Global Impact » Capital Rotary Club

Capital Rotary President David Boucher welcomes Abby Naas as the club’s newest member. Naas, vice president of marketing and public relations for the new Columbia Fireflies minor league baseball team, is a Florida native who moved to South Carolina in January. A graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University, Naas was the 2010 and 2014 Rawlings Midwest League Female Executive of the Year while working with the Fort Wayne, IN, TinCaps – a San Diego Padres minor league affiliate. She’s a member of the Cayce/West Columbia Chamber of Commerce, the United Way of the Midlands communications committee and the North Columbia Business Association’s board of directors.

Capital Rotary Club members Rowland Alston (standing) and Jenks Mikell (seated at right) deliver student dictionaries to Arden Elementary in Richland School District One as part of the club’s yearly participation in The Dictionary Project, begun by a non-profit organization in Charleston in 1995 to help youngsters become good writers, active readers, creative thinkers and resourceful learners.

Capital Rotary is giving more than 860 dictionaries to third-graders for the current school year. In the past 11 years, the club has distributed personal dictionaries to some 11,300 students in the Columbia area.

wistv.com – Columbia, South Carolina

David Boucher gave running a try nearly 25 years ago and he never stopped moving. Every morning he hits the pavement, running through downtown Columbia for a three-mile jog.

After a little calculation, Boucher realized he’ll soon total enough miles to have run a trip around the world.

“When one looks and thinks, ‘Gosh. I’m closing in on 24,000 – 25,000 miles over a 25-year history,’ it is surprising,” said Boucher.

While the distance was never a goal, Boucher turned to Rotary Club where he serves as president to celebrate the last 902 miles with a good deed.

“I’m going to run this anyway unless I have health problems or blow a knee out or something. How can I serve human kind at the same time?,” said Boucher.

He wrote on his Facebook page, “I am looking for sponsors who are willing to contribute just a penny per mile……up to the next 902 miles that I’m able to run. Why 902 miles? Because with another 901.55 miles in the rear view mirror, I would have run the circumference of the earth over a 25-year period (24,901.55 miles). Any money that I collect will be delivered to the CART Fund.”

Columbia’s Rotary Club, along with others across the state and those in four other states place blue buckets out at meetings, collecting pocket change for an Alzheimer’s research fund started by a Rotarian in Sumter County in 1995. During that time, CART, or Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust, has provided more than $5 million in research grants.

One-hundred percent of the money collected is used as seed money for cutting edge research, aiming to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

“Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease. Right now, it’s the 6th leading cause of death in the United States, and today it affects over 5.1 million Americans. So it’s a big number,” said Boucher.

He said he’s been overwhelmed with the number of people who stepped up to sponsor the cause.

“If we can do something to help human kind, that would be a good thing,” said Boucher.

So far, Boucher has raised more than $2,500. With 600 miles left to run, he’s set his fundraising goal at $10,000 to make a difference for families who know the effects of Alzheimer’s far too well.

Anyone wanting to sponsor Boucher can make checks payable to: The CART Fund, c/o Columbia Capital Rotary Club, PO Box 11946, Columbia, SC 29211.

Copyright 2015 WIS. All rights reserved. By Allie Spillyards – View the WIS Article here: http://www.wistv.com/story/29923198/columbia-rotarian-running-circumference-of-earth-to-raise-money-for-alzheimers-research

Our speaker on Wednesday morning, August 12th was Mr. Jason Freier, Chairman & CEO of Hardball Capital, Inc. and Columbia Fireflies (www.ColumbiaFireflies.com). Under his leadership, Hardball has built the Fort Wayne TinCaps into one of the premier teams in Minor League Baseball and drastically improved the performance of both the Savannah Sand Gnats and the Salem Avalanche. Hardball has set all-time attendance records with every team it has owned and operated.

Hardball recently led the acquisition of the Chattanooga Lookouts and is currently constructing a new, downtown, multi-use venue in partnership with the Famously Hot City of Columbia, South Carolina. That venue, which will open in 2016, is part of a major downtown redevelopment project.

Jason is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, where he was elected to the Yale Law Journal. Jason is an attorney by training. Prior to founding Hardball, he specialized in complex business matters and sports law, appearing in courts at all levels, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Furthermore, injuries sustained while participating in sports can cause the bones of the foot to break or fracture. A foot and ankle surgeon, especially Dr Christopher Sakowski, an orthopedic surgeon in Dallas, TX, who is board-certified by the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery, can help you prevent future injuries to your feet.

Following law school, he worked with former Solicitor General and Harvard Law Professor Charles Fried and practiced with Williams & Connolly in Washington D.C. and Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore in Atlanta. Jason’s work has been featured in national publications and Congressional legislation.

Jason serves on the Board of Directors of the Southern, Midwest and South Atlantic Leagues. He is a member of the Advisory Boards of Thuzio and Palmer & Cay. Jason previously served on the Board of Directors of the Carolina League. Jason is an appointed member of the Fort Wayne Stadium Advisory Board and an officer of the Harvard Club of Georgia.

Our speaker on Wednesday morning, August 5^th was District Governor Rod Funderburk. Other than the incredibly busy schedule of being District 7770 Governor, Rod has served as Vice President at Resource Supply Management for the past 9+ years and prior to that he served as Global Energy Manager for Honeywell International.

Mr. Funderburk earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the prestigious University of South Carolina. Of course, he has been a long-term Rotarian as well.

Rotary District 7770 Governor Rod Funderburk presents Capital Rotary president David Boucher (left) with a t-shirt inscribed with the international 2016 theme, “Be a gift to the world.” In a speech to the local group, Funderburk urged continued support of Rotarian efforts to cure polio worldwide and to fund Alzheimer’s disease research.

He also lauded the Capital club for having a positive impact on the Columbia, SC community through its various charitable projects, and he said sharing the gift of membership in Rotary is important because “we are the premier service organization in the world.”

Columbia Capital Rotary member Ione Cockrell was among the donors who gave 67 units of blood at the club’s annual summer blood drive in Columbia. The Red Cross estimates these donations will help to save up to 201 lives as the club achieved 110 percent of its goal.

Capital Rotary’s Bryan Goodyear (right) receives the 2015 Rotarian of the Year award from president Mark Bokesch in honor of outstanding service as membership chairman. Under Goodyear’s guidance, the club admitted nine new members for 2014-15, one of its best years on record.

Jay von Kolnitz (left), a member of Columbia’s Capital Rotary Club for over 25 years, is congratulated by president Mark Bokesch for 18 years of service as sergeant at arms, a job that entails making preparations for weekly club breakfast meetings. Von Kolnitz, a retired executive for an asphalt manufacturer, also has hosted the club’s annual Christmas celebration for a number of years.

David Boucher (left), incoming president for Capital Rotary Club in Columbia, presents a gavel and plaque to outgoing president Mark Bokesch. Under Bokesch’s leadership in 2014-15, the club was able to award $13,000 in college scholarships and made significant charitable contributions to Harvest Hope food bank, to the worldwide Polio Plus disease eradication effort, to a water mission project in Ecuador and to grants that support Alzheimer’s research.

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District Governor visits Capital Rotary