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Sarah Kostin, Youth Services Librarian at Bud Werner Memorial Library will leave next Saturday, February 6^th for a five-week business, cultural and study exchange to New South Wales, Australia.  Kostin joins four other young professionals from Wyoming and Colorado on the trip which is underwritten by The International Rotary Foundation.

Kostin was recommended for the trip by the Rotary Club of Steamboat Springs according to club president Suzanne Schlicht.  Local Rotarian Mike Forney was chosen by the Rotary district to lead the group.

Team member Sarah Kostin reviews the travel manual and itinerary for the upcoming trip to New South Wales, Australia with Steamboat Springs Rotarian and team leader Mike Forney.

Rotary International pays for the round-trip flights and the exchange team members stay with host families of Rotarians in Australia. A similar group of young professionals from Australia will visit Rotary clubs in Wyoming and Colorado In May and June.

Kostin has held several positions at the local library since she joined them in 2004.  She worked previously at Horizon Specialized Services as a community integration specialist.  She earned a Bachelor of Science degree at La Salle University in Philadelphia and a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois.

All of the participants are between 25 and 40 years old and are required to have been fully employed in their profession for a minimum of two years. They cannot be Rotarians or direct relatives of Rotarians.   They were selected based on their interest in the study of diverse cultures, an outgoing personality, a commitment to serve as an “ambassador” to another country and a desire to learn more about their individual fields and vocations.

Other team members include two from Jackson, Wyoming; Matthew Weisman, Director of Information Technology for the Town of Jackson, and Joshua Mallonee, International and Service Program Coordinator at Wilderness Ventures.  Leslie Sampson, senior vice president of HomeState Bank is from Loveland; and Tiffany Lehman, owner and business and life coach for Living on Purpose lives in Fort Collins.

Mike Forney, who served as club president for the Rotary Club of Steamboat Springs last year, said  “The team will travel a wide area of Northeast New South Wales, from about 240 to 400 miles north of Sydney.  The team will visit many of the 55 Rotary clubs in the host district, attend their meetings, witness and participate in a wide variety of community and international service projects, and explore the area’s natural resources and highlights.  They will also meet and confer with Australians who work in industries and professions similar to their own.”

The Rotary district in Australia includes seaside resort area and communities deep in the Australian bush.  The district features extensive tourism, farming, equine management, education, manufacturing, aviation, and healthcare. The team will also study the aborigine culture and visit with aborigine leaders during their tour.   February and March are the height of the summer season in Australia with temperatures reaching 110 degrees inland.

The team members were chosen during an extensive interview process in November.  Since that time they have participated in weekend training and orientation sessions in Jackson and Laramie Wyoming and Fort Collins, Colorado.

They leave Denver International Airport on Saturday afternoon, February 6^th and arrive in Sydney Australia on Monday morning, February 8^th after crossing the International Date Line.  They will return to the United States in mid-March.

In less than 30 minutes last week, Steamboat Springs Rotarians collected more than $6,000 to purchase and dispatch tents and supplies to earthquake-ravaged Haiti through a unique Rotary program called ShelterBox.  Fellow Rotarians in Wyoming and northern Colorado raised another $60,000 in the past several days for ShelterBox purchases.

SRT (ShelterBox Response Team) offload ShelterBoxes from French Red Cross IL 76 Aircraft at PAP airport in Port Au Prince, Monday, 18th January 2010 (Picture by Mark Pearson)

As of Monday, January 25^th, Rotary ShelterBoxes are already providing emergency shelter for more than 20,000 people in Port au Prince and surrounding areas. Hundreds more ShelterBoxes containing disaster relief tents and other life-saving supplies are being sent to the city in the next few days from Miami, Curacao and France.

“Our local Rotarian family responded immediately when we learned that our dollars would be applied almost immediately to helping the homeless in Haiti,” Rotary presidents Kevin Kaminski and Suzanne Schlicht said.

Each ShelterBox costs $1,000 and supplies an extended family of up to 10 people with a tent and lifesaving equipment to use while they are displaced or homeless… Highly trained ShelterBox Response Teams distribute boxes on the ground, working closely with local organizations, international aid agencies and Rotary clubs worldwide.

On Friday January 29^th, ShelterBox is chartering a 747 aircraft with 1,800 boxes to fly from Stansted Airport to the Dominican Republic where they will be taken overland to neighboring Haiti. It is the second flight chartered by the international disaster relief charity for the Haiti response after a plane loaded with 700 ShelterBoxes and 100 tents flew out of England last week.

A number of ShelterBoxes have also been used at an orphanage and at two hospitals in Port au Prince where tents are being erected to help save lives.

ShelterBox’s Founder and CEO Tom Henderson said: ‘In terms of logistics, the aid operation in Haiti has been ShelterBox’s most challenging in the last decade, with only one airport on the island which has been shut until recently and the port shut as well.

“As food, water and medicines are now starting to get in; the focus now is fulfilling the urgent need for emergency shelter.”

To add to the logistical problems of delivering aid in Haiti, the airfield has only been operating during daylight hours and there has been a shortage of aviation fuel.

Public donations are vital to ShelterBox’s continuing work around the world according to local Rotarians… To make a donation go to www.shelterboxusa.org to donate online and get the latest updates on the charity’s response to the Haiti earthquake.

Lindsey Yost receives student honors from Rotarian PJ Wharton

Lindsey Yost, daughter of Kathi and George Yost and a senior at Steamboat Springs High School is the Rotary Student of the Month for January of 2010.  Lindsey was honored at the regular Rotary meeting on January 19^th.

Lindsey is a member of the National Honor Society maintaining a GPA of 3.4.  Her career interests are in the area of sports medicine and she has taken medical preparation  and the care and prevention of injuries in addition to her general studies.  She is considering attending college at the University of Connecticut to further her career goals.

Sports are a important part of Lindsey’s high school experience.  She participates in varsity volleyball and is captain of the basketball team.

As a leader in school, Lindsey has many other roles within the high school community as well.  She serves on the Link Crew that helps younger high school students adapt to their new environment.  She is also a senior class officer and participates in the Leadership Class.  Last year she served on the Prom Committee and this year she is on the Graduation Committee where she is producing a senior slide show for graduation.

One of her instructors, Dr. Daniel Tullius, advises that Lindsey is self motivated, highly disciplined and gifted as well.  PJ Wharton, Rotary Student Coordinator cited these strengths in recognizing Lindsey’s successes at Steamboat Springs High School.

Rotarians have already raised more than 800 MILLION DOLLARS since 1985 to eradicate polio worldwide.  Now Steamboat Springs Rotarians are joining more than 1.2 million Rotarians to raise another $200 million needed to kill polio forever!

The second annual Rotary Community Barn Dance at Sidney Peak Ranch on September 26th already contributed $1,000 to the effort.  School children throughout the Yampa Valley helped the club raise another $800 during End Polio Now Day Wednesday, October 28th.

Everyone can do their part.  If you want to make a contribution, go to  http://www.rotary.org/en/Contribute/Funds/PolioPlusFund. You may also make a $5 contribution to Polio Plus now by sending a text message from your cell phone.  The text address is 90999.  The message is POLIO.  You will receive a confirmation message within seconds!

See photo of students participating in Purple Pinkie Day at Steamboat Springs High School.  (l-r) Katie Arnis, Rachel Grubbs, Gabrielle Bohlman, Cheyanne Chadwick, Calyx Ward and Sutter Duerst.

On February 23, 2009, Rotary International turned 104 years old.  Rotary International and its local clubs have weathered everything from mild economic downturns to The Great Depression by maintaining an unwavering focus on its core mission of service; service to our community, our fellow man and ourselves.

In 2010, through a combination of volunteerism and fundraising, your two local Rotary clubs continue this ethic of service above self.

Rotarians collected more than $2,500 during the holiday season through “bell ringing” and collections at downtown and mountain locations.  The money will be used to support various senior citizen activities in the community.

In response to the terrible earthquakes in Haiti, Rotarians raised $6,000 in less than 20 minutes at their January 19th meeting.  The money will be used to purchase Rotary “Shelter Boxes” which contain a tent, cooking utensils and supplies that will accomodate a family of eight for up to six months.  Six of the boxes will be shipped to Haiti as soon as possible.

But the giving does not stop at the borders of Routt County.  Six members of Rotary’s Interact Club traveled to Agua Prieta, Mexico in January to distribute gifts to more than 100 orphaned children.  The Interact Club includes some 40 students at Steamboat Springs High School).

Steamboat Springs firemen put a cap on Strawberry Park school Platform

Worker waits for supporting poles

Hundreds of volunteers joined Steamboat Springs Rotarians to begin constructing two fully-accessible playgrounds at Strawberry Park and Soda Creek Middle Schools. Work began on Thursday, July 24th to unload hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of playground equipment purchased with funds raised by the “Let’s All Play” Committee co-chaired by Julie Taulman and Shelly St. Pierre.

Rotarians Ben Northcutt, Kemp Bohlen, Jane Denning and Angela Catterson organized the volunteers, provided work assignments, and kept people fed and in good spirits.

By Sunday the initial concrete had been poured at both sites to stabilize footings and all of the major structures had been assembled and placed.

Most assembly will be completed by Monday, July 28th. In the coming weeks the land will be graded and prepared for underground heating equipment, cement flooring and rubberized surfaces.