Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, February 20, 2024
 

Updates & Announcements
 
Announcements:
  • ​​​​​Everyone had compliments for Mindfest and the Mindfest volunteers.  Stan gave the Conifer Award to all the people who showed up to volunteer.
  • Tim provided the following update: Jeffco Open Space is holding an Earth Day event April 20 at Crown Hill Park. He wants to do a big group photo. He is now president of the Denver chapter of the Colorado Native Plant Society.  He asked people to please come to volunteer, for an hour or two. No time yet.
  • Suzanne updated everyone that she is the RYLA/young RYLA chair. Rotary Youth Leadership gives awards for high school and junior high school to learn leadership. It draws out the ability to lead. Camps are held at YMCA camp at Estes Park. They are one week long, run by Rotary volunteers. Adults are advisors in the background. The junior and senior counselors run the camp. When we are recruiting, we are not looking for the kids who are already running projects. We’re looking for kids who are shy, or forced to go by a Rotary grandparent. Last summer one kid reported he hated it and wanted to leave. He loved it by the third day and now is a junior counselor. We got to witness first-hand the RYLA magic. Tim’s son went.  One exercise has 12 kids standing on a mat and they need to figure out how to turn it over while all 12 are standing on it. It’s now time to apply online. This year we have space for 4 for seniors and 4 for young RYLA.  There are a lot of home-school kids we need to reach. There is no cost to families. Our club is paying 100 percent of the fees. Young RYLA is for current 7th graders; RYLA is for sophomores, juniors and seniors. RockyMountainRYLA.org. We will interview the end of April. Maria Rosa said she was a senior counselor for 7 years, and mentor to junior counselors. “It’s an extraordinary experience. The junior counselors have a team of 12. Senior counselor is there just to support the junior counselors, debrief, etc.”
  • Morti shared that our own Sara Gardner is vice president of wealth management at EP Wealth Advisors. She will speak about financial planning. She is a certified financial planner.
 
Upcoming Events
 
  • April 13-14 is the Foothills Home and Garden Show. Janine is looking for sponsors and vendors. Non-profits can get a free space but need to sign up.
  • Earth Day event April 20 at Crown Hill Park.
 
Meeting program
 
The Importance of Financial Planning, Sara Gardner, Vice President of Wealth Management
 
OVERVIEW:
 
We look at everything: cars, home, insurance and estate planning. The idea is that if your plan won’t work for what you are planning, then we set goals and priorities. From jobs and careers to managing debt, home purchases, etc.
Common goals are:
  • Eliminate credit card debt. Powerpay.org, helps you eliminate credit card debt.
  • Establish an emergency fund of 3-6 months of expenses.
  • Open and contribute to a retirement account. She recommends the Roth IRA because it is tax-free when you take it out. People are ending up jumping tax brackets after retirement because they must take required distributions from other retirement plans and pay taxes on them. Start contributing 5% of your salary in your 20s and raise it over time. At 50, you are allowed to contribute up to $23,000 plus $7,500 catch-up.
Note that if your credit score is poor, your insurance rates will rise.
 
Diversify. We look at the annual returns of your assets.
 
We have an attorney who works with us on estate documents.
 
Ed suggested using a donor advised fund. You can put highly appreciated stocks into a donor-advised funds, irrevocably, as a charitable deduction. In one year with exceptionally high income, you make a huge donation so you are above the standard deduction, then distribute to the charities of your choice over years. 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, February 20, 2024  Kristin Davis 2024-02-20 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, February 6, 2024
 

Updates & Announcements
 
Neil Rose is partway through his application to be a member.  Guest Colleen Hughes came in as a guest again.
 
Announcements:
  • Art was online and happy to report he is out of the hospital!
  • Bill Taylor is moving to honorary member status. He served in Vietnam, received a degree in biology. Then he met a woman with two small kids, “a smart woman going to chiropractic college. I became a chiropractor as well.” He practiced 16 years in New Jersey, and started as a Rotarian in 1982. They moved to Colorado. His wife wanted to become realtors instead, which they did. “I got sick, was in a coma, and they gave me a 10 percent chance to live. After seven weeks in the hospital, I survived.” Both his appendix and intestines were removed. It cost $400,000 in medical bills, but we eventually paid if off,” he said.  Bill joined Conifer Rotary in 1996. “In 1998, I suggested a corned beef and cabbage dinner for St. Paddy’s Day,” and then ran a golf outing for 9 years. He also started working with veterans’ events. Lately he has been busy with a part-time job in a liquor store. He has three children who live in Texas, California and Colorado, with the last working at the post office in Pine.
  • Neil Rose is interested in doing something to help people as they age in place. He said his wife is in a wheelchair. “If I leave, I need to arrange care for wife, as well as dogs and horses. And everybody’s life is going to get like that, as one of us is hospitalized or otherwise.” He is thinking about creating small neighborhood groups who can be gotten together and get to know each other, and might be willing to help out with a ride, help with housework, or whatever people need from their neighbors. We will have a meeting on Thursday, Feb. 15 at the Conifer library, at 6:30 p.m. Stan commented that this project is in the true spirit of a Rotarian.
  • Charlotte reported that Two Dads Restaurant in Bailey put up our MindFest poster and a $50 gift certificate for MindFest.
  • Stan reminded everyone that we have a peacebuilding activity. Rotary magazine article says we now have a Rotary Peacebuilder center in Istanbul. We plan monthly activities at the Peace Park in the summer.
  • Morti said she has received a lot of feedback from speakers, most of whom love our meetings, and questions.  One speaker complained we were not on time, and the speaker didn’t have enough time as a result. “Let’s be mindful of the 30 minutes that we allocate for speakers.” Morti also said she is trying to track down a speaker to talk about US 285 highway projects.
  • Ann noted that Elk Creek and Inter-Canyon Fire departments do individual home wildfire inspections for $100, and free chipping for a limited number of people. The sign-up is coming soon and ran out of space in an hour last year. Charlotte said the Platte Canyon Fire District in Bailey does free inspections, free chipping, and has 5 Firewise neighborhoods.
  • 2024 Conifer Rotary Foundation Recipients:
    • Boys and Girls Club of the High Rockies - $2,000
    • Destination Imagination - Elk Creek Elementary - $1,000 
    • Mount Evans - Camp Comfort - $3,000
    • MRC - Parent Workshop - $2,000
    • Rotary Wildfire Ready - $1500 
    • StageDoor - $1750 
    • WJMS - Teacher Grant - $2,000
    • 285 Literacy Project Funding Conifer/Platte Canyon Elementary Schools - $1,000 to match Club amount $1,000 
 
Upcoming Events
 
  • White elephant gift exchange will be Feb. 13.
 
Meeting program
 
Recipients of Conifer Rotary Foundation Grants presented:
  • Trish, who is a board member at Boys and Girls Club with Morti, accepted a $2000 grant from Conifer Rotary Foundation. She said the club’s goal is to enable all young people to reach their full potential, including academic success, healthy lifestyle, good character and citizenship. She said they promote physical activities and healthy eating.  For example, “We created a water balloon obstacle course, I teach a Zumba class, and we took them to Salida for a rock-climbing course.” She asked people to please become a friend of the club, join the board, and donate. “If you have questions, ask Morti.” “We need help, especially on Fridays when Park County has no school.” Or people can volunteer for chili cook-off and other events. The club encourages homeschooled kids to participate. It also needs volunteers after school, Monday through Thursday for tutoring, technology, reading to kids, nature walks. The kids also need male influence. This work directly with the kids requires a background check.
  • Ann received $1500 for Rotary Wildfire Ready from Conifer Rotary Foundation. She explained that some of this money will go to entry fees for local events like Elevation Celebration, and most will go to upkeep and improvements on the RWR app. www.RotaryWildfireReady.com has all the downloadable brochures with information for the public on preparing for wildfire, but the younger generation wants this on an app on their phones. So we are reaching a new audience with the app. Cindy Latham, who runs RWR, will be at a future meeting to demonstrate it because she is the expert. The other side of RWR is the Safety Committee, which Ann runs and has successfully helped get the power companies Xcel and CORE to install wildfire-spotting cameras all over Jefferson County. The one in Bailey will go in when the new tower is complete. Now the committee is looking at the enormous increase in insurance, which is caused by companies using big data and satellite photos to rate our neighborhoods for wildfire. A rating of 80 out of 100 can make it difficult to get insurance. One company rates Ann’s neighborhood as a 97. The committee is looking into the criteria being used and it looks like there are some significant inaccuracies. For example, one company says that a wildfire will reburn in 2-8 years. But the Hayman Fire burned more than 100,000 acres 22 years ago and there is still nothing growing there. We need these ratings to be transparent and accurate so that we are all on the same page on what projects are priorities.
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, February 6, 2024  Kristin Davis 2024-02-06 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, January 30, 2024
 

Updates & Announcements
 
Guests who are potential new members: Neil Rose returned for the third time as a guest and is applying to become a member. Colleen Hughes came for the first time and is very interested.
 
Announcements:
  • Stan gave the weekly Conifer award to the Rohingya refugee team: Half of us went to Walmart and got them shoes. Carrie shared they had a huge group in Walmart, they seemed to gravitate to colorful and sparkly shoes. Stan shared they were given a choice of living in a dangerous neighborhood because of their economic situation but we are working to find them a place in a safer neighborhood.  
  • Stan gave a special new award to Charlotte, which he thought was an orangutang. He was told it was a Sasquatch and that she won it “because she leaves such a big footprint everywhere she goes.” It was for collecting a $2000 donation from City Wide Banks for MindFest.
  • Yvonne shared an update on MindFest: we need people to post posters and we need small items for a free raffle.
  • Wes provided an update that we’re starting to plan ConiferFest.
  • Stan brought a Throw-a-Ball microphone to try at meetings so that the Zoom audience can hear audience comments.
  • Wes shared that this year we will fully fund our grants.
 
Upcoming Events
 
  • Home and Garden Show is coming up in mid-April. Janine told everyone they need sponsors and vendors and non-profits.
  • Trivia Night: High School Fundraiser March 2 CHS.
 
Meeting program
 
Recipients of Conifer Rotary Foundation Grants presented:
  • Karen Aalund, director of resource development at Mount Evans Hospice, spoke about Camp Comfort, which is receiving $3,000 from the Conifer Rotary Foundation today. This is a free grief camp for children 6-12 who have lost a loved one. Mount Evans would like to expand the camp. She said they also do hospice services in home around the mountain area. Medicare pays for only a 15-minute visit, and our people often stay longer. They also do home health care.
  • Elk Creek Elementary Destination Imagination PTA Coordinator Lauri Woulfe, Elk Creek Elementary and West Jeff Middle School. The Goofy Eagles team of six kids at Elk Creek Elementary received $1,000 from the Conifer Rotary Foundation to go to global finals. Last year they won state. Ruth and Julie have kids on her teams. There are eight teams at two schools. DI starts in kindergarten and becomes competitive in third grade. It is considered a STEM+ including art, writing etc. There’s also time management. When they get to high school, high school is a breeze.  It has been selected as one of top education programs in the world. There are different challenges, with all the components of STEM+. The kids found out how many kids in Jeffco schools are food-insecure, and figured that could be 50 kids in their own school, and were blown away. They could not believe it. They decided to do a food project for MRC food bank. No one can tell them what to do. It’s hard to not speak up and help. They put boxes in each classroom to collect food, collected 600 items and took it to MRC. It costs $140 for the year to parents for after-school program, which is very low. We need volunteers to run teams and there is a waiting list of kids. Anyone 18 years or older.
  • Stage Door Theater’s education department received $1750 from Conifer Rotary Foundation. She told the story of a mom who had pulled her daughter from school because she was being bullied. Then she was becoming withdrawn with home schooling. But she was interested in theater. So she came and observed. She told her mom that this was the first place that she felt welcome, that felt like home. It’s most important that the kids feel like they belong. This is a scholarship fund. We don’t turn kids away because of finances.  
  • Wendi Van Lake guest teacher in Jeffco, West Jeff Middle School PTA. Julie Winters, West Jeff Middle School PTA. They received a $2000 grant from Conifer Rotary Foundation for teacher requests for something innovative. The PTA has matched the $2000. Already, they have received requests for a New York Times magazine for teens and a science teacher’s request to learn 3D printing so he can teach it to his students.
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, January 30, 2024  Kristin Davis 2024-01-30 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, January 23, 2024
 

Updates & Announcements
 
Visitors included: Lynn Womack and Neil Rose
 
Announcements:
  • Service Day. Ann suggested trying to create a Rotary plus community wildfire mitigation team, like the one in NoFloCo where the guy in charge has a list of about 80 people and once a month sets a day and gets 20 people to come out and volunteer. We should do a very visible project like on Hwy 73.
  • Bill is planning a Sunday in front of King Soopers to promote Mindfest.
  • Neil has a couple of projects he is interested in getting started. Please talk to him if you are interested: Eldercare and community service.
  • Stan mentioned that we might do a Carnival or a Mardi Gras of our own.
  • Yvonne has MindFest flyers to hang up. Be sure to like and share our Facebook page to promote the event.
  • Jonathan updated everyone that the refugee family arrived at the airport. They seemed very delighted to be welcomed. Flew Kuala Lumpur to Turkey to Denver. Stan has been translating. Good to ask every time if you want to use a photograph of refugees.
  • Ruth provided an update on the Visioning results. Some members said they would circulate the top-level ideas. Do we represent the views of the whole club?
  • Ed gets the tree award for all his work on our literacy program. We gave dictionaries and thesauruses in schools, then moved to Nook readers, we’ve done math programs and robotics. We ask the schools: What are you doing that we can assist with? Deer Creek Elementary School has requirements for reading improvement. They noticed that kids get a lot of fiction reading early, and not enough informational reading.  So we will provide books for that. For example, a book for their grade level about George Washington. It costs $750 to buy books, and we label the books with, “This book is donated by Rotary” and it includes the four-way test.
  • Another school is doing One Book, One School. In the lower grades, the parents read to the kids. Older kids read the book to their parents. Everyone discusses the book in school.
  • We might work on adult literacy with MRC. Or the library literacy programs. We have an extra $500.
 
Upcoming Events
 
  • Denim and Diamonds at Evergreen Rotary, next week Friday.
  • MindFest: Live Your Best Life ~ Saturday, February 17th 9am-2pm @ Our Lady of the Pines Church
  • April 13 - 14 Foothills Home and Garden Show
  • El Rancho dinner in April: Members will pay half price $30 instead of $60. April 24, 5:30 p.m.
 
Meeting program
 
Braver Angels, Ann Johnson & Teresa McPhail
www.braverangels.org
 
 
OVERVIEW:
 
Johnson is a long-time Rotary member. Retired teacher of the deaf, ordained Episcopal priest.
 
Teresa explained that Braver Angels is concerned about ugliness in individual conversations. We tried to put 10 red and 10 blue voters in the same room, brought in a family therapist and set rules.  
 
Ann said the organization and website www.Braverangels.org were created to bridge the political divide. There’s a lot of tension, and we need to get past that. And to strengthen our democracy. If you sign up, you get a list of workshops that are happening, such as a fireside chat about civic renewal. There are podcasts. There’s a Zoom national debate: Should Trump be on the ballot? A person who thinks the Covid response was deeply flawed, and a discussion of the politics of contempt. There are groups at the local level and national, including one in the Denver area.
 
Teresa: It broke my heart when I realized my own daughter didn’t feel welcome at the dinner table because she was on the other side of the political divide. I think social media is at the crux of the division.
 
Ann: This fits Rotary’s mission of bringing people together. You can look up activities by Rotary and Braver Angels.
 
Teresa: Nobody is a deplorable. We are all friends. We are more than who we vote for.
 
Teresa: I need to respect her truth, not believe it. When data comes into the conversation, we ask, “What brought you to that belief?” The back story of how a person came to that is way more interesting. You can ask a question of the moderator. You cannot address the red or blue person directly.
 
We have workshops on how to have a family conversation when you are on different sides of the political equation.
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, January 23, 2024  Kristin Davis 2024-01-23 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, January 9, 2024
 

Updates & Announcements
 
Announcements:
  • Please sign up for Visioning for the club on Jan. 20.
  • The Rotary area social likely to be April 24 at El Rancho, $59 per person, all-inclusive. It has a great menu.
  • The Mindfest website is up and running, sign-up genius is up and running at the bottom of the page. Please follow and like our club Facebook page, which has this. We have a goal of 500 attendees, so we really need to get the word out. I have flyers for you to hang up. One good place is the back of restroom doors. All of our speakers are lined up. Keynote is the leader of Mental Health Colorado. His topic is what a healthy community looks like and steps to get there.
  • Stan sent out a notice to all of the Rotary metro presidents and president-elects about Mindfest and got a good response. This group is really well-organized.
  • Ann reported on the Ukrainian family, where the women have job offers from the Amazon warehouse for the end of January.
  • Ann also reported that Rotary Wildfire Ready is trying to find out the criteria used by companies that are rating our neighborhoods for wildfire, then selling the data to insurance companies. This is why our insurance rates are skyrocketing. RWR is concerned that the rating criteria has not been ground-truthed, and we all need to be on the same page as far as which dangers are worst and need to be addressed.
  • Ann also reported that she is suddenly working much more on a fuel break for her neighborhood because the adjacent Denver Mountain Park contractor, who is needed for removing logs through the park, is starting work as soon as this week, instead of summer.
  • Dean and Suzanne have donated $1250 toward match for a Rotary grant for Sasa Harambee’s teen program in Kenya. After the funds are matched (more than 4 times), the money will be used in a low-income area of Nairobi, and in Siaya county, where Sasa Harambee operates. This includes sex education, teaching respect for females, teaching a responsible lifestyle. Carol Carper explained the program at a club meeting a few months ago.
  • Maria Rosa has a family of Burmese Rohingya refugees arriving Wednesday Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. They are mom, dad and three daughters. “What an amazing team this is preparing for their arrival,” she said.  We will take them to their short-term lodging, and they will be moving to permanent housing in February. Stan will do a grocery run before they arrive. Stan said the Rohingya in general are stateless, traumatized, and often have been tortured.
 
Meeting program
Cale Gould, State Patrol Program
 
OVERVIEW:
 
The State Patrol program is focused on reducing car theft, which has doubled in Colorado from 2019 to 2022, from 20,000 to 41,000. There have been another 5000 attempts.
 
Thieves are not youth looking for a joy ride or thieves looking to sell the car. It is mostly adults, stealing cars to perpetrate other crimes, such as robbing a bank, dealing drugs, etc. They are armed now.
 
Colorado has very high recovery rate, likely 90 percent for 2023. This is partly because the cars are dumped after the crime. Colorado is the number one state for car theft per capita, so we have an auto theft coordination center. Car thefts are expected to have fallen in 2023, roughly 21 percent.
 
The most commonly stolen are Chevrolet Silverados, Sportage, Ford F250 and Honda Civic and the rest of the top 10 are Hyundais and Kias.
 
An organized crime ring was indicted in fall and car thefts at the airport were nearly eliminated.
 
Thieves target vehicles they suspect have firearms in them to steal. That includes vehicles with gun stickers, trucks, SUVs, outdoor vehicles.
Keep your fob away from the vehicle, don’t leave the car running, don’t leave spare keys in the vehicle. Some 30-50% of thefts involved owner apathy, such as not locking the car.
 
www.Lockdownyourcar.org  has a map of hotspots for theft. This includes your house, parking lots, gas stations, park and rides, large parking lots. Chances are that some of these cars are unlocked.
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, January 9, 2024  Kristin Davis 2024-01-09 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, December 12, 2023
 

Updates & Announcements
 
Announcements:
  • Tree award: to the Interact Club of Conifer High School. They showed the Warren Miller ski film as a fundraiser. They were so proud to be in Interact. They raised $3555, used their charm to get great things to donate, including a ski board worth $600. They sold out both nights.
  • We are working on April 24 district dinner at El Rancho.
  • Stan: I’m looking into buying breakfast burritos, $5 each for next Tuesday.
  • Pat and Stan attended the international committee meeting in Evergreen.
  • Bambi: This weekend, she and Diana went to the Georgetown Christmas Fair and found a Rotary beer mug, so we bought it for a Stan Mug Award. We all know how Stan loves awards.
  • Diana: 285 Backpack project. Carrie is doing all the food ordering for backpack now. Discussed coordination with schools. Can use our connections for backpack at the schools.
  • MindFest updates:
    • Yvonne: For Mindfest in February, we have 21 ambassadors signed up for booths, including play therapy, yoga, eating disorders, compassionate communications, National Association for Mental Illness, nutritionist, Girl Scouts, acupuncturist, Girls on the Fly, vibro-acoustic therapy, VFW. Right now, we just have “save the date” on the Rotary website. Our webmaster is swamped. We have the layout for the auditorium. We have tables at the church.
    • Diana: We have tablecloths etc in the shed.
    • Charlotte: We have a sketch of how many people we need to help. Slime-making station. Mental health first aid.
    • Ann suggested Lee might be able to help with posting things to the website. She will introduce Yvonne to Carrie Brewer for grief counseling and relaxation yoga. Ann also suggested that we really need Jefferson Center for Mental Health to give its information on mental health first aid. And we need Wes to ask the Interact members what teens would like to have an MindFest.
    • Divide up the schools at the next MindFest meeting.
    • Stan: Will talk to Wes about Interact, principal at CHS, about what do teens want to see at this. Bullying already, activities.
  • Stan explained a District 5450 initiative to fund the WAKAM Global Grant, Rotarians against Malaria Rotary Action Group project in collaboration with a consortium of 20 Kenyan Rotary Clubs. Each club that participates with $1000 of funding will be paired with a Kenyan club.  I’ve had malaria, it can be controlled and eradicated. The goal is to eradicate. Nets over bedding with insecticide in them. Anti-malaria medicines.  Many methods. We want 20 districts in Colorado to support this. Suggest $500 from our international fund, $250 from the refugee fund and ask for donations of $250 to make it $1000. 
  • Amanda: We fund international projects through the club, while the foundation funds local projects.
  • Stan: They are trying to do a global grant and apply by the end of March.
  • Diana: Fundraising for this year goes to projects for next year. When Charles is president.
  • Stan: In the club we budgeted $1000 for international projects. Stan is requesting $500 for Sasa Harambe and now $500 for this, from the club. We can ask members to donate to the foundation and earmark it for this project.
  • Diana: Rotary international action group part of Rotary International Foundation. Members probably can donate directly to that. We should find out.
  • Stan: Jonathan has raised over $3000 from the community for the refugee family. So he’s giving up $500 of our $1500 to Sasa Harambe the malaria project.
  • The club voted to spend the $1000 from international budget plus $500 from the refugee budget to fund $750 for the international malaria project and $750 for Sasa Harambe Project. Dean and Suzanne will pledge funds for Sasa Harambe with the hope that members will match those pledges.
 
Upcoming Events
 
  • Mindfest meeting: Monday 18th 6 p.m.; then after Jan. 1
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, December 12, 2023  Kristin Davis 2023-12-12 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, December 5, 2023
 

Updates & Announcements
 
Announcements:
  • Sandy went down to the 26th and Zuni and helped refugees in the tent city.
  • Ukrainian refugees are settled and had a house-warming.
  • The Tree Award is the Banyan Tree award today, named after tree that is huge. One in India is size of Manhattan. Kristin Davis donated $1000 to Mindfest to cover costs, matched by Microsoft. Thanks, Kristin!
  • Tim Berg had a highly successful party for Operation Pollination.
  • Luna’s Mandala has been collecting contributions to the peace park.
  • On Jan. 9, we’ll have a white elephant gift exchange.
  • Mindfest: We have vendor participants for 23 of 32 spots.
  • No Rotary club meetings on Dec. 26th and Jan 2nd
 
Meeting program
 
Mountain Libraries Manager, Kat Lefevre, Conifer Library Project
 
 
OVERVIEW:
 
The community engagement report on the Conifer Library project is 145 pages. They had a graphical representation of the results. We want to lease or buy, not build. Community wants no more buildings. We want single story because libraries are heavy. Typical second floor office building holds 80 lbs per square foot and we need 250. We also need good ADA access. And we need to be able to drive a delivery truck right up to it, because we move books a lot. We want easy access from US 285. We could start smaller and expand into adjacent space later.  We’d like 4,000 sf but can be flexible. We would like community suggestions and reactions on a good place to put the library.
 
Ann noted that one of the supermarkets might close if the Kroger/Safeway merger goes through, despite all of Colorado’s objections.
 
She said the current books belong to Jeffco library, not the school.  The goal is to leave the school in a good spot. We are listening to what books the school wants. They need a book management system.
 
Libraries are about information, so we will need to focus on digital literacy.
Jeffcolibrary.org/conifer-opportunity/
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, December 5, 2023  Kristin Davis 2023-12-05 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, August 22, 2023
 

Updates & Announcements
 
Our Rotary exchange student, Julia Lima Ambrosio, joined us. Stan also joined online.
 
Announcements:
  • On Thursday night, there will be a meeting about ConiferFest to figure out what can be done better.
  • Yvonne provided a MindFest update. We are making a PowerPoint presentation to pitch grants and sponsorships. Save the Date is up and we are working on a website. We have two speakers and one vendor. Jin Halderman will be speaking on anger management, Carrie Lehtonen on stress management, Bryn Murphy does play therapy and will bring her toys. We have ten fun facts to know about your brain. Event will be at Our Lady of the Pines on Feb. 17. We need to educate parents to see when their kids are struggling.
  • Wes updated everyone about Resilience 12-20 group sessions that are available to everyone in the foothills and shared that all the schools have access to Hazel Health counseling services online. Free to the students.
  • Peaches will be delivered on Saturday and this will most likely to be our most profitable fundraiser.
  • There will be no September 12th morning meeting; it will be combined with the evening meeting and will be held on September 13th at the Mountain Resource Center from 5:30pm-7:00pm. Topic: Ryla Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) participants to present on their RYLA experience to the entire club.  
 
Meeting program
Social Services for Seniors, Mary Anne Wesoloski, Seniors Alliance of Platte Canyon
www.seniorsalliance.org
 
 
OVERVIEW:
 
Mary Anne Wesoloski of Seniors Alliance of Platte Canyon spoke about discovering that the reason Bailey was receiving so few services for elderly and others was the result of its location. It is in the Pikes Peak region for social services and Bailey is hard to reach from Colorado Springs. The alliance opened just before Covid struck. They work to connect seniors to advocacy, education, socialization and resources. They’ve had a 9 HealthCare Day in Bailey, helped people register for vaccinations because many people can’t get internet, and offered classes in fire evacuation in connection with Fire-Adapted Bailey and Platte Canyon Fire Department. The majority of disaster victims are older. They’ve added a food pantry, a food van, and a blood pressure and foot clinic, as well as the popular lending closest for crutches and other medical equipment. We are looking for funding for a half-time volunteer in our office and could use help with grant writing.
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, August 22, 2023  Kristin Davis 2023-08-22 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, August 8, 2023
 

Updates & Announcements
 
Announcements:
  • Stan sent out an email with training opportunities, including Rotary 101 and a leadership course.
  • The club board voted to create an Environment Committee, with focus on Wildfire Ready. We felt it is so important that we should have an ad hoc committee to manage that. Ann Imse will chair it. It also will include Operation Pollination. Ann suggested starting with Tim or someone from Colorado Native Plant Society as a speaker to the club.
  • The board also discussed having a better understanding of the club and its budget, vs the foundation, which has its own budget.
    We will have a meeting in September and Lee will talk about that. We have a large surplus in the club, $17,000. We are running a $7,000 deficit for the year. Some things we funded this year: Mindfest Project; the exchange student was cancelled last year and came this year; the refugee program; Polio Plus, $1,000 to international programs. We want to spend down the big surplus. In the past, our income has equaled our expenses.
  • We need to elect the foundation board in September for this current year, starting July 1.
  • Stan’s tree award goes to Bill Taylor for selling all the Rotary glasses and raising money for Conifer Rotary Club. He will be at Safeway on Wednesday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Lee shared that it was Dean’s birthday. Everyone sang Happy Birthday; we were actually a pretty good singing group!
  • Stan reminded everyone to purchase peaches. The deadline to sign up is Aug. 18.
 
 
Upcoming Events
 
  • Wes reminded everyone that this Saturday is ConiferFest. Please sign up to help, please ask family and friends to sign up.  Weather now 30% chance of rain.
 
Meeting program
 
Goals, Grit and Grace, Sarah Thomas, Ultra-Marathon Swimmer
 
 
OVERVIEW:
 
The speaker was Sarah Thomas, 41, of Conifer, an ultra-marathon swimmer and world record holder for swimming 104 miles in open water in Lake Champlain. Then she was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer at 35. She had full-on treatment, and then crossed the English Channel, as well as swam Scotland to Ireland, both ways. She is a veterinarian recruiter.
 
Sarah: You can achieve good things if you just believe in yourself. The rules for open-water marathon swimming: No wetsuit. You’re allowed a swimcap, earplugs and goggles. It’s about the human body versus nature. So, I swam 67 hours with no breaks, no hugs. "It takes goals, grit and grace."
 
I was a college swimmer but never thought I would be a marathoner. Teammates on an adult team talked me into a 10k in Horsetooth Reservoir in Fort Collins. I resisted, but I did it. Later, I did a race around Manhattan. “It’s a really neat way to see New York.” People from a restaurant ran out with a glass of champagne.
 
She swam the English Channel, Loch Ness, Lake Champlain for the record. “I felt like I could do anything.” Two months later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent full treatment. Then, “I swam Horsetooth, and I could say, “I won. I beat this.” But she now gives herself the grace of saying it is ok if she doesn’t make the distance.
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, August 8, 2023  Kristin Davis 2023-08-08 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, August 1, 2023
 

Updates & Announcements
 
Visitors included: Virgil Scott, visitor from Rotary of Denver. Potential new members: Dr. Joshua Mongillo, Jeff Lewallen
 
Announcements:
  • Happy dollars are going to the 285 Backpack project, food for kids who need it on the weekend.
  • Dean recommended viewing the documentary, “Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine,” on Netflix, with images from the space telescope.
  • Ann thanked everyone for help with the Ukrainian refugee family who arrived July 14.
  • Charlotte introduced new prospective member Jeff Lewallen; who saved us today with his knowledge around Zoom.
  • Bill Taylor introduced a guest attending today, his friend Dr. Joshua Mongillo, a chiropractor.
  • Stan gave the Tree Award to the MindFest team for winning a matching DDF grant from Rotary for their upcoming event. The grant is $3,000, for a total of $6,000 budget for the mental health fest that is being planned for February.
  • Stan thanked everyone who helped at Elevation Celebration with the Rotary Wildfire Ready fire truck and education.
  • Lee updated everyone on the Palisades Peaches sale: at least 200 boxes of peaches have been sold online and Angela has approximately 30-40 sales as well.
  • Stan provided an update from Tim Berg (the evening meeting chair): He would like us to join Operation Pollination. It’s a national/international project. The district governor-elect is fully behind this. He’s asking us to sign a resolution saying we will promote pollination for habitat. This is part of a Rotary International Environmental Sustainability Action Group project, signed by previous RI President Jennifer Jones and District 5450 President-Elect Tammie Fennell. He’s hoping that signing the Pollination Resolution which simply asks the Rotary to carry out activities to educate and promote plants that will contribute to pollination. One idea is an event in early November spreading native wildflower seeds at the Peace Park with children, educating them. Discussion around this topic:
    Lee: As club treasurer, we are stressed this year. What is this going to cost us?
    Stan: I have the budget for $100 for wildflower seed for the Peace Park but I don’t expect any other additional costs.
    Dean: I have space in my yard.
    Almost everyone raised their hands as supporting.
  • Update on schedule from Stan: From Aug. 13 to Sept. 3, he will be in Indonesia to set up a student exchange program for CU-Boulder. NO MORNING MEETING on August 15, 2023.
  • Update from Stan: There was an International Refugee Committee training yesterday. We have a core group of at least 7-8 to mentor a refugee family, probably in late fall.  With the $1500 Rotary budget and other donations, we will have over $2000 for this, and IRC will help us to raise more funds.
  • Bill continues his great work distributing Rotary glasses for donations!! Thanks to him for all his great work!
 
Upcoming Events
 
  • REMINDER: Please sign up to volunteer for ConiferFest.
  • Diana needs help on Aug. 9 between 12:00pm and 6:00pm at Mountain Resource Center’s School Supply Market. Lots of families come to this to get school supplies; this is how we get a lot of our students signed up for our Backpack project.
  • The Visioning exercise is being moved to October because of the upcoming Sept. 30 District 5450 Conference.
 
Meeting program
 
Colorado Rotary Endowed Fellowship for Pediatric Mental Health at Children’s Hospital, Debbie Doig and Shrin Murthy, Highlands Ranch Rotary
 
 
OVERVIEW:
 
Speaker was Debbie Doig from Highlands Ranch Rotary, which raised the money for the Colorado Rotary Endowed Fellowship for Pediatric Mental Health at Children’s Hospital. She was accompanied by Shrin Murthy, also from Highlands Ranch Rotary.
She showed a video of our new Rotary International president Gordon McInelly, who told the story of his brother Ian, who developed depression, hid it and then took his own life.
 
In 2021, Children’s Hospital declared a state of emergency for youth mental health. Suicide is the leading cause of death for Colorado’s children aged 10-24. Studies show 15% of Colorado kids 65,000 age 12-17 are depressed. In the U.S., one in five kids have a mental health disorder, and less than 50% will get treatment. Families take them to the Emergency Room, thinking somebody can help them, and they sit there for days, weeks.
 
Highlands Ranch Rotary decided to raise $500,000 for an endowment for a pediatric fellowship at Children’s Hospital. A fellow is a psychiatrist who has completed his residency and decides to do a deep dive into Pediatric Psychiatry for two years. The average fellow will have 1500 patient visits a year. Long after we are gone, there will be a cohort of fellows seeing kids. They have raised $465,000.
 
For donations, please make checks to Highlands Ranch Rotary Foundation Inc. PO Box 632118, Highlands Ranch, CO 80163-2113. Note restricted to: REF4PMH.  https://rotaryclubhr.org/donate/ref4pmh
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, August 1, 2023  Kristin Davis 2023-08-01 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Evening Meeting, July 26, 2023

  • Highlights of the Morning Meeting 
    • Visioning 
      • Date: Thursday, September 28th 
      • Who: 28-30 people can attend  
      • Location: TBD 
        • Angela will see if Our Lady of the Pines is open 
    • Training for People that want to Sponsor Refugees 
      • Date:  Monday, July 31st  
      • Time: 9:00 AM – 12:30  
      • Location: 1250 Bergen Parkway 
        • Information on club runner  
    • Conifer Fest 
      • We have more sponsors than last year 
      • Yvonne needs help with the children’s area of Conifer Fest 
    • Compassionate Communications Completed
      • When: Saturday, July 22nd  
      • It was well attended. 
  • Peaches 
    • Date: August 26th  
    • Time: Pick-up starts at 9:00 AM and will end around 4:00PM  
    • People who order online will be required to bring a receipt.  
    •  Volunteers are needed to move peaches on delivery day
      • 3 people needed per shift, 2 shifts  
    • Stanley will pass a volunteer sign up hardcopy around in the morning meeting.  
  • District Training Conference 
    • Date: September 30th, 2023 
    • Costs: 
      • The cost to attend will be reduced this year. 
      • 1st-time attendee cost is always cheaper. 
    • Location: Front Range Community College 
  • Operation Pollination 
    • Started in 2015, then in 2020 Rotary International decided it was a priority. 
    • It has lots of momentum on the East Coast  
    • Approved: All attending night members approved to sponsor this work and get more involved.  
  • Rotary Wildfire Ready 
    • Endorsed by CSU, Colorado State Forest Services, JeffCom 
    • Preferred partner for JeffCo 
  • Club Spending 
    • The whole club to make decisions on how to spend.  
    • Idea: Use funds to purchase shirts for new folks  
    • Idea: Sponsored Rotary membership for Olexander and Lena 
    • Idea: Discounted rotary fee for folks that don’t make as much money so that they are able to be members at a reduced rate  
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Evening Meeting, July 26, 2023 Bridget Clawson Braaten 2023-07-26 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Morning Meeting, July 25, 2023

Updates and Announcements
  • Bill T. Needs help soliciting donations at King Soopers on Tuesdays. He is giving our Rotary glasses to donors.
  • Our Exchange student is arriving August 8th! Any club members can join the welcoming group at the airport.
  • Stan has a new weekly award for the club. Finn wins the first weekly award for getting 4, $1000 sponsorships for ConiferFest!
  • Rotary magazine. Check out the July issue: https://my.rotary.org/en/news-media/magazines/rotary. There are a number of great articles: from our RI President- mental wellness; Freedom in Ukraine; Polio vaccinations; Membership - create the club you crave.
  • Wes. We need help with ConiferFest sign-ups. Right now, he is organizing a group to prepare the ConiferFest site, 9AM Saturday August 5th. Go to Sign-up Genius at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4ea4af22abfa7-coniferfest1#/.
  • Suzanne. She has posters for ConiferFest; there are articles in the newspapers – Canyon Courier.
  • Marlis. Sponsors for ConiferFest; we now have more sponsor money than last year, but still need more. This is for our Foundation. Please continue to solicit sponsorships. Our website has links for vendor and sponsor contracts.
  • Yvonne. She needs help with the children’s area at ConiferFest. Contact her directly.
  • Yvonne. Aug 3rd social at Aspen Peak cellars, RSVP to her by August 1st.
  • Conifer’s Elevation Celebration is this weekend, https://elevationcelebration.goconifer.com/. They need volunteer help, sign up here: https://elevationcelebration.goconifer.com/volunteer.
  • Evergreen’s Center for the Arts Summerfest is also this weekend, https://evergreenarts.org/summerfest-2023/. Help is still needed, go to Sign-up Genius at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4cafaa22a5f9ce9-2023#/.
  • Charlotte. Next week’s program: Rotary Endowed Fellowship for Pediatric Mental Health, with our District Governor Elect, Tamara Fennell, also Shrin Murthy and Debby Doig from Highlands Ranch Rotary. They met with our MindFest group 2 weeks ago and are giving us full support. They will be sharing about the mental health support of their Club and many others. Also, the support provided by University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center for children's mental wellness
  • Jonathan. Refugee training next week: Monday July 31, 9:00AM-12:30PM at his office. Address: 1250 Bergen Parkway, Suite 8220, Evergreen. If you can join, please RSVP to Jonathan 303-887-6089, director@ramseypro.com.
 
Meeting program
Combating Child Slavery, Dr. Jeff Brodsky, Founder and President of Joy International
 
Dr Jeff joined us today for a return visit to talk more about his organization, Joy International (https://joy.org) and their tireless effort to save children from slavery. His story is best told on his website: “JOY International® has built key strategic relationships and works diligently to prevent the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children while helping to provide those who are rescued, a renewed hope and JOY for living through approved Safe Houses.”
 
Some highlights from his talk, sanitized because the stories he told were graphic and very upsetting:
  • Joy International has been active since 1981 with Dr. Jeff leading the charge.
  • He has been barefoot since July 2010, an acknowledgement of the plight of children around the world living in squalor with so little that they have no shoes.
  • His world headquarters is right here in Conifer and he encourages visits.
  • His interest and devotion to this lifetime effort was first inspired by a visit with Mother Teresa in 1979.
  • Having worked undercover himself, he has seen it all, first hand.
  • His organization has rescued children as young as 4 years old from brothels around the world. The average age is 12-13 years old. They live a life of vile servitude until they are no longer desirable and then thrown into the streets. He said their average lifespan is 5 to 7 years.
  • He said that statistics show that slavery is the fastest growing crime in America. Estimates are that in our own country, there are 200,000 to 300,000 children up to age 18, living in slavery.
  • That number is inconceivably greater worldwide: 49.6 million slaves in the world today.
  • His organization is dedicated to not only rescuing children from this life, but also preventing it. They are very active worldwide, training law enforcement to identify and bring slave traders to justice
  • He challenges all Rotary clubs to raise money for Joy International and their cause.
 
Guests
Jeff Lewallen, Olexander from our Ukraine refugee family, and Dr. Jeff Brodsky.
Rotary Club of Conifer Morning Meeting, July 25, 2023 Lee Willis 2023-07-25 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, July 18, 2023

Updates & Announcements
 
Stan opened the meeting by introducing our Rotary guests: Jeff Lewallen and Olivia Pollcicchio, Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity Community Outreach Organizer
 
The following announcements & updates were shared:
  • “Creating Hope in the World” Pins were handed out to everyone.
  • Ukranian Refugees arrived last week. Several people helped welcome them and get them settled.
  • Leslie will talk to Art about Roadside Cleanup
  • Marlis shared an update on from Blue Creek Eagles and their Destination Imagination event; shared a thank you card.
  • Janine has 1 family cleared to go for exchange student (who arrives in 1 month). She’s still trying to pin down 2 other families.
  • This Sunday Stan is hosting “The Transformative Power of Communicating with Compassion”; details in the calendar. Please join him.
  • Bill: We have Rotary glasses, a lot of them! He’s going to be at King Soopers every Tuesday 11-1 up until Coniferfest to try and get donations (maybe more frequently the week leading up to C-fest). Looking for volunteers to join him. All money goes to Foundation.
  • Sandy will be August Sargent in Arms.
 
Upcoming Events
 
  • CONIFERFEST Update: we are $3k behind in sponsorships; please help!
  • Elevation Celebration update: Wes is going to drive the firetruck. We're being charged for only 1 space, even though we need more than that. Volunteer registration is full.
  • Mindfest Update: The committee had 2 guests join them from Highlands Ranch Rotary. Charlotte shared information about a program that Highlands Ranch has started to get a fellow (or 2) that would focus solely on Mental Health and Wellbeing at Children’s Hospital. They’ll visit the Rotary on 8/1/23.
  • “Rotary day at the Rockies” – Stan will send out notice. It’s on 9/17/23. If we purchase 8 tickets or more, the club can sit together. $28/ticket; $5 from each ticket goes to eradication of Polio.
Meeting program
 
The Future of Our Fire Protection Services, Jacob Ware, Fire Chief of Elk Creek, Skip Shirlaw, Fire Chief of Inter-Canyon, Curt Rogers, Fire Chief of North Fork
www.mountainfireresources.com
 
 
OVERVIEW:
 
Background: This initiative started 3-4 years ago because call volume is increasing. They are also battling a volunteers problem, down 17%. Increase call volume, decrease in volunteers. They started looking at ways to improve situation.
  • Consolidation study with 4 groups: Inter-Canyon, Elk Creek, North Fork
  • Indian hills decided to drop out of consolidation.
At age 65, you’re three times more likely to need EMS services and our population is aging.
Jacob been fire chief for 3 years.
 
Avg home price: $700k now. More people are working now; a lot of people who used to volunteer are working now. They’re always going to need volunteers.
 
Avg 3.5 people needed to respond per call; 4 professionals working per shift. 27% calls are overlapping. Sometimes they have as many as 4 calls at the same time. Which is one of the reasons they started this consolidation – the districts had need for mutual aid.
 
They conducted surveys: 1,160 completed surveys. Great response. 63% said they didn’t have sufficient resources. 75% said they supported a tax increase. 69% said they support a consolidation. 100+ people have come to open houses to learn more about the consolidation.
 
Boards will decide if this goes on the ballet and then it goes to a public vote.
 
Most busy time: Thursday afternoon
 
They want three staff stations across the district. HQ would be Inter-Canyon. That cuts out traffic problems in commonly busy areas. Elk Creek station and North Fork would be the other two stations. Decisions were made based on proximity to population and covering high-risk territory.
NO stations will close. None of the stations are failing right now, but in 2-3 years (or sooner), they will be.
 
Future: “Conifer Fire Rescue”:
  • It’s going to be called ‘Conifer Fire Rescue’
  • 400-mile square district
  • 18 more people will be hired
  • They will respond with the “closest resource” – one central dispatch system à therefore reducing response time
In order to anticipate how this will affect your taxes, view tax calculator on their website: Conifer Fire Districts V1 (mountainfireresources.com). Avg of $10/month Also can add assessment rate for property.
 
Q&A:
 
Q: Would it be possible to form a secondary group of volunteers? To help the volunteer firefighters who have to go serve? A: Traditionally, the volunteers had to be an EMT or skilled some way. But they want to meet people where they’re at. A lot of people may just want to drive an ambulance. Or organization, grants, at station, etc. Now, they’ll have more resources to pool together to manage that. Consolidation isn’t just bringing more responders to the emergency, but how else can we impact the community.
 
Q: The plan should have enough paid firefighters to have enough people to fill a truck. A: They’ll have 10 people available for each call
 
Q: Fire insurance, will this affect our ratings? A: No, they’re two separate things.
 
Q: Why have you decided to call it Conifer Fire? A: They explored all kinds of ideas. What is most prominent mountain? Conifer mountain. What’s on the news when they talk about weather? Conifer. It’s such a big focal point. It’s on Weather maps. They went with the name that was most recognizable.
 
Comment: This is a great way to create an oppty for greater community, within three districts. A wider network. A: Yes, Outreach in so many areas. We have so many people who are passionate about so many things.
 
Q: Will you have a shared dispatch? A: They all use Jeffcomm for dispatch right now, but independently. With the consolidation, they’ll centralize dispatch.
 
A: Discuss the board and political process. A: There are three different boards right now. All three boards need to agree to put on ballet, then it goes to public for a vote.
 
A: There aren’t a lot of fire-wise communities up here. A: Agree. They’re going to meet with our Wildfire ready group.
 
Q: Do any of you have time to be a member of our Rotary? A: That is something they would like to be part of. Once they get past November.
 
Q: When is chili cookoff? A: September 9th
 
Q: South metro pipe district is adjacent to Jefferson district. Does it make sense to merge with them? A: They have a different ISO rating. Also, they have different radio systems/infrastructure.
 
Q: As developers continue to build in the community, will they share the burdon of cost? A: The fire protection services have no control over land use; they have to provide service to everyone. But, they do work with developers to try and share costs, such as implement a Services Agreement with builders. Fire districts have no authority over growth, but they try to work with developers to have them pay their own way.
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, July 18, 2023 Kristin Davis 2023-07-18 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, July 12, 2023

Updates and Announcements
 
In attendance:  Tim, Stan, Kimberly, Angela, Yvonne, Arturo, and Christy. 
  • Tim’s first meeting chairing the evening meeting.
  • Tim wants us to agree on starting and ending the meeting close to on time as these are Rotary International practices.  After discussion of how to accommodate our members who might be late coming to the meeting from work and other business, we agreed to start the meeting by around 5:35 unless someone calls and says they will be a few minutes late, then can wait a little longer. But the meeting will need to end on time so that persons who need to leave can leave. 
  • We unanimously voted to devote Happy Dollars to the Backpack project. We collected $13 which Angela will deposit.
  • Angela needs a PO key to collect the peach checks. Stan will check.
  • Tim:  Proposed that along with Happy Dollars, we can express if have too much going on, want to do more, or need help. He wants to integrate Compassionate Communications into the meetings. Everyone liked both ideas.
  • Many members requested more Rotary brochures by next in time for Elevation Celebration. Need 500 for Elevation Celebration, Coniferfest, Town Hall meetings. 
  • Yvonne and Diana cleaned out the shed. Will use the golf balls for MindFest marketing. We have tons of beer classes. 
  • Yvonne has two vendors and a speaker for MindFest: Reslilience and Peaceworks. Jim Halderman speaker on anger management.
  • Tim: Expressed need for better coordination for Bailey Days with Platte Canyon Council and Wildfire Ready people in Conifer and Evergreen. Others concurred.
  • Stan summarized the main points he made during his first morning meeting as President. See July 11 morning meeting minutes.
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, July 12, 2023 Kristin Davis 2023-07-12 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, July 11, 2023

Updates & Announcements
 
Stan opened the meeting with several announcements:
  • Thanked everyone for the large in-person and on-line turnout, and for all the warmth and enthusiasm.
  • Happy dollars will go to Backpack Project for now.
  • We will have two members interview each other so we can get to know each other better.  We also will take time at some meetings for different members to brief on aspects of Rotary that perhaps is not familiar to many. 
  • Kristin is our webmaster; we have an Instagram account now thanks to Janine.
  • District governor Jim Johnson will visit Sept. 19.
  • He wants to promote peace education at schools, using the Compassionate Communications model. Need help to meet with school officials to discuss.  Maybe start with peace clubs in fall 2024. Ed suggested linking this with Rotary buddy benches at schools. A kid sits on it and friend comes and helps
  • Tim sent e-mail that on the CSU Wildfire Ready website, the Jefferson County link for local resources is Rotary Wildfire Ready.
  • Wes: For ConiferFest, we need sponsorships, more volunteers, etc.  We have three beer sponsors, margaritas. Sign-up genius will go up today or tomorrow.
  • Lee:  Peach sales are getting as many as two hits an hour.
  • Jonathan: We are setting up IRC training for the Afghan refugees.
  • Some people recommended Duolingo app to practice English.
  • Video from Gordon McInally, new RI president. Focus on mental health this year. Provide authentic care to each other. Ask “How are you really?”  His other main focus is Peace.
  • Charlotte: I sent an email to newest members to look at Rotary magazine story about McInally’s brother’s unfortunate demise due to depression. The issue also has stories of all the RI and Foundation officers.
  • Yvonne: Let’s switch from using the term “Mental Health and Wellness” to “Mental Wellness and Health.” The suggestion came from Dean.
  • Stan: In September, we will have a Visioning exercise with the whole club, but limited to 30 persons who can attend.  Later, Stan will talk more about mental wellness, peacebuilding, Rotary Action Group for Peace but I don’t want to ask you to do more than you are already doing or want to do.  Stan also will prioritize youth:  Youth projects  include RYLA, Interact. A Brazilian exchange student will be at Charles’ house. Jonathan is chairing our Public Image committee. Janine is doing Facebook page and Instagram. I want a new story on the webpage regularly placed high on the page. Maybe people will think it is an interesting page and support our fundraising. We can spotlight one member a week with a very short story and a photo.
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, July 11, 2023 Kristin Davis 2023-07-11 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Evening Meeting, June 28, 2023
 

Meeting Events
 
  • Four Way Test
  • Happy Dollars
  • Update on Bailey Day Event
    • Fire Ready and the fire truck were present
  • Elevation Celebration
    • Notes:
      • Hosted by the Chamber of Commerce (not hosted by Rotary Club)
      • We used to have a table there, but we don’t have one anymore
      • Some Rotary folks volunteer 
  • Conifer Fest
    • Date: August 12th
    • Stan got some more sponsors during the Bailey Day Event
  • Gifts
    • Angela gave out some gifts from last weekend
    • Yvonne - apron
    • Art - hat
  • Board
    • Meets 1x monthly
    • The person chairing the evening club is on the board
    • Anyone can attend, but only certain folks get to vote
  • Evening Meeting Governance
    • Action: Tim will map out some ideas about how we will host Wednesday Meetings and bring it to the next meeting
    • Action: Group let Tim know if they have ideas about standing agenda items
      • E.g. Peaches, timing of meetings, etc.
      • E.g. Folks emailing Tim when they have items
  • Peaches
    • The Peaches blast will go out before Friday
    • $ Helps local groups
  • Evening Meeting Group
    • Group Vote: Voted in Tim as the Chair of the Evening Group for the next year
  • Happy Dollars
  • Group Vote: Voted to have Happy Dollars go to the 285 Backpack Project
Rotary Club of Conifer Evening Meeting, June 28, 2023  Kristin Davis 2023-06-28 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Day Meeting, June 13, 2023
 

Updates and Announcements
 
  • Valerie Pollitt from Elk Creek Elementary School joined us for the meeting.
  • Peace education: Stan and the peace group are planning to do something at the new peace park. Compassionate communications may be introduced to the schools. Stan thanked everyone who helped at the park dedication. Many people who are not part of Rotary helped too.
  • Rotary Club of Conifer Peace Park held its grand opening and blessing ceremony on June 11, with songs, poetry and messages of peace.  Funded by Conifer Rotary with a matching Rotary District 5450 grant, the communities of Conifer, and neighboring Pine Junction and Bailey, were deeply involved in the Peace Park’s creation. “Peace is the absence of want,” District 5450 Governor Nnabuchi “Buchi” Anikpezie said to the audience of over 80 Rotarians and members of the community who braved heavy rains to attend the ceremony, adding that Rotarians look at the root causes of peace. Incoming District Governor Jim Johnston remarked, “Peace is a cornerstone of Rotary’s mission.” Stanley Harsha, the Conifer Rotary incoming President, said he hopes the Peace Park can be a place for peace education for local school children.
Upcoming Events
 
  • We need volunteers for wildfire education at Bailey Days, Elevation Celebration and ConiferFest. Please think of people outside Rotary as well. There are people with interest in this in the community that we can recruit.
 
Meeting program
Seeding Hope, Charly Frisk, Yale School of the Environment
charly.frisk@yale.edu; 303-653-6295; @charlyfrisky
 
OVERVIEW:
 
Charly Frisk is originally from Colorado, and grew up among the Rockies, where she learned to have a deep care and appreciation for the planet. In 2021, she graduated from the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University with a Bachelors in Environmental Studies and Peace Studies. After, she attended Yale School of Environment, where she focused on storytelling within the climate movement. A few weeks ago, she graduated with a Masters of Environmental Management, and will be working with a few communications networks on climate remotely as she spends her summer in Denmark. She is Finn Knudsen’s granddaughter. She did young RYLA, RYLA and then was a counselor for young RYLA.
 
Charly said she wants to create cultures that help justice. She studied in Nordic countries, and visited urban farms and seed saving facilities trying to protect biological and cultural diversity.
 
Bombing in Syria hit a major seed bank there.
 
She visited the arctic Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard and visited the seed vault there, which contains more than a million seed varieties from all over the world. It is built into a mountain.
 
She said we are losing seed diversity at an alarming rate and have lost 75% of seed diversity.
 
We need diverse seeds in the ground and younger farmers. We need to revitalize the food tradition and culture.
 
Evergreen Community Garden has free seed exchange in the spring. In Broomfield, there is a seed bank where you can get five varieties every year.
 
In planting seeds, there is an aspect of hope. You can plant heirloom seed in your home or garden planter.
 
Q&A:
 
Q: What about genetically engineered seed from Monsanto, which farmers are not allowed to replant?
A: I met a woman in Denmark who had a terrific garden including many varieties of peas. In Denmark and other countries in Europe, it was illegal to trade seeds even among friends, because Monsanto lobbied for these laws. Some ladies got the law overturned.
 
Q: What about natural selection? Over centuries, Peru grew potatoes at successively higher altitudes, now at 14,000 feet. Don’t you lose that development in a seed in a seed vault?
A: People select for drought tolerance, pest tolerance, and other things. That is a risk of the seed vault, because you are taking the seed out of their natural environment where they would evolve.  Look for non-GMO seeds. Seed from a community-based event may be far better than seed you buy.
 
Q: How much of the produce we buy is coming from a Monsanto seed? Versus a more natural seed?
A: I don’t know. We don’t have access to that information as consumers. So going to a farmers market is a way to address that.
 
Q: How do you know if heirloom seeds are native to that location? How does that impact native seed?
A: Be sure you are not buying invasive species. Colorado is one of the states best at identifying invasive species.
 
Q: How do you balance need for diversity versus the need for high yield for food?
A: That is a tough issue and a systemic problem. For example, Monsanto sent seeds to Haiti after a disaster and now people in Haiti are stuck with produce where they can’t collect and use their own seed.
 

 
Rotary Club of Conifer Day Meeting, June 13, 2023  Kristin Davis 2023-06-13 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Evening Meeting, May 24, 2023

Meeting Events
  • Pledge of Allegiance
  • 4 Way Test 
  • Happy Dollars! 
  • ConiferFest 
    • Stan. Right now, ConiferFest doesn’t have enough of the sponsors they need for the event. 
  • Bike Park 
    • Stan. During the morning meeting, they had a presentation from the Bike Park sponsors.  
  • Mindfest 
    • Bridget. Provided updates on the purpose, date, location etc.  
  • Vision: 
    • Stan. Will develop survey monkey to solicit input from the club to help set up a future vision exercise.  
  • Peaches: 
    • Angela. Peaches will cost $40 beforehand, will cost $45 the day of.  
  • Action Item: Send budget input items to Stan.  
    • BCB. Send $ projections to Stan for Mindfest.  
Rotary Club of Conifer Evening Meeting, May 24, 2023 Lee Willis 2023-05-24 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, May 23, 2023
 

Updates and Announcements
 
  • Jonathan Ramsay asked that everyone interested in helping a refugee family fill out the survey.
  • Marlys said we have $4800 in sponsorships for ConiferFest. That’s about half of what we need to pay for the show, so please help find sponsors.
  • Janine said Charles is hosting an exchange student from Brazil. She also found another host family for several months and needs a third.
 
 
Meeting program
The planned Shadow Mountain Bike Park, Phil Bouchard
 
OVERVIEW:
The state has more than 6,000 bike trails. He and his partner came to realize that a chairlift-access park would be unlike anything at ski areas. They seek to fill a void for Colorado’s mountain bike community.
 
This idea started as a concept 3 years ago. During the first years, we had so many unknowns. Recently, we applied to Jefferson County for a special use permit. It is 500 pages long. We are super thankful to organizations like yours who let us come in and explain the project.
 
We plan an engineered, directional trail system with a visitor’s center and a low-impact electric chairlift. We come from a tiny town that had a bike park, not unlike Staunton or Flying J. It will be professionally managed. That should reduce overcrowding on public trails. We bike in this area now. There are many more hikers and bikers on our trails. Jeffco lacks a dedicated mountain bike spot. We plan 16 miles of trail, 6-15 feet wide, not like a wide ski trail. It will have 830 feet of elevation change. The chairlift will be electric-drive and the noise level will be 70 decibels inside building, like a washing machine.
 
There’s a meadow, but only one section of the meadow is affected. The Stop the Bike Park sign is not on our property.  There’s a wetland we want to protect. There is a fence now, for a cattle ranch.
 
Q: Jeffco often requires ponds for wildfire firefighting; she asked if Jeffco is requiring one from them.
A: They haven’t mentioned it.
 
The State Land Board owns the 300-acre site. They generate money for their trust. They buy, sell and lease land. They do a lot of extraction and oil and gas. They were struggling with what to do with this property. Colorado State Land Trust wants it to generate money. They’ve put $17 million into Jeffco schools over the years, via revenue from leases like ours or selling land. That’s how the land trust and we got together. They were looking for something to do with this 300 acres.
 
Q: Is this a fit?
A: They think it is a conforming use. It is one mile as the crow flies from Staunton State Park and Flying J Open Space nearly touches it. There are state land trust parcels in Staunton.  They will mitigate the entire 300 acres for wildfire. Bicyclists are not known as a fire risk. The site has had no mitigation, and it is a disaster right now.
 
We plan no bar, no restaurant. Initially, there was a bar, but we dropped it when the community didn’t like it. There are lots of existing businesses who can sell to the bikers. Thousands of bikers come to this community every year and pay nothing.
 
Regarding traffic: We plan to manage visitation by managing parking. No more than 300 cars will be allowed. We project under 50 percent capacity on weekdays.
 
Vehicles on the road number about 2600 a day now; we expect to add 15%. We proposed roadway improvements to the county. We are willing to pay for this.  We are closed in the winter or for unseasonable weather.
 
Regarding emergency medical services: We will have our own EMS center. We will need local help from the fire department only if a person needs transportation to a hospital. We expect the park to add .12% to incidents.
 
In response to concerns that the bike park will pay no taxes, he said that Jeffco can impose a fee of up to 28% of lease payments. If we were paying $500,000 to the state land board in lease payments, we would pay $125,000 to Jeffco. (He didn’t say the actual amounts, or how much the fire department would receive.)
 
I am least concerned about big game. I worked a bit at the Evergreen Golf Course and used large mowing machines. There are lots of people, and lots of elk. It is a safe place for the elk. I am more concerned about managing the riders AND the elk, not driving away the elk.
 
Q: What if we need to evacuate for a wildfire that starts close by while the park is open?
A: The park won’t open for the day if there is fire nearby. If a fire starts during the day, bikers won’t be packing up a home, just putting a bike on car and get going. In the worst case, we believe it could increase evacuation time by 15 minutes.
 
We expect to use 500,000 gallons of water per year from a commercial well. A home uses 100,000 gallons per year. (Note: This includes outside watering.) We will have a commercial septic system.
 
Hours will be 9:30 or 10 to 6 or 6:30.
 
Q: How do you keep people from illegally accessing the park?
A: The parking reservation system will help. You can put up fences and a ton of signs. I think we will be digitally managing the boundaries. We’ll know if somebody crosses the boundary, and our staff will deal with that by limiting the pass. There will be no road access from the top of the mountain. I don’t think anyone will see the top of the chairlift from their house.
 
Staunton State Park has 270,000 visitors a year and it is open 24 hours a day. We may have 50,000 visitors a year.
 
That property is worth $20 million. It won’t stay in its current state.
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, May 23, 2023  Kristin Davis 2023-05-23 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, May 9, 2023

Updates and Announcements
 
  • Club Service positions available:
    • Sergeant-at-Arms for June & July - Join the fun at the Tuesday morning meeting by welcoming members!!
    • WebMaster - If you would like to be the webmaster, please email Diana P. for information.
  • Diana: MRC is offering day camp in June, so rotary can’t meet in its current location that month. We need suggestions for alternate locations for June.
  • Stan: Provided update on International Peace Conference: Rotary sponsors about 100 master’s degree fellowships for peace fellows at universities around the world. He’ll send an email with details. Dr. Bernice King and Jennifer Jones spoke.
  • Charlotte: Thank you to everyone who helped at the Health Fair on Saturday. She provided an update on the logistics and outcomes of the event. There were approximately 160 attendees. Next year’s location may be Elk Creek Elementary
  • Ann: Ann and Tim need volunteers for Rotary Wildfire Ready for three events this summer in Conifer and Bailey.
 
Upcoming Events
  • Rotary Social - May 20 is a social at Tim’s house from 4-8 p.m. Bring Italian food to share and donations for Backpack Project in honor of Yvonne’s birthday.
  • Bailey Days - June 24 and 25; Tim is in charge.
  • Conifer Elevation Celebration - July 29 and 30; Tim is in charge.
  • ConiferFest - Aug. 12; Ann is in charge of volunteers; please contact Ann or Tim to help.
  • Wildfire Training - If you need information about wildfire or want training, there are two events coming up:
    • May 23 at Evergreen High School at 6 p.m., there will be a wildfire forum and questions will be answered.
    • June 3 at 9 a.m. at Evergreen Fire on Bergen parkway, Jess Moore will explain defensible space and home hardening.
 
Meeting program
 
Mental Health First Aid Services, Sara Bass of Jefferson Center for Mental Health
 
OVERVIEW:
We are a nonprofit covering Gilpin, Clear Creek and Jeffco counties, 23 locations, office or school based. We serve anyone and everyone. Also have mobile kiosks and crisis response.
Mental health first aid: Teaches community members to identify and react. Training options include 8 hour all day sessions, which is an internationally recognized certification. Includes 2 hours of pre-work at home. We get grants so it is free to the community; offered monthly. There is a 15-person minimum for a private course. Mostly virtual now. It’s very skills-based. It is quite useful.
Also offer community trainings 1-1.5 hours; topics include de-escalation, trauma care.
Online information at Jefferson County Mental Health First Aid Training link: https://www.jcmh.org/mental-health-first-aid
 
Q&A:
Q: How do I know the mobile clinic is coming?
A: Usually find out from school or office clinician or doctor.
 
Q: What services do you offer?
A: Medication management and therapy, counseling. Preventative care through community engagement etc.
 
Q: There are lots of people who don’t have a physician. How do you reach those communities, for people who don’t get referrals, and don’t have insurance?
A: We are not for the private sector mostly. We are partnered with hundreds of organizations including Mountain Resource Center. Our navigation team will explore funding for people with no insurance, no Medicaid, etc. Rarely do we have someone who doesn’t get enrolled using Medicaid or something.
 
Q: Who pays?
A: Several huge fund-raising events and grant funding. 60% of our patients are on Medicaid.
 
Q: What are the biggest challenges? For example, a mentally ill New York man was killed in the subway.  It sounds like this training is one of the solutions.
A: Yes. There is a lot of fear in interacting with persons with mental health issues, and a lot of fear of asking for help. The average age for first aid trainings is 22-30; other programs skew older.
After the pandemic: People are really reactive. People want language for how to handle escalated situations.
We partner with Red Rocks Community College.
The training talks about how to have the person call us. The person may be suicidal.
Comment from audience: I have taken mental health training. You might see someone flaring out, and not know what to do. It will help you recognize the symptoms before the flaring out. It is really good program, the equivalent of stopping the bleeding.
 
Q: How do you help people cope with normal life? 
A: I think that is therapy at its finest.
 
Q: What do you think of this name for our mental health fair in February? “Mindfest: Living your best life.”
A: Members really liked that name.
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, May 9, 2023 Kristin Davis 2023-05-09 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, May 2, 2023

Updates and Announcements
  • We still need sponsors for ConiferFest, at various levels. FirstBank is in.  5280 is a presenting sponsor. CORE is in.
 
Meeting program
Domestic Violence, Kelly Andrews, Therapist
 
Kelly Andrews is a therapist in private practice in Evergreen, specializing in women’s issues, including domestic violence, eating disorders, and social anxieties.
 
Kelly: One in three women will experience domestic violence. It affects the nervous system, like flight or fight. It makes a person need to be on the lookout for threats; it affects mental health. It damages relationships because the person who is supposed to love us and care for us is putting us in danger. This can affect relationships lifelong.
 
Once violence has been introduced into a relationship, it’s always there even if it is not actively happening. A person ends up expecting violence and flinching even without anything new happening.
  1. Intimidation: throwing things, banging things, abusing pets.
  2. Emotional abuse: Name-calling, putting her down, wearing down over time.
  3. Isolation: Often people don’t realize it is happening. Like putting a frog in a pot of water and gradually increasing the heat, and the frog doesn’t notice until it’s damaging.
  4. Denial: The perpetrator denies that the incident happened and makes a person forget their own worth. It’s gaslighting, meant to make the woman feel that “My reality is not right, because so often I’m told I am wrong.” It feels like one is going crazy. Then police come and don’t believe the woman, because the man is confident and convincing, and the woman isn’t sure what really happened. This can take a long time to come back from. It takes years to rebuild the feeling that, “I am valid.”
  5. Using the children.
  6. Blaming: It’s your fault.
  7. Economic abuse: This is things like being forced to work and hand over the paycheck. Or not being allowed to work.
  8. Male privilege. This is based on history. Men legally owned their wives, had a duty to punish the wife. It’s the woman against these systems. Not all men are violent. A man can make changes and be a huge help to our society.
  9. Coercion and threats.
Put yourself in these shoes. Imagine constantly living in this, and the depression and PTSD that results.
 
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:
Self-actualization (creativity etc. Not reached by all.)
Self-esteem
Connection
Safety needs
Physiological Needs
 
The woman may not be able to sleep due to being alert, afraid. Maybe she is not allowed to eat certain foods or forced to be on a certain diet.
 
People don’t understand: Why don’t people suffering this just leave? That may mean giving up housing, money for kids, basic needs. If there are ongoing concussions or oxygen deprivation from choking, that can cause disorientation, mental fog. This impedes people from getting help. Perpetrator can be calm, and victim is labeled as crazy or hysteric. Women used to get institutionalized for being hysterical. It may be the result of traumatic brain injury. It’s hard to get out.
 
Women are seven times more likely to die when they are leaving a relationship. My safety plans are three pages long.
 
If a woman hits back, she worries that she is escalating the abuse, or that she had a role. Women internalize this.
 
Be aware that this is going on in our society; and how hard it is to ask for help. Don’t say, “You should leave.” Because it has to be her choice.
 
Ask, “What do you need from me?” Do you want to leave a go-bag at my house?
 
Contact info: kelly@sunhearted.com
 
Dean: This is symptomatic of our society undervaluing women. Doctors telling women you are not having a heart attack, you’re just hysterical, go bowling. How much of this is part of undervaluing people?
Kelly: Yes, it’s absolutely tied together. Women may be stigmatized for having too many emotions, and men are being stigmatized for the opposite.
 
Q: I have a friend with a 2-year-old, and she is still parenting with this person, and expressed concern about what’s happening to the 2-year-old. What are the courts doing in this type of situation?
A: Mom may feel like the child is less safe because she is not there to protect the child. Courts sometimes make the wrong decision. This happens to a lot of women, and it is a huge problem.
 
Stan: There are also kids with both parents who are abusive. It seems like there is nothing in the system to help. It seems like the foster care system is a problem.  Do other societies do better?
A: Often there is a controlling abuser, and the other person lashes back. We live in a more individualistic society; others may have more services.
 
Ann: I had a friend who left an abuser before I met her. Her father had abused her, and she grew up thinking this was normal, and married an abuser.
A: If the nervous system is constantly feeling threatened, it can’t unwind. The nervous system is no longer able to distinguish that one is no longer under threat. That’s why a soldier with PTSD might be panicking in a supermarket.
 
Suzanne: We do now have an interim director for Peaceworks, the domestic violence shelter. Apparently, a lot of things have broken down since it was shut down.
Kelly: It’s great that they take pets. That’s often an obstacle to leaving.                  
Suzanne: We built the pens.
 
Diana: I have been in victim services.   A victim advocate can make all the difference, so victims do not focus on the danger.
Kelly: It’s important to have a victim’s advocate go out on those calls. Women can think they’re not worth anything. But there may be a small light of resistance to that idea. The perpetrator can be very charming. Three women a day die from domestic violence.
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, May 2, 2023 Lee Willis 2023-05-02 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, April 25, 2023

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, May 18th at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Conifer.
 
Announcements
  • We are looking for sponsors for ConiferFest. This funds our grants. Please look for sponsors, and then run them through Marlys and/or Janine. Website is ConiferFest.com.
  • Club Service positions available:
    • Sergeant-at-Arms for June & July - 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.
  • Mental health and wellness far - Bridget and Yvonne spoke about a plan for a mental health and wellness fair. We want to demystify, de-stigmatize and normalize mental health care.  We’re thinking of everything from aromatherapy and creative journaling, yoga, meditation, therapy dogs. We’ll also have organizations that have resources for mental health, such as Resilience 12-20, Mount Evans hospice, Mountain Resource Center, and a pharmacist to explain drugs. We can have a neuropsych physician to explain how to break a nervous habit, and mental health first aid.
    It will be on Feb. 17, 2024, at Our Lady of the Pines, from 10 to 4. We will finalize the grant application and in mid-May we will do vendor outreach.
    Topics include: “I matter,” and “It’s ok not to be ok.” It will be aimed at adults and youth, LGBTQ, vets.
    Ann suggested a stop smoking unit and an introduction to non-violent communications, but to call it “How to get along with people who disagree with you.” Another title could be “How to cheer yourself up,” instead of “Depression.”
    More suggestions were: Second Wind, UC Health, whole person health, Mind-Body-Spirit connection, love yourself for Valentine’s Day, child psychologist, equine therapy, and pet a puppy. Marketing is essential.
    Diana: Contact Bridget and Yvonne through email through Clubrunner.
 
Upcoming Socials - All are welcome!
 
  • May Italian Potluck Social hosted by Tim Berg on May 20 4-8pm.
 
Guests
Welcome back Carrie L.
 
Upcoming Events
 
Rotary International Conference - May 27-31, 2023 Melbourne, Australia
 
Coniferfest - August 12, 2023 In the event field behind Our Lady of the Pine.
 
Program Rotary Tuesday AM 4.25.23 - Wyatt Yates, Beaver Ranch Community Park
 
Morti: Welcome Wyatt Yates, who is here to speak about the Beaver Ranch community park. He was a CPA, then worked for a private equity firm. He is president of the board of the non-profit that runs the 450-acre Beaver Ranch Park.
 
Wyatt Yates: Beaver Ranch Park is jointly managed by us and Jeffco Open Space. We have worked on a master plan. The park is funded by the disc golf company and the zip line operator and rentals for events like weddings.
 
In the Conifer Area Council survey, people asked for a playground. There is a small one now, with not much shade. The school district told us there are 500 students with physical or mental or behavioral disabilities within a 5-mile radius.
 
Our vision is a new playground, three times as large, accessible to all. There will be little cubbies, places to roll a wheelchair around or usable with crutches.
We did lots of outreach and now have some designs on the website. Now we are on step two, fundraising. The county is supportive, but it can’t allocate dollars from the budget for playground. Our designs cost $600,000 to $1 million. We’ve applied for some grants. This project checks a lot of boxes for funders. We are working with a fundraiser.
We can incorporate shade with the playground structures.
 
County is selecting a design/build contractor for the overall project at the park. The event area will become a parking lot, with the trailhead near the front. The project will improve access and pave the roads. It places most of the parking near the entrance. There will be a road to the dog park and Tipi Lodge, but with limited access. Disc golf will get a new pro shop.
 
We will apply for over $5 million in grants. Jeffco is helping us with grants. Please email us suggestions. Please spread the word.
Jeffco received $1.1 million from the sale of the Broncos, to be used for youth activities. Jeffco is still finalizing the program; and we have contacted them. Also looking at a recreation grant from Covid relief dollars, and Conservation Trust Funds.
 
Q: Will there be an adult exercise section?
Wyatt: Most playgrounds are set up for a certain age, but we want to incorporate features for teens and adults. We will include STEM items, such as interactive items to touch and feel. It won’t be just traditional play structures, because we have the room. We will have swings for parent and toddler facing each other; and merry-go-rounds at wheelchair height, set up so kids can face the other kids.
 
Janine: San Jose Rotary built a park that’s incredible.
Wyatt: Our timeline calls for completion about 2025, maybe 2024. Rubberized surfacing has to be installed during the summer. The actual playground only takes a month to build. There will be two shaded structures.
 
Q: Security?
Wyatt: Two maintenance people and a park director are on site most days. The county has rangers who come in. There also is a ranger at Reynolds Park who comes up quite a bit.
We now get 90,000 visitors a year. About 17% use the playground. We expect that to double. We will use a certified playground installer because there are requirements for fall heights, spacing etc. There could be a 15-year warranty on equipment from the manufacturer.
 
The lodge needs work, like an ADA bathroom. That’s on hold until we do the playground.
I took a year and a half off with Covid, saw my family and realized I needed to make a change. I took my daughter on her first back-packing trip at age 4 and she went 15 miles the first day. I started my own business called Rugged Financial, which does outsourced accounting for companies. His wife is a professional runner, and her company is called Rugged Running.
 
Charlotte commented that she has a family wedding due this summer at the park and she loves the space.
 
Wyatt: It’s one of the most accessible mountain parks in the whole country. Disc golf course is the 11th best in the world. We are thinking we could do a short disc golf course where the current dog park is, so it could be wheelchair accessible.
Janine: We helped get track chairs for Staunton State Park.
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, April 25, 2023 2023-04-25 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, April 18, 2023
23

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, May 4th at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Conifer.
 
Announcements
 
  • Club Service positions available:
    • Sergeant-at-Arms for June & July - 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!
 
  • We are in the planning stages of a May social, more details to follow. 
 
Guests
Welcome Carrie L. she has been to two of our Tuesday AM meetings
 
Upcoming Events
 
Rotary International Conference - May 27-31, 2023 Melbourne, Australia
 
Coniferfest - August 12, 2023 In the event field behind Our Lady of the Pines
 
Program Rotary Wednesday PM 4.26.23
Wellness Fair Update:  
  • Yvonne and Bridget provided an update on the wellness fair idea  
Refugee Family:  
  • Rotary will support a refugee family.  
  • Let Johnathan Ramsey and Stanley Harsha know if you are interested in helping  
Conifer Fest Update:  
  • Work in progress  
Next meeting is on May 4th
 
Program Rotary Tuesday AM 4.18.23
 
17 of our members are going to the area 8 social.
 
Scotland event:  zoom event May 3, noon, must sign up in advance.
 
Conifer Area Council meeting at 7.
 
Ed: I made labels for the One School, One Book books. All the kids up to the 5th graders all get the book. Younger ones are encouraged to have parents read it to them and they do exercises talking about the book. They picked out the book. Need some help labeling them.
 
Ann asked for help with the Rotary Wildfire Ready truck at the end of June and end of July for Bailey Days and Elevation Celebration.
 
Diana: Our zone includes Co, Utah, Wy, Montana, Neb. Wildfire Ready was given an award for Extending Our Reach. Conference is last weekend in April.
 
Young RYLA: We received applications for two from Conifer, two from Platte Canyon and one from Bailey and Tim Berg’s son. We have room for all of them.
Stan: We are working on a matching grant proposal for a Mental Health Fair next February. We will present to the group.
April 28 is a district mental health day in the south metro area.
Stan: June 11 is the dedication of the peace park. We will put up a sign-up genius for installing the peace poles. Dennis is a landscaper and wants to plant the week before.
We are trying to find out if we have 6 people who would support a refugee.
Speaker Sara Gardner: I am a certified financial planner. I have been in the business 25 years.  Topic is ESG investing: Environmental, Social and Governmental concerns, because I heard a lot of questions after a previous speaker mentioned it.
My financial education as a child consisted of budgeting and nothing else. My parents retired. Last five years before they retired, they asked what is a 401k? But no one tells you how to invest it.
A lot of people think they can’t invest.
When ESG first came up decades ago, you had to do ESG investing to make yourself feel good. Now you can also get great financial returns. The first step is to remove the things they don’t want in the ESG fund. The first level does not include oil and gas, oddly. Some oil and gas companies are moving into wind and more sustainable energy.
Middle level is sustainability.
Then social: Equity for gender etc., unfair compensated executives. Diversity. Bringing in more diverse people into the field.
About 91 percent of S&P 500 have ESG reporting. Some is independently audited instead of just self-reported.
By 2025, they're expecting $23 billion in ESG. That’s a third of global investing. If you're looking at those companies that are already doing their ESG due diligence right.
Walden Asset Management is one of the good ones.
I focus mainly on mutual funds, but you can make individual investments by company.  I found though is ultimately it's easier to go with the mutual fund for diversification, and I'm all about diversification to manage risk.
Midcap strategy ends up meeting all our protocols so the performance balancing ESG is there.
Impax: They have a high-yield bond fund. They are well positioned and they're looking for that more sustainable global environment. They have many other funds, too.
SBA in this area means not Small Business Administration but sustainable business advantage. They are investing in companies for sustainability.
Calvert is probably the most well-known.
TIAA has a socially responsible for ESG. They originally started with teachers and not-for-profits, creating retirement plans for them.
There are ETF and I-shares if you're looking for that that aspect.
Recently Tesla seems to be a big conversation, because they don't meet the ESG criteria because of the governance practices and source of some of the battery materials, etc. I believe the technology is still advancing, and it’s only going to get better. Things can cancel each other out so really you have to figure out your priorities.
If you want to go with this investing strategy, it's no longer giving up performance. You don't have to be against your conscience anymore if you need to invest for retirement savings.
A lot of my business comes from Fidelity and Charles Schwab. We are a preferred advisory firm.
Dean: There are a lot of well-established money holders driving our economy the wrong way. Is ESG investing now getting rid of the people who are doing the wrong thing?
Sara: We didn’t used to do ESG investing. We have it now because our clients asked for it. So the money is behind it. We have ultra-high-net-worth individuals giving back, not leaving it all to the next generation.
Jonathan: A lot of companies are seeing the governance piece done by others, and see that people want that, so then they do it.
 
Program Rotary Tuesday AM 4.11.23
 
Coniferfest planning meeting tonight, area party and district conference coming up in April. Diana suggested going on the website and checking the list.
RYLA applications deadline is Friday.
International Rescue Committee is very enthusiastic about Conifer Rotary sponsoring a family. They have a group in Parker signed up to sponsor a family, need more help including financial. A church in Arvada may help. I’ll ask the whole group if we want to go in with a group of six in Parker. Think it is for April 30. I was going to discuss with our peace committee. We’ll delay our peace committee meeting a week.
We installed a new member, Kristin Davis. Bambi Moss said she is honored to be her mentor. Kristin: “I don’t take this honor lightly.  I have been at Microsoft for 18 years, lost my job unexpectedly. I decided to meet new people and give back to my community. I met Bambi at EAPL. We moved to Evergreen, but this room has been amazing, the vibe is so great. “It’s really nice to be a part of this group.”
Diana: We are working on an exchange student from Brazil for this coming year,
Morti: Speaker is Pam Swift.  From non-profit called, “Hide in Plain Sight.” https://www.guidestar.org/profile/47-3094771 Pam had a career in human resources, then raised her kids. She then found her calling in helping young adults affected by homelessness and other difficulties.
Pam Swift: I was unexpectedly widowed 13 years ago. I quit my job and stayed home to raise my children. We do scholarships for Front Range youth. Because of Covid, there is a lot of government money for education. But the students don’t have money for food, rent, gas, child care, laptops, Wifi. We do. We are removing barriers to education. That sets us apart from a lot of organizations.
Joe Reese is the founder and a Rotarian. He met a young woman aged out of the foster system. Foster parents will tell them to leave on the day they turn 18 (That’s when the payment from the government
If you can get an associate’s degree, you can earn $8000 more per year; with a bachelor’s degree, $27,000 more a year. according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. I would like to find the same stats for vocational education as we need and pay electricians, plumbers, etc.
If you can get someone an education, you have given them a hand up, not a hand out.
We have a full-time executive director, total of two full-time staff, and we have given out $800,000 in scholarships.
I do development. This year we had 85 (or 62?) applicants.
We have met our financial obligations through June, so at this point, everything we raise all goes to students. We are part of state program called Cozy, which doubles the donations. We all work from home.  Our biggest need is financial.  We have a gala on April 23 in Denver, at the Charles Schwab center, in the afternoon. Food and drink included. Several Rotary chapters have empty seats at the tables they have purchased. Castle Rock, Castle Pines, Highlands Ranch rotaries will be there. I can offer you a free seat to come.
We work with COSI, a state program. (https://cdhe.colorado.gov/programs-and-services/cosi-colorado-opportunity-scholarship-initiative) It’s for homeless, impoverished etc. Our grant money can support them. If a student doesn’t fit, we can’t use our COSI money. But we can use our own money.
We work with the McKinny Vento program for homeless students in school. True homeless. Douglas County has a McKinny Vento  program and we have 121 homeless kids in the high school. One lived in an abandoned RV, no running water or electricity and graduated from high school. https://nche.ed.gov/legislation/mckinney-vento/
Sara Gardner: I have been donating. The success rate is great, such low overhead. 3.65 GPA, majority work.  92 percent graduation rate.
Pam: We interview applicants, you can see it when they are proud of what they have done and they are going to succeed. One young woman said,  “I want to have a house someday, so my girls don’t have to move out of an apartment every six months.”
Young adults often don’t feel seen. One young woman with two children, in nursing school. And she took the interview in her car, we told her she is amazing. And she put her head down and cried  because no one had ever told her she was doing a good job.
Sara: You are on Colorado Gives.
Pam: Starting in October, Colorado Gives starts to match donations.
We have a special needs man now, applied to be a welder. That’s going to make such a difference in his life.
Board and staff each takes on a student and reach out regularly, sometimes becomes a mentorship. We don’t have the skills or training to be mentors or counselors.
Morti: When a kid has connection in the first years of college, it increases the chance of graduation by like 70 percent.
We had a homeless kid live with us for two years, It changed his life as well as ours.
Applications open in about two months. Please pass the word around here.
One young woman, Brooke, is due to graduate, lost her husband, living in her car with 2 children. Son asked if superheroes are made or born that way. She said made, determined to change her life.

Program Rotary Tuesday AM 3.28.23

Health Fair is 10-4 on May 6 at Our Lady of the Pines
Home and Garden Show: Janine is now in charge. Will be working with Erica. Ground too hard to put the signs up. Only two banners. Please publicize it! Share with friends on social media.
Thursday, April 20 is the area 8 social; Black Hawk, Clear Creek, Evergreen, Foothills and Conifer clubs. Please pay by April 12 if not earlier.
We need more applications for scholarships. We have four applications for scholarships from Conifer, none from Platte. Publicize this!
We will apply for a DDF grant for mental health.
Janine: CHS robotics team won sixth place at national.
We inducted three new members!
Jonathan Ramsey—mentor Stan
Sandy Lipini—mentor Ann
Nicholas Guenther—mentor Charles
Speaker: Dan Jorgensen, Rainbow Rock program, lives in Milliken, Co.
Writer, public relations, journalist. Most recent book is a mystery thriller called “Rainbow Rock.”  I joined Rotary because of Polio Plus. We had polio in my family. A high school sports star who got polio right after graduation. He was in an iron lung for two months. The college that gave him an athletic scholarship gave it to him anyway.
Forty percent of our world’s population can’t read. So I support adult literacy.
I give part of the proceeds of my books to Polio Plus. I sell books for $15 and $3 goes to Polio Plus. I wrote my first book for a class at Colorado State University. I had been a journalist, then in army in Vietnam. Then I went to CSU for creative writing. Professor said we’ll write short stories every week.  I turned in a chapter every week. It was my first book, “Killer Blizzard.” I brought in my first chapter, thinking I was doing great. But classmates were brutal. Professor was kind, said take all these suggestions and rewrite Chapter 1 and then write Chapter 2. I got a lot of criticism but it was better. By the sixth chapter, the complaints faded. By the end of the semester, I had a book. Professor offered to try to sell it. Writer’s Market book tells you what every publisher wants. I found a few. Professor said, “Go to bookstore and see what’s selling, see if any of the publishers on your list published those books. I found five. I made copies of the printed manuscript, sent them off with self-addressed envelope so they can send it back with the rejection letter. I received two rejections, then a maybe, and then a letter from Major Books, a contract and a $1,000 check. I about passed out. I asked the professor, “What should I do?” He replied, “Are you nuts? Sign it!”  But it was 10 percent royalties, instead of standard 12-15 percent, even 50 percent when an author sells a lot.
That book sold 27,000 copies in the first year. This book is in its 13th printing. It just keeps going and going, like the EverReady Bunny.
I moved back to Colorado from Minnesota, and decided to write a novel based on my time in Black Hills. It is set in 1894, a time of tourism to Wind Cave, hot springs, etc. Outlaw gang threatened luminaries. Bat Masterson, a deputy US marshall based in Denver but covering multiple states, is a character I used in the book. Also Nelly Bly, Will Rogers, Theodore Roosevelt. Annie Oakley, Buffalo Bill. It was the first time that I tried historical fiction.
Rainbow Rock is about a drug cartel operating in Black Hills, trying to get luminaries and natives hooked.
Young woman I knew said her uncle was killed by a drug gang in the 1950s, near Rainbow Rock. This refers to location, and also a Fairburn agate found in the area. It’s a murder mystery thriller.
My next book will be set just before the building of Mount Rushmore in 1920s.
One won the Colorado Book Award.
I was the only kid in my class for eight years in a one-room schoolhouse. I read everything, by lantern light.
Today, 90 percent of sales are e-books. That means they are on sale worldwide. But you might get 49 cents for e-book selling for $4.95. I don’t complain about Amazon because they sell your book worldwide.

Today, 126,000 copies of Killer Blizzard have been sold. Movie rights have sold, don’t know if they will make the movie. I don’t have any in audible books right now.

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, April 18, 202323 2023-04-18 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, March 14, 2023

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, who IRC is helping but not through the U.S. Government refugee resettlement program.  He 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. 

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, March 14, 2023 2023-03-14 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, March 7, 2023

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, March 22nd at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Conifer.
 
Announcements
 
  • This summer there will be a construction project on U.S. 285 in Bailey, installing concrete barriers approaching the town and in the town. Also, two projects in downtown Evergreen on Highways 73 and 74. All of this is a serious problem for evacuation.
  • Community association for Beaver Ranch is trying to raise money for a playground accessible to disabled.
  • Don't forget to invite kids to apply to Rotary Youth Leadership Awards RYLA & YRYLA camps. We are sponsoring four RYLA and two young RYLA, Kids in Fairplay are eligible.  Visit the www.rmryla.org for details and applications.
  • Finn: We sent my granddaughter Charly Frisk to young RYLA. She is graduating from Yale School of Environment with a master’s degree. Her film is showing tonight online. She has been all over the world, Peru, Madagascar, etc. and made films.  5pm March 7.
  • FUNdraiser - Evergreen Ice Melt Contest tickets on sale at the Mountain Foothills Rotary web site - https://mountainfoothillsrotary.org
  • Stan: Recently went to great training for Presidents-Elect. Gordon McInally, dentist from Edinburgh is the new RI president. His focus is mental health.
  •  
  • Club Service positions available:
    • Sergeant-at-Arms for April, 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 Club Socials - All are welcome!
 
Our next club social will be a Fireside Chat on March 19th 4-6pm at Pat's place.  This is a great way to learn about Rotary, our Areas of Focus, Conifer Activities, and hang out with a bunch of great people.
 
Guests
Jean B. from Conifer and Laura K., from Evergreen both were a part of the RMNVC.
Kristin D. just moved here from Minnesota, worked for Microsoft, sales, just getting to know her new neighbors, such as Bambi, who brought her.
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.
 
Meeting Program
 
Lee Willis, explaining the club budget: July to June year. $13000 in dues revenue. Plan to spend $25,000 this year (to date) with a deficit of $1000.
 
Things shut down during Covid, so we did not spend as much as normal. Our checking account balance has increased, now at an appropriate level. So, we are working in the red intentionally.
 
We’ve been able to support Blankets for Ukraine, and also generators for hospitals in Ukraine. Also we are supporting literacy in the schools, building the Peace Park, and received a $3000 grant from district(?) for that.
 
We’ve paid $5000 to date to RI and district.
 
He had the computer prorate the budget to 2/3 of the year, to date.
 
Our district sent back $15,000 to RI that we didn’t have programs to request match. It can be any project, but not repeat like for 285 Backpack food project. Our match can come from either the club or foundation.
 
I want to encourage you to pay in advance, use Zelle, makes my life so much easier. Can set up a recurring payment.
 
Suzanne: The foundation can give only to non-profits. Club gives away a lot of the money because it does not have that restriction.
 
Meeting Program:
Elk Creek Elementary School, Destination Imagination team - Louie Wright volunteer team manager
 
Louie Wright is the volunteer team manager for the Destination Imagination team. Accompanied by Laurie Woulfe, who has been doing this for 30 years.
 
Wright: Kids are in third grade. Fundraiser: We want to join the Global Finals Scientific Challenge, still need to win one more level. Two girls who visited and showed Rotary their work have been in it since kindergarten. They chose the scientific Challenge. Seven kids in the photos of the team.
 
Destination Imagination’s mission to ignite the power of all youth to be the creative and collaborative innovators of tomorrow. In STEAM fields.
 
They can be given an instant challenge, like told to build a bridge out of spaghetti. Can be fifteen pages of rules. They compete and move up. These kids are only 8, been doing this for 4 years. They have heard older kids rave about going to Global Challenge.
 
This year they chose the technical challenge. There will be a puzzle without using your hands. Only $200 budget. It promotes the use of recyclable materials. Kid: “It’s not a trash can, it’s the bin of interesting things.”
 
They learned how to use an automatic drill press and a Styrofoam cutter and glue gun. They’ve made microscopes, fishing pole, and a mechanical hand of popsicle sticks.
 
Kids learn a lot but most important: They learn initiative. They research and work at home and come back to weekly meetings and another kid then helps and they get it built.
 
Fundraising goal is $12,000. There will be 17,000 people in the arena, 12,000 livestreaming. In Kansas City convention center. Will have a booth to display our solutions.
 
This program has kids from 41 states and other countries.  Contact info: louie@thewrightsonline.com
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, March 7, 2023 2023-03-07 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, February 28, 2023

Updates and Announcements
 
Evening Meetings: The next evening meeting will be Wednesday, March 8th at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Conifer.
  • Remember to invite kids to complete the on-line application to Rotary Youth Leadership Awards RYLA & YRYLA camps. We are sponsoring four RYLA and two young RYLA, Kids in Fairplay are eligible.  Visit the www.rmryla.org for details and applications.
  • Elk Creek Elementary Blue Eagles STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Math) team is trying to present at Global finals in Kansas City. It’s $1500 per child.  They are looking for pledges. Lesley suggested having them perform their entry for us; Marlis will contact the team about getting a video they can share with the club and see what the timeline for pledges are.
  • The Rotary Club of Denver Mile High Foundation is heading the Denver Climate Forest Project and the Conifer Rotary is sponsoring a tree for the tree-planting on April 30 the day after District Conference.  Details for carpooling to follow. 
  • Foothills Home Garden and Lifestyle Show posters are available for us to hang-up. Non-profits are free. Conifer Rotary has a table at the front door.
     
  • FUNdraiser - Evergreen Ice Melt Contest tickets on sale at the Mountain Foothills Rotary web site - https://mountainfoothillsrotary.org/
  • Visit the Rotarty International web site to to see videos on what we are doing in Ukraine and Pakistan.
  • In the March Rotary magazine, page 14 has a section on Rotary Wildfire Ready and a photo of our fire truck/education truck.
  • Stan shared that it was a Great weekend learning about Non-Violent/Compassionate Communication.  Lee shared:  For me, it was like drinking from a fire hose.  The classes contrasted talking like a giraffe, the biggest-hearted animal in the world, vs talking like a jackal  The social the following Monday was a great addition to the training over the week-end.
  • Club Service positions available:
    • Sergeant-at-Arms for April, May and June are needed - Join the fun at the Tuesday morning meeting by welcome members!!
    • If you have enjoy working on website, the Conifer club needs you!  If you would like to be the new webmaster, please email Diana P. for information.
 
Upcoming Club Socials - All are welcome!
Our next club social will be a Fireside Chat on March 19th 4-6pm at Pat's place.  This is a great way to learn about Rotary, our Areas of Focus, Conifer Activities, and hang out with a bunch of great people.
 
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.
 
Meeting Program: Gene Neiges, docent for the Denver Art Museum
 
Denver Art Museum is 130 years old, started as the Denver Artists Club. By the end of WWII, the museum was located in buildings all over the city, and even had a gallery in Pueblo.
 
People leave art to the museum so DAM has only a small percentage of the art on display.
 
Kress Foundation gave a huge gift. 60 classic paintings from 15th and 16th centuries if we held them in a climate-controlled environment, which we didn’t have. Eventually built the first DAM building, designed by architect Gio Ponti to look like a castle. It even has a moat and a bit of a drawbridge. It is covered in 1 million Corning glass tiles.
 
In 2006, DAM added the building to the south, designed by architect Daniel Liebeskind to look like the crystals in the Rocky Mountains. Lots of angles.  Primarily for temporary exhibits.
 
Observation from the crowd: “Tough to hang art on that;” he replied, “Very.”
 
A few years ago, DAM renovated the first building at a cost of $150 million, including new glass reception center. Now the museum has three buildings, and a fourth on Bannock Street. The complex includes a restaurant and cafeteria, and event space.
 
Native American Art collection is our largest collection. We were the first museum to recognize it as art instead of an anthropological collection. DAM also has the best Latin American art collection in the U.S.
 
Past exhibits include one on Cartier. Diana said: “It was so cool. You were blinded by these diamonds when you walked in.”
 
Special exhibits have included: Remington, Winslow Homer, Frida Kahlo, Monet, Degas, Fashion, Rembrandt, Star Wars. Just opened American indigenous photography.
 
DAM has 900 staff and half are volunteers.
 
About 95% of the art is in storage, some is stored literally behind the walls. These pieces go into special exhibits, here and elsewhere. And we are constantly borrowing art for special exhibits. One exhibit took 8 years to arrange. It takes months of negotiation. Once borrowed a significant painting from Louvre and it came without a frame. Louvre said, “You didn’t ask for it.” It cost $65,000 for a frame. They make copies to hang in the meantime.
 
Jonathan: Any connection with airport collection? No.
 
Anschutz Collection is at the American Museum of Western Art. He owns the Broadmoor, so the art in his collection is at the Broadmoor and CU Medical Center.
 
Stanley: I read that the Denver Art Museum was the first one to return art. Gene: We have art in safekeeping now to go to Cambodia. It was ill-gotten booty.
 
Morti: Still have First Friday? Gene: Yes, the museum is open on First Friday and also on Tuesday nights. And one free day a month, usually a Tuesday. 10-9.
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, February 28, 2023 2023-02-28 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, February 21, 2023

Updates and Announcements
 
Evening Meetings: The next evening meeting will be Wednesday, March 8th at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Conifer. 
 
  • A big welcome to our two newest members - Bridgett and Tim
  • Remember to invite kids to complete the on-line application to Rotary Youth Leadership Awards RYLA & YRYLA camps. We are sponsoring four RYLA and two young RYLA, Kids in Fairplay are eligible.  Visit the www.rmryla.org for details and applications.
  • A Sergeant-at-Arms for April, May and June are needed - Join the fun at the Tuesday morning meeting by welcome members!!
  • Volunteer opportunity - The Rotary Denver Mile-Hi Club will begin their tree planting campaign.  This project is an ongoing project intended to address environmental issues by "greening" city areas over a ten-year period.  It is being done in conjunction with Denver Forestry, The Park People, the Greenway Foundation and the City of Denver Climate Office. The Park People are providing a turn-key set up for volunteers – The volunteers need show up and place a tree in the pre-dug hole!  On April 30th the goal is to have 300 trees planted.  Members of the Conifer club will be helping with the tree planting on April 30th.  The community is welcome to join.  Please send us an email if you would like to help out.
  • FUNdraiser - Evergreen Ice Melt Contest tickets on sale at the Mountain Foothills Rotary web site - https://mountainfoothillsrotary.org/
  • If you have enjoy working on website, the Conifer club needs you!  If you would like to be the new webmaster, please email Diana P. for information.
  • We will be working on getting an article in the locale paper about all the literacy projects the Conifer club has helped with and funded. 
 
Upcoming Club Socials - All are welcome!
 
Please join us for a Peacebuilder Party on Monday, February 27, 6-8 p.m. at Los 3 Garcias Mexican Restaurant, The Village at Aspen Park (near King Soopers), Conifer.  Our guest of honor for this social is Tom Carlisi, a Rotary Action Group for Peace leader and Peace Chair of Rotary Columbus, Ohio. 
 
This will be an informal meet and greet party, no host (order your own food and drink).  Los 3 Garcias is reserving the entire back of the restaurant for our party, so that we can sit down to eat or stand up and mingle.  So that Los 3 Garcias can plan on how many extra staff to bring in, please let me know if you will attend or might attend.  
 
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.
 
Meeting Program: Tom Abood: Living Invested in Life for Future Generations
 
Came to DU Law School. Became an investor, penny stocks, then Wall Street. Finally divested and became an angel or impact investor. Now an impact first/community investor.
 
Looking at your four-way test, it’s aligned with this.
 
There’s an alternative to mainstream investing. Have you looked at where you have your bank accounts or CDs? At what these institutions invest your money in? Do we want to be parasites, destroying our world, to extract at all costs? Support the gross disparity of wealth in this country and globally?
 
He recommends Wendell Berry, “The Art of Loading Brush,” David Korten’s book, “Change the Story, Change the Future, A Living Economy for a Living Earth” and another book, “This Changes Everything-Capitalism vs the Climate.” Everything is changing in our economy right now.
 
We are just a thread in this world, but everything is because we humans did it. We need to really love this planet. Everything has a right to exist. We must recognize the worth and dignity of every being.
 
Our lives and investments and time should be focused on the positive, not the negative.
 
His recommendations:
First, divest from fossil fuels and re-invest in clean, renewable energy. Where do we bank? The Wall Street banks are leading the charge for fossil fuel investments. $268 billion by Chase alone in recent years. The wall in Wall Street was built by slave labor to prevent local tribe from reclaiming the land stolen by the settlers, and then became a slave market. Then Wall Street made securities based on slavery.
 
Alternatives:
Cleanenergycu.org, formed by Namaste Solar. Has CDs.
 
Invest in solar on your home. Heat pumps, programmable thermostat, energy efficiency.
 
EVs, eliminate a vehicle and take bicycle, light rail and bus.
 
“A Finer Future, Creating an Economy in Service to Life” by L. Hunter Lovins
 
Second, he recommended looking at Community Development Financial Institutions, private financial institutions, around since the 1970s. They can be banks, credit unions, loan funds or venture capital funds. They provide tech assistance and financial counseling to loan clients. Mission is community development. Serve the communities of color that can’t get capital.
 
Examples: Self-help.org; hopecu.org, latinocu.org, nativeamericanbank.com is based in Denver;
Mycnote.com; rsfssocialfinance.org; coopfund.coop.
 
oweesta.org makes loans to other CDFIs.
 
Revision.coop; growhaus.org; gofarm.org; iroquoivalley.com etc
 
Buy a farm share of produce. Support regenerative agriculture, which is no tilling, cover crops and crop rotation.
 
Also can eat less meat. Reduce food waste, which is 400 lbs per person in US
 
What is our return on investment? Vs What is the impact of our investment?
 
The bigger banks are investing in fossil fuels. He suggested talking to your bank and asking.
He recommends community banks and credit unions.
 
Dean: Is it better to tear down the present or build the future? Abood said both. Dean elaborated afterwards that he was talking about combatting misinformation.
 
Stan: I’m not capable of managing my money, so I just let Fidelity do it. Speaker: I doubt they will help.
 
Sara Gardner:  I work with Fidelity, go ahead and ask. They do have ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investments, and they do have partners such as my firm that place in such investments.
 
Morti: Vanguard also has a partnership with a socially conscious investment firms. Their return has been greater than my regular Vanguard funds for the last seven years.
 
Abood:  Need to look at all the holdings of your mutual funds.
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, February 21, 2023 2023-02-21 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, February 14, 2023

Updates and Announcements
 
Evening Meetings: The next evening meeting will be Wednesday, February 22th at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Conifer. 
 
  • Welcome to our guest Jonathan at the Tuesday morning meeting, and it was great to see Charles H.!
  • Time to think about kids to send to Rotary Youth Leadership Awards RYLA & YRYLA camps. We are sponsoring four RYLA and two young RYLA, Kids in Fairplay are eligible.  Visit the www.rmryla.org for details and applications.
  • A Sergeant-at-Arms for March will be Dean M.  Thank you Dean for helping with the morning meeting set-up.
  • Volunteer opportunity - The Rotary Denver Mile-Hi Club will begin their tree planting campaign.  This project is an ongoing project intended to address environmental issues by "greening" city areas over a ten-year period.  It is being done in conjunction with Denver Forestry, The Park People, the Greenway Foundation and the City of Denver Climate Office. The Park People are providing a turn-key set up for volunteers – The volunteers need show up and place a tree in the pre-dug hole!  On April 30th the goal is to have 300 trees planted.  Members of the Conifer club will be helping with the tree planting on April 30th.  The community is welcome to join.  Please send us an email if you would like to help out.
  • Evergreen Ice Melt Contest tickets on sale at the Mountain Foothills Rotary web site - https://mountainfoothillsrotary.org/
  •  
  • If you have enjoy working on website, the Conifer club needs you!  If you would like to be the new webmaster, please email Diana P. for information.
 
 
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.
 
Meeting Program: Stanley Harsha, former consul in Medan, Indonesia and lifelong US diplomat in Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Timor Leste (Chief of Mission), Taiwan and Namibia.  (and our next Conifer Rotary president)
 
One of the first things Trump did was move $50 million from the State Department budget to the Defense Department budget. His own Defense Secretary opposed this, saying it would make war more likely.
 
Consulate is like a satellite embassy. It handles the same functions but away from the capital.
State Department has 14,000 civil service staff, and 250 foreign service officers have died in the line of duty.
 
The whole foreign affairs budget is a small percentage of total budget. USAID is a part of it.
 
Each embassy includes representatives from other agencies, including CDC and DEA.  FBI legal attaches handle terrorism, Americans murdered, training local police, etc. CIA station chief is publicly named and others are not. All report to the ambassador.
 
In 1990s, US closed a lot of consulates. Jesse Helms wanted to close all embassies. But after Sept. 11, we realized we didn’t have people where we needed them.  Then reopened a lot of consulates.
 
In Indonesia, reopened Medon Consulate where he was. Also opened lots of consulates in China.
 
We promote democracy and human rights, American values. Sometimes we don’t adhere to the values we are promoting. Our democratic system got a little confusing.
 
Friend of his was ambassador, would speak the language immediately, even if only 10 words, until he spoke the language. He as from Africa, went Harvard, became an American. Loved all over. Tule single-handedly preserved democracy in Burkina Faso by calling the leader and telling him he had to leave.
 
Ache province in Indonesia wanted to be independent. US helped a lot of people from Ache escape assassination, gave them visas. In the second democratic election, we observed all over Ache, so the government didn’t commit the mayhem planned.
 
When Americans hurt or killed, we have to contact family, make arrangements.
 
Public diplomacy is telling America’s story to the world.
 
Another task is cultural exchanges. So after 9/11, we reached out to Muslims while invading Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush called the war against terrorism a crusade. We brought an African-American hip-hop group to Indonesia. I brought them to the area that had the earthquake; they played for 10,000 young people in a field. (Alternative could have been 10,000 protesting at the embassy.)
 
We respond to disasters. We brought a carrier to the earthquake. Indonesia didn’t want to ask the US for help. This carrier was on its way toward India. One of my colleagues called the VP, got the ship turned.
 
Q: How do State and Defense work together? We have defense attaches from each service in each embassy. People who sell arms, military intelligence, etc.
Under Obama administration, there was a pivot to Asia, to divert resources from Europe toward Asia. More diplomats, consulates, etc. because half of our trade is with Asia, and because of China – which we didn’t say. When relations are good, China is seen as a competitor instead of a threat, like now.
 Since the embassy bombing in Nairobi, we have hardened our embassies. Big setback and walls so you can’t get a bomb close.
He used to leave the house every Sunday because demonstrators protested at his house.
Before Sept. 11, we knew there was a threat, but not exactly what. We cut off visas for Muslims, had travel warnings. So people would ask if they could go to Bali and we said they should not. We didn’t know Bali was going to be bombed. Then 200 people were killed in a terrorist bombing but no Americans because we told Americans not to travel there.
I arrived in August of 2001 in Jakarta. We just heard in August that terrorists were plotting to fire a missile through our embassy. It never happened, but a few months later, we had steel plates over the windows, so there was no light in my office.
Also served in China. Our diplomats are trying to keep lines of communication open right now. They’re making sure China knows not to attack Taiwan.
Lesley: With what Tom was doing in Seibu in Philippines, we were always keeping an eye on the radicals. Sometimes it’s contractors. Tom lived in a town, had to say he was from Canada because Americans were targeted.
Stanley: Everything I know is on Wikileaks, so I can talk. I was part of a whole apparatus to keep track of terrorists. At the time, they were attacking police stations. But some terrorists were plotting against US. One of bin Laden’s generals was planning on sending a plane into Los Angeles but the attack didn’t happen, and we captured him.
Libyan Ambassador Chris Stevens, who died in Benghazi, knew Bengazi, and wanted a consulate there. We really got unlucky. Funding for security is woefully underfunded thanks to Congress. He should have been a hero instead of vilified.
 
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, February 14, 2023 2023-02-14 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, February 7, 2023

Updates and Announcements
 
Evening Meetings: The next evening meeting will be Wednesday, February 22th at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church in Conifer. 
 
  The Rotary Club of Conifer is happy to announce our President for 2023/2024 will be Stan Harsha. 
 
  • Foothills Home Garden and Lifestyle Show will be hosted at Evergreen High School on April 1st 10-5, April 2nd 10-3pm.  A sign-up genius will be posted soon; help will be needed for set-up, day of event and take down.  https://www.foothillshomeshow.com/show-details
  • Time to think about kids to send to Rotary Youth Leadership Awards RYLA & YRYLA camps. We are sponsoring four RYLA and two young RYLA, Kids in Fairplay are eligible.  Visit the www.rmryla.org for details and applications.
  •  
 
  • A Sergeant-at-Arms in needed for March. The S-at-A will help set-up & take down the meeting room, ask people to lead us in the Pledge, Four-Way-Test, Word of Focus, and Getting to know you question, great people as they come in, and let the President know of any quests so we can welcome them, and pass the hat for Happy Dollars.It is a great way to meet our members, and its fun.
  • The Conifer Club’s next social will be on Monday the 27th, 6pm, we will have a meet and greet with one of the facilitators from the Empowering Compassionate Peacebuilding class.
  • JOIN THE ONLINE BUSINESS DIRECTORY  http://rotary5450.business/
    Let Rotary Club members know about your business/profession! Features include search by topic or key word, Google map location, ability to edit your listing at any time - all for only $5 per year!
  • The Colorado Rotary License Plates are now available.  Log into ClubRunner, go to the Member Area, go to the documents, then memberships Docs, then Colorado Rotary License Plates for the instructions and documents needed.  Show Off Your Rotary!
  • This year’s grant recipients from the Rotary Club of Conifer Foundation and the Rotary Club of Conifer:
  • Team Blitz Robotics
    • A team of 26 high school age students with the primary purpose to develop students’ skills and interest in STEM for career or personal development
  • Mount Evans Home Health Care & Hospice
    • Camp Comfort Childhood Bereavement Program
  • Resilience1220
    • Individual Counseling Program
  • Elk Creek Elementary
    • Bee Bot Robots have been purchased for the K-2 grade classes to have to use to supplement their curriculum
  • West Jefferson Elementary
    • One Book, One School
  • West Jefferson Middle School PTA
    • To support innovative approaches and creative ideas in the classroom.
  • Deer Creek Elementary
    • Reading fluency through word study, emergent reader decodables, and writing mentor text
 
 
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.
 
 

 
Meeting Program: Owen Jones, Colorado Careers - The Great Resignation, COVID Impact
 
People quit for many good reasons…. And the good thing is that employers had to pay attention to recruiting and retaining staff.
He expects people to continue to move to places they want to live if they can work remotely. I think the supply chain is going to come back.
 
Has HR industry learned? Owen: Retention has always been in the book. The cost of retraining is enormous. Value the value of experience.
 
Some people don’t care where they go -- they just want out. Some public workers like teachers paid so little.
 
Morti: Many companies speak about work-life balance and don’t practice. Expect you to be on 24/7.  Expecting post-grad education, then downgrade the qualification.
 
Ann: And all this was possible because we are short 3.5 million legal immigrants.
 
Ruth: Exacerbation of the velvet rope economy. Increasing stratification socio-economically. In legal world, the rich person can hire a team of lawyers while the person with a $25,000 case can’t get a lawyer.
 
Owen: On inflation: The companies are going to have to reckon with the economic cost of pushing up prices to pay for needed increased wages. The overpriced goods will not be purchased and will go off the shelves.
 
Amanda: She has companies that say I don’t want anybody old, like over 45. Or voted for person X.
 
Morti: More self-service. She has heard that supermarkets are losing staff; Costco paying $26 an hour.
 
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, February 7, 2023 2023-02-07 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, November 22, 2022

Updates and Announcements 

December 6th and December 13th Morning Meetings: Can you make it in person on Dec. 13th? Ann Imse’s presentation on electric vehicles had to be postponed from Dec. 6th to Dec. 13th due to minor surgery on her hand. Ann’s been driving electric for six years. She will give an overview and answer your questions in the meeting, and hopes to have a Tesla Model S, a Chevy Bolt, a VW and a Tesla Model 3 for you to see, after the meeting and possibly before the meeting. For those interested, Ann also will schedule test drives in her Tesla over the course of a number of meeting days. December 6th will now feature Emmy West of Park County Government. 
 
Club Social: Our club's Holiday Social will be on 12/4 4pm at Janine’s house. It will be a Potluck; the theme will be “ugly sweater”.
 
Wyatt Guernsey: Diana has been doing Interact for many years. One young man, Wyatt Guernsey, has been in since 7th grade. He’s working at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice in NYC and is coordinating a $5000 donation to this club because he has been such a part of us for so long and Conifer Rotary and Interact has been such an influence on him.
 
Evening Meeting Discussion: A meeting to discuss the evening meeting with the help of our past District Governor Bill Downes on December 13th 5-6 PM at Amanda’s house. Bill will be our mediator in helping to figure out how to move forward with our club and ensuring that the evening and morning meetings are part of a single club. R.S.V.P by 12/9 if you are interested in attending.
 
Sponsoring Families: The Club will be working with the Boys & Girls Club to sponsor three families for the holidays. More details to follow.
 
Sergeant at Arms: A Sergeant-at-Arms is needed for December and beyond. Contact Diana if you are interested in helping out for a month.
 
Salvation Army Bell Ringing: The Salvation Army is accepting volunteers for bell ringing starting November 25th - December 24th. If you are interested in signing up to volunteer, you can contact Angela who can provide a link to a sign-up genius.
 
285 Backpack Project: 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, Click Here or email 285backpackproject@gmail.com. 
 
 
 
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.
 
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.
 
Home and Garden Show: April 1st and 2nd at Evergreen High School.
 
2023 District Conference: The 2023 District Conference is scheduled for April 29th.
 
Rotary Peaches Fundraiser: August 2023
 
ConiferFest: August 12th
 
 
 
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 Program: Guest Speakers - Daniel Knudsen and Dr. Roger Matthews from Park County Search and Rescue
 
  • We had terrific speakers from Park County Search and Rescue, who showed us how a search dog can find people! Daniel Knudsen, president, and Dr. Roger Matthews, dog handler.
  • Matthews: Asked if he thinks they are doing more rescues because people are being stupid in the wilderness, he said, “I don’t think people are being stupid. I think it is great people are outside.”
  • We use the dogs’ natural hunting ability to find people. It takes awhile to train the dogs. Mixed breed dogs are fine. Most important: They need a drive, for food or something, so we can train that. Train to a human smell. We have dogs who can detect Coronavirus to 1 part per million, or melanoma, or viruses, seizures, hypoglycemia. They get kicked out of service dog training because they will run after the ball rolling by. 
  • We train in Colorado for scent specificity, to look for one specific person, not the other searchers or hikers. We have hormones, lotions, individual scent from skin cells. We lose 40,000 skin cells a minute. That’s what most of the dust in your house is. Microbes eat the cells and we think they give off gases.
  • It takes the dog only a second to get the scent. We use a piece of clothing from the person, preferably organic like cotton. Try to get non-contaminated scent articles, so don’t handle it. Dogs can work off the scent in the air coming off the person, or scent that falls to the ground. Trailing dogs work on a leash. Air scent dogs work off leash. The dogs work on a grid. We try to get downwind of where we think the person is, or start at the person’s car and track from there. We can leapfrog ahead with an air scent dog. Need to find people quickly in the winter. 
  • Handler and dogs do a yearly physical fitness test. I take my dog to 12,000 feet. About 80 percent of dogs don’t make it. Best ones are hunting and herding dogs. Labs, Golden Retrievers, English shepherds.
  • Finn, 10, gets very upset if the person is deceased. I protect him a little bit. Brody, 5, is like, whatever, get up!
  • They started by demonstrating a search in the meeting room. It was hard for the dog because the air is not moving, and lots of scents to sort through. Yvonne hid behind the screens in back. 
  • Finn will remember the scent for hours. He had bells jingling. He is an English shepherd, an old American herding dog. Finn jumped up excitedly when he saw a scent article in a plastic bag. He barked. He has to calibrate, he checked the ground for a scent.
  • We are at the mercy of weather. Roger: I got lost when I was a kid and was found by a dog, so I always wanted to work with dogs. His dog’s life is great. He’s already been on a five-mile hike today, dog-walker comes while we are at work, and after work he does some work or training.
  • Daniel: 50 calls per year, up to 10 a month in summer. Sometimes in Denver. We are responsible for all of Park County. And 80% of the county is public land, with four fourteeners, Colorado Trail, etc. We saw an increase in winter during Covid crowds. It’s dropping off now. Climbing 14-ers is not as attractive as it was. 
  • We are a 501c3. Various sources of income, grants, fundraising, not county funded. Some money from hunting licenses etc. One year we had a jump in donations because we rescued a Microsoft executive, who donated. Budget is $40,000 a year, including buildings, snowmobiles, radios, vehicles, training. We don’t charge for rescues, because we don’t want people to not call for fear of the cost. We get old vehicles from Park County sheriff, typically 100,000 miles on them.
  • Colorado has more than 3,000 rescues a year. Law gives the responsibility to the county sheriff, but they don’t have enough money. 
  • If you are lost, you can text us. 
  • Summit County is far more busy. 80 members.
  • Asked for the best tracker, he recommended Garmin Inreach and Spot X, anything that is a satellite
    messenger.
Ways that Rotary can help: We could use $15,000 to replace an ATV, $10,000 for an OHV Trailer, $5000 for training, $4,000 for helmets, etc. His email is DKnudsen@pcsar.org
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, November 22, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-11-22 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, November 15, 2022

Updates and Announcements 

Sergeant at Arms: A Sergeant-at-Arms is needed for December and beyond. Contact Diana if you are interested in helping out for a month.

Blankets for Ukraine: On Nov. 19 we raised funds for Blankets for Ukraine at King Soopers. We collected over $1300, gave out about 100 informational handouts, and garnered some interest in our Rotary Club. A link will be available on our website for the next week to collect donations. A big thank you to all of those who took the time to show up to help with collections!
 

Conifer Christmas Parade: The Conifer Christmas Parade is taking place on December 3rd. We are registered to be in the parade and a planning meeting was held on November 16th. 
 
Club Social: Our club's Holiday Social will be on 12/4 4pm at Janine’s house. It will be a Potluck; the theme will be “ugly sweater”.
 
Sponsoring Families: The Club will be working with the Boys & Girls Club to sponsor three families for the holidays. More details to follow.
 
Community Survey: Conifer Area Council is asking residents to complete a community survey. This is how information is gathered to better understand what is important to residents of this community. To learn more and complete the survey, go to: https://coniferareacouncil.org/community-vision/conifer-survey-results/
 
Salvation Army Bell Ringing: The Salvation Army is accepting volunteers for bell ringing starting November 25th - December 24th. If you are interested in signing up to volunteer, you can contact Angela who can provide a link to a sign-up genius.
 
285 Backpack Project: 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, Click Here or email 285backpackproject@gmail.com. 
 
Evening Meetings: Evening meetings happen every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, and the next one will take place on Wednesday December 14th at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pine Catholic Church. There will be no evening meeting on Wednesday November 23rd due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Home and Garden Show: April 1st and 2nd at Evergreen High School.
 
2023 District Conference: The 2023 District Conference is scheduled for April 29th.
 
ConiferFest: August 12th
 
 
 
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 Program: Guest Speaker - Cary Johnson, 1st District Attorney’s Office
  • Our guest speaker this week is Cary Johnson from the 1st District Attorney’s Office. A $25 speaker gift to Polio Plus will be made in Cary’s name.
  • The Federal Government ran a contest for IT people to come up with an application to ID spam calls. The winning program is able to ID a call that is coming from a computer. The call never rings to the cell phone. The three big cell phone providers are using this tech.
  • After the first five years, the application was ‘returned’ to the people that designed it and they have been able to sell the application. The winning application is NoMoRoBo.
  • Scammers take advantage of our senior populations, to get them on the phone and get them to send the money. The best way to protect people is to never have these call get through.
  • The best call blockers are
    • 1. Robo Killer $6.99/mo. and can be loaded up to 4-phones, this will also block scam text messages
    • 2. True Caller free application
    • 3. NoMoRoBo $2.99/mo
  • To protect land lines, you can buy a box that your land line is plugged into.
  • Online searching can be protected by a more secure search engine. One that is recommended is DuckDuckGo – five reasons why are:
    • 1. Makes you anonymous
    • 2. Encrypts Everything
    • 3. It’s Free
    • 4. Stops fraudulent web site, no pop-ups, no cookies. So far this year the Fed’s have ID’d 18,600 fake websites; these are web sites that look like the real deal but when you go place your order, enter all your personal ID and credit car information, but you never get the product.
    • 5. The search results are random; no company is paying DDG to be at the top of the search list.
  • Q: How is this funded? It is an open source, donations are made.
  • The best security to have on your phone is a bio-protected passcode, finger or face ID. The Colorado DMV has been taking your ID photo that can be used for face recognition.
  • A best practice for security is to clear your cache weekly.
  • 1 out of 3 calls are scam calls, the company’s that make these calls are untouchable because they are coming in from outside the United State.
  • If you are interested learning more and would like to request to be added to the mailing list for the Crime Prevention Newsletter, Cary's contact information is:
    • Cary Johnson
    • Director: Community Relations
    • 1ST District Attorney’s Office
    • 500 Jefferson County Parkway
    • Golden, CO.  80401
    • csjohnso@jeffco.us
    • 303-271-6970
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, November 15, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-11-15 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, November 7, 2022

Updates and Announcements 

Boys and Girls Club: The Boys and Girls Club wants to partner with 285 Backpack to take packs of food to Platte Canyon.
 
Yard Work Volunteering: Trish is working on weekend dates for helping people with their yard work. Stay tuned for more details coming soon.

Blankets for Ukraine: On Nov. 19 we’ll be raising funds for Blankets for Ukraine at King Soopers from 12 PM - 4 PM. Contact Ann if you are interested in helping or getting more info.

Conifer Christmas Parade: The Conifer Christmas Parade is taking place on December 3rd. We are registered to be in the parade and Lesley is volunteering her garage to build the float.
 
Town Hall Meeting: The next town hall meeting will be taking place this Wednesday November 16th at West Jefferson Middle School. We will have a Rotary table at the town hall meeting and if there is any Rotary information you would like to get out at this meeting contact Angela.
 
Community Survey: Conifer Area Council is asking residents to complete a community survey. This is how information is gathered to better understand what is important to residents of this community. To learn more and complete the survey, go to: https://coniferareacouncil.org/community-vision/conifer-survey-results/
 
Salvation Army Bell Ringing: The Salvation Army is accepting volunteers for bell ringing starting November 25th - December 24th. If you are interested in signing up to volunteer, you can contact Angela who can provide a link to a sign-up genius.
 
285 Backpack Project: 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, Click Here or email 285backpackproject@gmail.com. 
 
Evening Meetings: Evening meetings happen every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, and the next one will take place on Wednesday December 14th at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pine Catholic Church. There will be no evening meeting on Wednesday November 23rd due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
 
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.
 
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.
 
Home and Garden Show: April 1st and 2nd at Evergreen High School.
 
2023 District Conference: The 2023 District Conference is scheduled for April 29th.
 
ConiferFest: August 12th
 
 
 
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 Program: Funds and Grants Talk
 
During this meeting the club had a conversation about club funds and different grant options. The notes from this conversation are below:
  • Dean: The money we send to Rotary comes back multiplied. Money we put in comes back three years later. There is a 5% scrape-off that administrators take to operate the fund.
  • Club qualifications include: a representative had to take training. We have members who have done it. Our club is up-to-date with all the qualifications. 
  • We could get up to $3000 from the district every year. We must apply for it. And we can stretch it out to more money if we couple with other clubs.
  • Bill asked about bonding. Morti said we do not have to be bonded. Need budget of more than $150,000 for that to be a requirement. 
  • If you send $100 to Rotary Foundation, $5 goes to ops. $47.50 to the Global Fund; and $47.50 to DDF. And that comes back to district. Funds coming back are use-it-or-lose-it. 
  • District grants musts be humanitarian and in underserved community, local or international.
  • Global grants: Example is water spring filtration systems in Kenya, must have a local club sponsor on scene. Must be in area of focus. No conflicts of interest. 
  • The stream treatments are passive water filtration, basically a leach field with a pipe in a rural area. This area in Kenya has lots of natural springs used for water. Filtration is a way to passively clean up the water. The water comes out clean, you can drink it right out of the pipe. And it’s cheap, originally $1500. 
  • Club funding of a project is the trigger, not our foundation money. Can get up to a $3000 match from district for local projects or international. Global grants can pay 80 percent of the project. $1 can multiple to $4.80. Global grant is huge. Need multiple clubs involved, including a club on-site. 
  • Ann: Blankets for Ukraine is not global because the war interferes with the global requirements for a grant.
  • Diana: They have simplified district matching grants. Peace park: We put in $3000 and got $3000. 
  • Janine: There are a lot of wells around the world with Rotary logos that don’t work, because there is no follow-thru. Now must be sustained. 
  • Dean: The water spring filtration systems don’t need maintenance. We went to Kenya and saw the stream treatments. Water-borne illness stats go way down, and disabilities drop because many were caused by water-borne illness. You can literally see how the individuals are affected. 
  • Rotary can be a great enabler but you have to team up with others. 
  • Janine: Our donations to RI comes back in form of these major projects. 
  • Diana: You can make a donation to RI directly or on a line-item with dues. 
  • Paul Harris Fellow: Your first $1000 donation total to RI makes you a Paul Harris Fellow, then add $1000 at a time. Also can be Paul Harris Society for $1000 in one year. 
  • District Designated Fund Grants (DDF) local humanitarian projects and international humanitarian projects. 
  • Local foundation funds are more limited in what we can do. We use ours for grants to charities, scholarships, youth leadership programs. Club money goes to expenses.
  • Lesley: We’ve funded playground, Peace Shelter appliances, Mount Evans Camp Comfort for children who have lost loved ones, also helped build the Mountain Resource Center (where we meet.) Diana: We don’t pay rent and a lot of clubs do.
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, November 7, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-11-07 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, November 1, 2022

Updates and Announcements 
 
Nick Gunther: Nick Gunther has started his own business doing handyman, tractor and other work. He lives Pine Junction and can be contacted via phone and text at 720.924.2640. 

Ghost Tour: Everyone had a great time at the Halloween dinner and ghost tour in Morrison. Many thanks to Yvonne Lipson for
organizing it, and Morrison Inn for handling a crowd!

Zone Institute: Each year, past, present, and incoming district and senior leaders attend Rotary institutes to share information, build connections, and exchange ideas about Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation. Next week is Zone Institute and Dan Immelsbach from our District is representing the West. Each zone gets a seat on the RI board of directors. Our Western Zone is Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico all the way west to Hawaii and bits of others.

Blankets for Ukraine: Save the date for the afternoon of November 19th for collecting donations to Conifer Rotary for Blankets for
Ukraine at King Soopers.

 
Pumpkin Decorating: Kids at school decorated their pumpkins as literary characters and Yvonne helped as a guest judge. They did a great job and it was difficult to judge!

Interact Club: The Interact Club raised enough money at lunchtime over 4 days for 50 kids to get a polio vaccination at $3 each.
 
285 Backpack Project: 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 or email 285backpackproject@gmail.com. 
 
Evening Meetings: Evening meetings happen every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, and the next one will take place on Wednesday November 9th 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.
 
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.
 
Home and Garden Show: April 1st and 2nd at Evergreen High School.
 
2023 District Conference: The 2023 District Conference is scheduled for April 29th.
 
ConiferFest: August 12th
 
 
 
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 Program: Mark Taylor - Mark's trip to Alaska
 
  • Mark Taylor, husband of Cathy Taylor, visited the club and spoke about their trip to Alaska.
  • He works in his vehicle shop in Grand Junction and is close to grandkids there.
  • He was able to take a 33-day, 10,000 km trip to Alaska, planned for about 13 years. Five men on motorcycles at the beginning, son-in-law went to Montana and then back to work at home.
  • Bikes were set up for long-distance riding.
  • Trip was in June, with snow nearby part of the way
  • They spent the nights one-third each with friends, hotels and camping.
  • The beginning was Grand Junction to Flaming Gorge to Pinedale. Crosswinds were so strong that the bikes were leaning over. Started with 356 miles on the first day. Then to Butte, then Flathead Lake, Montana. Most had heated vests or jacket, and protection for hands. Rainy days, cold at the beginning.
  • Stopped at a tourist attraction owned by a friend at the Montana Vortex. Entered Canada and hit Radium Hot Springs, Banff and Jasper National Parks. Passed a glacier that has been shrinking enormously in the past century.
  • Stopped at Testa River Lodge, which was 307 miles to another town. It had a convenience store and a gas pump with a sign on it: “No Sniveling.” (Gas was about $8 a gallon.) Super food, even though it is not a restaurant.
  • Stopped at Discover Yukon Lodge near the border with Alaska. The 460 miles to Anchorage was the worst highway ever, gargantuan potholes, had to shut down bike hard when they appeared. Then Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay. Two stops to Prudhoe Bay in over 400 miles of dirt road. 40 degrees. There’s a 4000-plus foot pass that’s very steep and it snowed. In Prudhoe Bay, never saw a person or a vehicle because tundra was thawing and people could not work. The locals make an ice road when it’s freezing.
  • We saw 33-34 bears, all on side of the highway. Saw caribou, musk ox, Alaska Pipeline. The others heard the wolves nearby one night. Cathy joined him in Anchorage and nearby. Last day back to Grand Junction was 100 degrees.
  • If you have questions, you can contact him at M.taylor@q.com
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, November 1, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-11-01 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, October 25, 2022

Updates and Announcements 
 
Peace Group Update: Stanley Harsha will be in Indonesia from Oct. 30th to Dec. 30th. Denise will run Peace meetings while he is gone. Stanley also sent the club an email with information about upcoming non-violent communication trainings to be held jointly with the Evergreen and Conifer club peace committees. An informational zoom session will be hosted on January 18th to learn more. See Stanley's email for more details.
 
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. Rotary will train future Presidents and most of the work is around running the meetings. Contact Diana if you have any interest or questions.
 
District Governor: Rotary District 5450 is now accepting nominations for our 2025-2026 District Governor. 
 
Conifer Christmas Parade: The theme for this year's Conifer Christmas parade is Heroes on Parade. The club discussed various ideas on how to highlight the services Rotary provides in our community. Thank you to Suzanne and Charlotte for volunteering for the committee!
 
As a follow-up from service day: Trish Cox and her husband, and Ann Imse and her husband will do yard work in November for a couple of older women.
 
Home and Garden Show: The Home and Garden Show will be April 1st and 2nd at Evergreen High School. Tim Eagan of Evergreen is to be chair. Erika Sprenkel will be co-chair. The show switches between Evergreen and Conifer. Many sponsors said, “Sign me up for next year.” More to come soon!
 
ConiferFest: Will be Aug. 12th. We are focusing on finding more parking and we have decided to have tables delivered to expedite the set-up process. More info to come!
 
Grant Applications: The deadline is Friday November 4th. The application form is posted on the website at rotaryconifer.org
 
Word Polio Day: The club collected $163 for polio through Happy Dollars and a raffle!
 
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 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.
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Request: A volunteer is needed for December and beyond. Please contact Diana if you are interested and able. 
 
285 Backpack Project: 
  • We send bags of food home every week when kids are in school. We are feeding 60 now, but the need is larger, more than 100, possibly 200. We need more help.
  • We need regular volunteers, at different times and days. One day a month is fine.
  • Thank you to Trish Cox who offered to be volunteer coordinator.
  • We also need a sponsor recruiter to gather sponsors and potentially facilitation of a coupon book.
  • Regular volunteers are needed for this schedule to deal with the food distribution:
    • 9:15 a.m. on the fourth Thursday of every month: We need volunteers to meet behind Safeway in Conifer at 9:15 a.m. to meet the truck from the Food Bank of the Rockies. Truck might be late so we have to be patient. We need to schedule a 2½-hour window. Truck arrival depends on weather, loading, etc. It takes about one hour to pull about 1000 lbs of food and take it to our pantry at St. Laurence Episcopal Church, not far away in Conifer. (The truck doesn’t fit at St. Laurence parking lot.)
    • In November this will happen on Tuesday Nov 22nd the week of Thanksgiving
    • Thank you to Ann and Robert and Tom who will help this week.
  • We have volunteers currently to pull food from the pantry on Tuesdays for four schools near Conifer and for three Platte Canyon schools. They leave it at the pantry for pick-up.
    • We need volunteers to pick up these boxes between Tuesday and Thursday from the pantry at St. Laurence and take them to Deer Creek Elementary.
    • No delivery Thanksgiving week.
    • We also need volunteers to pack on Thursday 1:30 - 2:30 at Deer Creek Elementary (take upper driveway)
    • Thank you to Trish and Carol for doing this week.
  • Lesley and Candy sort and distribute to Conifer schools every week. Bambi needs to concentrate on ordering food and organizing recipients.
Please Email 285backpackproject@gmail.com to volunteer. Thank you!
 
Evening Meetings: Evening meetings happen every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, and the next one will take place on Wednesday November 9th 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.
 
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.
 
Home and Garden Show: April 1st and 2nd at Evergreen High School.
 
2023 District Conference: The 2023 District Conference is scheduled for April 29th.
 
ConiferFest: August 12th
 
 
 
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.
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, October 25, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-10-25 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, October 18, 2022

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/
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, October 18, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-10-18 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, October 11, 2022

 
Updates and Announcements 
 
World Polio Day - In honor of World Polio Day on October 24th, Conifer High School Interact Club will be conducting the Purple
Pinkie campaign to raise enough funds to vaccinate 100 children against Polio. 
 
Literacy Project: Ed and Jackie have talked with the Conifer Elem schools and will be meeting with Deer Creek Elem, it is looking like the school would like to get books in the hands of kids. We will be working on getting additional funds from the club foundation and write a district grant. Amanda will reach out to the Kiwanis to see if they would like to make a donation.
 
Club Website: Ann will be interviewing some club members to see how we can improve our web site so people who are interested in joining Rotary can see what we are all about.
 
Breakfast Burritos: Diana will send out an email to get a burrito order for the October 25th meeting.
 
2023 Rotary Foundation Grants: The application is now up on our website!
 
Board Meeting: The club will be holding the monthly board meeting on 10/17 7PM, at Diana's house. Please send Diana an email if you would like to add something to the agenda and attend the meeting. We will be meeting around 6 to enjoy some food, and the meeting will start at 7. Zoom will be available upon request.
 
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.
 
Soldier Bags Project: Gail Sharp with Tall Grass Spa & Salon came to let us know they are doing the Soldier Bags Project which is a project to fill backpacks with supplies needed for the homeless veterans in the Denver metro area. A drop off box is at MRC and at The Wild Game in Evergreen. People can drop off items until Nov 10th . If anyone has questions, please call Tall Grass at 303-670-4444.
 
 
Winter Clothes Drive: This will be held at Conifer Church of Christ on Saturday, November 19th from 10am to 4pm. If you have any gently used coats or winter clothes, please reach out to Amanda and she will coordinate pickup.
 
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Request: A volunteer is needed for a November Sergeant-at-Arms. Please contact Diana if you are interested and able. 
 
285 Backpack Project: 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. Update: Backpack volunteers are needed to help with Food Bank of the Rockies food delivery on 10/27 at 9:15 am behind Safeway. Contact Bambi Moss if you can help. There is a new administrator at Deer Creek Elem in Bailey, the number of food bag
needed went from 6 to 30! Due to the increase in families that have signed up, there will be changes on where the bags will be packed. Watch for updates! To sign up to volunteer, go to: ​​https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040c48afa823aa8-back
 
New Member Induction: We will be inducing a new member, Jackie Grubb, during our next meeting on Tuesday October 18th. 
 
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. 
 
Meeting Guests: Carolyn Alexander (friend of Bambi Moss), Bob Rose (member of the Peace Park committee), Ken Rosevear (Non-Violent Communication trainer)
 
 
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 – Tom Carlisi Non-Violent Communication
    • ​​​​​​​A $25 donation in Tom’s name will be made to PolioPlus.
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, October 11, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-10-11 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, October 4, 2022

 
Updates and Announcements 
 
World Polio Day - In honor of World Polio Day on October 24th, Conifer High School Interact Club will be conducting the Purple
Pinkie campaign to raise enough funds to vaccinate 100 children against Polio. 
 
Meeting Guest - Nick Guenther: Last week at our meeting we welcomed guest Nick Guenther who is Bill Taylor’s son-in-law. He is starting up a new business called Peak Property Works.
 
Soldier Bags Project: Gail Sharp with Tall Grass Spa & Salon came to let us know they are doing the Soldier Bags Project which is a project to fill backpacks with supplies needed for the homeless veterans in the Denver metro area. A drop off box is at MRC and at The Wild Game in Evergreen. People can drop off items until Nov 10th . If anyone has questions, please call Tall Grass at 303-670-4444.
 
 
It's Peachy Social: Our It’s Peachy social was fun, Thank you Suzanne for hosting. It was nice to see both morning and evening club members.
 
Mt. Evans Home Healthcare & Hospice: We received a thank you from Mount Evans for the grant funds the foundation issues for Camp Comfort last year.
 
Youth Exchange: We are working on recruiting outbound youth exchange student. So far, the district has heard from one CHS student. Diana and Suzanne hung posters at PCHS and Diana had a table at their lunch time. It would be great to get a Bailey student. A Zoom informational meeting about outbound youth exchange will be held on 10/12. See Diana if you have any questions.
 
Winter Clothes Drive: This will be held at Conifer Church of Christ on Saturday, November 19th from 10am to 4pm. If you have any gently used coats or winter clothes, please reach out to Amanda and she will coordinate pickup.
 
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Request: A volunteer is needed for a November Sergeant-at-Arms. Please contact Diana if you are interested and able. 
 
285 Backpack Project: 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.
 
 
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.
 
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 – District Governor ‘Buchi’ Anikpezie.
    • Nnabuchi ('Buchi) Anikpezie has been part of the Rotary family for about twenty-two years.
    • 'Buchi spent the first ten years as part of Rotaract, serving in different capacities including Club Secretary, Club President, Secretary District Conference Planning Committee, District Director of Media and Publicity, and District Rotaract Representative for 2008-2009.
    • 'Buchi joined Rotary eClub One in December 2009 and served as the Club's President from 2016 to 2018. Rotary eClub One received the Presidential citation and a District Award for membership growth during his time as Club President. He is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow and a member of the Paul Harris Society. 'Buchi's preferred avenue of Rotary service is club administration/club service.
    • 'Buchi has a medical degree from the University of Ibadan and a public health doctorate from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He is currently an analyst with the Clinigen group.
    • 'Buchi is married to Chika, and they have three children: Chinedum, Adannia, and Nnabuchi II.
    • ‘Buchi has been selected to be District Governor for the 2022-2023 Rotary year.
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, October 4, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-10-04 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, September 27, 2022

 
Updates and Announcements 
Fall Festival: The Conifer Kiwanis Club will be holding a fall festival on Saturday, October 8 on Settlers Drive next to the fire station. The event will run from 10am to 5pm and they will have pumpkins for sale, food and drink available, family activities, and punkin chunkin.
 
 
Winter Clothes Drive: This will be held at Conifer Church of Christ on Saturday, November 19th from 10am to 4pm. If you have any gently used coats or winter clothes, please reach out to Amanda and she will coordinate pickup.
 
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Request: A volunteer is needed for an October Sergeant-at-Arms. Please contact Diana if you are interested and able. 
 
285 Backpack Project: 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
 
2023 District Conference: The 2023 District Conference is scheduled for April 29th. What would you like to see at the conference? Email Diana with any topics you would like to see at the conference.
 
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.
 
 
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.
 
Rotary Zone: Stop Human Trafficking - October 1, 2022 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
 
 
 
 
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: 

 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, September 27, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-09-27 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, September 13, 2022

 
Updates and Announcements 
 
Tuesday's Meeting, September 20th: After much diligent work, Suzanne has been able to schedule the youth we sent to RYLA, (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards).  We are moving our Tuesday morning meeting to 6:00PM at the library conference room inside Conifer High School. Thank you Wes for arranging the conference room for us. Also, Wes will be hold the Foundation meeting at 5:00PM.
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Request: A volunteer is needed for an October Sergeant-at-Arms. Please contact Diana if you are interested and able. 
 
285 Backpack Project: 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
 
2023 District Conference: The 2023 District Conference is scheduled for April 29th. What would you like to see at the conference? Email Diana with any topics you would like to see at the conference.
 
Peace Park: A ceremony to celebrate the initial installation of the Conifer Rotary Club Peace Park at the Aspen Park Community Center will take place on at on Sunday, September 25 at the Aspen Park Community Center, 26215 Sutton Road.
 
JeffCo Sherrif - Meet the Candidates Event: The Mountain Foothills Rotary Club of Evergreen is co-hosting a “Meet the Candidates for Jeffco Sheriff” night with the Canyon Courier on Wednesday Sept 21, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the Buchanan Rec Center, Bergen Peak room. Given this is such an important position in our communities we are hoping this event will be informative for voters, as well as allow people in the mountains to have their voices heard in a structured environment. To help ensure impartiality the event will be moderated by a MFR Club Member Chris Nims who is not affiliated with any political party. The event will be handled similar to a polling place in which we will be prohibiting any campaigning inside or within 100 feet of the building of the event. This includes not wearing pins, t-shirts, hats, or other apparel that displays the name or likeness of any candidate who is on the 2022 Official Jefferson County ballot for Sheriff. 
 
The event details are as follows:
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Buchanan Recreation Center
Bergen Peak Room
32003 Ellingwood Trail
Evergreen, CO 80439
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/RcQotzBdTWRjckst8
Please submit questions in advance to: mfrotary0@gmail.com
 
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.
 
Monthly Board Meeting: The next monthly board meeting is Monday September 19th at Diana's home and is open to all. Contact Diana for address information. 
 
 
 
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.
 
Woohoomanity Bike Ride: September 24th 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM - volunteer or ride. Learn more at: https://www.bikesignup.com/Race/CO/Denver/WoohoomanityChallenge 
 
JeffCo Sheriff, Meet the Candidates Night: Wednesday September 21st - 6:00-8:00 PM at the Buchanan Rec Center, Bergen Peak Room.
 
Peace Park: September 25th. Contact Stan for more details.
 
World Polio Day: October 24th, 2022
 
Rotary Zone: Stop Human Trafficking - October 1, 2022 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
 
 
 
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. A donation of $25 will be made in your name to help eradicate polio.

 
 

Meeting Programs: 

  • Guest Speaker – Kathleen O’Leary came and spoke to the club about Blue Spruce Habitat for Humanity and an upcoming fundraiser: Hard Hats & Heels on Sept 21 st 6-8:30PM @ the Evergreen Lake House – details can be found here. 
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, September 13, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-09-13 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, September 6, 2022

 
Updates and Announcements
 
Roadside Cleanup: Roadside clean-up will be on 9/17 at 9AM; we will be meeting at the lower parking lot at 26689 Pleasant Park. The Mountain Foothills and Evergreen Rotary Clubs along with the Conifer club will be doing roadside cleanup from I-70 to 285, each club will have a section. The Conifer club will be doing the section up Pleasant Park from the off ramp at 285 and up 2 miles. 
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Request: A volunteer is needed for an October Sergeant-at-Arms. Please contact Diana if you are interested and able. 
 
285 Backpack Project: 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 14th at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pine Catholic Church.
 
 
 
Upcoming Events:
 
Woohoomanity Bike Ride: September 24th 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM - volunteer or ride. Learn more at: https://www.bikesignup.com/Race/CO/Denver/WoohoomanityChallenge 
 
World Polio Day: October 24th, 2022
 
 
 
Available Training
 
Literacy Conference - September 18, 2022 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM 
 
Rotary Zone: Stop Human Trafficking - October 1, 2022 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
 
 
 
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. A donation of $25 will be made in your name to help eradicate polio.

 
 

Meeting Programs: Tracy Dorland, Jeffco Public Schools Superintendent

 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, September 6, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-09-06 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, August 23, 2022

 
Updates and Announcements
 
Roadside Cleanup: The Mountain Foothills and Evergreen Rotary Clubs along with the Boy Scouts, Kiwanis and the Conifer club will be doing roadside cleanup from I-70 to 285. Each club will have a section to be done on Sept 17th . The Conifer club will be doing the section up Pleasant Park from the off ramp at 285 and up 2-miles. Arturo will be sending out an email with the details and sign-up.
 
9/11 National Day of Service: The Conifer club’s 9/11 National Day of Service will be done with the Senior Alliance, Trish has been in contact with them and they are in need of yard work and some trail cleanup, like weeding. Trish will follow up with them and send an email out to the club with details and sign-up.
 
Paul Harris Fellow Award to Lesley Landon: A Paul Harris Fellow is someone who has given $1,000 or more to the Annual Fund, PolioPlus, or an approved Foundation grant. Leslie, your generous contributions to The Rotary Foundation are essential to securing and growing Rotary programs throughout the world. RI recognizes you with this Paul Harris pin to express their gratitude for your commitment to Rotary.
 
Strategic Plan: Strategic Plan was mailed out to all of the club. Please read through it and send Diana an email with any questions or comments. 
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Request: A volunteer is needed for an October Sergeant-at-Arms. Please contact Diana if you are interested and able. 
 
Sasa Harambee: Many of our club members have worked with Carol Carper and Sasa Harambee in Kenya; a storm took out the roof and water tank of the Baby Home. Leonor has set up a fundraiser on FaceBook for Babies Home in Kenya. A lot of our members and some Interact students have been there. It is a home for abandoned little ones. Here is the link if you would like to be a part of this fundraiser: https://www.facebook.com/donate/3226543774260642/?fundraiser_source=external_url
 
285 Backpack Project: 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
 
Peaches: Peaches will be delivered for pick up in Aspen Park on August 27. Volunteers are needed to assist with the pick up day, contact Angela if you’re interested in helping.
 
Upcoming Social: Dean and Leonor will be hosting a Taco Tuesday on a Sunday 8/28 from 6-9PM. Plan to bring your favorite Mexican food dish. Yvonne sent an email to club members with more details.
 
Evening Meetings: Evening meetings happen every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, and the next one will take place on Wednesday August 24th at 5:30 PM at Angela's home (contact Angela for address details).
 
 
 
Upcoming Events:
 
Taco Tuesday: Sunday August 28th at Dean and Leonor’s home. See email from Yvonne for more details.
 
Rotary Day at the Rockies:  Aug 21st from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM https://www.mlb.com/rockies/tickets/specials/rotary 
 
2023 District Conference: April 29, 2023 at the Cable Center DU. The theme is “Celebrate Rotary”
 
Woohoomanity Bike Ride: September 24th 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM - volunteer or ride. Learn more at: https://www.bikesignup.com/Race/CO/Denver/WoohoomanityChallenge 
 
 
 
Available Training:

Membership Engagement Summit: Red Rocks Community College – Aug 27, 8:00 AM – 11:30 AM
 
South Sudan: Conflict, Controversy, and Chaos - September 1, 2022 6:30-7:30 PM 
 
Literacy Conference - September 18, 2022 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM 
 
 
 
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. A donation of $25 will be made in your name to help eradicate polio.

 
 

Meeting Programs:

  • On August 16th the club welcomed Sue Glass, CEO and President of the YMCA Metro Denver as guest speaker.
    • Sue shared a brief history of the metro Denver YMCA, along with the mission, vision, purpose and their plan for the redevelopment of the facility at Yale and Colorado Boulevard.
    • A $25 donation was made to PolioPlus in Sue Glass and YMCA's name.
YMCA Presentation Highlights:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  • On August 23rd our own member, Lee Willis, presented to the club about using ClubRunner.
    • Lee walked through a training about how to send an email in ClubRunner and how to view the calendar.
    • The District Website was also reviewed to show where you could find upcoming trainings and events
    • The district website can be found: https://portal.clubrunner.ca/50085/ 
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, August 23, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-08-23 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, August 9, 2022

 
Updates and Announcements
 
ConiferFest: Is happening this weekend! Be sure to try to keep getting the word out, and ask friends or neighbors if they would be interested in volunteering. The link to sign up to volunteer is: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4ea4af22abfa7-coniferfest
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Request: We need volunteers for a September Sergeant-at-Arms and beyond. Please contact Diana if you are interested and able. 
 
Peace Club: The peace park has broken ground, drive by the Aspen Park Community Center to take a look. Stan, a big thank you for pulling this together!
 
Sasa Harambee: Many of our club members have worked with Carol Carper and Sasa Harambee in Kenya; a storm took out the roof and water tank of the Baby Home. Leonor has set up a fundraiser on FaceBook for Babies Home in Kenya. A lot of our members and some Interact students have been there. It is a home for abandoned little ones. Here is the link if you would like to be a part of this fundraiser: https://www.facebook.com/donate/3226543774260642/?fundraiser_source=external_url
 
285 Backpack Project: 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
 
Peaches: The last day to order is August 15 and the pickup will be in Aspen Park on August 27. Contact Angela if you’re interested in helping.
 
Upcoming Social: Dean and Leonor will be hosting a Taco Tuesday on a Sunday 8/28 from 6-9PM. Yvonne sent an email to club members with more details.
 
Evening Meetings: Evening meetings happen every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, and the next one will take place on Wednesday August 24th at 5:30 PM at Angela's home (contact Angela for address details).
 
 
 
Upcoming Events:
 
ConiferFest: Saturday August 13th at Our Lady of the Pine Catholic Church.
 
Taco Tuesday: Sunday August 28th at Dean and Leonor’s home. See email from Yvonne for more details.
 
Rotary Day at the Rockies:  Aug 21st from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM https://www.mlb.com/rockies/tickets/specials/rotary 
 
2023 District Conference: April 29, 2023 at the Cable Center DU. The theme is “Celebrate Rotary”
 
 
 
Available Training:

Membership Engagement Summit: Red Rocks Community College – Aug 27, 8:00 AM – 11:30 AM
 
 
 
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. A donation of $25 will be made in your name to help eradicate polio.

 
 

Meeting Program: Lem Tingley - Growing Spaces Greenhouses

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Guests:
 
Jackie and Kenzie from Growing Spaces. Welcome!
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, August 9, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-08-09 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, July 26, 2022

 
Updates and Announcements
 
ConiferFest: We are in need of more sponsors for this event. If you have any ideas or leads on finding additional sponsors, reach out to Wes.
 
Park County - “National Night Out”: National Night Out is an annual community-building campaign that promotes police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. The Park County event will be taking place on August 2nd and our club will have a table/tent. Please contact Charlotte if you wish to help at the table.
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Request: We need volunteers for a September Sergeant-at-Arms and beyond. Please contact Diana if you are interested and able. 
 
Peace Club: The park is moving along fast! Ground work will begin the first week of August, with large boulders being moved on August 5th and ground breaking on August 7th. Stan has sent an email requesting help with the ground breaking, reach out to him if you are interested in helping. We are tentatively planning the dedication ceremony for May 2023.
 
Thank You: Ed S. thanked all who volunteers and the Evergreen Art Festival on the 23 rd and 24th. An extra thank you to Art Gutierrez for volunteering and always showing up.
 
Sasa Harambee: Many of our club members have worked with Carol Carper and Sasa Harambee in Kenya; a storm took out the roof and water tank of the Baby Home. Leonor has set up a fundraiser on FaceBook for Babies Home in Kenya. A lot of our members and some Interact students have been there. It is a home for abandoned little ones. Here is the link if you would like to be a part of this fundraiser: https://www.facebook.com/donate/3226543774260642/?fundraiser_source=external_url
 
285 Backpack Project: 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
 
Peaches: Each year our club sells peaches from Noland Orchards to raise money for the Rotary Foundation. The link to purchase peaches can be found on our website at rotaryconifer.org. Peaches this year are $40/box. They will be available for purchase until August 15 and the pickup will be in Aspen Park on August 27.
 
Upcoming Social: Dean and Leonor will be hosting a Taco Tuesday on a Sunday 8/28 from 6-9PM. Yvonne sent an email to club members with more details.
 
Evening Meetings: Evening meetings happen every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, and the next one will take place on Wednesday August 10th at 5:30 PM at Angela's home (contact Angela for address details).
 
 
 
Upcoming Events:
 
ConiferFest: Saturday August 13th at Our Lady of the Pine Catholic Church.
 
Taco Tuesday: Sunday August 28th at Dean and Leonor’s home. See email from Yvonne for more details.
 
Rotary Day at the Rockies:  Aug 21st from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM https://www.mlb.com/rockies/tickets/specials/rotary 
 
2023 District Conference: April 29, 2023 at the Cable Center DU. The theme is “Celebrate Rotary”
 
 
 
Available Training:
 
Rotary Zone Summits – Food Security Summit: Jul 30, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM
 
Rotary 101 – Webinar:  Aug 9, 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Membership Engagement Summit: Red Rocks Community College – Aug 27, 8:00 AM – 11:30 AM
 
 
 
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. A donation of $25 will be made in your name to help eradicate polio.

 
 

Meeting Program: Video of Jennifer Jones, Rotary International President

 

 
Our club president, Diana, made some remarks after watching the video:
I Image our club where:
  • All our members find what they’re looking for in a service club.
  • All our members have the tools to be a successful Rotarian.
  • All our members feel a part, heard.
I also imagine our club, the club that our community knows because they see us in the community, they’ve read a little something about what we are up to; they have benefitted from our backpack program, or one of our grants, gone to RYLA or went on youth exchange.
 
I can Image our club, a club that:
  • When we ask a local business to be a sponsor to one of our events, they will know who we are, “that club that does all those things”, and say “sign me up”.
  • When we have a fundraiser, the community will want to go because “it’s a Rotary of Conifer event”; “that’s the club that helps our community, our kids, helps the world.”
We are a club of amazing fabulous caring people.
 
As we go through this next year, I am hoping we can connect not only during our weekly meetings, but at one of our socials. We can learn a little bit about each other. And maybe find out what areas of focus we all like to do. I also want all of us to know that the board meetings, planning meetings, are open to everyone.
 
I would like to see maybe a story in the local papers, social media, Conifer Radio, the Rotary district web page, RI magazine about us. I believe when people hear of the good things we do, they will want to be a part in one way or another.
 
Vision of the Rotary Club of Conifer:
 
The Rotary Club of Conifer is a humanitarian service organization whose contributions improve lives in communities locally and worldwide. Conifer Rotarians are members of the community providing dynamic, action oriented, volunteer service to others. We are committed to the core values of Rotary International: Service, Fellowship, Diversity, Integrity, and Leadership.

 
Guests:
 
We had Susan Eusters, who recently moved to Conifer from Superior and Elijah Dimon-Ainscough, one of the students we sponsored for RYLA. Elijah came to thank us for sending him. Welcome!
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, July 26, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-07-26 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, July 17, 2022

Updates and Announcements
 
ConiferFest: Planning is in full-swing. We are asking for volunteers to help put on a successful event. For more information on where help is needed, and to sign up, please visit: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4ea4af22abfa7-coniferfest 
 
Rotary Foundation: The club has approved Suzanne B. and Angela B. to remain on the Foundation Board and has also elected Sara G. as the Foundation Treasurer. All Foundation meetings are open for Club members to attend and Wes will be hosting a general meeting in September to review the past year’s Board revenues and expenditure. 
 
Sergeant-at-Arms Request: We need volunteers for a September Sergeant-at-Arms and beyond. Please contact Diana if you are interested and able. 
 
Peace Club Updates: The park is moving along fast! Ground work will begin the first week of August, keep your eyes open for an email requesting help with the ground breaking. We are tentatively planning the dedication ceremony for May 2023.
 
285 Backpack Project: 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
 
Peaches: Each year our club sells peaches from Noland Orchards to raise money for the Rotary Foundation. The link to purchase peaches can be found on our website at rotaryconifer.org. Peaches this year are $40/box. They will be available for purchase until August 15 and the pickup will be in Aspen Park on August 27.
 
Roadside Clean-Up: Art will be working with Leslie to get some plans in place. Stay tuned for more info soon.
 
Upcoming Socials: Our first social event will be a brown-bag lunch guided bird hike in Staunton State Park. An email with more info is coming with tentative dates of Aug 20 or 21 st. In addition to regularly scheduled socials, the last Tuesday of each month, our meetings will have an ice breaker where the Sergeant-at-Arms will pull questions from a hat like: “When was the last time you laughed out loud”. We are all looking forward to spending more time socializing!
 
Evening Meetings: Evening meetings happen every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, and the next one will take place on Wednesday June 22nd at 5:30 PM at Angela's home (contact Angela for address details).
 
 
Upcoming Events:
 
ConiferFest: Saturday August 13th at Our Lady of the Pine Catholic Church
 
Peaches: Order by August 15th, pickup on August 27th 
 
 
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. A donation of $25 will be made in your name to help eradicate polio.

 
 
Meeting Programs: Cara Camping “From Cruelty to Care” 
 
  • Speaker Gift – A $25 donation will be made to PolioPlus in Cara Camping’s name.
  • Cara provided an eye opening presentation about Animal Welfare and provided information about companion animal, farm animal, and equine animal bills as well as information about how federal laws are made and what you can do to help.
  • To see a copy of the presentation, please click here

 
Guests:
 
We had Nancy Smith from Evergreen Rotary as a guest. Nancy let us know that the Firewise fire truck will be at the Elevation Celebration and they are in need of volunteers. A signup genius will be provided.
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, July 17, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-07-12 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, June 21, 2022

Updates and Announcements
 
New member: Last week Trish Cox was inducted as a member of the club! We are so happy to welcome her.
 
Foundation: Update on ConiferFest…Finn is finalizing the beer vendors, we have one food vendor confirmed and are in talks with several more. Wes rented a 20x40 beer tent, which will help people get out of the sun when needed. Marlis and Janine are continuing to get event sponsors. Please share the flyer on social media! Everything's coming together nicely, we just really need to get the word out!
 
Peace Club Updates: The club website, rotaryconifer.org, now has information about plans for the Peace Park and a link to donate. Stan and team are working on the grant application and on getting the word out. 
 
285 Backpack Project: To sign up to volunteer, go to: ​​https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040c48afa823aa8-back
 
License Plate: Governor Polis signed a bipartisan bill on May 25 approving the Colorado Rotary
Club specialized license plate. Rotary members can proudly display their membership through
a specialized license plate, and the fees associated with these special plates will go toward
improving Colorado’s roads and highways. Plates will be available in January 2023.
 
MRC needs help: Our families are feeling the pinch of inflation. Between the rising costs of gas and groceries and utilities, financial hardship is a real struggle for many of our families.
 
You can help in several different ways:
  • $25 Provides a clothing voucher for a family
  • $50 Helps feed a family of 4 for a week
  • $100 Provides a gas card for a family needing help with transportation
  • $250 Help a family participate in one of our Early Childhood Programs
  • $425 Assists a family with a utility bill
To provide support, please visit: https://mrcco.networkforgood.com/ 
 
 
Club Goals Update:
  • Membership goal 38, will be 40 at the end of my term!
  • RI annual fund goal: $2250, actual $3775
  • Polio plus goal: $500, actual is $500, thank you Diana!
 
Peaches: The link to purchase peaches is now on our website, so spread the word! Peaches this year are $40/box. They will be available for purchase until August 15 and the pickup will be in Aspen Park on August 27.
 
Diana: Help needed! We are looking for some help to assist Julie with the newsletter (take notes during meetings), and Morti could use a little help lining up speakers. Reach out to Diana if you think you can help out.  
 
Evening Meetings: Evening meetings happen every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, and the next one will take place on Wednesday June 22nd at 5:30 PM at Angela's home (contact Angela for address details).
 
 
Upcoming Events:
 
ConiferFest: Saturday August 13th at Our Lady of the Pine Catholic Church
 
Peaches: Order by August 15th, pickup on August 27th 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, June 21, 2022 Julie Mendelson 2022-06-21 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, June 14, 2022

Updates and Announcements
 
New Member Induction: Tomorrow will be a special day for us, as we will be inducting Trish Cox into the club! Please attend in person if you are able so you can get to know Trish a bit!
 
Foundation: Update on ConiferFest…Finn is finalizing the beer vendors, we have one food vendor confirmed and are in talks with several more. Wes rented a 20x40 beer tent, which will help people get out of the sun when needed. Marlis and Janine are continuing to get event sponsors. Please share the flyer on social media! Everything's coming together nicely, we just really need to get the word out!
 
Peace Club Updates: The club website, rotaryconifer.org, now has information about plans for the Peace Park and a link to donate. Stan and team are working on the grant application and on getting the word out. 
 
285 Backpack Project: To sign up to volunteer, go to: ​​https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040c48afa823aa8-back
 
 
Voting for RI President: The Rotary International Bylaws state that if there are two or more eligible past directors from any zone who have indicated to the general secretary that they wish to serve as a member of the Nominating Committee for RI President, the member (and alternate) shall be elected by the clubs in the zone.
 
As club president, Amanda is registered to vote for the Zone 26 Member of the Nominating Committee for RI President. This ballot ends on 30 June. The vote she casts here will be the result of a vote held by our club. Because of the size of our club, we will get 2 votes. Diana will send all the information out via email this week and club members will vote via email. Diana
will keep track of all votes and tally them on behalf of the club.
 
MRC Needs Help: Our families are feeling the pinch of inflation. Between the rising costs of gas and groceries and utilities, financial hardship is a real struggle for many of our families.
 
You can help in several different ways:
  • $25 Provides a clothing voucher for a family
  • $50 Helps feed a family of 4 for a week
  • $100 Provides a gas card for a family needing help with transportation
  • $250 Help a family participate in one of our Early Childhood Programs
  • $425 Assists a family with a utility bill
To provide support, please visit: https://mrcco.networkforgood.com/ 
 
Club Goals Update:
  • Membership goal 38, will be 40 at the end of my term!
  • RI annual fund goal: $2250, actual $3775
  • Polio plus goal: $500, actual is $345
 
Peaches: The link to purchase peaches is now on rotaryconifer.org, so spread the word! Peaches this year are $40/box. They will be available for purchase until August 15 and the pickup will be in Aspen Park on August 27.
 
Pass the Gavel: June 25 at Suzanne’s house 4pm bring a dish to share and your favorite beverage! Suzanne and Tom are working on the main dish, they will let us know when they’ve decided on what to make.
 
Diana: Help needed! We are looking for some help to assist Julie with the newsletter (take notes during meetings), and Morti could use a little help lining up speakers. Reach out to Diana if you think you can help out.  
 
Evening Meetings: Evening meetings will not be meeting at Our Lady of the Pines during the summer. Instead, they will be meeting at Angela's house (contact Angela for address details). Evening meetings happen every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, and the next one will take place on Wednesday June 22nd at 5:30 PM at Angela's home.
 
 
Upcoming Events
 
Pass the Gavel: June 25 at Suzanne’s house 4pm bring a dish to share and your favorite
beverage!
 
ConiferFest: Saturday August 13th at Our Lady of the Pine Catholic Church
 
Peaches: Order by August 15th, pickup on August 27th 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, June 14, 2022 Julie Andersen 2022-06-14 06:00:00Z 0

Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, June 7, 2022

Updates and Announcements
 
285 Backpack Project: To sign up to volunteer, go to: ​​https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040c48afa823aa8-back
 
License Plate: Governor Polis signed a bipartisan bill on May 25 approving the Colorado Rotary Club specialized license plate. Rotary members can proudly display their membership through a specialized license plate, and the fees associated with these special plates will go toward improving Colorado’s roads and highways. Plates will be available in January 2023.
 
Peaches: Angela is working on getting advertising and flyers, peaches will be ready for pickup on August 27, they will be $40 per case this year. More information to come!
 
Pass the Gavel: June 25 at Suzanne’s house 4pm bring a dish to share and your favorite beverage!
 
World Refugee Day: Colorado Refugee Connect is gearing up for their annual World Refugee Day celebration. This year, in recognition of World Refugee Day, there will be a Colorado Refugee Speakers Bureau showcase event on Thursday, June 16th from 6-8:30pm at the McNichols Building in Denver. The theme is Amplify Refugee Voices, and the event does just that! This will be a powerful evening of storytelling, listening, community building, great food & beverages and more. Buy tickets here: bit.ly/CRSBshowcase or click here to view the flyer.  
 
Evening Meetings: Second and fourth Wednesday evenings each month.  The next evening meeting is Wednesday, May 25th at 5:30 PM at Our Lady of the Pines Catholic Church.

 
Upcoming Events:
 
Pass the Gavel: June 25 at Suzanne’s house 4pm bring a dish to share and your favorite beverage!
 
ConiferFest: Saturday August 13th at Our Lady of the Pine Catholic Church
 
Peaches: Pickup August 27th 
 
Rotary Club of Conifer Meeting, June 7, 2022 Julie Mendelson 2022-06-07 06:00:00Z 0

The Rotary Four Way Test

The Four-Way Test of the things we think, say, or do:

  1. Is it the truth?
  2. Is it fair to all concerned?
  3. Will it build good will and better friendships?
  4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

For many decades Rotary Clubs and Rotarians have used The 4-Way Test as an instrument to develop respect and understanding among peoples.

Rotarians around the world use the 4-Way Test in business, government and schools as an effective measuring stick for conduct, a guide to right thinking. If memorized and constantly applied to relations with others, it will contribute to more effective and friendlier relationships.

By getting into the habit of checking your thoughts, words and deeds against the 4-Way Test, experience shows that it will help you become happier and more successful.

The Rotary Four Way Test Lee Willis 2013-02-10 07:00:00Z 0

Rotary Monthly Themes

  • January:   Rotary Awareness Month
  • February:   World Understanding Month & R.I.'s Anniversary
  • March:   Literacy Month
  • April:   Magazine Month
  • May:   Rotary Education Month
  • June:   Rotary Fellowship Month & R. I. Convention
  • July:   Transition Month * New Rotary Year Begins
  • August:   Membership and Extension Month
  • September:   New Generations Month
  • October:   Vocational Service Month
  • November:   Rotary Foundation Month
  • December:   Rotary Family Month
Rotary Monthly Themes Lee Willis 0