Meeting Notes - August 28 and September 4
Photo of International Grant recipients accepting grants on behalf of Come Lets Dance and the Tsaru Girls Fund.
At the August 28 meeting, John Holloway and Holly Rogers served as Greeters, Jon Roberts provided our thought for the day, and I inadvertently skipped the song, which put our intrepid songmaster for the day, David Lamb, in limbo and on hold as songmaster until a future meeting.
At the September 4 meeting, John Fleeker served as Greeter, Geneva Taylor provided our thought for the day, and we sang Happy Birthday to Rotarians Lynna Broyles, Karl Bunker, Jane Denning, Brad Meeks, Dennis Podzemny, Robert Ralston and Bob Scott. Lynaia South introduced Diana, our exchange student from Mexico, and Diana presented the club with the flag from her sponsoring club.
In August, Paul Hebert presented, on behalf of the club and our International Services Team, a grant of $500 tothe Tsaru Girls Fund was accepted by Mary Walker. The granted funds will be used to pay for 1/3 of the college expenses for Nailois Kamwaro to study Information Technology at University in Kenya. For more information on the Tsaru College Fund’s activities in Kenya, you can go to www.marywalkerkenya.blogspot.com. A second grant of $500 was presented to Come Let’s Dance and accepted by Julie and Henry Howard and Morgan Johnson. Come Let’s Dance primarily serves orphans and will use the funds to assist with the purchase of a school bus, which will bring 26 kids to their Pre-K to 7th grade school in its second year of operation in Uganda. Molly Weiss, sister of Tara Weaver, was also at the meeting and noted her positive 3 week experience studying community development with Come Let’s Dance in Uganda.
Our program for August 28 was “It Takes Courage” – a program about bullying and its impacts presented by Heather Savalox. Heather showed a moving powerpoint of her niece’s experience with bullying and depression which resulted in suicide. Heather noted that the suicide rate in Routt County is one of the highest in the state and that our rate is highest in the 15-24 year old age group. She also talked about the “It Take Courage” program that volunteers are bringing to the schools to provide outreach regarding bullying and the message that help is always available and that we should each treat others with kindness and compassion.
Our program for September 4 included an overview by Brad Meeks and his team at the School District regarding the School District’s programs which focus on social emotional curriculum and the teaching of positive behaviors in a direct effort to address bullying within the schools. The school district utilizes a Positive Behavior Intervention System, which aims to teach students positive behaviors instead of merely punishing them for poor behavior. Social emotional curriculum is taught at each school – at the K-5 level it includes Kelso’s choices, at the Middle School it includes Rachel’s challenge, and at the High School it includes Rachel’s challenge, Link Crew, and a new curriculum in Anchor. A restorative justice program is also being developed for the high school.
A second portion of the September 4 program focused on Book Feast, a new all day literary arts event to be held this Friday evening and all day Saturday at the Library. Sarah Kostin (youth Librarian), Kim Keith (Off the Beaten Path Bookstore), and Susan Wittlesey (Arts Council) provided information on the event, which will include interacting with authors and illustrators at the library and via skype, a theater group, story tellers, face painting, and many other activities. Tickets for Book Feast are $7 per child – and schedules were passed out – these are also available from the library.
Announcements:
- The Barn Dance is September 22. Tickets to the event were handed out at the meeting Sept. 4, so if you don’t have yours yet, please chase them down. Many thanks to the sponsors and volunteers who make the event possible. If you can volunteer for a 2 hour shift at the event, please contact Carol Parish.
- The Board meets on Monday, September 10th at Rex’s at Noon. All are welcome to attend and to ask the board to address any issue or concern.
- The Rotary Leadership Institute is a series of three workshops which can teach everything there is to know about Rotary at the International and District level. The club has funds to pay for attending, so please contact Winnie if you are interested – as we’d love for you to go. The complete course includes three sessions, and all three sessions will be offered on September 22 and November 3 in Fort Collins or Casper.
- The District Assembly is October 20 in Laramie. Our club has committed to sending 5 people – could one of them be you? If you can attend, please let Winnie know.
- The District will award one Rotary Peace Scholarship to a Rotarian to attend an International Peace Forum this year. Applications are due at the end of the month – if you are interested, the application is posted on the district website: www.rotary5440.org