Palatine Rotary Club Presents Awards to Involved Community Members

The Rotary Club of Palatine held its 49th Installation Dinner Monday Night at Lamplighter Inn Tavern & Grille.  Liz Noe of ElizEvents, Inc. was installed as 2012-13 president by Carlos Frum, District Governor of Distinct 6440.  New to the board this year are Dan Anderson of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Jamie Suszek of Genex Services and Hank Sobotka of Palatine Bank & Trust.

Outgoing president, James McLin of McLin Tours & Travel presented special recognition awards to Rotary members and contributing members of the community for their outstanding work on behalf of Rotary and non-profit organizations in Palatine.  A number of the awards handed out were presented for the first time and were named after founding Rotarians and outstanding members who continue to lead by example.

Recipients of the awards included: Deputy Chief Alan Stoeckel of the Palatine Police Department, awarded “The Rolley Batemen Rotarian of the Year Award”, in honor of his tireless commitment to “Service Above Self.”

Oliver Girke, a local consultant was awarded the “Chuck Oswald Volunteer of the Year Award”. Mr. Girke set an example as a dedicated volunteer at and for Rotary within the community.

Jaime Suszek of Genex Services who received “The Bill Buchta Rising Star of the Year Award.”

Cindy Stoeckel was presented “The Bill and Pat Heise Friend of Rotary Award.” This award honors a member of the community that is not a Rotarian who gives time and energy to Rotary projects though out the year.

In addition to the individual awards the following businesses also received recognition from the club:

The Onion Pub & Brewery Foundation and the Kainz family were awarded “The Dick Kolze Sponsor of the Year Award.” This award recognizes the generosity of the Kainz family as a key sponsor of the Palatine Rotary Club’s annual Oktoberfest through both time and donations.

Kerry Lavelle and members of Lavelle Law Ltd accepted “The Al Knox Corporate Ethics Award,” presented to a Palatine corporation that displays and promotes high Ethical standards.

Palatine Bank & Trust was awarded “The Bob Brickman Corporation of the Year Award” in recognition of the many contributions of resources and manpower they have provided to Rotary on behalf of the Palatine community.

In his closing remarks, Mr. McLin highlighted the past year by saying “I am proud of the accomplishments of our club and the success of our 4th annual Oktoberfest held last September. Through our members’ hard work the Rotary Club of Palatine donated over $60,600.00 to various nonprofits locally and international.  Of that amount more than $50,800.00 was donated to local Palatine based charities. In addition, funds were raised helped to fund water projects in Central America, Literacy projects in India, Rotary International’s Polio Plus campaign and added to the general Rotary International Foundation”.

-Submitted by the Rotary Club of Palatine