Please remember when you are making your decision about supporting the SERTOMA FOUNDATION, it is YOUR charity, and is mostly supported by Sertoma members across the United States, just like YOU.

Think of the Sertoma Foundation as nothing different than The Cancer Society, The Diabetes Society, The American Red Cross, etc.......and all of the other "Charities" out there that count on financial support from people that have a concern about their particular mission.

The Sertoma Foundation's Mission is as follows:

"Sertoma Foundation, an international charity, believes that universal communication, whether heard, seen or spoken, is the key to human understanding. The purpose of the Sertoma Foundation is to support Sertoma’s approved charitable and educational programs of our Sertoma Family through effective fundraising, investment of funds and the distribution of proceeds. Through the financial support of Sertoma’s programs, we become the catalysts for greater human understanding and SERvice TO MAnkind."

Our Brainerd club has been a strong supporter of "our charity", The Sertoma Foundation, for many years. One of the requirements of a club to be a "100% Club" is for each member to contribute a minimum of $25.00 to the Foundation, plus the "Club" membership (which we have already paid this year.) The Brainerd Sertoma Club has been a 100% Club for many years......and should be proud of that! We have a "banner medallion" that represents our support for each year we have been 100% members. The Club had paid $25.00 per member for membership to the Foundation for each of us in the past.....now we are being asked to continue to support our international charity on our own at $25.00 each. That boils down to about $2.08 per month....most of us "lose" more money out of our pockets each month, than that amount. I don't think we could even buy a six pack of pop (or beer) for $2.08 these days!

The money that we contribute to the Foundation helps support the operations of our International Headquarters in Kansas City. It also helps support the grants programs Sertoma Foundation offers. (We should be applying for that grant money, too!!). Our contributions also help support other Sertoma Clubs across the nation that don't have the financial means that our Club has......members just like you and me trying to do good things in our communities. We need to help other Sertomans continue to do good things in their communities, just like we do here in the Brainerd area. The Sertoma Foundation has an endowment fund, which is so very important to the existence of our wonderful organization. Essentially, supporting the Foundation and its' endowment, assures us of the Sertoma organization itself continuing into our next generation, and into infinity!

Please think hard about the personal donation you are being asked to make to the Foundation! I may be a little more personally "prejudiced" as a strong supporter, as during the years of 1988 through 1993, I was elected at the International Convention in New Orleans, to serve on the Board of Trustees for the Foundation (and was Vice President of the Foundation in 1992......the first woman in Sertoma history to serve as an international officer). I also was the person that WROTE and lobbied the membership to adopt the Foundation Mission Statement......

So please believe me, when I say from the bottom of my heart, that I hope each of you will write that check for $25.00 to the Sertoma Foundation. They do awesome work on behalf of ALL of us in Sertoma........IT is OUR CHARITY, and deserves our individual support!

Kathy "Christensen" Williams

Proud to be a Sertoman, and Proud Supporter of it's Charitable Foundation!