The Club was pleased to induct April Lewis as a new member. She was nominated by Spencer Siegel.
April had a wonderful and amazing mom and storybook childhood. She skipped two grades and excelled in math & science. Her parents had a very difficult divorce which, unfortunately, resulted in her mother and her not receiving any assistance or interaction with her dad.
Her mother passed away at the young age of 39 (when April was 19). Sadly, her bother passed away 14 months after her mother. Terrible thing for anyone to experience. They had no insurance or estate which made life difficult for her, her brother and her two sisters. She had to drop out of vet school to raise her two younger sisters.  She worked three jobs, seven days a week to manage and support her family. She never wanted anyone to ever feel that sense of hopelessness that she felt.
In 1985, she went on a job interview with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and was hired on the spot to be the personal assistant to the co-owner of GNP Commodities – Myron Rosenthal – who was responsible for creating trading ‘Pork Bellies’ (a frozen commodity).
She was then given the opportunity of a lifetime to attend DePaul University where she majored in Economics. She started trading in 1987 with a loan that was paid back quickly.  Myron Rosenthal is now 87. She visits him every few months. She is forever grateful to him for all his love and support in all my endeavors.
She always fought for the underdog and has rescued and helped many animals & people. She moved from Chicago to Miami Beach & jumped into feeding the homeless. In 2013, she helped reduce the number of animals euthanized at the Miami Dade Animal Care & Control.
She is also a kidney and bone marrow donor because she has Rh 0-Neg blood which makes her a universal donor. She donated a kidney and donated platelets now to treat people with cancer.
She is fortunate to have met Pope Francis twice: once in Cuba and the other at the Vatican – both by invitation. He gave her a hug and told her the good in her would stand strong. He said he saw Mary and her in her eyes.
Durning the beginning of covid, she saw the long lines at Boca Helping Hands at Meizer Park and made a quiet donation to assist their plight.
She also has financially supported 164 families out of Ukraine migrate into Poland. One family sent her their Siberian kitten to her named ‘My Guardian Angel.’
She is humble and prefers to work behind the scenes as she is a very successful single woman from her work as a commodities trader.
She only looks forward to the rainbows & never look back at the darkness. Her hobby is butterfly gardening to help the Monarch’s survive. She is a true environmentalist.
April joined the Rotary Club of Boca Raton to be involved with like-minded people after meeting Spencer & Dara Siegel. Her motto is “I do what I do to change this world!” She is thrilled to be a Rotarian.