Wheel Spinner (Mar 08, 2016)

March 8

The Costa Rica team will regale us with tales from their literacy trip!

---------------------------------------------

March 16

Sunrise Club will have a guest day

Speaker: Scott Perry whose talk is called "The NFL since 1970" with special emphasis on the Broncos!!

See more below

----------------------------------------------

March 17

Paula Mitchell: Author of Traveling through Colorado’s Wine Country

-----------------------------------------

Did you know that you can view the current and past issues of the "Wheel Spinner" on-line?

How? Just go to www.highlandsranchrotary.org and click on the "bulletins" icon.

------------------------------------------

DID YOU MISS LAST WEEK’S MEETING? HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED:

Nikki Koster, Director of Justice and Mercy Legal Aid Clinic, JAMLAC, discussed the cycle of poverty. JAMLAC's goal is to move clients up from their lowest point into better employment, housing, education, etc	Nikki's proud mum, Jane Kucharski

STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP CANDIDATES:

Emily Sattern from Rock Canyon and Sarah Solnet from Mountain Vista

Emily is Key Club president, Spanish Honor Society and National Society, plays varsity Soccer. She volunteers at Work of Life Academy with their summer program. Shes going to University of Kansas for Behavorial Science.

Sarah co founded the Interact clubs at Mountain Ridge Middle School and Mountain Vista HS. Shes a big volunteer - Interact projects. IFCS, Project Cure, Bessies Hope & the Peaceful Schools Initiative. She competes in DECA and plays tennis.

50/50 winner was Mark McNary

OTHER NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT

NCOA – What is it?

It’s a group HR Rotary has been working with for several years, the Non Commissioned Officers Association at Fort Carson. NCOA is a leader in Veterans and Spouse Employment, a strong voice on Capitol Hill and with the Veterans Administration. Their members around the world are making a difference in their local communities.

In 2010 Jerry Selinfreund attended a district conference where he learned of the efforts of NCOA at Fort Carson to fund emergency financial assistance to families of deployed service members in their absence from home. This program named” Warm Heart” was only the second program of that name to provide this assistance in the United States. The club joined as a contributor in late 2010. To date we have donated an approximately $3,000 a year to the program.

In addition to funding the Warm Heart program our club has been very active in fund raising for their annual golf tournament through member donations and club sponsorships. These efforts have raised approximately $20,000 in the six years we have been involved with the tournament. All together, the club donations have been in the $40,000 range.

What does that support?

Project Warm Heart
Operation Snow Ball Express - A nationwide program that provides travel, lodging, meals and a fun four day trip to Dallas, TX Six Flags amusement park for children of fallen service members.
Operation Snow Flake - A regional program to provide local trips for children of fallen service members to attend sporting events and other gatherings to promote adventure and association with their peers in this unique group.
The Crawford House - A residential facility in Colorado Springs that provides housing, meals and counseling for veterans with substance abuse problems who are enrolled in the V.A assistance programs for their treatment.

IFCS NIBBLES & SIPS GALA WAS A HUGE SUCCESS!

Congratulations to IFCS who raised $144,000 at this year's event. That's an 18% increase over last year. I'd like to think it's because the honoree was none other than the best Rotary Club in Denver - yes, HIGHLANDS RANCH ROTARY!! Thanks to all who were involved and contributed!

COSTA RICA TEAM BACK - AND WHAT A STORY TO TELL!

By Marion Trummer

Editors note: Hear the story live at our March 10 meeting!

This is a typical house in the area we visited. Tires make up the playground zone at the school

Seven members of our club, along with 2 from the South Jeffco Club, teamed up with Peace Corp Volunteers (PCV) and the Give a Book Foundation to deliver books to some very needy children. This is a new partnership between Rotary and PCV.

How it works - PCV assesses the need and Rotary works to fulfill it. PCV stays with the project throughout and upon book delivery, achieves hero status in the community, making it easier to implement changes. Philip, a PCV, created “Jump Start”, which teaches English to 7^th graders. The biggest school drop-out rate is after 7^th grade. Students move on to a big school and must have English language skills. This program gives smaller country children a chance to succeed and build self esteem.

Our goal was 5 schools, 300 kids. Reality added books for 5 more schools as the need is so great, then 2 more schools where whom we met along the way. We traveled 7 hours south of capital, San Jose, into some of the poorest areas of Costa Rica. To quote one of the PCVs, “the level of illiteracy is blatant.” Each school greeted us with the national anthem and folk dancing performed by 6^th graders. At some sites we even danced with the children. We were impressed with how proud they are of their country. Everyone was wonderful, welcoming and most grateful. We received lots of hugs. We “read” to the students and helped them look through the books. Some had never held a book before and treated them with reverence.

We visited 2 Rotary clubs. The Belen club, 15 members, hosted a pot luck BBQ. They also invited their Rotaract club. This group has so many needs. Their current project is acquiring childrens wheel chairs for a giveaway this fall. It isn’t easy to collect money there, so they are looking for partners. The Rotaract club is hoping to work with our downtown Denver Rotaract on joint projects. We also visited the Rotary Club of Garabito in Jaco, 15 strong as well. They are a new club and still working on how best to help their beach community.

Did we have fun? Of course. We visited the volcano, dipped our toes in the ocean, stopped at lots of roadside restaurants, visited a coffee plantation and went into Panama for a few minutes. Would we do it again? In a heart beat.

DISTRICT CONFERENCE 2016:

LIGHTS - CAMERA - ACTION! MARY KAY HAS A NEW VIDEO OUT!

Click here to view Conference Message from District Governor Hasz

Mary Kay is a great sport! I made a little

suggestion to create a video announcing

District Conference 2016. She went out and did it!

Friend of Rotary Profile:

KARLA OLSON

Karla's husband, Grant Olson, is a member of Highlands Ranch Rotary. Both he and Karla work tirelessly for our club. Even tho she's not a member of Rotary, Karla leads Interact clubs at Mountain Ridge Middle School and Mountain Vista High School. Karla also received a special District 5450 award last year: Volunteer In Community Service, by A Non-Rotarian, for her support of HR Rotary's community service projects.

CAREER

I'm an elementary/early childhood education teacher

WHERE FROM?

I am a Colorado native

ROTARY PASSION

Interact! I believe that service opportunities allow youth to be at their very best. I believe that giving to others boosts students' self esteem and affords them an opportunity to make choices with their time that makes them feel good about themselves. The students and sponsors are also a BLAST to be around.

FAVORITE VACATION SITE

A cruise of any kind!

SOMETHING COOL NO ONE KNOWS!

You may not know that I am a HUGE Bronco fan! (really?? see photo)

PHOTO OP!

From time to time we get pictures of club members doing their thing. In this new column, we'll see what our friends are up to!

Cindy Begley, Marion Trummer, Jan Keyton, Mary Kay Hasz, Ray Anderson, Steve Miller & Bob Walsh in a visioning exercise for the club's next year, held at the Selinfreund's.

Jerry Wilford, Sue Bramley, Connie Golas, Elizabeth Kringel, Bill Simmermon & Jerry Selinfreund at the Saturday morning board meeting

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

ROTARY CLUB OF HIGHLANDS RANCH SUNRISE CLUB

The Sunrise Club is having "Guest Day" Wednesday, March 16. The guest speaker will be Scott Perry whose talk is called "The NFL since 1970" with special emphasis on the Broncos!! We are encouraging Sunrise members to bring a guest and would love to see our noon club friends attend. There is no charge for breakfast. Members and/or guests need to contact me if they are attending, Annmather@aol.com.