2015 Athenian named; six local organizations receive generous donations
Before the 2015 Athena was named, the 280 attendees of the annual award benefit dinner were brought to their feet by keynote speaker Linda White.
The master of ceremonies, Bob Bleemel, even had to take pause saying he was tearing up after Linda White, CEO and President of Deaconess Health System, gave each Athena nominee some Subway gift cards and a check for $1,000. Each check was made out to a local nonprofit. White told the nominees to pay it forward by taking someone from each organization out to lunch to present them with the check.
The recipients of White’s generosity were the Jasper Rotary Club, Jasper Chamber of Commerce, Jasper High School, Tenth Street Elementary and the Community Food Bank.
Five nominees, five checks, $5,000 to local organizations.
Then 2014 Athenian Kathy Tretter announced the 2015 recipient of the award honoring women leaders in Dubois County.
“It was a really big honor to receive the award,” Tretter said before announcing Nancy Eckerle as the 2015 Athenian. “However, over the last year I have not been able to convince my husband to say ‘the goddess has entered the room.'”
Eckerle, who has led the Jasper Chamber of Commerce for about 28 years, said she was glad the first Dubois County Athenian Jane Chappell had told the nominees to be prepared with a few remarks for the dinner. “So, I do have a few notes,” Eckerle said. “But they are in my purse.”
Eckerle credited her parents with creating a sense of respect for other people as well as instilling a good work ethic.
She explained that her recent involvement with the creation of the Women Empowering Women group was one of her proudest achievements. The group designed to support women in business has over 200 members and has held several seminars with over 150 women in attendance since forming earlier this year.
“I was very surprised to be chosen,” Eckerle said. “I am so honored.”
The Athena Award was created in 1982 by Marth Maywood Mertz as a nonprofit designed to support and honor women leaders. In deciding who to give the award to, the Jasper Rotary Club’s Athena Committee has a score sheet provided by the Athena organization. Each nominee is given points for each category on the sheet and then the highest score was awarded.
Committee Chairwoman Tonya Heim said the scores for all of the nominees in each of the four years the Rotary Club has held the event have been very close. “It shows what excellent women leaders we have here in our community,” she said.
Heim explained that before the Jasper Rotary Club adopted the event, she was the only female member. Now, the group has several women who have joined and its membership has increased significantly.
In 2012, the Jasper Rotary decided an event was needed to honor those women leaders and adopted the Athena Award. This year’s benefit dinner had the highest attendance yet and between the ticket sales and sponsorships raised over $12,000.
Of the proceeds, a third, or about $4,000, will go to Freedom Reins, a nonprofit Eckerle has volunteered with for many years. Freedom Reins is a therapeutic riding center that allows individuals with physical, mental or emotional challenges to experience the therapeutic benefits of riding and working with horses. The nonprofit is located in Jasper. Here is the website.
In addition to the $5,000 donated through Linda White and the $4,000 donated from the dinner, the Jasper Rotary announced TriCap would be the organization’s nonprofit of choice for the next three years. Through the group’s fundraising efforts, they plan on assisting TriCap in creating a new playground at their Head Start Preschool and Childcare facility located in Jasper.
The Jasper Rotary Club is seeking nominees for the 2016 Athena Award. Those can be made through the organization’s website here.
