This is a very special blog post in honor of a very special person in our lives. My cousin Lissa's husband has been like another brother to me ever since we met in Spain many years ago (just as my cousin and I grew up like sister and brother, our families were so close). Today he is also my employer at Affordable American Insurance, the highly successful enterprise he and Lissa established, as well as my golfing buddy, and a very dear friend. Recently, Antonio was honored with a prestigious award, Rotary's Paul Harris Fellow for his efforts on behalf of the people of the Dominican Republic.
Tony Fernandez Honored with Rotary’s Paul Harris Fellow
Local Rotarian Honored for His Work Helping Needy Third-World Children
Thornton, CO (Rotary Newswire) 12 Jun 09 – Recently Tony Fernandez, a local business owner and Rotarian, was honored for his tireless efforts to help children in the third-world country of the Dominican Republic with Rotary’s prestigious Paul Harris Fellow.
Several years ago Tony was in the Dominican Republic with his family and church group when he realized the overwhelming need for health-care for the children of this impoverished nation and decided to do something about it. Shortly thereafter, he contacted the people at Project Cure (http://www.projectcure.org/) and got them to commit to giving him $1.5 million dollars worth of medical equipment. Project Cure gathers medical supplies that are no longer needed in our communities so that they can be donated to needy peoples around the world.
The real problem was getting all of these medical supplies from here in Denver to where they are needed most. Tony solved the problem by going to his local Rotary club (of which he is a member) and asking for a small donation of $3,000. He also approached a few other clubs asking for donation. All together local Rotary clubs donated $10,000 but that still wasn’t enough to get all of these supplies to the Dominican Republic. Tony took these funds to the local Rotary District and to Rotary International to get matching funds that totaled $38,100. At long last, Tony had the money needed to ship all of these valuable medical supplies to the Children’s Hospital in the Dominican Republic.
Later this month, Tony will gather a large group of local Rotarians to load all of these supplies into cargo-containers so that they can begin their long journey across land and over sea to the small Caribbean island nation of the Dominican Republic. In about 4 month’s time Tony plans to fly down to the Dominican Republic to meet with the first lady of that nation so that he can present over 1.5 Million dollars worth of medical supplies to her and her charity which is the local childrens’ hospital.
Rotary’s Paul Harris Fellow that is given in appreciation of tangible and significant assistance given for the furtherance of better understanding and friendly relations among peoples of the world. Rotary International is the world's first service club organization, with more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace, and eradicate polio under the motto Service Above Self. For more information: http://www.rotary.org/en/AboutUs/Pages/ridefault.aspx.
About the Rotary Club of Denver Metro North: The Rotary Club of Denver Metro North was founded on April 24th, 2007 with 20 members and has done a large amount of service to the community and for the world in it’s short lifespan.
In 2007 this club hosted a fund-raising roast of former Thornton Mayor, Noel Busck, and raised $23,000 for Holy Cross Church for a rec-center expansion project. Last year they roasted Odell Barry (former Northglenn Mayor and Broncos football player) where they netted about $42,000 of which $21,000 went to the Butterfly Pavillion (to help them with operating expenses) and the other half went to other local charities by way of it's Rotary Foundation. This last year the Rotary Club of Denver Metro North roasted Jack TerHar (of Sil-TerHar Motors) to benefit The Broomfield Community Foundation (http://www.broomfieldfoundation.org/) and it's Rotary Foundation. They are still waiting on the numbers for that fund-raiser.
Every year the Rotary Club of Denver Metro North delivers free Thanksgiving dinners to many needy families in the local community. They've also participated in getting flowers from Denver’s Home and Garden show to senior centers in the community after the show to help brighten the days of local seniors.
The Rotary Club of Denver Metro North is composed of a wide cross-section of the local communities. They participate in many worthwhile Club, Vocational, Community and International Projects and they meet at the Egg and I at 855 Thornton Parkway, Thornton CO 80229 every Tuesday morning at 7am. Prospective members are always welcome as they're always looking for a few good people to help serve the local community and the world.
More information about the Rotary Club of Denver Metro North can be obtained by visiting http://www.denvermetronorthrotary.com/.
Earlier this year, Antonio and Lissa's insurance agency, Affordable American Insurance, was recognized as one of the Top 50 Family-Owned Companies in Colorado.
