian, and the Mission is ongoing.
- 2004 - Robert Mintz was awarded the “Service Above Self Award” by the Rotary International board for founding a Village banking project in early 1989 and was one of the original founders of the Dental mission.
- Multiple presidential awards.
- 2009 – Rotary International Public Service Award for promoting Rotary in the District.
- 2010 - World Community Service Award and Presidential Award for providing Basic and Preventative Dental Healthcare to Latin American Communities and for Contributing to World Understanding and Peace since 1991.
- 2010 - Rotarian of the Year Award to Jim Hoops.
- 2013 - Debi Bush was honored by the DTC Club Celebrating 25 Years of Women in Rotary. She was President of DCCR from 2008-09 and is the District 5450 Membership Chair (Jan 2011-present).
- 2014-Jim Hoops won the District Kevin Farrell Award for Leadership.
- 2014-the Cherry Creek Chamber of Commerce named The Cherry Creek Rotary Foundation Non Profit of the Year.
- 2016- Englewood Literacy Award
- 2017- Englewood Literacy Award
For more information, please go to www.cherrycreekrotary.org
Sincerely,
Dr. Jeffrey Maen DC, Charter member, Past President and Club Historian
Edited by Doris Sanders