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Rotary to present $20,000 check for UE’s Changemaker Challenge at February 6 meeting

Posted: Thursday, January 25, 2018

The University of Evansville’s Institute for Global Enterprise’s Changemaker Challenge program has been named the recipient of funds raised at this year’s Rotary Santa Run.

Rotary president Cullen Stanley will present a check for $20,000 for the 2018-19 Changemaker Challenge program to Jill Griffin, executive director of the Institute for Global Enterprise, and Erin Lewis, program/project director on Tuesday, February 6. The event will be at noon at the Tropicana Executive Convention Center, located at 421 NW Riverside Drive in Evansville.

The Rotary Club of Evansville supports the Evansville and the Tri-State communities by providing resources for projects and programs which serve to benefit and strengthen our community.

Over the past 104 years, the Rotary Club of Evansville has funded and supported many projects and programs such as: Classroom Enrichment Grants, Community Grants; Canoe/Kayak Launch from Pigeon Creek; North Woods Trails and the YMCA Fitness Center.  In addition, funds are used for Rotary International’s initiative for the eradication of polio worldwide; medical supplies, eye diagnostic equipment and ambulances to the Yucatan International Project; clean water projects in the City of Tizimin and the list goes on and on. The Rotary Santa Run serves as a major fundraising event for the Rotary Club of Evansville.

The Changemaker Challenge addresses creativity and motivates both collegiate and high school students to identify and provide solutions to challenges in the world and community around them. Through competitive competition, young people present their identified issues, problems or needs and their solutions to these situations. Then their presentation is voted on by judges. Prize money, scholarship and other awards are given to the creative winners. The Changemaker Challenge draws young people in our region to seek fresh, new ideas and provide the energy to increase the vibrancy in our community.

Cullen Stanley, the 2017-18 Evansville Rotary president, congratulated the Changemaker Challenge program, stating that the program “is designed to motivate young people to take a leading role in identifying and solving challenges in the world around them through innovation and creativity. This falls in line with Rotary’s mission statement of bringing business and professional leaders together in order to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards and to advance goodwill and peace around the world.”

Stanley added that both organizations are committed to making a positive impact in the community.

“As such, we are excited for the opportunity to support a program that empowers the leaders of tomorrow to make a better community for all,” added Stanley.

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