High Noon Rotary Club of
Durango
District 5470
Club 1161
Meet at Doubletree Hotel
Time: 12:00 Noon
Thursdays
Newsletter:
May 7, 2009
Program
May 14, 2009: Boom - Thai Exchange Program and Craig Larson, County Assessor
Fellow Rotarians:
- Tami led the pledge and introduced the other three generations of
her family present: Son, Tanner; Mother, Patricia; and Grandmother –
Terry. Mark Donohue introduced guest and retired banker, Rick Kolb. Tom
Galbraith introduced two members of the Mustang Club from Orlando,
Florida, Pete Summers and Bob Hunt.
Peter Marshall introduced recent Fort Lewis College graduate and
Rotary Scholarship holder for four years, Kyle Huntsinger.
- Announcements: Chip Lile for the third time
announced a great opportunity for HNR membership to raise some money by
serving beer at the upcoming Arena Cross (motorcycle event) to be held at
the Fairgrounds on May 16th and 17th. All the planning and other
logistics for this event has been taken care of and our only job is to
show up and serve beer. Chip has some time slots to fill on Saturday the 16th
from noon to 6:30 PM and Sunday the 17th from noon until 4:00
PM. Chip guarantees this is
an excellent way to build club camaraderie and spirit while raising much
needed funds to backfill some of our budgetary revenue shortfall in the
2008-2009 fiscal year. Chip
would like volunteers to work at least two hours on one of those days. There may be as many as 1,500
attendees at the event. Tom Brossia reminded us of the trash pickup along
Highway 160 West from the Durango West II water tanks to Kennebec Caf,
both sides of the rode. Meet
at the Kennebec Caf at 7:15 AM for breakfast or at 8:15 ready to talk and
pick up trash. Don Freemyer
got up to talk to the membership about supporting the Boys and Girls Club
fundraiser at Steam Works on May 20th where they will have free
beer and food. Don passed out
some pledge cards during the meeting to be used to contribute to the Boys
and Girls Club during this yearÕs $80,000 fund raising drive. Boom talked about her last
weekÕs biology experiment and is looking forward to her end of school year
in two weeks. There seemed to
be a tone of nostalgia and regret in her voice about her time in Durango
coming to an end. Tami announced the upcoming board
meeting at 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM at the Strater on Wednesday May 13th.
It will be followed by the
Fireside Chat at the Strater at 5:30 PM. Sgt of Arms, Emily Spencer only
fined members for their good attributes like Mark Donohue winning best
dressed male in attendance and, get this, Bob Chaput having the best hair, go figure! Jill Carithers and Moni Helling,
both absent, had club anniversaries.
Tami paid happy dollars for having recently attended a Dave Mathews
Band concert and having four generations of her family present for lunch. Don Freemyer paid for his recent
trip to Lake Powell for fishing with his classmates of 50 years. Bud Poe is happy to have Mike Kane
do fire retardation work on his property west of Cortez. Tom Galbraith was happy to be back
in Durango after having spent 10 sunless and rainy days in Portland,
Oregon. There is a reason
Oregon is so green. Samantha
Gallant is still happy about the Detroit Red Wings winning streak. Dick Pearson matched Charlie
AlbertÕs happy dollars for the grand daughter which they share. Dick was also ragged on for
wearing some patently obvious advertising pin for his employer. An
egregious and fineable offense.
- PROGRAM: CLUB ASSEMBLY. Niles Bruno talked about the
Minigrant and Capital projects committee which parcels out about $10,000
annually to a number of entities.
The charter of the committee is to focus on kids, beautification
and seniors. In 2008-2009 the
recipients were: La Plata Youth Services - $1k, Blue Star Moms - $500, VOA
Shelter - $1.5k, Boys and Girls Club - $1k, Adaptive Sports Association -
$750, Big Brothers and Big Sisters Study Exchange - $1k, Alternative
Horizons $500, Durango Fire and Rescue for two defibulators $1k and the DHS
2009 After Prom Party $1k.
The Committee evaluates the requests against the criteria and makes
a recommendation to the Board which makes the decision on what entities
receive the money. The
Committee accumulates the requests and then decides twice a year on what
is recommended to the Board.
Cathy Crum Treasurer explained the Paul Harris foundation and how
one becomes a member. The HNR
Club is willing to contribute toward the financial commitments of those
that would like to participate.
It can be done for as little as $8 monthly until one has
contributed $1,000 and becomes a Paul Harris Fellow. Money in the foundation goes
toward many international capital projects and programs such as last
weekÕs visit from the five Irish GSE visitors we enjoyed hosting for three
days. Peter Marshall
from the scholarship committee introduced Kyle Huntsinger, recent FLC grad
who expressed his appreciation for our support of his four years of
education at FLC. His parents
were pleased as well since Kyle completed school with minimal debts on the
books. Kyle announced that he had landed a job with an insurance company
in Denver and invited us to buy a policy from him. Barb Stine explained
that we had 21 student applicants for scholarships this year that we had
to narrow down to five recipients.
Four were awarded to DHS students and the remaining one went to a Bayfield
student. Steve Dorf presented
the scholarships at DHS and Barb Stine is journeying to the Bay area this
evening to present the award to that student. Chip Lile talked about the Rotary Exchange Program and
Interact. Chip used Boom as
an excellent example of how the exchange program helps students from
overseas learn about the US and improved understanding between both
countries. Over the
years, HNR has hosted 20 Exchange Students. There are 8,000 students in the program annually. Chip sought input on country of
origin for next yearÕs student.
Sara Olsen talked about the Rotaract Program which has been a
college age based program but is going to become community based next year
so young professionals can join.
Sara introduced Mark Tucker as her Co-Advisor and sought a volunteer
to replace her for next year.
Mike Kane, representing Ted Weirather, talked about the Fund
Raising CommitteeÕs upcoming United Way and High Noon Rotary Golf
Tournament to be held at Dalton Ranch on July 17th this
year. Many of the sponsors
have been lined up already. There was 15 minutes left in the
meeting and Tami asked if anyone wished to speak. Surprise, surprise, Bud
Deering wished to speak.
After a soft admonishment from Tami, Bud threw out the notes for
his joke and instead talked about how we can do a better job of recruiting
scholarship applicants for the vocational- technical scholarship which Bud
funds annually. Since we had
no vocational applicants this year this is something members can help with
because there is surely someone out there with a need. Cathy Crum is still selling
tickets for the spaghetti feed at MamaÕs Boy for the DHS soccer team. Tami closed the meeting with the
Four Way Test.
The Four Way Test in
everything we do and say:
Is it the truth?
Is it fair to all concerned?
Will it build good will and better friendships?
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
Next WeekÕs
Program 5/7/2009: Boom – Thai Exchange Program and
Craig Larson – County Assessor
Yours in Rotary,
Editor - Wayne Bedor