Sertoma Foundation Appoints Leasure As Trustee
Kansas City, MO – The Sertoma International Foundation at the organization’s fall board meeting October 13th, in Kansas City, MO, appointed Colorado businesswoman and philanthropist, Sylvia Leasure of Colorado Springs, CO, to the position of Trustee.
Leasure and her husband Elden are co-owners of Leasures Treasures and the Amarillo Motel in Colorado Springs. She joined Sertoma in 1986.
“Sylvia is a great addition to the board of Trustees,” said John Stoughton President of the Sertoma Foundation. “She and her husband Elden are major supporters of Sertoma and the Foundation. Their financial support has been very generous for years, as has been the amount of time and effort they have put into the Foundation. I’m sure Sylvia will set a great example for the rest of us as a Foundation leader.”
She has exhibited her leadership at a district level, said Stoughton, through her club-building activities. Leasure has earned the gold honor coat and the red ambassador’s coat. She earned those honors, in part, by helping start the Prospectors Sertoma Club, also in Colorado Springs. She also served as Governor for the Continental Divide region, and president and chairman of the board for both the Rampart Range and Prospector Sertoma Clubs.
The newest Trustee said she was attracted to Sertoma by the opportunity to help people and give something back to her community. “Our three children are grown now and the business is established,” Leasure said. “Now I have more time to help make a difference in the community. Also, Sertomans are good people and I really enjoy being around them.”
Sertoma membership is also good for the marriage, she said. “Elden joined one year before I did. It was a nice opportunity for us to share something, both an activity and a common goal. I think it is something all couples should do.”
As a Trustee, Leasure has two goals. The first is improved communication. “Sertomans need to gain broader knowledge of the Foundation. They can get that through their Foundation District Representatives, Regional Coordinators and Trustees.”
The second, said Leasure, is to help Sertomans see the benefits of Foundation membership. “We need to help them understand the Foundation and the good it can do. Programs such as the Early Bird and 100 percent programs enable clubs to take advantage of Sertoma Foundation grants and sponsorship programs. These programs strengthen clubs’ abilities to find and meet community needs.”
The Foundation itself faces a significant challenge she said. “We need to be good and prudent stewards of member contributions. We must invest them in such a way that the funds can continue to support effective community service and the community causes the clubs and members support.”
Outside of Sertoma, the Leasures’ hobbies include rock collecting, coin collecting, traveling to trade shows, visiting their grandchildren and great-grandchildren (16 in all) and spending time at their cabin in the mountains.
"True ultimate human destiny is the eternal search for high achievement whether attained or not. This search must forever continue if life is to have real meaning."
Ron Reynolds