Rotary Club of Des Moines A.M.

HISTORY

In July 1989, Dick Cummings, President of the Northwest Rotary Club, appointed by Jim Rohden chairman of an ad hoc committee to explore the possibility of the formation of a new Rotary Club in the Des Moines metropolitan area.  In the fall of 1989, Jim met with the Presidents of the Rotary clubs in the metropolitan area to solicit their involvement in their club extension project. A club extension survey was completed providing detailed information regarding the population base of the Des Moines metropolitan area and the number of Rotary Clubs in the area, the number and kinds of businesses and industries, and other relevant information to assist the District Governor in determining whether a new club should be formed.

The then District Governor, Breck Breckenfelder of the Rotary Club of Muscatine, approved the club extension survey and forwarded it to Rotary International.  The club extension survey form was forwarded to Rotary International on September 26, 1990 and was immediately approved by Rotary International.

In April 1990, Steve Churchill and Jeff Goodman, then members of The Rotary Club of West Des Moines were selected to serve with Jim Rohden and Dick Cummings to spearhead an exploratory committee to attract interested individuals to form a new Rotary Club.  A number of planning meetings were held by Jim, Steve, Dick, and Jeff.

By the summer of 1990, twelve individuals had expressed interest in forming a new Rotary Club.  These individuals included Jim Brown, Martha Carlson, Steve Churchill, Steve Fry, Jeff Goodman, Doug Herold, John Jewett, Kevin McLaughlin, Peg Peterson, Duke Reichardt, Sue Ryan, and Jim Spooner.

The first meeting of the committee of twelve was held at the Iowa Auto Dealers in West Des Moines, Iowa on July 11, 1990.  At that meeting, a video tape was shown by Jim Rohden chronicling Rotary International.  This tape was the same tape that was shown to all new members at each orientation meeting.

Following this initial meeting, it was determined that enough interest existed to form a new club and as a result, planning meetings were scheduled on a semi-regular basis at Jim Spooner's office in downtown Des Moines.  A great deal of time was spent identifying potential members for the club, the club name, the format of the club meetings, the mission and purpose of the club and various other matters essential to the chartering of the club.  Originally, it was decided that the club would be named the Greater Des Moines Metropolitan Rotary Club and that it would meet at the Principal Building located at 801 Grand Avenue.  This name was never formally adopted by the club because Rotary International advised us that all new clubs were to bear the standardized name of The Rotary Club of...  Pursuant to this directive, we officially adopted the club name of The Rotary Club of Des Moines A.M.  Two rush parties were held at the new 801 Grand to attract new members.  These parties were quite successful in attracting interested individuals to join the pre-chartered organization.

In October 1990, we began to unofficially meet as a non-chartered Rotary Club at 801 Grand.  The group initially consisted of approximately 18 members who ultimately became the nucleus for the charter members of the club.

In the fall of 1990 the Downtown Des Moines Rotary Club agreed to serve as the official sponsor of our club.  Jim Spooner was selected to be our club's first president and he prepared and completed the necessary forms for our new club's charter.  In December 1990, the first Board of Directors of the Rotary Club of Des Moines A.M. was elected.  This board consisted of:

Jim Spooner, Past President

Steve Churchill, President

Jeff Goodman, President-Elect/Membership

Jacqueline Myers, Vice-President/Programs

Peggy Peterson, Secretary

Stephen Givens, Treasurer

Stephen Fry, Director of Club Service

Kevin Crowley, Director of International Service

Greg LaMair, Director of Vocational Service

Jim Rohden and Dick Cummings were instrumental in helping us to effectively organize our club and Jim Vickery and Paul Bartlett of the Downtown Des Moines Club assisted us in putting the final touches on our organization and securing our club's charter from Rotary International.

On February 1, 1991, our club received its charter and was formally recognized as The Rotary Club of Des Moines A.M.  Our club became the 25,202nd chartered Rotary Club in the world.  Our club was inducted into Rotary International on the same day as the Minneapolis MN-University Club and the Kariya Chirya Rotary Club in Aichi, Japan.  Thirty-three members were listed on the original formal charter and by the time we were chartered by Rotary International, we had grown to forty-three members.  The average age of our membership was 31 years old and we had twenty-five men and eight women.  To celebrate our club's charter, a Charter Party was scheduled for April 6, 1991.  A reception was held at Terrace Hill with Rotarian Representatives from the Boone, Newton, Ames, Wellsburg, Des Moines, West Des Moines, Northwest Des Moines, Ankeny, Indianola, Muscatine and Chariton Rotary Clubs.  A dinner was later scheduled the same evening at the Wakonda Club and an after hours party was held at the Hotel Savery.

The rest is history.