CHARLES AND ADELE HEETER OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP AWARDS

The Charles and Adele Heeter Outstanding Community Leadership Award is bestowed on Rotarians or individuals of the Appleton/Fox Cities community who exemplify the Rotary Motto of “Service Above Self” by providing significant Rotary and/or community leadership and/or service through the use of his/her time, talent or treasury.  Such leadership and/or service should reflect the standards described in the Rotary Four Way Test.  These individuals should also demonstrate a strong commitment to volunteerism in one of the four Rotary Avenues of Service outside the scope of his/her normal job responsibilities. The Rotary Club of Appleton has a tradition of giving out this award which is accompanied with a Paul Harris Fellowship.  It originated when Charles Heeter made a donation in the amount of $25,000 to the Appleton Rotary Foundation.  The Charles Heeter Fund was then started to recognize outstanding community leaders.  Today, this endowment fund is over $100,000 because of the generous donations from Rotarians and investment results. 

Today, the Rotary Club of Appleton presented Dr. Susan and Reverend John McFadden with Charles and Adele Heeter Outstanding Community Leadership Awards for helping our community become one of the first in the country to earn the designation “dementia friendly community”.  They spent 3 years exploring the ways in which other countries are providing services and hospitality to those with progressive memory loss and their caregivers.  While touring England, they discovered that Rotary had established memory café’s throughout the country.  John and Susan have written a book on this topic and started a community initiative to establish the Fox Valley Memory Project.  Today, there are 3 memory cafes in the Fox Valley and a Care Partners Welcome Center to help individuals find information and support. 

                        

                                 Dr. Susan  and Reverend John McFadden                                  

Egide Nimubona grew up in Burundi, Africa where he attended elementary school and high school. He attended college in Moscow on a scholarship. After graduation, he returned to Burundi where he taught college. He has been living in North America since 1994 where he teaches engineering at FVTC. He visits Burundi from time to time and is always saddened by the hardship that poor children face.  He identifies with these children. He also came from a peasant family that scarified to keep him and his siblings in school. Egide started the Burundi Education Fund to provide materials and financial support to students and schools in extreme poverty in Burundi. The fund’s ultimate goal is to help children remain in school and eventually become self-reliant adults, leading to a break in the cycle of excessive poverty in their families.  Burundi is one of the poorest countries on earth. This fund will help give these young people a chance to grow, to learn, and to create lasting opportunities for change. Ignoring the basic needs for these students and the poor schools they attend would be turning our backs on the tragedies of civil war and the vicious cycle of poverty that have crippled Burundi for decades. Egide was also presented with a Charles and Adele Heeter Outstanding Community Leadership Award.

Egide Nimubona