Announcements/Business:
- The tickets for the St. Pat’s party are available on-line at the top of the Conifer Rotary webpage CLICK HERE. We will not be selling paper tickets this year. Members please sign up to help on Sign-Up-Genius CLICK HERE. Please donate silent auction items for the event.
- The Foothills Garden, Home and Life-style Show will be the last weekend in March at Evergreen High School. Please volunteer to help on Sign Up Genius, CLICK HERE.
- “Get to know your Rotary colleagues” from other clubs, come to the District Area 8 dinner-social: 5:30-8pm April 3rd at El Rancho in Evergreen. The price is $25 per person and the craft beer will be $3! There will be a variety of menu items, based on their New Orleans chef’s repertoire. Lesley needs reservations and money by March 20, contact her at lesleylandon59@gmail.com.
- The District Conference is April 27, Arvada Center, $125. It will be a one-day event this year. Tickets are available on the District 5450 website.
- The PJ party at Pat's home to provide pajama’s for the Peace Shelter was a great success. We made individual pizzas and had wonderful potluck delicacies to round out the menu. We collected close to 100 PJ’s of every size!!
- Interact is changing its name to “Young Rotary”. BIG NEWS: The Platte Canyon High School is starting an Young Rotary / Interact Club!
- Angela broke her ankle last Friday, falling on the ice! She could use help; call her to see what she needs!
Program: Mountain Area Imagination Library Project,
Marianne Temple
There’s no app to replace your lap: Read to your child everyday.
Imagination Library is a joint project of our five Area 8 Rotary Clubs. It is a project started by Dolly Parton, to pass on the gift of literacy.
It works like this: Children receive books appropriate to their age in the mail - they love the mail thing! Each receives 60 books from infancy to age five; right now there are over 1 million books sent out every month! The US, UK, Canada and Australia and now Ireland participate. Children will dream more, be more, because they have their own books.
Ninety percent of physical brain development occurs in the first three years of life. We know that children who are read to early do better in school. We also know that children who embed themselves in electronic devices have brains that are not properly developing.
There are thousands of Rotary Clubs that participate in Imagination Library. Our Area 8 project enrolls local children and covers the wholesale costs and mailing for each book. Currently we support about 250 children in this program, and our own MRC is our biggest advocate for enrolling children in the program. The Dollywood foundation covers all overhead and admin expenses, provides database and marketing support; coordinates the Blue Ribbon Book Selections committee; coordinates monthly book orders and fulfillments.
How can each Rotarian support Imagination Library?---- “Word of Mouth”---we now have business cards that have our Rotary logo and the information about Imagination Library. Families can register at https://imaginationlibrary.com. The website also has many other resources for parents. Individuals can also become a financial sponsor: there is a Rotary tax-deductible donation and sponsorship form on the website.
Children fall in love with books because of the memories created when they snuggle up and read with someone they love!!!!
Guests: Patricia Oak, Evergreen Rotary