Announcements/Business:
- Thanks to Marlis and Steve for hosting the Club Holiday party last Saturday.
- We are collecting The Rotarian Magazines, placing stickers over addresses and placing them in community offices. Please bring your Rotary Magazines to club meetings after reading them.
- The Rotary Grants Seminar is this coming Saturday in Golden. The application is on the District 5450 website.
- The Rotary Leadership Institute is February 1st. It is three sessions and the Club pays the fee. This training is very helpful in understanding all aspects of Rotary. Go to the District 5450 website to register or just click HERE.
- February 8th is the Rotary Polio dinner and fund-raiser and the speaker is John Hewko, CEO of Rotary International. Reservations sign up is on the District website or just click HERE.
- The Platte Canyon Interact Club is continuing their coats and blankets collection for two more weeks. Contact Suzanne for more information.
- Our next Club Social is The Trivia Night event on March 7th. Contact Tom or Yvonne to form your team~! This event supports the Booster Club at Conifer High School.
- Planning for the St. Patrick’s Day Dinner Fundraiser is under way. The event will be held at Beaver Ranch and we will need lots of help from our members.
- Our club foundation will be asking for funding for the Kenya Small House project. More information will be coming.
- Our Conifer Rotary evening meetings are on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays at 5:30, now at the Conifer Community Church.
- Summer Music Festival Announcement. John Cerillo and his wife Ruth have been invited to help put our music together for our summer music fest, August 15, 2020. John is a musician, song-writer and singer. He works with young talent in Nashville, writing new music with the young artists. Many of the artists are breaking out….John would like to bring some of the young musicians to our festival! He described the wide range of music that these young artists are performing.
The event will have music, vendors, beverages and fun to raise money for our community projects.
Clean, Uncontaminated Water for Oglala Lakota Sioux in Pine Ridge, SD
Pine Ridge, The Lakota Nation, is the third largest reservation in the US. Unfortunately it has a history of the water contamination. The US government retained the mining rights on the property when they 'gave' the Nation the reservation land. Uranium is mined there and it has polluted their water supply
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The government built a pipeline from Pierre South Dakota to the reservation—the largest water purification plant in the world with water pipes over 200 miles long. The pipelines don't reach the dispersed native homes on the reservation, so the people are using wells that are mostly contaminated. Many of the young mothers have been taught to feed their babies powdered formula, which requires the water. Many members of the tribe left the reservation because of the contaminated water. Their health is deeply affected by the contamination.
Water is Life, is the name of the project. Half of the reservation sits over the High Plains Aquifer. Its goal is to construct water lines from the pipeline to the homes. The county is the poorest county in the USA, so families cannot afford the piping. There are 68,000 homes without adequate sanitation and water.
Boulder Rotary started a District grant with their Foundation funds last summer. The Lakota Nation has an NGO: Running Strong for American Indian Youth, started by Billy Mills, an Olympic Gold Medalist. The focus is on creating a healthy community.
The Boulder Rotary Club wants to do a reverse Rotary grant in order to get a global grant for the Lakota Reservation. Running Strong is matching the Rotary dollars; they set the criteria for the households that will get the pipes. Currently the monies are addressing one home at a time, as they launch the project. Every $3,000 donation from Rotary is matched to meet the cost to get water to a home. Money from Colorado Rotary Clubs (12 District 5450 Clubs are currently addressing other needs, but water is not the focus) can be sent to Boulder Rotary.
The pilot project has brought water successfully to three homes. Boulder Rotary will continue this effort while trying to get a Reverse Rotary Global grant.
Alessandro Sachs's information handout is attached to this story. Click the "Read More" button below the story on the club homepage.
Guests:
Brandi and Christina (owners of new florist in Conifer/Kings Valley), Salesa Hancock, John and Ruth Cerillo, Eddie Frisk (Finn’s grandson), Gil Gulbrandson, Dual Schneider (who will be our newest member with induction scheduled for next week)
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