Category: Special Events

  • Renovated Rotary Building dedicated on IU School of Medicine campus

    Renovated Rotary Building dedicated on IU School of Medicine campus

    One of the oldest buildings on the Indiana University School of Medicine campus has been both transformed and preserved with a $10 million renovation, and university leaders will gather Friday afternoon for a dedication of the newly restored historic Rotary Building. (Direct Link to Article – credit: IU Newsroom)

    At the north end of Ball Gardens on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus between Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health and the Sidney and Lois Eskenzai Hospital, the Rotary Building dates to 1931, when much of the current campus did not yet exist.

    The building served initially as a children’s convalescent unit associated with Riley Hospital, which had opened in 1924. Members of Rotary clubs across Indiana raised $276,000 to pay for the new facility.

    The Rotary Building has served a variety of purposes over the decades, most recently as the home of the IU School of Medicine’s Department of Ophthalmology until the opening of the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute in 2011.

    The subsequent $10 million renovation project was overseen by Schmidt Associates, working with IU architects and facility planners. The goal was to restore the building’s original beauty while modernizing the structure to meet the needs of the future.

    The renovation has produced 40,000 gross square feet of office and academic space, now housing the IU-Kenya Partnership, the Division of Gastroenterology/Hepatology, the Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and offices of the Department of Surgery.

    Led by IU President Michael A. McRobbie, IUPUI Chancellor Charles R. Bantz and IU School of Medicine Dean Jay L. Hess, the dedication program will begin at 1 p.m. Friday in the Ruth Lilly Learning Center Auditorium of the Riley Hospital Outpatient Center.

  • August 8, Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith, to be Honored

    August 8, Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith, to be Honored

    angeliqueRotary Club of Indianapolis member since 1995, Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith will be honored at a special Thanksgiving Celebration and Dinner on August 8, 2014. The celebration will take place at Light of the World Christian Church.  Tickets and sponsorships can be purchased at http://www.indyfaith.org/_forms/view/20906. Download the invitation here.

    (Excerpt from The Indianapolis Recorder, March 24, 2011)

    As a senior in high school, Angelique Walker wanted to get as far away from Cedarville and Springfield, Ohio, as she could manage. She went away to college at Kent State University, located 162 miles across the state.

    It was not that the preacher’s kid was trying to ditch her beloved parents, Rev. Roosevelt and Geneva Walker, but the teenager was ready to make her own mark.

    Having given her life to Christ at age 9, Walker started to feel a calling to the ministry while she was an undergraduate student at Kent State, but did not know that calling was toward the pulpit. Still, after graduating she was convinced that she should pursue graduate study at Yale University Divinity School, (YDS) where she earned a master’s of divinity degree. This also allowed her to join her future husband at Yale, R. Drew Smith, whom she met at Blessed Hope Baptist Church in Indianapolis as a youth during a visit from her home church in Springfield.

    Read full story.

  • Orangutan at the Zoo

    The International Orangutan Center was designed with the orangutans in mind every step of the way. While it may not look like a traditional forest, the International Orangutan Center acts like the home territory of orangutans in the wild. This spectacular addition to the Zoo and to the Indianapolis community will be home to a fascinating group of these endangered great apes, offering them a special facility designed and built especially to meet their physical, social, and intellectual needs.

    Our new habitat will allow the orangutans to engage in their natural behaviors, while also challenging their curiosity and creativity. It will:

    • Accommodate the orangutans’ arboreal lifestyle.
    • Stimulate and engage their remarkable intelligence.
    • Support their unique social structure.

    Orangutan at the Zoo Facility

    The habitat also will create a visitor experience like no other. Zoo guests will enjoy diverse viewing opportunities, ranging from intimate encounters at ground level to spectacular aerial rides above. A soaring Beacon of Hope will draw people into the Zoo while enhancing the Indianapolis downtown skyline. With its unique design, it will become an icon for the Zoo and a beacon for the city and for wild orangutans. Location: Indianapolis Zoo, 1200 West Washington Street, Indianapolis, IN 46222

  • Indy Do Day: The Largest Day of Service in Indianapolis to be Led by the Rotary Club of Indianapolis

    Indy Do Day: The Largest Day of Service in Indianapolis to be Led by the Rotary Club of Indianapolis

    The Rotary Club of Indianapolis is excited to announce the official adoption of its new Signature project – Indy Do Day. This is a Service Above Self initiative that will be managed by the Rotary Club of Indianapolis. The growth of this initiative will allow Rotary to continue Growing Indianapolis Communities for the next 100 years and beyond.

    WHAT IS IT?

    • It’s one day when the people of this city get to know their neighbors, take ownership of their neighborhoods and take care of one another.
    • It’s decentralized, ground-up, people-powered community improvement.
    • It’s about pride, shared ownership, and stronger relationships.
    • It’s about building the most civic-engaged community in the nation where every day is a Do Day.

    WHY DO IT?

    • It’s good for everybody: Strong communities are built from the inside out…by people who are personally invested and can see their investments matched and multiplied by others.
    • It’s good for neighborhoods: Committed residents and organizations build and renew partnerships to improve the quality of life in their neighborhoods.
    • It’s good for learners: When stewardship is regularly taught and modeled, it can become woven into how people interact, and care for, their communities.
    • It’s good for the mission: Diverse community, cultural, and faith-based organizations can transform their commitments into tangible action, and unite the members along the way.
    • It’s good for business: There is a growing consensus that giving employees a day, or even a few hours, to work in the community is good team building, good brand building, and good business.