Rotary Gram

Durango High Noon Rotary Club

February 20, 2003

"The contagious (courageous) people of Washington have stood firm against

diversity (adversity) during this long period of increment (inclement) weather."

Marion Barry, former Mayor of Washington D.C. ...............

Jeff opened the meeting and asked Charlie to give the invocation and to lead us in the pledge. Guests were introduced, including:

Brian Merryman, COO, CFO, RMCF, Speaker

DeLoyd Larsen

Deanna Devereaux, BB/BS

Pam and Jim Bowen

Tom Yaley

Floyd W. Patterson, Durango Roofing

Claire Lodaul, DVM

Jim Dyer

Doug Pearce

Larry Eads

Barbara Toth, visiting Rotarian for South Carolina

John Francis, Day Break club

Announcements

BB/BS Bowling for Kid's Sake: Jeff recognized Deanna Devereaux who told us of the upcoming fund raiser. March 1 - 2! She needs 26 more teams to meet their goal. Remember, the Dos Mosca fly fishing tournament was cancelled last year due to low water and high water temps, making this event that much more important.

Club Service

Board Meeting: The monthly meeting will be moved to a brighter room, no more meeting in the bar. Each club has been directed by RI President, Bhichai Rattakul, to select a 'Centennial Project', to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Rotary. The Board selected the Buckley Park renovation as our project. Attendance is at 74%, the highest ever. John Jordan announced his resignation.

Walter Nowotny earns Blue Badge: Having completed all the requirements of new Rotarians, Jill awarded Walter with his red badge.

Sergeant at Arms: Dr. Volger had the duty once again, asking for volunteers to make an investment. Bill Wright was recognized for a birthday, Jim Williams was welcomed back, Bob indicating he was present to show that he shared our stock market pain and congratulations to Charlie and Judy on their 35th.

Community Service

Mentoring: Marv indicated that La Plata Youth Services is losing funding for programs, but the mentoring activities will continue. Those interested were asked to meet with Marv after the club meeting. 3 hours a week will make the difference in a young persons life and Marv is seeing the fruits of his and other mentor's efforts. There is a solid group of 10 mentors, with more always welcome and needed.

Scholarships: Sherry Taber announced that the closing date for the receipt of applications for High Noon Rotary Scholarships is March 24. She told us that J. Heizer, a previous scholarship recipient made the honor role at Boulder. HNR will award scholarships to graduating seniors at Ignacio, Mancos, Bayfield and Durango High Schools.

Cultural and Ambassadorial scholarships are available, with due dates in April. Please contact Sherry if you have candidates the would like to receive an application. Sherry thanked Laura Webb and Roger Ptolemy for helping with interviews.

After the Prom Party: Doug Lashley the event to be held at the Rec Center. Help is needed with set up, to work at the party etc. Doug said that it's a great way to support the community and thanked the club for the donation of $500 toward the budget of $20k+.

Red Ball Express: The results of the efforts of the three Durango clubs and the sponsors have been splashed across the pages of the Durango Herald. John Francis of Wells Fargo discussed the final planning leading up to event, moved to DMR after Chapman Hill became unusable due to an early mud season. Thanks to the sponsors, to DMR for hosting the event and to the scores of Rotary volunteers from all three clubs that made it a success. A date has already been reserved for next year.

Program

Jeff asked Past President Patty to introduce our speaker, Brian Merryman of the RMCF. He began as CFO and added COO duties later. Brian told us that the RMCF, founder in 1981 by Frank Crail, is the only publicly traded company headquartered in Durango. They are a franchise company, with 229 franchise stores and 4 company stores where they try new products and formats to stay close to the customer.

The occupy a 58,000 ft sq. building in Bodo Park and have 180 employees. With stores in 37 states (44 in SoCal), the operate a fleet of 8 tractor-trailers to deliver product to the stores. There income is derived from sales to the franchises and royalties on sales.

RMCF supports lots of local causes with the donation of over $100k in products and nearly that much in cash. In 1998 they began to sell to some 'big box' stores and in '99 had an offer to sell the company. They also make candy using licenses, including Lucy.

Chocolate is made in small 60 lb batches, interesting when the market is $13 billion annually. There largest national competitor is Godiva, with the rest of the competition coming from regional brands such as Sees in California. Merryman indicates that RMCF is growing faster than Godiva in terms of number of locations.

There are remodeling stores from a Victorian look to something more modern, not unlike Godiva. They franchisees that will run their store(s) as family businesses, with the average location returning $70k per year to the operator, before taxes.

Merryman indicated that 80% of his customers are women and that they react differently to chocolate than do men. But is was Cortez that 'discovered' chocolate (cacao) in 1519 being used by the Aztecs. All of the cacao (cocoa is made from cacao seeds) is grown within 20 degrees of the equator, most on small family farms and 40% from the Ivory Coast.

Chocolate prices are at a 20 year high due in part to raw material costs. Brain took questions from the crowd and provided samples to all as we left the meeting.

Jeff thanked Brian for the presentation and the chocolate and brought the meeting to a close.

Coming Up

Feb 27 State Farm Insurance Fraud Unit

Mar 6 Buckley Park Project

Mar 13 Prostate Health - Jim Burpee

Mar 20 Durango Children's Chorale

Mar 27 Open (Colorado Open Space - tentative)

Apr 3 Alexii Carey - Cuba Trip

Apr 10 Club Assembly

Apr 17 Dr. Heddington-Insights to Balding

Apr 24 Open

May 1 Mexican Food Fiesta

Note: The meetings on Mar 6, and Mar 13 will be presented by club

members.

John E. Marshall

3005 County Road 207

Durango, CO 81301

970-259-6248 p

970-259-4498 f