MEETING NOTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:
We hope you all are home safe and warm on this frigid Tuesday. Please note that the Board Meeting was moved to Zoom if you were planning to attend tomorrow. An email with viewing instructions went out from President Arthur earlier today.
Weekly Noon Meeting Notes:
We began last week with President Arthur taking a few moments to acknowledge the anniversary of the 1987 ruling that allowed Women to enter Rotary International. As he pointed out, many members worked hard to convince the club that this would be a good idea. Special thanks for this to Neil DiLorenzo, who was particularly instrumental in our club deciding to include women. Further, President Arthur thanked our past and current women members for the tremendous work they have done and continue to do.
Scott Davenport presented our latest student scholar. In this case, we had a young man from Mountain Vista with his parents in attendance. The student, Evan Olds, is a scholar and an athlete. He has above a 4.0 GPA, and he plays varsity baseball and football. Evan is also a member of the National Honor Society.
Other guests included the new member mentioned in the photos above, Joe Musco and his wife Dorothy, as well as District Governor Tamie Fennell, Bill Butler from Flyin' B, and our Exchange student Filippo Molinari! (By the way, Filippo confirmed his last day will be June 2nd, so please include him if you have anything for him to "experience" between then and now.)
We also welcomed our friend, Mike Wescott, who came to tell us the Chapter of the Veterans' Benefit group we have long supported is closing. With thanks and a heavy heart, he returned over $8,800 undeployed dollars to our Foundation. We are sorry to hear of this change and look forward to helping veterans in whatever way the Foundation and the Board decide to move forward. We wish Mike and his fellow Veterans all of the best.
Our program last week was important. President Arthur brought the results of the Member Survey with Kari Brown's help to our attention over lunch. We heard from 49 of 78 noon members, so we did not have a full data set necessarily, but we did see important takeaways.
In summary, most appear to be supportive of our club's direction in the key areas. There are some notable areas where we may improve over time. We do want more time for socializing, so President Arthur will work hard to keep meetings on time but also to allow a block of time when we eat and visit. Also, we saw that there is a call for more "business networking."
We also noted that President Arthur reminded us that our bylaws call for twice-a-year meetings on that topic. Therefore, next week there will be a business networking meeting. Details will follow on that point.
We look forward to more social activity with Kristy and Nancy coming into their new roles. We continue to improve the Wheel Spinner and remind the club that Kim is relocating out of the state, so new Wheel Spinners will be needed. More on that will also follow in the future.
There will also be more work for us in the International Committee. The pandemic shut down many travel efforts, but with the International Committee revving up again, we will see more. The Costa Rica trip and four other major initiatives are underway. Please join the committee for its next meeting if you are interested.
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Family of Rotary:
We got word from Mary Kay Hasz that her late husband, Earl's, Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, February 22, 2025, at 10 a.m. at the Christ Episcopal Church located at 2950 S. University Blvd, Denver, CO, 80210.
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Reminders & Updates:
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We were also reminded the "Early Bird" rate for THE RI CONVENTION in Calgary in JUNE of 2025. Many of us will be there! Let's make it a group adventure and show up in force, RCHR!
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Marion Tummer reminds us (as did Philip Calderbank), the Costa Rica Literacy trip is scheduled for May 20, 2025-May 29, 2025. You may contact Marion if you would like information or speak to members of the International Committee.
A few final words from The President's Desk this week:
- On 2/20 the noon meeting (as is required in our Bylaws) will be an "Open For Business" Forum. Entrepreneurs and others are invited to share with the club a brief 5-8 minute summary of their services and practice areas. Please contact Sue Bramley or Claudia Caves by this FRIDAY if you want to present. We ask that you keep presentations to 5-8 minutes, and please let them know if you will have a Power Point or need AV. We encourage you to bring flyers, etc.
- Last, but not least, we have another mandatory announcement regarding open seats for the Board of Directors. This is week three of the process.
The following people have now either raised their hands or been nominated. As of noon last week, the following people had been announced/nominated. We will hear more soon. The final names for consideration are:
- Alan Balfour - Nominated by The Board.
- Nancy Barton - nominated by Debby Doig, we believe.
- Zig Berzins - also nominated by a member of the Board.
- Shannon O'Brien- self-nominated at the last meeting on the floor.
- Scott Smith - Nominated on the floor at the last meeting by Jane Kucharski.
Very soon, we will be asked to vote (via email). Please watch your email for this very important chance to make a choice that will determine the future leadership of our club. Your voice matters and the votes will be counted!
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