Jack Morrison awarded the club's highest honor - The Jack Morrison Lifetime Achievement Award

On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, the club awarded Jack Morrison with the club's highest honor - the Jack Morrison Lifetime Achievement Award.  The Jack Morrison Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded on an infrequent basis to a member of the club who has provided a lifetime of service to Rotary.  The award nomination is made by the Past President's Committee and must be confirmed by the board.  The award has only been made three times - to Les Gibson, Chan Coyle, and now to Jack Morrison, for whom the award was named.

In receiving the award, Jack Morrison thanked the club for the honor and his wife, Jo, for her support and involvement with him in Rotary.  Jack spoke of the value of having a positive "peer group" throughout your life, and noted how pleased and honored he was to have each of his fellow Rotarians as part of his peer group.  He also spoke to how Rotary is a vehicle that can make individual action possible.  Giving the example of a trek that he and Jo had taken to Nepal - Jack noted that they had come across a medical center that was more than four trekking days from the nearest motor road, and how impressed they were with the medical services provided.  Inspired, Jack and Jo spent a day in Kathmandu seeking out a Rotary club with which to sponsor a Rotary International project to bring medical equipment and supplies to the remote medical center.  Without Rotary, Jack noted he would have had the desire, but not the vehicle, to help that remote mountain area. 

Jack has a lifetime of achievement in Rotary, which includes:

Rotary Club of Carmel, Indiana

· Charter Member of Carmel, Indiana Rotary Club in 1972     (member 1972 – 1976)

· First chairperson of Youth Exchange in the new club.  Jack and Jo have hosted over 10 exchange students over the years he has been a Rotarian

· GSE leader for the Indiana district to Australia.  This experience broadened his commitment to "Service Above Self" and planted the seed in his mind to pass on the commitment of "Service above Self" to other persons in the world and to seek being a District Governor in his new Colorado location.

· President Elect of the Carmel club 1977-78

· Nominated to be President of the Carmel club for 78-79, but then resigned as he and his family moved to Steamboat  in 1978 and

 Steamboat Springs Rotary Club

· Jack joined the Steamboat Rotary Club upon arrival in Steamboat Springs

· President of the Steamboat Rotary club 84-85 and instituted the concept of "Good News" to raise funds committed to high school scholarships at the Steamboat Springs and Routt Co High Schools  - over $300,000 in scholarships have been awarded over the years.

· Jack was the major force behind several of the club’s international projects.  After Jack and Jo trekked the Himalayas, he secured a matching grant with the Rotary Foundation for $30,000 for medical equipment including an xray machine that had to be flown in by a helicopter for a remote hospital in Nepal

· A few years later Jack led the club’s efforts to raise $8000 to install a satellite system at the same hospital which is quite helpful for the remote hospital to have instant medical advice from metropolitan sources.

· Jack also spearheaded a project to finance a microcredit bank in Malawi – the bank is still going strong and has made an enormous difference in that country.   

 District 5440

· Chair of the District 5440 Group Study Exchange Committee in 1978-80

· Served as chair of the District 5440 committee to select District 5440 International Graduate Scholarships submitted by various clubs in the district for 3 years.   Scholarships valued at approximately $20,000 to $25.000 for the graduate students to study in various parts of the world.

· Served as District Governor of District 5440 which includes Northern Colorado, the state of Wyoming, and a portion of Nebraska for the years 1988-89 and served those years of 88-89 as District Governor with Jo traveling with him

 Rotary International

· Jack and Jo are both Major Donors to the Rotary Foundation.

· Jack is also a member of the Bequest society of the Rotary International Foundation.