Join us! 
Conifer Rotary meets Tuesday mornings at 8:00 AM in a hybrid format either at the Mountain Resource Center or online via videoconference over Zoom. Evening meetings are currently being held in person every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pines.
 
Visitors please join us, email us at rotaryclub@rotaryconifer.org and we will send you the information you need for the meetings.  Club members, check your email for online meeting details from our President.
Foothills Home Show Volunteer Sign Up
Rotarians and Community Members, we need your help anytime March 31-April 2.  
 
Our joint Foothills Home, Garden and Lifestyle Show, is April 1st and 2nd at Evergreen High School.  This is our major fundraiser for the club each year. Click the logo, or HERE to sign up to help.
 
Net proceeds from the event are distributed as grants for charitable causes through the Conifer and Evergreen Foundations. Since 2005, over $300,000 has been raised. Visit the show's website at https://www.foothillshomeshow.com for more information.
Area 8 Social, April 20th
 

Sign up by Wednesday April 12th, for a night of fun Thursday April 20th with fellow district Rotarians. We have an awesome program with dinner and guest speaker Jim Halderman, Chair of the District 5450 Peace Committee.
 
5:30-6:30 Social hour and cash bar
6:30 buffet dinner
7:15 Jim Halderman speaks
 
Reserve your place by paying now, cost is per person:
 
  • $62.50 with Zelle (address: rotaryclub@rotaryconifer.org)
  • $62.50 by check, mailed to PO Box 1430, Conifer 80433
  • or $65.17 by PayPal online by clicking the cart below and selecting the number of persons
 
Rocky Mountain RYLA

                                                                                                                                                

Visit www.rmryla.org for details and applications.

RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) is a life-changing leadership training program where young people learn, develop, and enhance leadership skills and principles in an atmosphere of trust and respect. RYLA encourages and assists current and potential youth leaders in methods of responsible and effective leadership. Many past RYLArians claim, “It was the best week of my life!”  RYLA will be held at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado.

RYLA - Sunday, June 25 – Friday, June 30

   Students who are currently a high school sophomore, junior, or senior, may apply to attend RYLA.  Generally, applicants selected have excelled in one or more areas of high school involvement and have potential or proven leadership experience. RYLA will be held at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado.

Young RYLA - Sunday, June 18 - Friday, June 23 & Sunday, July 16 - Friday, July 21                                                    

Any current 7th grader may apply to attend either one of the Young RYLA Conferences.

Applicants MUST be able to stay for EVERY DAY of the conference! PLEASE DO NOT APPLY IF YOU CANNOT COMMIT TO FULL ATTENDANCE.

285 Backpack Pantry Program
 

 

Children who are hungry have difficulty staying focused for learning. They experience mood swings. They have trouble participating in athletics and other activities. They experience stomach aches, headaches and fatigue. Chronic hunger impacts kids for a lifetime.

One in five children in Colorado belong to families that cannot afford food or do not have regular access to food.  The 285 Backpack Project is here to help.

The 285 Backpack Project is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Conifer and the communities of Conifer and Bailey.  We help children who do not have enough food to eat at home by providing them with easy-to-prepare weekend meals and snacks throughout the school year.  By helping to sustain these children, we want to not only help meet their nutritional needs but also promote their physical, cognitive and social development, and enhance their overall sense of well-being.

  • Rotary members order the food from the Food Bank of the Rockies to fill our 285 Backpack pantry and every week during the school year, volunteers from the community meet to fill bags with a variety of easy to prepare, nutritious foods for kids to take home.  
  • The school arranges delivery of the bags to the children whose families have requested the food.  Any child is eligible.  All families are invited by letter from the principal to participate.

 

Want to make a difference?  You can help by volunteering through the sign-up genius below, by making a donation to the Conifer Rotary Foundation or by helping to get families signed up.

 
 
Meeting Programs
Bob Heavers, Loan Officer
Apr 04, 2023
Reverse Mortgages
Pam Swift, Director of Development and Student Sou
Apr 11, 2023
Hide In Plain Sight
Sara Gardner, CFP
Apr 18, 2023
ESG Investing Conversation
Terry Bedbury
Apr 25, 2023
Beaver Ranch
Rotary Foundation Donations
Join us in our Conifer Rotary Foundation efforts to make our local community and the world a better place.
 
 
Join us in supporting the Rotary International Foundation's many national and international humanitarian projects by clicking HERE.
End Polio Now
Rotary is an international community that brings together leaders who step up to take on the world’s toughest challenges, locally and globally. The eradication of polio is one of our longest standing and most significant efforts. Along with our partners, we have helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children against polio in 122 countries. We have reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent worldwide and we won't stop until we end the disease for good.
 
Learn more by visiting: 
Upcoming Events
Subscribe to our Club Bulletin (No SPAM, Unsubscribe any time)
Subscribe to our eBulletin and stay up to date on the latest news and events.

 
  Grant recipients
  • Team Blitz Robotics
  • Mount Evans Home Health Care & Hospice
  • Resilience1220
  • Elk Creek Elementary
  • West Jefferson Middle School PTA
  • West Jefferson Elementary
  • Deer Creek Elementary
 
Member Dues Payments
Club members can make dues payments here.
 
Select
Rotary Conifer News
Club Meetings
 
Morning - Are held every Tuesday, 8:00 AM at the Mountain Resource Center on Kitty Drive.
Evening - The next evening meeting will be Wednesday, April 12th at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Conifer.
 
Announcements
 
  • The Foothills Home, Garden and Lifestyle Show is April 1-2nd at Evergreen High School, all are invited.  To help volunteer, click on the click on the home and garden show logo on the Conifer Rotary web page.
  • Club Service positions available:
    • Sergeant-at-Arms for May and June are needed - Join the fun at the Tuesday morning meeting by welcome members!!
    • WebMaster - If you would like to be the webmaster, please email Diana P. for information.
 
Upcoming Socials - All are welcome!
 
  • Rotary District 5450, Area 8 Social will be help on April 20th @ Mount Vernon Country Club, visit the Conifer Rotary web page to sign-up by April 12th.  The guest speaker will be Jim Halderman, Chair of the District 5450 Peace Committee. 
 
Guests
Welcome back Kristin D. and Jonathan R. soon to be our newest club members.
 
Upcoming Events
 
Rotary District 5450 Conference - Saturday, April 29 @ The Cable Center.  Visit the Rotary District 5450 web site to register.  The Conifer Club will have a table at the ‘House of Friendship’ to showcase what the Conifer club has been up to this year.

Program

Homayoon Milad Presentation on IRC and his personal story:

Milad worked for US Institute for Peace and US Bureau of Narcotics, on alternative agricultural based project. He graduated from Kabul University in 2003 and was born the year of the Soviet invasion. He pioneered the One Village One project in Afghanistan.

The Doha agreement with the Taliban was actually intended to be a long-term project. On August 15, 2021, it fell apart.

On August 26, Milad evacuated from Kabul with his wife and three kids, leaving behind everything built institutionally and all hope. They were among 470 refugees on one cargo plane, no seating room. They went to Kuwait, then Spain for processing, and on to Holloman AFB in New Mexico for 19 days, to do biometrics and process work permit. These refugee centers were called Safe Havens. They voluntarily checked out and ended up in Denver with only one backpack, but he is thankful for a welcoming commmunity in Denver, starting with IRC and then the community members.

IRC hired him, and he started to build networks in the communities. After 1.5 years with IRC he has found Colorado communities very welcoming, starting from airport pickup, to housing and money from peoples pockets.

He holds the Community Sponsorship Coordinator position, to more involve community members in the welcoming process. He is also a Colorado Refugees Speaker Network (bureau) member.

There are increasing numbers of refugees. It’s a long process—one man from Iraq waited 18 years to achieve refugee status in the U.S.

United for Ukraine is a different model, using a private sponsorships program.

Milad wants to make it easier for everyone to be involved in the process. He advocated to ease the previous requirement of $5000 to sponsor a refugee, and that has changed to $3000 in money or in-kind contribution.

IRC Community Engagement program: Financial requirement is now $3000 (to sponsor one family) including inkind, with over 2-6 months average of 2-4 hours a week helping the family, more at the beginning as the refugees settle in—first 90 days is more work. Long term goal is a friendship between refugees and communities that they feel Denver is home.

Do they prefer Kabul or Denver? They say whichever is safer for me, where they feel emotional support. They are invited to events to meet community members, giving confidence and ownership in the community, feeling a part of the community.

This also gives the community a sense of pride in welcoming refugees until they are on their feet.

IRC has established tiers of community sponsorship:

Premium: the group sponsors a refugee family.

Advanced: Sponsors with a partner such as a church.

Starter: IRC facilitates formation of a co-sponsor group

Milad welcomes our Rotary group being involved.

Note: Milad came with a recent Afghan refugee, Behroze Rostami, who IRC is helping but not through the U.S. Government refugee resettlement program. Behroze also fled with his wife and two teenage children, in September 2021, overland to Iran and UEA, and finally to Japan for awhile. An engineer, he had worked for the Japanese development assistance agency, JICA, in Afghanistan. But Japan gave no support or pathway to stay in Japan, so they flew to Mexico and crossed the border at an opening, turning themselves immediately to ICE agents. Since then, the U.S. has been trying to deport them (who knows to where), but IRC has helped to stop the proceedings. He needs a livelihood and free immigration legal help. He speaks excellent English.