Congratulations to our Partner, Darin Honn, who was recently awarded the inaugural Rotary Club of Portland “Jan Tesh Leadership Award.”

He is a recipient because of his tireless efforts and leadership to help raise $500,000 for the Rotary Center at Morrison, “Project 2020.”  Darin has been a member of the Rotary Club for 26 years and is Past President.  

Kate Ertmann, the current Rotary Club President shared that Darin exemplified the following during this 3-year long project:   

• Darin holds the experience with other club campaigns and how to be successful in not just fundraising for a cause like this, but the process that makes it a successful project
• Darin is adaptable, flexible, and attentive to the other established activities going on at the same time (annual Trust Drive, etc)
• Throughout the whole project, Darin constantly expressed authentic excitement, and pride, of what has been accomplished and the long-term positive effect that our Rotary Club will have on our community.
• From the onset of the project, when pulling together the Project 2020 committee, Darin intentionally brought on and mentored the leaders of tomorrow of our club, sharing with them the significance of our club’s history in these types of projects and having them experience first-hand what is necessary to do this successfully ‘next time’; Darin lead this wanting to make sure that the next ‘generation’ of Rotarians in the club would have experience with how to run a capital campaign. A big part of being an effective leader is inherently knowing the team that you need to build in order for a fundraising campaign like this to be successful.

About the Award

This award is in honor of the leadership of Jan Tesch, the first woman to be elected President of Rotary Club of Portland, in 1997.  The Jan Tesch Leadership Award is a new award that will be given annually to a club member who went above-and-beyond as a leader during the past year to their fellow Rotarians. The awardee has exemplified leadership in a way that may not have been expected nor known to be needed. The recipient also looked towards the possibilities of the future as they imparted guidance, encouragement and collaboration for the betterment of Rotary and its community.

Way to go Darin for your outstanding involvement, leadership, and commitment to giving back to the community in so many ways.