Updates and Announcements
New Member Induction: We inducted our newest member, Jackie Grubb, during our meeting on Tuesday October 18th. Welcome Jackie!
World Polio Day - In honor of World Polio Day on October 24th, during our Tuesday AM meeting on 10/25 we will be collect extra donations to be donated towards End Polio Now. Conifer High school Interact is looking at raising money for vaccinations. Our Happy Dollars go to Polio Plus. $3 a dose for everything. For every dollar Rotary raises, Gates Foundation donates $2.
Board Meeting Update: We will only be posting items on the Conifer Rotary website that our club has sponsored. The ClubRunner email can be used if a member would like to support a project.
District Governor: Rotary District 5450 is now accepting nominations for our 2025-2026 District Governor.
Volunteer Opportunities:
West Jeff is seeking volunteers to read to kids, or listen to the kids read to them. You can choose the grade level and this is meant to be a fun time for reading. Lori Harrison (Chuck’s wife) is the person in charge. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4aaeab2fa7ffc16-donuts
Elk Creek Elementary School is seeking 3 volunteers for judging pumpkins, designed by kids on theme of a book they read. Event is Monday Oct. 31st . Elk Creek also is looking for volunteers to teach a robotics lesson for Dec. 12-16 coding week; they provide all the information in advance to teach the class to young kids. They are hoping to buy a box of materials for K-2 robotics. Kit costs $1200, looking for a $950 donation and seeking a grant for $250.
Rotary International efforts for Ukraine: John Hewko, the Rotary General Secretary, will be speaking to Boulder Rotary on December 9th about RI efforts for Ukraine. They would like to invite anyone to attend either in person or over Zoom. We are joining with Evergreen Rotary and Kharkhiv Rotary to get blankets made in Kharkhiv for the shelters there. We sent $2000 from our club, including $1000 from a donor. It’s being matched multiple times. Our budget includes $2500 for International and we used $1000 of that.
Youth Exchange Bucket Lists: Diana Phelps has sent out bucket lists of the metro exchange students, if anyone wants to help fulfill a wish. As an example, Diana is taking a Brazilian student in Summit County to the theater.
Club President: We are in need of a PE (President Elect) for the Rotary year 2023 / 2024 and NPE (Nominated-President Elect) for the Rotary year 2024 / 2025. Please contact Diana, the current president, if you are interested and have questions. We will talk about these positions at the 10/25 meeting.
Sergeant-at-Arms Request: Janine will be our November Sergeant-at-Arms. A volunteer is needed for December and beyond. Please contact Diana if you are interested and able.
285 Backpack Project: The 285 Backpack Project has a new contact email address for all inquiries: 285BackPackProject@gmail.com The 285 Backpack Project helps children who don't have enough food to eat at home by providing them with easy-to-prepare weekend meals and snacks throughout the school year. We are always looking for volunteers to help with this mission. To sign up to volunteer, go to: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040c48afa823aa8-back
Evening Meetings: Evening meetings happen every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, and the next one will take place on Wednesday September 28th at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pine Catholic Church.
November 29th: No meeting will be held the 5th Tuesday of the month in November.
Upcoming Events & Training:
Below is just a snapshot of upcoming events. All District Events can be found by going to the Rotary District 5450 Website.
World Polio Day: October 24th, 2022
Conifer Social: October 28th at 5:30 PM
Dinner and Ghost Tour - dinner at 5:30, ghost tour at 7.Yvonne has sent out an email for the link to purchase the ghost tour tickets, tickets are $25/person.
Holiday Party: Holiday Party will be on Dec 4th at Janine’s place, details to follow.
Throw-Back Thursday on a Saturday: will be held on January 21 at the Aspen Park Community Center, details to follow.
2023 District Conference: The 2023 District Conference is scheduled for April 29th.
Polio Plus:
Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years. Our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever.
As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we’ve reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.
Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.
Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year. It costs $3.00 to fully protect a child against polio, including the cost of the vaccine and activities required to deliver the vaccine.
Meeting Programs: Guest Speaker – Heather Aberg from Resilience 1220
- Speaker Heather Aberg from Resilience 1220: We provide free counseling for teens and parents and teachers. Teens can get ten free sessions and unlimited group sessions. The group serves Bailey, Conifer, Evergreen, Clear Creek, Gilpin County to Rollinsville.
- It now has 32 therapists, plus equine and climbing therapy, yoga therapy, art therapy. We also offer three free sessions to their parents, and we offer help to the teachers and schools.
- It has a program for highly sensitive people, gifted and talented, kids with trauma, kids with parents with substance abuse.
- Resilience 1220 plans a fundraiser with Eric Weihenmayer, who is blind and summited Everest. He lives in Golden, and makes films and books about resilience. The benefit is Nov. 13, 4-7 p.m. Evergreen Lake House.
- In three years, Resilience has seen 1500 youth and 300 groups They will be seeking grants for more funding.
- To learn more about Resilience 1220, go to https://www.resilience1220.org/