High Noon Rotary Club of Durango

District 5470

Club 1161

Meet at Doubletree Hotel

Time: 12:00 Noon

Thursdays

Newsletter: September 4, 2008

Fellow Rotarians:

· Tami led the pledge and introductions by introducing Juliette Whitfield with the “Buy Local” program. Jeff Brown’s guest for the 2d time was Steve Dorf, CEO of Fastrack, a local telecommunications company. Loryn Kasten made her last meeting with the club and told us what a wonderful group we are and we acknowledged by giving her a standing ovation. She’s been a great member! Lucky Steamboat Springs! Angie Beach introduced Steve Gilliam from Century 21. Moni Helling blissfully introduced Jonas Ruskin who had recently proposed marriage and Moni accepted. They beamed accordingly! Rick Routh introduced Laura Pearson and Nadine Chauncey-Orantes with Habitat for Humanity and our program today. Burt Coleman’s guest was Barbara Snyder, a neuro-psychologist in town. Tami introduced Jim Dukes from the Morning Club as HNR’s “first man”. Quite a distinguished guest list today.

· Tami announced for the second time that our September 18^th meeting will be held at the Fairgrounds during the Kiwanis Pancake Day. Tami has the tickets and urges everyone to support this good cause which benefits the community much like HNR’s fundraisers.

· Tami is putting together a group to look at the investment opportunities for our endowment fund which is now invested in a money market fund earning a modest interest rate. There is about $50,000 in the fund.

· Juliette Whitfield with the “Buy Local” campaign talked briefly about the program lead by the Chamber and LEAD. It encourages us all to support the local business community since vibrant community businesses are vital to our community’s economic heath. The Program’s coupon books sell for $12 and it costs each business $120 to be included in the book. Joining is open until October 15^th and the books will come out in November. Bill Cartwright announced the Habitat for Humanity’s Rotary Build Day on October 25^th at Foxfarm in Bayfield between the hours of 8 AM to 3 PM. Come when you can and stay as long as you want. Jim Dukes from the Morning club announced their major fundraiser, the Barn Dance, which is being billed as a kid’s event. Please encourage attendance especially families with children.

· Sergeant-at-Arms, Dan McCarthy announced that he and Tami decided that September’s fines will go toward the “Three Cups of Tea” project which Bob Chaput is coordinating here in the community. A $250 breakfast at the DAC for this project is already sold out; obviously there is a lot of interest in this worthy cause which was started by author Greg Mortenson. Bob Chaput thanked the club for naming the “Three Cups of Tea Project” the recipient of our funds raised through fines during September. Birthday fines included Howard (aka Bud) Poe’s dual payment of a birthday and anniversary fine amounting to $127. He’s been married 53 years so do the math. Bud’s generous donation went to the scholarship fund. Club anniversary fines went to Angie for five years and Norm (aka Don) Freemyer for 21 years. Happy dollars came from Bob Chaput for the “Three Cups of Tea Project” being named the recipient of the HNR’s September fines. It looks like they will top the Project goal of $50,000 soon as they have collected $46,000 already. Checks should be made out to the Central Asia Institute (CAI). Jill Wark is happy her daughter will be married tomorrow to a guy with a job. Ward Holmes paid a $10 fine for the United Way major fundraiser Radiothon that occurs tomorrow, September 5th. The info is on the web and in the Durango Herald. Ward’s radio stations have supported this effort for the past eight years. Loryn paid a fine (with Angie Beach’s money) for the good time she had in Ecuador with the Interact Club. Sara Olsen also paid a fine for her enjoyable time In Ecuador and then lauded Loryn Kasten further. Ted Robson paid up because wife, Kay, is now driving herself around after a knee replacement. Bill Cartwright paid because he got to play racquetball with Peter Marshall but he is still looking for others to play at 6:00 AM (that’s right 6:00 AM) at the Durango Sports Club. Bud Deering paid up for wife, Judy’s, cell phone going off during our meeting. Leanne Jaworsky paid a fine for something but I couldn’t hear her announcement because Bud’s phone was ringing. Cathy Crum warned us that gas really is a $1 more a gallon more in Needles, CA that in Kingman, AZ. Chip Lile had wrist surgery (and the cast to prove it) due to a work related injury and Dick Sullivan paid for a recent trip to Dallas, TX. Walt Nowotny didn’t know the answer of the price of gas at Peerless Tyres ($3.79) when his ticket was drawn. Justin Osborn aced his question when asked to name two honorary Rotarians in HNR: Justin cited Ellen Roberts and Al Harper.

· PROGRAM: Nadine Chauncey-Orantes, Executive Director of Habitat for Humanity (HfH), briefed us on her organization. She thanked all the banks in the community that support HfH: Wells Fargo, Alpine Bank, Community Bank, and 1^st National Bank. She also thanked Bob’s Johns and Big “T”. HfH is an International Christian non-profit committed to provide basic housing to the underserved. HfH has built 24 homes so far in La Plata County and has approved three more to be built and has another three in the pipeline. Nadine stressed how much the HfH depends on the support of the community to be successful to meet its goals. Homes are built at cost and will only cost the owner 30% of their monthly income for the mortgage payment. Partner families must perform work on the house in order to earn the sweat equity. Partners are picked based on the level of need and can make as much as 30%-60% of the local area’s median income. HfH also tithes with international agencies. They have two duplexes in Foxfarm in Bayfield under construction. They use “green” building techniques such as low flow toilets and they overlook wetlands. Skilled and unskilled volunteers and staff work on the homes. Homes are deed restricted and are sold to people who plan to stay in the community. Nadine then introduced Laura Pearson one of HfH’s partners. Laura gave us some insight into how important the assistance of HfH has been to her self esteem and economic welfare. Laura is a single mother with a son and is a recovering alcoholic. If her story didn’t tug at your heartstrings, you weren’t listening closely. Once again it was truly uplifting to hear about a person’s real life experience where Rotary can play an important role in making this a better community for people of all income levels to make it here. Don’t forget the HfH Rotary Build Day on October 25^th.

The Four Way Test in everything we do and say:

ü Is it the truth?

ü Is it fair to all concerned?

ü Will it build good will and better friendships?

ü Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Yours in Rotary,

Editor

Wayne Bedor

waynebedor@yahoo.com