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Rotary Photog 101 Presentation

Lift Up Director David Freseman accepted a check from The Rotary Club of Steamboat Springs and the Ski Town USA Rotary Club representing proceeds from Rotary’s major fund-raiser each year. This year marked the 12th consecutive year for the event, which always raises $10,000 for a local charity.

Past recipients have included the Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurses’ Aging Well program, the Rotary Boardwalk Project, Advocates for Battering and Abuse, South Routt Partners and Rocky Mountain Youth Corp.

“This is our major fund-raiser and one of our most popular activities. Lift-Up has also been one of the primary recipients of Rotary funds for years,” Rotary chair for the event Angela Catterson said. The new Lift-Up center was named after Rotarian Don Lufkin. “We couldn’t have found a more deserving charity for this year’s event, particularly in light of the current struggling economy.”

Sponsors of the event included Feldmann Nagel & Associates, Alpine Bank, B& K Distributing, the Holiday Inn, Steamboat Motors and The Tennis Center.

Save the Date — September 26th, 2009

Rotarians Steve Hitchcock, Cam Boyd and Dave Zabel are seen here with Soda Creek Elementary School third-graders showing their very own new dictionaries.

 

Dear Rotary Club: 

Thank you for the dictionaries.  And thank you for the sign language in the dictionaries too!  I like the longest word at the end.  Oh, my favorite is the sea life.  Thanks for telling us all the flags in the dictionary.  Some of us in our class are doing a report from the dictionary too!  I’m wondering if I want to do a report.  I might.  Anyway, thanks for the dictionaries.  I love it!    Sincerely, Veda Marshall, Mrs. Schumacher’s Third Grade Class, Hayden Valley Elementary.    P.S.  Rotary Club Rocks!

Dear Veda:

Thank you for sending us such a nice thank-you note about your brand new Rotary dictionary.  Mr. Cameron Boyd from our club has been bringing dictionaries to third grade kids in Hayden, Oak Creek and Steamboat Springs for several years now.  I’ll bet you’d be surprised to learn how many other Rotarians helped, like Jamie Morgan, Dave Zabel, Steve Hitchcock, Jane Denning, Holly Rogers, Kerry Shea, Jeff Steinke and Chan Coyle helped.  They loved going to third grade classes in Soroco, Strawberry Park, Soda Creek and Hayden to bring kids their own books.  We needed them all to help because we had almost 300 to deliver and they are pretty heavy!  I’m sending you a picture from third-graders at the Soda Creek Elementary School.  We brought them dictionaries too. 

Everybody loves looking at the longest word.  It has 1,909 letters!  We tried to say the word at our Rotary Club and we finally gave up.  Maybe all of you in Mrs. Schumacher’s class can do better.

We all loved your letter, especially with the drawings of the big heart around your name and the American flag.  You probably didn’t need to use your new dictionary to write your letter because there wasn’t a single misspelled word!

Be sure to have fun this year in school, study hard and keep checking out all of those wonderful words in your very own dictionary!

            Mike Forney

            Steamboat Springs Rotary Club

Three students out of nearly 1,000 high school attendees in Routt County were selected by their teachers and administrators to receive special recognition at Rotary Students of the Month this fall.

Matthew McIntosh, Steamboat Springs High School senior was selected in September.  He is the son of Susan and Rusty McIntosh. 

Matt was instrumental in the creation and success of the Interact Club last year.  Interact promotes the vision and goals of the Rotary Club in high school and develops community involvement skills in students.  Matt is also active in the school’s EPYCS organization which raises awareness and recommends disbursal of funds to address school and community needs.

“Matt is one of the busiest students in our school.  His involvement is school and community activities, humble leadership and outstanding character are unsurpassed”, SSHS Principal Kevin Taulman said. 

Dennis Wright was the October Rotary honoree.  He is a senior at Lowell Whitman School and the son of Teresa and Dr. Jack Wright of Steamboat Springs. 

Daniel is a member of the National Honor Society with strong interests in studying drama and French.  He attended 7th and 8th grades at a school outside of Paris, France and is fluent in French.  Next fall he is planning to attend college and has Colby College in Maine and Denver University on his short list among others.

Daniel is an avid soccer player and hopes to play at the college level starting next year.   In addition to school and soccer, Daniel finds time to assist other youth through coaching at the Steamboat Soccer Academy and volunteering as a member with Partners of Routt County. 

Charlie Stoddard, Steamboat Springs High School senior was selected as Rotary’s November student.  “Charlie is the most remarkable student I have ever worked with,” Gayle Dudley, SSHS career and college counselor said.

Stoddard serves as president of the school honor council.  He has won national math competitions, taken junior level college math classes on-line, attended three summer math camps, and takes independent math classes at Stanford University’s Education Program for Gifted Youth. 

He has participated in cross county running for four years at the varsity level, and has been team captain the last two years. He skis with the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club in Nordic Combined and has been a member of the Junior Olympics team for five years.  “I have never encountered a more dedicated, brilliant, talented or likeable student than Charlie,” Dudley said.

Rotarian Dan Callahan congratulates Matt McIntosh on his award.

Charlie Stoddard

Rotarian P.J. Wharton poses with honoree Daniel Wright.

Jack Morrison, Past President of the Steamboat Springs Rotary Club (1982-83) and Past District Governor of Rotary International District 5440 (1988-89) for northern Colorado and the state of Wyoming, was recently recognized as a Major Donor to the Rotary International Foundation.  He is the first member in the Steamboat Rotary Club to be awarded this distinguished honor by contributing over $10,000 to one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the world.  Jack and his wife Jo have been residents of Steamboat Springs since 1978. 

In 1973, Jack was a charter member of a new Rotary club in Carmel, Indiana, and was the first Youth Exchange Chairman.  Over the years, he and his wife, Jo, hosted 11 international Youth Exchange students.  In 1976, he was selected from the Rotary district covering the state of Indiana to lead 5 young non-rotary professional men ages 25 to 35 on a six-week Group Study Exchange program to the New South Wales district in Australia.  Group Study Exchanges provide an opportunity for young professionals to study their profession in another part of the world.  For Jack, the experience impressed upon him the great work the Rotary International Foundation does worldwide and was the impetus for becoming an enthusiastic supporter of the Foundation.

Originating in 1985, one of the major goals of the Foundation is to eradicate polio in the world.  Since then, Rotary has contributed over $850 million and partnered with UNICEF to move toward final stages of the eradication effort.  Currently, Rotary is raising an additional $100 million to equal the matching grant from the Gates Foundation to successfully complete the program in the world.  The only 4 countries left that are polio endemic are Nigeria, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In addition to the polio program, the Rotary Foundation provides global grants for matching funds to members’ contributions to humanitarian projects and educational activities throughout the world.  Contributions to the Rotary Foundation by over 1.2 million members from 33,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries totaled $113,723,669 in the 2007-2008 fiscal year.

Steamboat Springs Rotarians began to provide support to a remote Nepal hospital high in the Himalayas in 2002 when they raised funds to purchase $30,000 in medical equipment.

Two years later the club raised more money to purchase and install a satellite communications system that allowed the remote hospital instant access to diagnostic and treatment analysis from specialists in Katmandu.  (In the past, outside assistance required a four-day trek over difficult roads.)

Jack Morrison received word in mid-November that the new democratic government of Nepal has recognized the dramatic impact of the first satellite system in the mountain region and is now raising funds to install similar systems in other remote areas of the country.  Dr. Mingma, medical director of the Phaplu Hospital in Nepal, extended his thanks to Rotary for helping to make this all possible.

The Steamboat Springs Rotary Club delivered $30,000 in proceeds to the Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurse Association and “Poogie’s Place” last month. The funds represent the lion’s share of the earnings from Rotary’s Community Barn Dance held at Sidney Peak Ranch in September.

Poogie’s Place was named for Margaret “Poogie” Dawes who died suddenly in 2006 and was widely known in the community for her philanthropic activities. It will be part of the Rollingstone Respite House, which is now under construction on Pine Grove Road. Poogie’s Place will provide a place for children of all ages to learn to cope with loss and grief while taking part in creative pursuits, including physical activities, recreational and group art therapy.

Poogie’s Place facilities will also be available for use by Yampa Valley Autism and Colorado West Mental Health as well as offering respite to families of children with special health care needs.

More than 450 adults and children attended the Rotary Community Barn Dance, which will become an annual Rotary event according to event chair Linda Palmer. Each year, the Steamboat Springs Rotary Club will choose a single charity as the recipient of event proceeds.

“We think the success of our first barn dance came from the tremendous amount of support from personal and business sponsors and the hard work and dedication of Poogie’s Posse — a group of Poogie’s friends who raised a substantial amount of money,” Rotary President Mike Forney said.

All of the sponsors were invited to the check presentation held at the Steamboat Grand on Nov. 4. They included presenting sponsor Poogie’s Posse, “Gold” sponsors Steamboat Motors and Steamboat Resorts, “Silver” sponsors Prudential Steamboat Realty, Holloway, Brabec & Karet, Fox Construction, Holmquist-Lorenz Construction, Holiday Inn, TCD, Wells Fargo Bank, Starbucks and Steamboat 700 and “in-kind” donors Sidney Peak, Christy Sports, Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation, Steamboat Fly Fishers, Hewes Quarter Horses and Myriad Springs Ranch.

Rotarian Jamie Morgan with wife Megan and daughters Neva and Ava enjoy a delicious barbecue dinner.

For more than ten years Steamboat Rotarians have supported the Ski Town USA Golf Classic, one of the major fund raisers for the Hospital Foundation of the Yampa Valley.  A portion of the net proceeds have also been allocated to the local Rotary clubs for community grants and other worthwhile causes.

Starting next year, however, the Steamboat Springs and Ski-Town USA Rotary Clubs have agreed to take on more responsibility for the two-day golf and auction event.  Steamboat Springs Club President Mike Forney will chair the event, assisted by morning club Rotarian Jim Swiggert.  “Although Rotary will receive a larger share of the proceeds next year, the Hospital Foundation will still receive substantial revenues from the event,” Forney said.

Nearly 100 volunteers participate in the Golf Classic each year.  In addition to Rotarians, members of the Hospital Foundation board, other foundation volunteers and community members will pitch in to organize more than 200 golfers and some 400 who typically attend the live and silent auction and benefit reception. 

 The event will be organized and directed by a five-person Executive Committee, including, Forney, Swiggert, Yampa Valley Medical Center Chief Executive Officer Karl Gills, Foundation President Marilyn Johnson and Foundation Board chair Diane Tarnoff.

“The real financial success of the event is dependent on the participation of our many sponsors and the results of our live and silent auction,” Forney said.  Sponsors are already being contacted and the search is on for exciting and unusual live auction items, he said. 

Next year’s event will kick off on Thursday, June 18 with golfer registration, followed by two days of golf at Rollingstone Ranch Golf Club and the Catamount Ranch and Club and a gala benefit auction and reception on Friday night, June 19^th. 

Rotary board member Alice Klauzer (l) and past president Sandy Evans Hall greeting golfers at last year’s Ski-Town USA Golf Classic.