High Noon Rotary Club of
Durango
District 5470
Club 1161
Meet at Doubletree Hotel
Time: 12:00 Noon
Thursdays
Newsletter:
August 21st, 2008
Fellow
Rotarians:
á
Tami kicked off the meeting today with the pledge and guest
introductions. Amy Wasserbach, who
is an exchange student and an Interact Club member at DHS, introduced our
2008-2009 exchange student from Thailand, Salintip ÒBoomÓ Chotechuanngechatchat
who will be referred to as ÒBoomÓ in this and all future newsletters. Although Boom may have struggled a
little with her weekly activity report this week, IÕm sure we will all marvel
at her progress as the school year passes. Ted Weirather introduced his son, Brian, who is in
transition from Spirit Airlines and is living with Ted temporarily.
á
Tami announced the
upcoming district conference in Grand Junction which is featuring golf and a
wine tour. At this juncture Tami and Mark Prouty are attending it but all
Rotarians are invited. Tami also invited everyone to the monthly board meeting
to be held in the Bank of the San JuansÕ Board room on Tuesday, August 26th
at 5 PM. Tami also praised
Bob Chaput for doing another excellent job on the 2008 Roster. This edition only has a few member
pictures that appear to have been taken more than 10 years ago except for of
course BobÕs picture which was taken in 1955.
á
Tom Galbreath announced today as ÒBank
DayÓ and milked all the representatives of local banks for some generous contributions. Donations large and small were made by
Bank of the San Juans, 1st national Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of
Colorado (ranked #7 in nation for privately owned banks), and Alpine Bank
ranked #5 for employers with more than 250 employees in Colorado. SOS was ranked #6 as reported by Mark
Prouty. Individual fines and/or Happy Dollars were assessed to Moni Helling,
Clint Jaworsky, Nils Bruno, Dick Sullivan, Chip Lile, Jill Wark, Emily Spencer,
Kathy Firestone, Eric Christensen, and Tom Brossia. Emily Spencer contributed $41 in celebration of her birthday
– you do the math. Four tickets were drawn and questions asked of the
lucky ticket holders. Those who
answered the questions correctly donated their winnings to the Club. Tom dun good, again.
á
Since today was club
assembly, Tami then called on committee chairs to report on their respective
committeesÕ activities and accomplishments:
á
Samantha Gallant, Club Administration, was away at a fire so Tami
filled in for her. Rick Routh,
Programs, reported that he had programs lined up through January with a couple
of exceptions. He asked membership
to help him out by identifying speakers and putting them in touch with him by e
mail. Fellowship is being honchoed by Nancy Bennet, aided by Justin Osborne and
Emily Spencer. They announced the
2008 Christmas Party for December 4th at the Strater in the lower
level. It will be a plated dinner. Tom Brossia volunteered to head up a
subcommittee to arrange for horseback rides, camping, etc. Ward Holmes needs help with the Club
Web Site. Tom Galbreath
volunteered to support Ward by telecommuting from Florida. Jill Wark announced that we have 91
members with Jim Bray being 92 next week.
Lauren Kasten is going to Steamboat Springs so we will lose a great
member and be back to 91. The Club
needs to work on retention.
á
Ted Weirather reported on Fundraising. Our three main Events are
the Rotary-United Way Golf Tournament under Tim WalsworthÕs leadership. This, the 13th year we
raised $26k split with United Way, an 11% increase over 2007. Nils Bruno reported on the Red Ball
Express sponsored by the 4 local Rotary Clubs that raised $4,900 for each club.
It also raised between $30k and $35k by enabling local non-profits to sell
tickets for the event and share in the ticket proceeds. Bill Cartwright reported on Monte Carlo
Casino Night which raised a record setting $15k this year. Bill retired from the helm of this fun
and profitable event and Ted is taking over the reins. Ted recognizes he has
big shoes to fill but we all know he is up to the task. Thanks again to Bill for a job well
done!
á
Peter Marshall reported on Club Service Projects and called on
Steve Govreau to talk about the Dictionary Project that distributes a
dictionary to every 3rd grader in the Durango 9R district and St.
Columba. Bill Cartwright reported on a new service project that is a spin off
from a national level effort to make repairs to homes of the low income elderly
in the community. Also there will
be an effort to get back to supporting the Durango Nature Studies folks at
their site near Bondad. For those
that like to talk trash, there will be an autumn outing to pick up trash along
our designated segment of US 160 west, from DW II to just past the Kennebec
CafŽ or La Plata Canyon. Service projects are also a great way to get to know
your fellow club members better when you are working side by side with them.
á
Dan McCarthy (soon to be Sergeant Dan) talked about Youth Exchange
and had Chip Lile talk about those activities. Chip is looking for a volunteer from our club to help with
the interviews of Exchange Students.
We still need host families for the 2008/2009 year so please call Chip
if you are interested in helping out.
Barb Stine reported on the scholarships. We distributed four new scholarships for 2008/2009. Angie Beach was recognized for her
excellent work over the past five years with the Interact Club. Interact is having a garage sale
fundraiser in September and they are looking for items to place in the sale.
á
Nils Bruno reported on the Capital Projects Committee fund
allocations of $15,000. There will
be $10,000 for capital and $5,000 for mini-grants in 2008/2009.
á
Tami adjourned the meeting at 12:45 PM so the membership could meet
with the committee chairs at individual tables to learn more about what the
committees do. Every one should be
on a committee.
The Four Way Test in
everything we do and say:
Ÿ
Is it the truth?
Ÿ
Is it fair to all concerned?
Ÿ
Will it build good will and better friendships?
Ÿ
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
Yours in Rotary,
Editor
Wayne Bedor
waynebedor@yahoo.com