UPCOMING MEETINGS & EVENTS
February 5 Member Relations Social: 4-6pm at Bevy's Tavern, details below.
February 6 Program: David Stark & Cole Coffin – Overcoming Adversity
February 6 Rescheduled DMAM Foundation Board Meeting, 8am
February 13 Program: Brad Zaun, SBA Regional Administrator – Small Business Administration's Efforts to Promote Businesses in America
February 13 Next Chapter Retirement Group Meeting, 8am
February 18 Quarterly Coffee Social @ Smokey Row DSM
February 20 Program: Speaker to be confirmed.
February 20 Connection Café sandwich making following Rotary.
February 20 DMAM Club Apparel Preview - details TBA
February 20 DMAM Club Board Meeting
February 22 Iowa Wolves Rotary Polio Plus Night. Details Below!
February 28 2026 Bingo Bash: Saturday, February 28, 2026, Iowa State Fairgrounds. This is our signature fundraiser! Information on volunteering will be forthcoming. Sponsorships are available and listed in the document to download below.
March 6 Ann Shimerdla, President & CEO of Blank Park Zoo
March 13 Andrew Batt, CEO Iowa Public Television – The Changing Path of Public Television
March 13 Next Chapter Retirement Group Meeting, 8am
**For more event details don’t forget to check our website!
Classification: Owner - IT Consulting & Web Development
Sponsor: Salley Cooper Smith
John Humeston
Former DMAM President 2006-2007
Central State Bank
2709 Northridge Pkwy
Ames, Iowa 50010
Classification: Banking – Commercial Lending
Sponsor: Ben Hildebrandt
If you have questions or concerns regarding the above proposed member(s), contact Membership Committee chair Mary Hunter at Mary.Hunter@dmgoodwill.org.
DMAM MEMBER RELATIONS HAPPY HOUR FEBRUARY 5TH
Join us for the next Member Relations get together on Thursday, February 5th from 4-6pm at Bevy's Tavern, 1300 50th St in West Des Moines!
DISTRICT GRANT SEMINAR SCHEDULE
For our club to qualify for a District Community Service Grant, or a Global Grant for the 2026-2027 Rotary year, at least 1 member of the club must attend a Grant Management Learning Seminar.
There is no cost to attend, but registration is required. This HYBRID seminar will be for Presidents-Elect, Presidents-Nominee, and whoever will be the main contact on any grant application. LINK HERE TO REGISTER
Grant Management Seminar - West Des Moines - HYBRID
Time: 8:30 AM is check-in with breakfast. The Seminar will be 9 AM - 12 PM.
**Please note this will be the only time Global Grants training will be offered if you want to participate.
For more information contact District 6000 Community Service Grant Chairs Gretchen Nollman and Todd Wheeler at d6000csg@gmail.com.
2026 RYLA SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE
The Rotary Club of Des Moines AM has sponsorship openings available for high school students to attend the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards Conference. The registration deadline is April 30th. Iowa RYLA is a week-long leadership conference open to Juniors and Seniors in High School (2025-2026 school year) held at Grinnell College from Sunday July 26 through Friday July 31st.
RYLA is designed to help young students learn and develop leadership skills and their leadership philosophy. The objectives of RYLA are:
To encourage and assist youth leaders and potential leaders in methods of responsible and effective leadership by providing them with training,
To encourage continued and stronger leadership of youth by youth,
To publicly recognize the outstanding qualities of many young people who are rendering service to their schools and communities as leaders.
If you know of any students who could benefit from attending Iowa RYLA, please contact Janet Witte at wittej_dsm@yahoo.com or 515-255-5678. You will also need to complete the application on the Iowa RYLA website: iowaryla.org.
Rotarian volunteers are also critical to the success of RYLA. The application to be a volunteer at RYLA can be made at iowaryla.org and has the same deadline application of April 30th. Please note that as a Rotarian volunteer at RYLA you are required to be present during the entire week of RYLA and you are required to attend a training session on June 27th, 2026.
IOWA WOLVES ROTARY POLIO PLUS NIGHT FEBRUARY 22, 3PM
Rotary Polio Plus Night with the Iowa Wolves is basically basketball colliding with the State Fair at full speed. Expect halftime chaos, butter sculpting of questionable intent, fainting goats (no joke!), a mechanical pig, and dignity checks at every turn. Buy tickets like our club’s reputation depends on it because free tickets and the (Ed) Arnold Cup are on the line. Come for the game, leave buttery, slightly humbled, and forever changed.
Tickets are $20 each, of which $10 is committed to eradicating polio, and thanks to the Gates Foundation's generous 2-for-1 match, your contribution can help immunize nearly 100,000 children.
Anupam will bulk purchase tickets to make sure the clown-show is together. Can’t go? We’ll donate the tix to Big Brother Big Sister, Iowa Homeless Youth Shelter, Boys and Girls Club.
Anupam Mittra, Community Service Chair
SIGNATURE FUNDRAISER BINGO BASH 2026
Saturday, February 28, 2026, 9AM - 7PM
Iowa State Fairgrounds - Elwell Family Food Center
It's time to start signing up to volunteer at the BingoBASH - there are lots of opportunities from game floor floaters, front door sales tables, exit research interviews with attendees, and more.
It's SO much fun while serving our community.
The three local non-profits who will be recipients from BingoBASH 5 are:
Food insecurity - St. Vincent de Paul food pantries
Human trafficking - Iowa Law Enforcement Academy and Iowa's 5th District Dept. of Corrections
Mental health - Harvest Academy
Volunteers - please sign up here! https://dash.pointapp.org/events/477380
Volunteers will receive a new complementary BingoBASH t-shirt ... and we will also be selling t-shirts at the event this year.
Sponsors - We're also seeking sponsors to meet our revenue goal of $100,000. If you haven't connected with John Bouslog yet and are interested in sponsoring BingoBASH 5, please email him at JBouslog@iowafirm.com.
View the Sponsorship Benefits sheet with different tiers, including game vouchers, in the download files list below.
THANK YOU for your support of Rotary DMAM's BingoBASH!
ROTARY BLOOD DONOR WEEK FEBRUARY 9-14, 2026
DMAM is partnering with the Rotary Club of Waukee to participate in a blood donor week this February. Stop in at any Lifeserve Blood Center to donate. Lifeserve will record the name of each Rotary donor’s club and will report results of total donations for each club upon completion.
We’re excited to share that our new public-facing website is now live at https://rotaryclubofdmam.com! This refreshed site highlights who we are and the impact we make—from BingoBASH and community service projects to our work in Uganda and K–12 Next Generation initiatives.
What you need to know:
ClubRunner will continue to serve as our internal hub. When visiting the new site, simply use the prominent Member Login button on the homepage, which directs you to the same familiar ClubRunner login page. No changes to your login process or Member Area.
The website will continue to grow, and we’d love your feedback as we evolve it.
Questions? Contact the Public Image team—
MJ Meister: mj@mjandassociatesllc.com
Tamara Kenworthy: tamara@on-pointstrategies.com
Or reach out to Club Administrator Liz O’Connor: liz@rotaryclubofdmam.com
SAVE THE DATE – ST PATRICK'S DAY PARADE
The St. Patrick’s Day Parade is Tuesday, March 17, and Rotary will have a float again this year. This is a favorite event you won’t want to miss—please mark your calendar to participate.
Questions or interested in helping?
Please contact: Member Relations - Angie Weller 515-770-5812
SAVE THESE DATES:
DMAM Rotary Member Relations Happy Hour
Always the 1st Thursday of each month from 4-6 pm.
Locations are to be announced closer to each event.
Questions reach out to Angie Weller @ 515-770-5812
Next Chapter Retirement Group Meetings
Always the second Friday of each month at 8am following the Rotary meeting.
Location: Wakonda Bar
DMAM Rotary now has a PO Box! Please feel free to send dues checks, donations and other correspondence to:
Des Moines AM Rotary
PO Box 172
Altoona, IA 50009
COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS
East Polk Rotary Bowling Bash
You're invited to the annual Bowling Bash, hosted by East Polk Rotary, on Friday, February 12 at Great Escape in Pleasant Hill. This fun event is one of our major fundraisers supporting the Iowa Tech Expo held each May at Southeast Polk High School. The Expo, started by our club 38 years ago, serves 200–300 students statewide and supports hands‑on “shop‑style” projects such as woodworking, metalworking, CAD design, and photography, while also providing student scholarships.
Ways to support include entering a bowling team, sponsoring a lane, or purchasing raffle tickets ($5 each or 5 for $20). Raffle prizes include a $500 or $250 gift card—you do not need to be present to win.
Let me know if I can answer any questions, or if you would like to purchase raffle tickets. Thanks!
SIGNATURE FUNDRAISER BINGO BASH 2026 
