Stories

 On June 16, several Rotarians received special awards from President Chris Woodruff:

Congratulations to Glen Droegemueller and Brenda Dones who were named Rotarians of the Year at the President's Awards Dinner on June 16. Both of them demonstrated an outstanding commitment to the ideals of Rotary and to Centennial in particular. Each of them went above and beyond in their support for the club this year. I am very grateful to them for their efforts and support. These two people are outstanding examples of Service Above Self and what it means to be a Rotarian. Great job!

This is a list of specific Rotary announcements that will be of interest to Centennial Rotarians:

The President's Awards Dinner will be held on Thursday, June 16, 2011 at the Country Club. We will not have a regular noon meeting on that day. We will be having Prime Rib for dinner. Cocktails at 6 and dinner at 6:30 PM. It will be a grand evening.

On May 19 we welcomed Kacie Vaughn as a Centennial Rotarian. Kacie is the Relocation Manager for Sears Real Estate. She is sponsored by Bill Kehl.

Please take a moment to say hi and make her welcome.

Investing less than $2 per week through the Rotary Foundation changes lives.

Many thanks to all of the Centennial Rotarians who attended and participated in the District 5440 Conference on May 12-14. It was an outstanding event with great speakers, information and fun.

It is time to register for the 2011 District 5440 Conference which will be held here in Greeley on May 12-14, 2011. Please go to the District 5440 website and complete registration there. The cost is $180.00

Thanks to Chairs Bruce Bode and Glen Droegemueller and all of their Golf Committee members for another outstanding Golf Tournament. We had grerat temas and great weather and the event was a huge success. This tear's tournament benefitted Habitat for Hunanity and Meals on Wheels.

Yes you heard right we had multiple winners.  Click below to see who won the Rotary Great Golf Ball Drop!

Centennial Rotary Facebook Page

And while you're at become a "Fan" and "Like" the page.

Our 9-11 Memorial Project is going forward.

The Centennial Rotary Club was awarded the Business Partner of the Year award for the club’s work with Greeley West High School. 

Please plan to join us this Thursday, April 21 for a special program by the Greeley West Interact Club. This great group of High School Rotarians will inform us about their activities and projects for this year. They are a dynamic, exciting group of young people and this promises to be a great program!!

A big thank you to Centennial Rotarians for contributing $350 to the After Hours Bowl a Thon. The whole event raised over $4700 for the After Hours Club to support their work with senior citizens in our community. Many thanks to Centennial Rotary for your coninued support.

The Board accepted the proposed application of Kacie Vaughn sponsored by Bill Kehl. Kacie is the relocation manager for Sears Real Estate. This serves as official notification of the membership proposal. Please direct questions or comments to a member of the Board.




 

Please attend Thursday's Program!  We will be hearing from Carrie Shimada of the Weld County Extension Office on Lawn Care and Gardening.  Don't miss it!
 

 

Please join us for a presentation by Governor John Hickenlooper. 

Being a Rotarian does have it's privileges because only registered Rotarians and their registered guests can attend this event. 

For all Greeley Rotary clubs, please click on the link below to register with your club.  Registration must be received by April 11th.

Greeley Centennial Rotary  - please click to register you and your guests

Greeley Rotary - clicking this link will allow you to send an email to your Club President

After Hours Rotary - clicking this link will allow you to send an email to your Club President

Red Eye Rotary - clicking this link will allow you to send an email to your Club President

Our very own Ted Gilliland shared experiences and photos from the Honduras/Guatemala trip that Centennial Rotarians took last fall. The group consisted of 11 people who spent a total of 9 days split between the two countries. The trip seemed to be nothing short of a "Rotary Moment"

While in Guatemala the group met up with some representatives from Starfish One by One which is a group that encourages the empowerment of Mayan women in the region. In general they found that Mayan women are shy and timid due to their culture. The primary goal of Starfish is to help these girls breakthrough those boundaries to become leaders in their community and culture. During the visit our group was able to participate in team building exercises with some of the girls in the program to see a small process that these women go through in the program. The Rotary group split up and did family visits with two families who had daughters going through the program. The daughter of one family was right at the the completion of the program and was preparing herself to go to University to study business. The daughter from the other family had just begun her journey in the Starfish program. Part of the Rotary Global Grant was allocated to provide a new Starfish office with new appliances and Toshiba laptops which the Rotarians actually purchased during the trip.

During the other half of the trip the group traveled to Honduras to see the progress on the Union Cedral school that Centennial Rotary helped furnish with desks and schools supplies. This project was completed through a partnership with Simple Suppers for Kids. The Centennial Rotarians were able to see how the money was spent and interact with the children we were able to help through this meaningful project.  

 

 

The Greeley West Interact club joined our meeting to give us an update on what they have accomplished over the past year. Some of the highlights from the past year include their annual Trick or Treat Street where they provide a fun and safe environment at the school on Halloween for kids to come and play games as well as trick or treat. One of the largest fundraisers that the Greeley West Interact produces every year is Thanksgiving Big Give. This year the group gave more than $2900 worth of food to families in need. Interact was donated more food than anticipated resulting in a surplus of nearly 1300 boxes so they were able to donate boxes of food to on duty fire fighters and public safety members.

With the floods during 2013 Interact also supported a flood relief food drive and was able to help support our local food banks during their highest time of need. Along with all of these wonderful activities that Interact participates in every year they still find time to help sell our "Golf Ball Drop" tickets and for that we thank them.

 

 

The Greeley West student of the month for February is Maci Herman. Maci is an artist and she also is a dancer in the Greeley West POMS club. Even though Maci is extremely talented with her art she is also very mathematic and scientific in her way of thinking. 

Maci was given the opportunity to nominate the teacher of the month and she chose Peggy Freemole who teaches theatre at Greeley West and she is also the POMS coach.

The Greeley West Student of the Month is Junior, Violette Marcantonio and the Teacher of the Month is Brandon Torrez who teaches statistics at Greeley West.

Veronica Martinez was the Dugan Scholar of the Month.  Veronica is a senior at Dayspring Christian School.  She is involved in the worship team, cheer-leading and volleyball.  She has been on 3 mission trips and is planning a trip to Jamaica in March with her senior class.  She leads a friend to friend group at Dayspring, has a love for art and theater, as well as global community service.  She hasn't finalized her college plans as of yet, but knows she wants to be an art teacher.

Dick spoke with excitement and enthusiasm about the team's growth and development. A 20 year old team is a real youngster in this very competitive business. Rockies revenues are dwarfed by those teams like the Dodgers and Yankees that have been around "forever". His hope is to stay focused on the long haul and on the quality of the players and of the organization and let history decide the rest.

It was clear that his goal was to make the Rockies a good team, a good business and a good citizen of Colorado. His energy and enthusiasm were captivating whether you were a baseball fan or not. Best of luck to the Rockies, Dick Monfort, and his dreams

 

 

 

President Will Hume announced to the club that a non-profit arm of Pirate Radio will assume the maintenance of the motor home generously donated by a family in Fort Collins following Dr. SanJuana Mendoza's radio interview. The people Dr. Mendoza targets literally survive on scraps from the dump and monies raised salvaging reusable items to sell. These people are the poorest of Juarez Mexico. Dr. Mendoza serves the medical needs of these people at low or no cost to them. Our club has supported her work to these people on an international humanitarian basis and making our effort to "Engage Rotary and Change Lives."

The motor home will be used as part of a traveling radio program from Greeley, Colorado to El Paso, Texas. El Paso is just across the Mexican Border from Juarez. Along the route the motor home will be filled with medical supplies and donations for the medical mission. The hope is that other Rotary Clubs along the way will be inspired to contribute whatever supplies they can and partner with us in this work. Thank you to the people of Pirate Radio and their non-profit and the many Rotarians who have brought this development into existence. An a special "Thank you" to Will Hume for his tireless spearheading of this project.

 

Daniel Mork - Greeley West High School

Christy Hardwick has been a Fraud Investigation Specialist with the Greeley Police Department since 1999. There are many ways that crooks try to make their own Christmas merrier at your expense. She warned us to be careful when shopping online. If you click on a link to order something, be sure that the site it takes you to belongs to the company your are working with by comparing the URL address. Also look for the padlock symbol or https when going to pay. The 's"at the end of http_ stands for secure site. Your data will be encrypted as it travels through cyberspace to get to your supplier which makes it safer.

Sometimes crooks send a notice that they have a package they need to deliver, but need more information before they can do it. These criminals are just "phishing" for more personal information so they can steal your identity later. Beware of free travel offers. Such offers provide criminals an opportunity to get your personal identification. Be sure to travel with only reputable sources.  E-card invitations are very popular but can be dangerous. If you are sent an e-card be very cautious of opening it even if you do know the sender. Before opening the e-card, email your friend and ask if they sent it to you and iff they did not then delete the message immediately and empty the trash on your computer. Viruses attached to the e-card may have a timer and self open in your trash at a later date and invade your computer and get information that is private. Install anti-virus protection on your phone as well as your regular computer. McAfee and Norton have good anti-virus programs.

Christy also encouraged us to be on the look out for sound alike names of charities for year end giving. Names like the International Rotary Foundation instead of the Rotary International Foundation etc. are strategies used to mislead charitable donors. 

Christy also gave our group some tips regarding passwords. Short passwords as well as pet names, children's names and birthdays are common and easy for thieves to guess. The longer the password the harder for thieves to decode and copy. The use upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols are all strategies to make your password safer. A good example would be: My!passWoRd-32". She encouraged us not to use passwords when we are on public free wifi and internet. At restaurants and Starbucks, if you use your password, thieves may be hanging around just waiting to snatch it. There is even a thing called a War Driver who can drive by your house and get on your unsecured wifi and get in to your computer and copy your keystrokes to see what your passwords are. She advised us all to password protect our personal wifi even in our houses.

While this presentation was scary to think about, it was also empowering. If you would like more information about the subject, you can contact Christy at the Greeley police station. Thanks for your good advice, Christy and for all the good work you do putting bad guys away through your investigations.

Officer Morgan May is the Supervisor of 30 officers responsible for the Sheriff department detention center. He also champions the Special Olympics program in the area.
It was an emotional moment for officer May to receive the award now named for fallen officer Sam Brownlee. Officer May was a classmate and friend of Sam Brownlee in the academy.
Mrs. May was also honored with a bouquet of flowers as a thank you for her support of her husband who daily puts himself in harms way to keep Greeley safe. They were both honored and touched by today's presentations. Our gratitude to them and to all who serve.

Here are the photos, courtesy of Doug Lidiak, from the Greeley Lights the Night Parade in downtown Greeley. 

http://www.lidiakphotography.com/Rotary/Greeley-Lights-The-Night-2013

Seventeen year old, Amanda Cory has been making her mark ever since she got to high school.  As a freshman, she reached out to her newly-hired school counselor to make her  feel welcome at Northridge High School.  She even wrote a consoling note when the counselor's brother died and a congratulatory note when her counselor had a baby.  

Amanda is an articulate and active young woman.  She recently planned a food and clothing drive following the Greeley-Evans floods.  She is the Interact president, plays four sports, is involved in student council and many school activities as well as the school board.  Amanda was a Young Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) participant and a high school RYLA participant.

She shared with us a parable of the Coffee Bean which she uses to guide her life.  Many things when surrounded by "hot water" or difficult circumstances, become weighted down and made soggy by their environment.  She chooses to be more like the coffee bean which changes its environment.  She wants to change her environment when it becomes difficult and like good coffee, not become bitter.

Amanda has applied to nine Universities and hopes to study English and writing.  Good luck in the future to a truly amazing student and person.

Harper Reed is a graduate of Central High School in Greeley.  He is also the former Chief Information Officer for the Obama Campaign.  He and his team paid attention to how the social media works and designed a system and interaction with social media to use it to great advantage in the Obama Campaign. He has apparently always been an 'out of the box' thinker and personality.  In High School he was Student body President in both his junior and senior years at Central High.  According to  Rotarians who knew him then, he also had dyed red hair.  After graduating from college in Iowa, he went on to several successful ventures in the computer coding world.  

In and entertaining and informative way, Harper led those of us who are technically challenged through the world of coding and customer experience.  The focus of his outcomes for the campaign were end user experience and end goals for the campaign.  His team was able to observe and interact with supporter behavior in a way that captured enthusiasm, friendship, and political activism.  Like Rotary, they leveraged friends talking to and asking for assistance from friends.  

When asked why his company was not asked to roll out the Obama Healthcare package, he replied that it would smack of cronyism which was an unacceptable option.  He helped us to grasp the enormity of the task of trying to coordinate a computer roll out of a plan that effects 50 states with different rules and numerous insurance companies who also have different rules and state constraints.  He also pointed to the fact that securing a government contract is a difficult hurdle for many companies and they often pour more resources into contract procurement than into contract execution.

Harper is and interesting and impressive human being with a lot to offer the world.  He currently lives in Chicago with his family.  He can be reached at Harper@modest.com.  I hope that someone in Chicago offers him the opportunity to become a Rotarian.  He could be a very creative addition to any organization.

Harper Sheets - Greeley West High School

Tom Fyffe, Senior Estimator, and Ryan Martorano, Chief Estimator presented the history and plans for Hensel Phelps Construction.  Hensel Phelps Construction was started in 1937 founded by Hensel Phelps. The first project was Hensel's parents' house. From those modest beginnings, it has grown to a company of over 2000 employees and an annual revenue of over 3 Billion dollars. They have grown to be internationally recognized as an honest and reliable construction company. They have built the Denver Convention Center, Ocean Journey, The wooden roller coaster at Elitch Gardens, The Justice Center, The Tabor Center, Vestas Manufacturing Co., The Miami, Orlando and San Francisco airports as well as many other well known buildings. They contributed their profit and overhead costs to the building of our own homeless shelter, The Guadalupe Center.
Their national reputation was acknowledged immediately following the 9/11 attacks on the Pentago and the U.S. government asked Hensel Phelps to  take on the 10 year, rebuild and remodel project. They finished in less than 9 years and were under budget. They are continuing to focus on above ground construction projects. They do some international projects, but only if there is staff that wants to be relocated for several years of the project.

Thanks to Tom and Ryan for sharing a story of honesty and Rotary values of Service Above Self. 

       

      

Courtney was introduced by her counselor from Greeley West as one of the top two students she has ever worked with. Courtney is the current student body president of Greeley West. She is a previous Rotary Youth Leadership Award recipient. She sang the praises of RYLA and her experience there. She is grateful for the skills and inspiration she received. She shared that she learned that if we are all willing to push pebbles together, we can move mountains! She is very active in a variety of service clubs and projects. She is in the Baccalaureate academic program and active with her church. She runs cross country and loves hiking and reading. She plans to attend UC Denver and major in international relations.

President Will Hume inducted Todd Bale into our membership.  Todd has been a member of other Rotary Clubs and is very serious about his support.  He is the current Chief Professional Officer of the Boys and Girls Club of Weld County here in Greeley.  He has a wife and seven children.  He is looking forward to being an active member of our Rotary Club.  Welcome to the Club, Todd!

Jacob Ouma shares the joys and challenges of rescuing girls from brutal, illegal practices in Kenya

Mark Hagen of the Red Eye Rotary in Greeley, Thanked our Club for participating in a water project that brought fresh, clean water to the Kenya Girls Rescue Center.

Then he went on to introduce our speaker, Jacob Auma, from Kenya, who is the Director of the Rescue Center which runs the Kenya Olooloitikkoshi ( Ulu loi tik koshi) Project.

 The Olooloitikkoshi Project is a Girls Rescue Center (GRC) in Massailand, Kenya, that was built to address early forced marriages and the tragic practice of Female Genital Mutilation ( FGM). These common practices, occurring in large numbers in tribal Africa, continue to inflict pain, humiliation, and poverty on young women.

Jacob Auma, described the Female Genital Mutilation tradition and process to us in a modest, but heart wrenching way. No anesthesia nor medical attention is offered to these young girls. The plight of these girls and the need for rescue was clear.

There are so many ways to Engage Rotary and Change Lives. This project, and our awareness of it, offers another one.

 

One of Greeley's renowned educators presented an informational talk on the impacts of Amendment 66 for District 6 schools.  Dr. Broderius shared some background on the state's current school funding plan and how it has basically deprived District 6 of its fair share over the past 15 years.  By repurposing some of the money already in the State budget for education, and by raising taxes just a little, District 6 will begin to make up for the past deprivations.

The system will be more fair and the money raised by the tax will be protected from being used for anything other than the education of students.  District 6 will gain over 27 million dollars/year toward educational resources for our students.  Because the new system makes up for past slights, every $1 of tax we spend will net us $3.  That is a great investment in the future of our children and our community.  People like to live and work in communities that take the best care of the education of their children.

Damion LeeNatalli shared a perspective on our current contributions to education.  When he was in school, citizens paid 10% of their income to fund education.  We currently only spend 8%.  After the tax increase from amendment 66, we will only be up to 8.2%.  

District Superintendent, Ranelle Lang, shared that we have students in our district with extra challenges.  There are 53 different languages of origin for the students in our district.  We need to help  them all learn English as well as keep them from falling behind while they learn.  All children deserve the chance to succeed.  We all benefit when they do. 

We were also given a handout with Frequently Asked Questions as well as a breakdown of the facts and ways the 27 million dollars will be allocated.  If you want that information for yourself, go to www.coloradocommitstokids.com or www.greeleyschools.org and click on Ballot Amendment 66.

A big thanks to our own Doug Lidiak for bringing us this timely program.

 

Yolanda from San Andreas, Guatemala came to speak to us and thank us for supporting Starfish One By One.  Yolanda is one of the Starfish program graduates from the first class which started five years ago. She was accompanied by Darcy Struckoff, energetic director of development for Starfish who has helped organize the trip that 13 of our members will take to Guatemala in November to visit the Starfish site.  

Yolanda spoke to us about her experience as a graduate of the Starfish program.  Starfish has a three tiered program which involves identifying bright, but underprivileged Mayan girls.  The girls are enveloped into a program involving academic scholarships, mentorships and internships.  The girls and their families are "almost adopted" by the mentors who are themselves women who have broken the cycle of poverty and become empowered women.  The girls are guided, encouraged, coached and supported in many ways to nurture their eventual success.  95% of the girls in the program finish their education.  Throughout Guatemala only 5% of girls finish primary school most only finishing 2 years of school.

Yolanda was one of a group of 12 girls.  They picked a name for their group which was "United for a Dream".  Yolanda finished her High School and began University in January.  She speaks a Guatemalan dialect as well as is fluent in Spanish.  She came to Lakewood, Colorado to study and improve her English.  She wants to start a travel business in Guatemala helping tourists find the best places to shop and stay while they travel and learn the customs and traditions of Guatemala and the Mayan people.  She also hopes to employ others to help with the overall economy.

Our club was one of the sponsoring clubs for a Global Matching Grant through the Rotary Foundation.  We got the cooperation of 21 other clubs in and outside of our district.  Together we raised $69,000 in support of Starfish efforts in Guatemala.  The program is now five years old and quite successful.  One of their graduates is the first Mayan female city councilwoman in Guatemala.  How's that for Engaging Rotary and Changing Lives!!!

Darcy translated for Yolanda and also shared information about the organization of Starfish One By One.  It is run by  140 indigenous women in Guatemala and funded and supported by the efforts of the office for Starfish One By One in Evergreen Colorado.  It gets it's name from the parable of the Starfish which is an adapted and shortened version of The Star Thrower by Loren C. Eiseley.  For a delightful, and appropriately female adaptation of the story, Google "Starfish Story" and click on the link for Ordinary People Change The World dot Com.  It's worth the effort.

We wish Yolanda and Darcy all the best as they each pursue their dreams to make a difference for people in the world.

The Starfish Story
By City Year

A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.

She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”

The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied, “Well, I made a difference to that one!” 

The old man looked at the girl inquisitively and thought about what she had done and said. Inspired, he joined the little girl in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined, and all the starfish were saved. - adapted from the Star Thrower by Loren C. Eiseley

Perseverance against great odds and against the criticism of others is the very hallmark of value-based idealism, as is refusing to accept failure. The understanding that we hold in our hands the power to change a life, a mind, or a circumstance today – right now – is a powerful insight and motivator. At the same time, idealistic acts, even highly symbolic ones, have the power to inspire others to act, and sometimes in numbers significant enough to make a major or even complete impact on the problem at hand. Perhaps most inspiring of all is to witness the idealistic power of children and young people in action. The idealism of youth is a powerful force for leading change in the world. Often it is our youth who put into values that we have instilled in them – but have failed to act on ourselves. The world, therefore, depends on the idealism of youth to lead the way.

 

Our very own Kathy Van Soest spoke with us about using our eating habits to our advantage to improve our health. One resource that Kathy directed us to is www.myplate.gov which is a site that simplifies eating healthy by showing a normal dinner plate and what your portion sizes should look like. Most Americans eat outside of the recommended portions and in most cases eat more than they should. Even though protein is an essential part to a healthy diet, most Americans eat more protein than they should and usually don't eat enough fish which is recommended twice a week. The recommended salt intake is 1 teaspoon or 2500mg per day for most people and as little as 1500mg for people age 51 and older or with high blood pressure and/or cholesterol. A majority of Americans consume nearly 5000mg or double the recommended intake each day. Kathy is very educated on eating healthy and is a great resource to have in our club.

Greg Anton gave a well informed, understandable, and confronting report about the state of the Nation's financial statement. One illustration was that the total net worth of everyone in the United States, including all the wealthiest people, was still less than the total national debt when you include all of the pension obligations of the government.  He has been very active trying to educate our lawmakers to the actual size of this problem.  He has a website where he has posted the video that was used to inform Freshmen Congressmen during their orientation.  He asked us to share the link with everyone so that we could all get a business perspective on what is at stake when we consider our country as a business.  The website is:  www.AIPPA.org/whatisatstake.  His presentation was alarming and informative.  I am sure that his video will be an educational experience for everyone.  His presentation certainly was.

 

 

Police Chief Gates introduced Elizabeth Finch as this months recipient of the Service Above Self Award.  Elizabeth serves our community as a Child Abuse and Child Sexual Abuse Investigator.  Some of her techniques and protocols have been adopted as models for training other Child Abuse investigators in the department and in text books.  She feels she is working for the child more than working for the department and that motivates her to continue to do excellent investigations.  Her husband, Todd Finch, was a Service Above Self recipient in the past.  Today he received a bouquet of candy as our thanks for being a supportive spouse for Elizabeth's demanding work.  Thank you, Elizabeth, for your extra effort  on behalf of the children of our community

 

 

Doug Lidiak introduced Nancy Devine who is the Chief Academic Officer for District 6. Nancy went through the complex system of teaching children to read. She explained that teaching children to read is not as easy as putting a good book in their hands. The system District 6 is very calculated and is built to help each child learn at the pace that fits them best.

The foundation of the system used is a benchmark that measures the children's reading level and comparing it to normal children in that grade. After evaluation of each child's progress they evaluate the best way to either help a child catch up to where they should be or pushing children to go above and beyond what is expected of them but having a common schedule for all students. Nancy discussed the 5 big ideas of reading which are; phonemic awareness, phonic, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. These 5 things are what our teachers measure for each child to evaluate their reading level.

 

-Glen Droegemueller was the winner of the 50/50

-Mike Nichols was present wearing his pin so he took home $90 from the pin drawing

 

We were fortunate to have a number of the UNC Athletic coaching staff join us and give a candid outlook on what their seasons may have in store for the coming year.

-Jenny Shoop who is Director of Development introduced the guest coaches but also informed us of some important upcoming dates at UNC including Homecoming which is September 28th

-Tim Barrera is the women's soccer coach for the Bears and is starting his 15th season with UNC. Tim mentioned that the Best Wester in Loveland has sponsored the women's soccer season so all home games are free admission to the general public .

- Amanda Schick is starting her 3rd year as head coach for both Cross Country and Track & Field.

-Lyndsey Oates is working on her 11th season as the UNC Volleyball coach. Lyndsey is also expecting a baby boy who is due in the middle of the Volleyball season.

-Earnest Collins is just starting his 3rd season as the Bear's head Football coach. Bear's football will be hosting 7 home games this season.

 

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Our service above self award was presented to Rick Smith with the Greeley Fire Department this month.  Rick has been with the department for 15 years and is a forest fire paramedic.  An amazing story was shared by one of Rick’s colleagues, Jeff Odell, about how Rick saved a fellow firefighter’s life back in June.  The firefighter suffered a heart attack while fighting a forest fire in Rocky Mountain National Park.  Rick happened to be in the same area when the call came in and saved the man’s life by acting so quickly and efficiently.  Rick’s wife, Jennifer, also attended the meeting last week when Rick was recognized by our club.  Thank you to Rick and Jennifer for their sacrifice and dedication to our community.

“I lost my Mom two months before RYLA. I was empty. I had lost my spark. RYLA was an amazing experience for me. Thanks to RYLA, I started to fill the emptiness and I found my spark. Thank you.” Jordan Wagner Frontier Academy High School

“ It was amazing how quickly my team became a family. I hope to continue my experience and become a Junior Counselor next year and help give to others what was given to me. Thank you for the experience of a lifetime.” Daniel Buhler University High School

“ At first I felt shy. After 2-3 days of team building, I felt a lot of trust for everyone on my team.” Hunter Larson University Middle School

‘RYLA was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. I want to do more for my community. I learned a lot about trust.” Caitlyn Olsen Frontier Academy Middle School

“My friends who went to RYLA before me all came back enthusiastic and obsessed with helping out. I thought I might debunk the RYLA experience and find the faults by participating. They were not kidding about the RYLA magic! I gained a lot of confidence and learned a lot about leadership skills. Thank you.” Lucas Smith Frontier Academy High School

I felt reserved at first, but after experiencing the Trust Falls with my team I felt connected. My grandma died the Tuesday of the conference. My mom came down to tell me in person and let me choose to stay or go. I chose to stay and finish the experience with my team. I kept my loss to myself because I wanted them to like me for me and not out of sympathy. On Friday I told my team and they were wonderful.”
Sara Hume University High School

“ I learned how strong people are and that I am not alone. I learned that if it is to be it is up to me.” Tori Palmer Frontier Academy High School

“Before RYLA I thought I knew a lot about leadership. At RYLA I got to know a lot of people in a short time. Addison Vergara Greeley West High School

“I am almost an Eagle Scout. I think I learned more about leadership in one week at RYLA than in all the time I have been in Boy Scouts.” Ian Spooner Eaton High School

“RYLA has changed my life. I feel like the teenage blinders I had been used to having have been removed. I see everything, every person and every story now. I love without trusting prejudices or stereotypes. I am open to letting myself feel how others have felt. I also have a whole new family that I feel like I have known my whole life. I miss everyone s if we were a high school off for the summer. But please send more people! I want to share my experience with everyone I can.” Kenzie Montano : email sent to Keith Abbot

The Rotary Youth Leadership Awards recipients for Junior High and High School shared their experiences and gratitude with us at our meeting on Thursday Aug. 8th. There were three students who attended young RYLA leadership training conference at the Ponderosa Conference grounds in Larkspur, Colorado and six students who went to the high school RYLA conference at the YMCA conference grounds in Estes Park.
From Sunday afternoon until Friday at noon these young people were immersed in leadership training activities. Team building games and exercises, self-awareness and other awareness increasing events, inspiring presentations by guest speakers, touching presentations by their peer counselors, and opportunities to debrief all of their experiences with a small group of 12-13 fellow participants who were part of their team throughout the conference. Each team had a Junior Counselor and a Senior Counselor. Junior Counselors are selected through a highly competitive process from former RYLA participants. Senior Counselors are Rotarians who apply and go through background checks and are then selected by the RYLA Board of Directors.

A BIG THANK YOU to all of the RYLA students for giving us such an uplifting and touching program.

The second half of our Rotary program was a visit from Amelia Earhart.  She shared stories about her life and the value of having supportive parents when you want to push boundaries and explore new horizons.  Elsa Wolff, part of the High Plains Chautauqua, did a wonderful portrayal of Amelia Earhart.  She was the first person to fly from Hawaii to Oakland, California.  She inspired women of her day and people of all ages.  As part of her program, she spoke directly to the RYLA students who were present at our meeting.  She was inspiring, encouraging and motivational as well as historical.  What an amazing event to have this woman reach out of the past and touch the lives of the eight young leaders we were honoring that day.  Thank you Elsa and Amelia for invigorating both young and old with your presentation.

Check out the great pictures from the Reverse Raffle!  A big thank you to Doug Lidiak for taking such wonderful photos!

http://www.lidiakphotography.com/Rotary/Reverse-Raffle-2013

Support Greeley Colorado Mission of Mercy (COMOM) 2013

Where: Island Grove Event Center
When:  October 4th & 5th, 2013

To Volunteer or Donate Call: Ken Knutson 970-371-1089 or Joel Feinberg 970-396-1921

For More Information visit www.COMOM.org

Volunteer Types:
Manpower to help set up and take down for the event

Assist with parking for volunteers and patients on Oct 4^th and 5^th

Patient movement and crowd control during the event

Data entry at the event

Assistance with food serving for volunteers and patients

Pre-Event copying of paperwork

Patient registration and exit interviews

In-Kind Donations:

Use of 2 copying machines during the event (drop off Oct 3^rd and pick up on Oct 6^th) legal size capability

Use of 2 large compressors (175-195 CFM)

Printing of volunteer certificates

Printing of volunteer name tags

Food for volunteers

Snacks for patients to include small fruit and pudding cups, soft nutrition bars and soft non-refrigerated food

300 gallons of distilled water to run the autoclaves

Colored t-shirts for volunteers (1000)

Germicidal wipes and anti-microbial gels

Donations:

Monetary donations

 

 

Sue Bridgman was inducted into Centennial Rotary on Thursday, July 25^th.  Sue was a classroom teacher for 25+ years in the US and Canada and is currently the Colorado Director of the Chocolate Blues and Business Networking Festival.  Sue has been a certified dyslexia instructor for 8 years, is a John Maxwell coach and teacher and a certified hypnotist.  She obtains dual citizenship in the US and Canada and has been married to her husband, Mark, for 19 years.  They have 2 children, Kevin (16) and Katie (13) who both attend Frontier Academy.  Please welcome Sue Bridgman to the club!

This month’s Service Above Self Award was presented to Officer Kevin Malovich of the Weld County Sheriff’s Office.  Officer Malovich was recognized as Officer of the Year in 2012 for the Weld County Sheriff’s Office, works in the department of corrections, is a Facility Training Officer (FTO)  and has been with the sheriff’s office for 4 years now.  A big thank you to Officer Malovich and his wife for their service and commitment to our community.

Elizabeth Barber, Executive Director of The Greeley Dream Team gave us an inspiring presentation at last week’s meeting on what the Dream Team does for low income and first generational students in our school district 6.

The Greeley Dream Team is a non-profit entity supporting students in Greeley/Evans School District 6 with overcoming obstacles to succeed in school and continue on in higher education programs.  The Dream Team just celebrated their 26^th year and students in their programs achieved a 98% graduation rate in 2012. 

Interesting Facts:

• They serve over 1100 students/year in District 6
• 700 students participate in their talent program
• In 2012- every student in the dream team proceeded to the next grade level
• 54 out of the 98 seniors took college credit courses.
• Discovery program at Jefferson High School is now a graduation requirement- students learn basic life skills.  Over 70% of students passed with an 80% or better.  One of the class requirements is for the student to complete 2 community service projects.  One within Jefferson and one outside.
• Discovery 1 program is a peer mediator program.  Students learn to be peer mediators and this program has lead to a 45% reduction in behavioral referrals at Jefferson. 
  
• Child Care Program at Jefferson- served 31 teen parents and 33 children last school year

How can you help the Greeley Dream Team?

• They are collecting 2 inch white binders for students
• Donate to their School supplies drive
• Sat, Aug 24^th Pancake Breakfast at Applebees 8-10AM- $10/person- All You Can Eat Pancakes
• They are always in need of volunteers at the schools
• For more information on the Dream Team and how you can help visit: http://www.thegreeleydreamteam.org/

A big thank you to Past President, Fred Brown, for a fantastic Rotary year.  Congratulations to the many award recipients recognized at the President's Dinner, including our 2013 Student of the Year; Joel Knepper from Greeley West High School, Rotary Proud Award; Tom Dunn, Peace Through Service Award; Mary O'Neal, Silent Rotarian Award; Glen Droegemueller and Rotarian of the Year; Kacie Vaughn.

A big thank you to Crystal Day and the social committee for planning the dinner and to all of the current, outgoing and incoming board members for their time and dedication to the board.  We are looking forward to Will Hume’s presidency this next year and all that he has planned for our club.

Click the link below to see all of the photos from the President’s Awards Dinner courtesy of Doug Lidiak:

http://www.lidiakphotography.com/Rotary/Presidents-Award-Dinner-2013

The June Service Above Self Award was presented to Mike Pfeiler with the Greeley Police Department.  Mike has been with GPD for 11 years.  He currently works patrol and previously served on the gang unit.  He works hard developing informants and is a huge asset to the police department.

Beck Safarik, Greeley City Manager, presented the Poudre Trail Initiative to our club last Thursday.  She covered the history of the trail and how it's developed over time.  For more information on the trail and the Poudre River Trail Challenge visit poudretrail.org.

 

Our Service Above Self Award was presented to Brian Beattie with the Greeley Fire Department last Thursday.  Brian has been with the Greeley Fire Department for over 32 years.  He is a certified diving instructor, has trained over 140 divers, became a team leader in 1989 and was promoted to fire engineer in 2002.  He's served on the HazMat team for over 20 years and is a member of the fire investigation team.   

 

We were fortunate to hear from Jim Riesberg who is currently the Colorado State Insurance Commissioner. Earlier in his career, Jim was a middle school teacher for about 5 years but most recently served in the State House of Representatives. Jim's responsibility is to help regulate insurance companies in the State of Colorado under the Department of Regulatory Agency (DORA). Jim covers everything from property and casualty insurance to the structure that the new Affordable Care Act will require in our state. Along with the Affordable Care Act out State's recent fire situation has created a busy year for Jim and his colleagues. One tip that Jim gave us based on a majority of questions their office receives is to make sure you keep an inventory of anything with material value in your home. Jim explained that nobody knows what you own better than yourself so it cannot be the insurance companies' responsibility to cover something that you do not have record of. Jim's presentation also included a great deal of detail regarding the Affordable Care Act and specifically how it might affect us and our families.

 

We recently received the club flag from the Rotary group in Copan Ruinas Honduras. Copan is the town that was very close to the mountain village of Union Cedral where the school was constructed that our club helped furnish. Unlike most flags we have received in the past, this flag is actually made of stone.

Robert Wideman spoke of his experiences as an Air Force pilot after being shot down over North Viet Nam.  He spent 6 years in the Hanoi Hilton.  He shared this experience of ejecting out of his plane and the injuries and pain of that experience and then being captured by the Viet Cong and transfered to Hanoi.  The initial torture was the worst which he described in some detail.  He said that his last three years there he was treated fairly humanely.  He also shared how hard it was on his parents to not know what was happening to him once they discovered where he was 3 mos. after his capture.  When he returned home, they had aged a lot from worrying about his safety.  It was an excellent presentation.  He went through a lot for all of us.

Fred Brown presented blue badges to Loren Wright and Laurie Beamer at last Thursday's meeting.

Sheriff John Cook presenting the Service Above Self award to Deputy Keith Stephens.

Melissa Gattis, controller at Anderson Business Resources, was inducted into our club on Thursday, May 2nd.  Melissa is the chairperson of the Greeley Young Professionals group and is the daughter of long time Greeley Centennial Rotary member, Scott Gattis.  If you don't already know Melissa, please introduce yourself at our next meeting.

Haley Alberts is our student of the month. She has been actively involved in Interact as an officer, assisting with Trick or Treat Street and the Big Give. She is an outstanding student who represents Greeley West in the community and on the tennis court. She is a positive role model and a kind-hearted person. She’s one of Rachel Hammer’s right hand women who she can trust to get any job done.

 

Kelly Longacre is our teacher of the month. Kelly has been in education for 16 years, 11 of those in District 6. He is the Agriculture teacher and program director. His involvement in state and national chapters of FFA is to be commended, as his chapter is one of the top ten in the state. Monday he’ll take forty of his students to a state competition at CSU. Nine of his students received their state degree, which is an amazing feat. Kelly’s program is responsible for providing the animals and their care to the Centennial Village museum  for the city of Greeley. Kelly will take students to nationals via road trip to Kentucky in the fall where they’ll include a college visit to the University of Madison along the way. Kelly is a Spartan through and through who makes educating students (who look up to him) his top priority.

We were excited to meet Fer's familly last week at our meeting.  Pictured here is her father, Pepe, her mother, Cukis, their exchange student from Finland, Nora,  her sister, Lili and Fer.

 

This dedication ceremony is one of the physical and permanent ways that our club can honor the goal of Peace Through Service.  Following the Four Way Test in your family, your business and in your relationships throughout the community is the invisible and best way to spread Peace.

History of the Peace Pole: By Karoline Woodruff

A Peace Pole is a monument that displays the message "May Peace Prevail on Earth," usually in a different language on each side.  The message is referred to as a peace prayer but is not specific to any religion, rather universal to all.  The Peace Pole Project was started in Japan in 1955 by Masahisa Goi, who dedicated his life to spreading the message of peace, in response to the bombings on Hiroshima.

Sine then, more than 200,000 poles have been placed around the world, in over 180 countries on all continents to promote a Culture of Peace.

Peace-Lovers of all faiths have been involved in Peace Pole dedications, including the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Jimmy Carter, and Coretta Scott King, as well as presidents, mayors, and citizens around the world.

They are in simple places, such as gardens, schools, churches, mosques and synagogues, and extraordinary ones, such as at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, Mount Everest and the Headquarters of the United Nations.  They are promoting healing of conflict in places like the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, the border between Israel and Jordan and Ground Zero in New York.

By planting a Peace Pole in our community, we are linking with people all over the world who have done so in the same spirit of peace.

Mike Oaks introduced 3 of the Greeley West Interact club members to us during our April 18th meeting. We were fortunate to hear an update on what the Interact club has accomplished during the last year from co-presidents Andrew Brown and Carley Damgaard along with secretary Alyssa Sheppard. Interact is a Rotary International Service Club designed for young adults ages 12 to 18 years of age and are supported by individual Rotary clubs. With over 200,000 self-governed members, each club completes at least two projects every year.

The Greeley West Interact club has accomplished so much in the past school year and have plans to extend that service through the remaining semester. The largest project that Interact completed this past year was a food drive to prepare and deliver full boxes of Thanksgiving meals to families in need. The club was able to deliver over 100 full boxes of food which consisted of 100 turkeys, 118 cans of gravy, and 374 cans of corn. Because of generous donations from King Supers and our club, Interact was able to purchase more than enough food and have leftover meals that they delivered to the local firehouses and other non-profit organizations in the community.

Interact has participated in many other events including a safe trick-or-treat event for local children inside of the school building that was complete with a haunted house and scary movies with popcorn. We are lucky to have such a large (55 members) and passionate Interact club that has raised so much money for different causes as well as assisting our club in selling golf ball drop tickets.

 

 

Michael Fitzsimmons has completed all of the requirements to exchange his red badge in for a blue badge. Congratulations to Michael!

Our speaker for our April 4th meeting was Joey Guerra who is a professional mixed martial arts fighter for the Kickdown Promotion in Denver. Joey is a prime example of somebody who has battled adversity and made his own success through hard work, determination, and faith.

Joey was raised by his single mother in the Denver area. He was blessed with tremendous athletic ability which lead to him receiving a scholarship to play football for the United States Air Force Academy. During his senior year of high school, Joey found himself in a fight which resulted in him losing his football scholarship. He ended up playing football for Sterling College which is a Christian school in Kansas. During his short college football career, Joey broke his neck playing which turned out to be an injury that would end his career. Joey still had the desire to compete so he began fighting and has climbed his way to light-weight champion in his promotion. He is now the highest paid athlete in the Kickdown Promotion. We appreciate Joey sharing his experience with us and we wish him success in the future.

Zach Armstrong is being recognized as this month’s Teacher of the Month. He is a spunky science teacher who has been integrating new technology into his classroom here at Greeley West. He taught teachers and staff about using their smart phone for informal assessments and class activities that would engage all learners. He will co-teach professional development sessions this summer for other district teachers who will benefit from his knowledge of and use of the latest technology. He assisted with the musical “Singing in the Rain,” which was a success. In his spare time (haha) he teaches for Engage Online Academy, an online school within our district. On a side note, Zach recently became a new father to a baby boy named Linus.

Our "Student of the Month" this month is Lindsay Dalton who is a junior at Greeley West. Lidnsay juggles IB and many aspects of music, including the jazz and Dixieland bands, All-state choir, and orchestra where she plays the violin. She is also an amazing pianist which is guiding her toward her college goal of majoring in piano performance. She has enjoyed playing in the pit for the numerous plays at West and also is an accomplished writer. During her free time, Lindsay helps with Relay for Life. Lindsay is able to handle all of these tasks while remaining number one in her class.

Dr. Arnold Burron, who has been a professor of education at UNC for 29 years, presented his findings on stress and how it directly affects our bodies. Dr. Burron is known for his work as a host for "General Issues" talk radio program in the metro Denver market. He has also been a frequent and repeat guest on local, regional, and national radio and television shows. The topics covered on these programs as well as other books he has written are parenting, parent's and teacher's rights in public schools, and other educational issues.

Dr. Burron gave many real life examples of people who physically suffered greatly as a result of high amounts of stress. One example he used was Roger Maris who began to zero in on Babe Ruth's single season home run record and eventually broke that record by one home run. Maris described that season as one of the worst experiences of his life as he became violently ill and his hair began to fall out. Dr. Burron presented many techniques from his book to reduce stress and minimize it's affects. We appreciate Dr. Burron for his time and extensive knowledge on the topic.

The 50/50 winner this week was Kylene Baker

The pin drawing winner was Mike Nichols who was not present 

By Daniela Garcia 
Rotary News -- 16 January 2013 

A polio-free India is proof that Rotary is able to tackle the world’s most difficult health challenges, according to Bruce Aylward, assistant director-general for Polio, Emergencies and Country Collaboration at the World Health Organization (WHO).  

Addressing the 2013 International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA, Aylward praised Rotary’s work in bringing the world to the threshold of polio eradication, but reminded the incoming district governors that it will take their leadership to complete the job.

Aylward referred to the recent killing of health workers in Pakistan and said that WHO is working to leverage its broad support in the Islamic community to provide safety for volunteers and aid workers. 

“The eradication program is continuously being put back on track,” he said. “I can assure you that just as we have regrouped and restrategized before, we will continue to do so in Pakistan.” 

Discussing the successes of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) — in which Rotary and WHO collaborate with UNICEF and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — Aylward cited India, which has not had a reported case of polio in two years. In February, WHO removed India from the list of polio-endemic countries, disproving the experts who had maintained that polio could not be eradicated there. And if continuing tests of polio cases recorded through 13 January continue to yield negative results, WHO will declare that India has interrupted transmission of indigenous wild poliovirus for the second consecutive year.  

Polio remains endemic in only three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan. But because nonendemic countries remain at risk for cases imported from those three, immunization must continue everywhere to ensure that polio is eradicated worldwide. 

Rotary’s chief responsibilities in GPEI include advocacy, an increasingly important role in this latter stage of the campaign. In addition to contributing more than US$1 billion to the initiative since 1985, Rotary has helped solicit over $9 billion in support from donor governments. Such advocacy is crucial to finishing the job, as GPEI faces a funding gap of $700 million this year. 

Aylward emphasized that polio eradication is well within reach, and urged Rotarians to work together to reach that goal. 

“You have been given the greatest opportunity in history to end this disease,” Aylward said. “We can only finish with Rotary's leadership.”

The Centennial Rotary Club has worked over the years with Dr Mendoza on several projects.   She is a clinical physician taking care of the “dump” people in Juarez Mexico.  She lives in El Paso TX but travels daily to her clinic in Juarez, despite the drug wars that have plagued the area for years.

 

Dr Mendoza will be in Greeley for the Simple Supper program the evening of February 19, and all are invited to attend that no cost soup supper and hear her story.

 

Centennial Rotary World Community Service committee will host her at 7:00 AM on the 19th at Hope Therapy and Pool Center located at 2780 28th Ave. All who are interested in visiting with this wonderful humanitarian and would like the opportunity to directly interact with her, are invited to attend. Enter the Hope Center via the north door and precede upstairs to the boardroom.

Mike Stieb is being recognized as our teacher of the month. He came to West in 2011 from Heath Middle School. He has served our district for thirteen years. Mike is a Physical Education teacher and coach who motivates and encourages students in and out of the classroom. He brings reading, writing, and math to life through PE. He is a positive role model who pushes students to exceed expectations, as he exceeds the expectations given to him.

Alexis Badial is our Greeley West’s student of the month. She shows outstanding leadership in her school and community. She is heavily involved in Interact, and she helped lead the charge to do Trick-or-Treat Street, a safe Halloween event for kids. Decorating the rooms, recruiting other school clubs to sponsor hallways, getting candy to hand out, and setting up for the evening was what she was in charge of conducting. She also played an integral role in the Thanksgiving Big Give, an initiative to provide local families with a Thanksgiving meal box comprised of donated food from classes. From the marketing to the packing of boxes to the deliveries, Alexis was part of the action. She academically excels in AP courses, and succeeds on the basketball court too. Alexis Badial is one of West’s finest and most deserving of this recognition.

 

 

The primary speaker for the meeting was introduced by Pastor Greg Ellard of the Presbyterian Church.  Pastor Ellard introduced Vanna In, who is a Vietnamese man who came to the United States as a refugee with his family. Vanna grew up in an abusive family with very little money. When he was very young Vanna and his family moved to Fresno, California where he experienced a great deal of racial discrimination leaving him contstanty trying to find a place to belong. Vanna found an Asian gang that not only accepted him but also gave him an avenue to generate more money.

After a life of crime and incarceration Vanna found Christianity which quickly turned his life around. With the help of a program that assisted ex-felons, Vanna landed a job which allowed him the opportunity to turn his life around and become a productive citizen. Through hard work and assistance from the program in Fresno, Vanna was able to get his master's degree from a seminary and recently moved to Colorado at the request of Pastor Ellard. The goal pastor Ellard and Vanna have set out to achieve is to develop a program in Greeley just like the program in Fresno that allowed Vanna to become the person he is today. Jobs of Hope is a non-profit designed to help young people who want to leave the "gang life" and land a job that generates legal income.  Vanna helps the young adults see their potential and then tutors them in the concepts and skills necessary to get and keep a job allowing them the ability to support their families.  Vanna's ultimate goal is to give back the opportunity that was given to him.  The Fresno program has helped to change over 2,000 young men and some women over the last 20 years and boasts an 85% success rate. Our best wishes to Pastor Ellard and Vanna In and the success of their program in Greeley.

 

 

Sheriff Cook introduced corrections officer Josh Todd for the public service award named for a fallen officer.   Josh started a program to train officers to deal with surprise attacks.  The training program required that officers be able to defend against an attacker for at least two minutes.  Josh also started a program in the schools to teach kids how to identify and protect themselves against potential kidnappers.  Officer Todd has special training to deal with mentally ill prisoners and specific training for managing female inmates as well.  Officer Todd is a huge asset to both the corrections system and sheriff's department. 

 

 

Student of the month for January 2013 is Brennan Hettinger from Day Sping.  Brennan taught himself computer programming and often times helps his teachers with their computer problems. Brennan completed a two story press box for his school that cost over $13,000 and was entireley funded by money he raised. The press box project was the final requirement to achieving his Eagle Scout award. Brennan is also a swimmer and has managed to maintain a grade point average of more than  4.0.  His teacher described him with one word... "Servant."

 

The Student of the month for December 2012 was Garrett Cole from University High School.  Garrett is president of the National Honor Society, holds a student government office, has a GPA well above a 4.0, and is a State Champion 

track star. Garret would like to persue a career in graphic design after graduating from high school.

 

Scott Gattis received his first Paul Harris recognizing $1,000.00 in giving to the Rotary International Foundation.

Greeley Centennial Rotary honored Cindy DeVinny as our Greeley West High School teacher of the month for January. 

Greeley Centennial Rotary honored Adiam Tesfaselassie on January 17th as our Greeley West High School student of the month for January.  Adiam is a shining example of the quality of students who attend Greeley West.   

Thank you to all of the members who were able to attend the Rotary International President's Luncheon earlier this month.  Rotary International President, Sakuji Tanaka, gave an inspiring message on peace through service.  Please enjoy the photos below taken by Marlin Frank.

 

 

 

 

 

4 Paul Harris recipients, The Brown Family, pictured below with President Tanaka at the luncheon in Fort Collins on January 4th.  Fred Brown presented his wife, Barb, and children Andrew and Allison, each with a Paul Harris and Fred himself completed a Paul Harris +3.  Congratulations!

 

Amberly Pitts, our outbound exchange student this past year, gave a wonderful presentation about her year in Taiwan at our meeting last week.

Dennis Oberhelman receiving his Paul Harris Plus 1 Pin signifying $2,000.00 level in the RI Foundation.

 

Kathy Van Soest  received her very first Paul Harris recognizing $1,000.00 in giving to the Rotary International Foundation.

 

Mason Sedlacek was recognized last week as the Student of the Month and Mr. Chad Clark was recognized as the Greeley West Teacher of the Month.  Both of these outstanding individuals make Greeley West what it is today!

 

Kelsi Kautz was recognized as the Dugan Scholar of the Month from Northridge High School.  Kelsi is enrolled in several advance placement courses at Northridge, is the National Honor Society President, has spent 4 years in student council serving as the Junior Class President last year, is involved in Interact Club, DECA and plays softball and track.  Kelsi is planning to attend Adams State College next fall in Alamosa, CO to play softball.

Alyssa Shepherd is our Greeley West Dugan Scholar of the Month for November.  Alyssa has an impressive resume from volunteering in her community to her many accomplishments at Greeley West High School.  Alyssa serves on the Cache Bank and Trust Junior Board, volunteers at the Weld Food Bank, in is Interact Club, Key Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and National Honor Society.  Alyssa's volunteer commitments range from delivering turkeys to 100 families each year in Greeley to creating her own volunteer venture at Fair Acres Manor Nursing home.  Alyssa plans birthday parties for the residents at Fair Acres including buying each of them a personalized birthday card, ordering them a cake, coordinating the entertainment and purchase a small gift, all with her own money.  She has taken several out of state mission trips, all while participating in track, band and being one of the top students academically in her class. 

Alyssa is one of four students chosen to attend AIMS Community College and participate in a medical prep program.  Through this program she will earn her nurse assistant certification.  She would like to become a pharmacist after graduation from high school and plans to attend UNC or CSU after graduation.  Congratulations to Alyssa for all of her many accomplishments!

Jane Burke, math teacher at Greeley West, was recognized last week as our Better Schools Better Communities November Teacher of the Month.  Ms. Burke is a Greeley West Alum and has been a teacher for 20 years.  She mentors new student teachers and other teachers in the math department.  She implemented Greeley West's math intervention program and is an AVID teacher and is the district's diving coach.  Congratulations to Jane Burke!

Better Schools Better Communities Student of the Month is Sirena Barker.  Sirena is a junior at Greeley West and is extremely involved in her school.  She is an assistant in the main office, she volunteers to give new students tours, she plays volleyball and club volleyball and plays the flute and piccolo in the school band.  Sirena is interested in perusing sports medicine and physical therapy after high school graduation.  Congratulations to Sirena for all of her hard work and accomplishments!

Ten Ning and Tom Dunn visited the Centers from 107-10/11 that they and Starfish One by One are supporting in a project.  They visited with much of the staff, mentors and students, as well as Rotarians in two clubs.  Tom was also presented with a flag by the Eclub in Panajachel while on his trip.  The last photo is taken at the home of Metropoli RC in Guatemala City, our partner club in the grant.  Tom enjoyed a nice dinner with them.

John Dewitt and Lee Morehead were inducted as new members to the club last week.  If you haven't had a chance to meet either of our newest members introduce yourself this week!  Welcome John and Lee!

March 14th – 20th, 2013 climb the San Pedro volcano at beautiful Lake Atitlan!
The first annual Volcan-o-ton supports Starfish One by One in thier mission to empower young Mayan women in Guatemala through education and mentorship. This is an incredible opportunity to learn more about Starfish’s work to unlock the girl effect in the indigenous communities around Lake Atitlan.

Whether you have never visited Guatemala or have traveled down numerous times, the Volcan-o-thon will offer a whole new perspective (from 10,000 feet!) on Starfish's work and the community.

DETAILS:
The Volcan-o-thon is a two-part adventure. You will meet Starfish students, visit their homes, and understand how women’s empowerment changes lives. Then, you will challenge yourself to climb San Pedro volcano to honor and support the incredible young women who are summiting their own mountains.

There are only 30 spots for the Volcan-o-thon. Participants will raise at least $1,000 in pledges to climb San Pedro volcano. Participants may self-pledge or raise funds from family, friends, co-workers, and others through www.crowdrise.com/volcanothon.

The deadline for pledges is Monday, December 31, 2012. If pledges are not confirmed by December 31, Starfish will open up spots to those on the waiting list.

HOW DO I REGISTER?
Please contact Darcy Struckhoff at darcy@starfishonebyone.org to sign up or for questions.

WHAT IS THE CLIMB LIKE?
Adventurers of all levels are welcome to climb San Pedro. The climb is not technical, but it is rigorous. We will climb through many different microclimates from corn fields to coffee fields through the cloud forest to the 10,000 foot summit. The climb will take approximately 3-5 hours, but don’t worry about reaching the summit- just being there is a victory for the young women of Starfish!

A team of local guides will accompany us and there will be assistance stations providing hydration and snacks, as well as any needed medical care, along the way. To get an idea of what you can expect from the climb, please check out this recent article and video!

HOW WILL I GET THERE?
The easiest option is to travel with the experts at Walking Tree Travel, a Colorado based company that is partnering with Starfish for this innovative project. Walking Tree is highly experienced in Guatemala and will provide all the logistical support (transport, hotel, meals, etc) from the moment you arrive to the moment you depart.

You will start the trip with an evening in colonial Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and then spend several days in Panajachel on majestic Lake Atitlan with Starfish. While there, you will participate in Starfish mentorship group, meet mentors, and visit Starfish families to see firsthand how Starfish girls are going to change the world. Then, we climb! There is an option to extend your trip to take in the famous Mayan ruins of Tikal in the northeastern part of the country. Please visit http://www.walkingtree.org/2013-starfish-guatemala-program/ for more detailed trip information, including itinerary, costs, packing lists, etc.

This is a truly unique way to challenge yourself and support young women who are summiting their own mountains.

For more information on Starfish, please contact Darcy Struckhoff: darcy@starfishonebyone.org

There have been 505 cases of Wild poliovirus reported worldwide as of Wednesday, November 9th, 2011 vs. 767 cases for the same time period last year.  Click the following link for more information:  http://www.polioeradication.org/Dataandmonitoring.aspx

Hanaa Thiegiel's Visit to Centennial Rotary

Thursday, August 18, Greeley Centennial Rotary welcomed Miss Hanaa Thiegiel as the guest speaker for the day. Miss Thiegiel is from Iraq and living in the Untied States while continuing her graduate studies at Colorado State University School of Veterinary Medicine. It was an extraordinary event for everyone present.

Six years ago, Ms. Thiegiel was a teaching assistant at the Bagdad School of Veterinary Medicine when she took time off for her wedding and honeymoon. As she and her husband were returning to Bagdad, their car struck a road bomb. Her husband was killed and Ms. Thiegiel’s legs became paralyzed.

When Dr. Paula Cowan, a veterinarian who lives in Ault, presented a seminar in Kawait, the Dean of the Bagdad School of Veterinary Medicine told her about Ms. Thiegiel’s injuries and negative prognosis. It was critical that she leave Iraq to have an opportunity for further rehabilitation. Dr. Cowan contacted a member of Centennial Rotary. When Centennial Rotary learned of Ms. Thiegiel’s plight, the members raised over 140,000 frequent flyer miles, with Rotary International supplying the last 40,000 miles, to bring Ms. Thiegiel and her companion to Denver. For five months, Hanna lived at the Greeley Center for Independence (GCI) accessible apartments and received intensive physical therapy and support at the GCI Hope Therapy Center. Ms. Loretta Scott was her life coach who helped her learn to speak English. Ms. Thiegiel had learned to read English when she was in fifth grade, but Ms. Scott taught her to speak English, tutoring her each evening, often assigning her as many as 400 words a night.

Ms. Thiegiel left Greeley to enroll in the Colorado State University School of Veterinary Medicine. Now fluent in English, she returned to visit the Centennial Rotary and share her progress and future plans. Having completed a master’s degree at CSU, she is now enrolled in the doctoral program, with an emphasis on water borne diseases.

Register online Today: Our "Spooktacular" Reverse Raffle is set for October 20th!  We will have a Halloween Theme again this year.

Bruce Bode donated a golf club "thingy" (actually it was a putter) for our reverse raffle and Ted Gilliland gave a disertation an announcement on the Vail Rotary club's duck race for rotary trivia as a step towards getting rid of his red badge. 

Every Rotarian, Every Year. ―"Our world is filled with conflict and strife, but I believe that fundamentally, people are more alike than they are different. I believe the underlying causes of most of the conflict and strife are poverty, disease, hunger, and illiteracy. The work of The Rotary Foundation addresses all of these critical needs. My annual gifts to The Rotary Foundation enable me to do my small part, and these gifts are magnified by being added to The Rotary Foundations resources to bring meaningful help to people in need."— Past District Governor Teree Bergman

We are excited to move forward with our Every Day Hero project and look to place the statue in Williston Park, NY. 

Please let us know if you are interested in attending the Rotary Leadership Institute.  Click the link for more information: http://www.clubrunner.ca/dprg/dxprogramhome/_programhome.aspx?did=5440&pageid=42274 

The deadline to select an outbound exchange student for next year is October 31st, 2011.  There may be short term and long term opportunities so if you have a candidate in mind, please contact Mark Larson.  Have you checked out what's new with our outgoing exchange student, Amberly Pitts?  There is a link on our website or click on the following:  http://whitesunadventure.weebly.com/

Help spread the word and awareness of all the wonderful things we do.  "Like" our Club on Facebook and tell your friends to like us too.  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greeley-Centennial-Rotary/194568020565577  Thanks Kacie Vaughn and Kathleen VanSoest for recently liking our page!

If you have information or photos you would like to see in this newsletter, please email Mike Oakes at moakes@unifiedtitle.com.  He is seeking newsworthy items to include every day! 

The WCS committee received a $2000 matching grant from District 5440 to expand our assistance to the Community College in Peru. This project, which adds on to our projects for training in baking, sewing and computers, will add cosmetology to the curriculum. Thanks to the members of WCS for developing this project. Please see Mary O'Neal if you have questions.

We had a great Club Assembly on March 17 to discuss ideas for new fundraisers and local community service projects. Each table discussed the pros and cons of having a specific Fundraising Committee and ways to identify local community service needs for projects. Results of the discussions will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead and will be very helpful to incoming president Colette Pitcher and her team as they begin to plan for the new Rotary Year. My thanks to all club members to attended and to those who served as table spokespersons.

Paul Martin, a Charter Member of the After Hours Club and their representative to our World Community Service Committee passed away unexpectedly last week. Paul was a member of the faculty at Aims Community College and a director at Elder Garden. Paul was very active on WCS. A memorial service will be held at 2PM on Saturday, March 19 at the Aims Corporate Center. Our thoughts and prayers to out to his family.

 Greeley Centennial Rotary

I hope you will make plans to attend this week. Rulon Stacey, CEO of Poudre Valley Health will be our guest and program. PVHS is the major sponsor for our Golf Tournament, Please plan to attend.

I received this story from Interact Chairman Scott Gattis:

The year is fast moving along and soon  it will be time to select our RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) and Young RYLA students for 2011.

Charter member Jim Barney passed away last Saturday. Jim worked for Garnsey Wheeler Ford for many years and was a faithful Rotarian. He was a Charter member of Centennial Rotary and a past Director and President.

The funeral will be held at 2pm on Friday, Jan 28 at Trinity Episcopal Church, 3800 W 20th St in Greeley. Our club is sending flowers. Contact information for Jim's family was sent out in a special e-mail to club members.

Farewell dear friend.

The Board of Directors has endorsed the following special actions concerning two of our members:

After an extended Christmas break, we will resume our regular Thursday meetings on Jan 13. Please mark your calendars to remind yourself to attend our lunch meetings. There are some terrific programs coming up, starting this week, with some real blockbusters in late February. We`are also going to continue with our awards for students, teachers, and our public safety personnel. Please join us and see what we have going on!

On Jan 7, 53 Centennial Rotarians joined with 300 other Rotarians and guests from District 5440 for an outstanding luncheon with RI President Ray Klinginsmith. The event happened at the UNC Ballroom. It was a terrific event that allowed us to get a glimpse of the larger world of Rotary. We are members of the best service club in the world. Thanks to all of you who attended and made this such a successful showcase for our District.

On January 7, 2011 at the luncheon here in Greeley, R.I. President Ray Klinginsmith awarded Paul Harris Fellowships to the following Centennial Rotarians:

Mike Engrav; Doug Lidiak; PP Mark Larson PH +2; Pres Chris Woodruff PH +2; Norm Noe, PH +6 and PH +7.

Wow. We are half way through the Rotary year already! What a ride it has been so far. We had a special End Polio Now project in July, a great Reverse Raffle in October, and most recently the renaming of our Public Safety Award to the Sam Brownlee Service Above Self Award. Centennial Rotary is alive and kicking in our community. We have some great programs coming in 2011, the Basketball Tournament, Golf Tournament, District Conference, our 35th birthday as a club and some really special projects. Thanks to each every one of you for your help, commitment and enthusiasm for Rotary. What a fantastic club we have. I wish each of you a safe and happy holiday season. I look forward to our time together in 2011.

Chris Woodruff, President

It is not too late to get a deduction on your 2010 income taxes by making a year-end donation to The Rotary Foundation. According to IRS rules, contributions are deductible in the year they are made. Checks count for 2010 as long as they are mailed in 2010 and clear shortly thereafter. Donations charged to a credit card before the end of the year count for 2010 even if the bill isn't paid until 2011. When you contribute to the Foundation, you advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

We just learned that Maureen Larson's mother passed away. Please keep Maureen, Mark and their whole family in your thoughts and prayers.

Our annual Christmas party is scheduled for Dec 16 at the Country Club. You and your family (kids, grandkids) are cordially invited to attend. There will be no regular Rotary business conducted. Merry Christmas!

On Dec 2, 2010 the Annual meeting of the Rotary Club of Greeley(Centennial) was held. At the meeting elections were conducted.

Jonathan Seitz was elected Club Secretary.

Mary O'Neal, Romia Pritchett and Mike Oakes were elected to the Board of Directors.

All terms will begin July 1, 2011.

As no other business came before the membership, the meeting adjourned.

The Board of Directors unanimously voted to change the name of our monthly public safety recognition award to the Sam Brownlee Service Above Self Award. In this way, our club will honor the memory of Sheriff's Deputy Brownlee, who recently gave his life in the line of duty, as we continue to honor the dedication, bravery and sacrifice of the police, sheriff, fire and ambulance personnel who do so much for us.

Our first awards under the new name will be presented on December 9. Three awards will be presented to members of the Sheriff's Office, Fire Department and the Greeley Police Department.

Heather Brownlee, Sam's wife will attend as our very special guest.

At this time of year we stop and take stock of our blessings and take time for giving thanks. That seems especially important during these very difficult times. Many people, in our club, our community and in the larger world are struggling to make it in very hard situations. We as Rotarians are blessed and challenged to do everything we can to ease the difficulties of others.

My thanks go out to each of you, the members of Greeley Centennial Rotary for your unfailing friendship, hospitality, generosity and commitment to improving people's lives. I am honored to be a member of this club, one that is filled with so many examples of "service above self".

My best wishes to you and your friends and families as you gather this week for Thanksgiving. I look forward to our time together again as a club on Dec 2.

Chris Woodruff

At my request, the Board conducted an electronic meeting in order to consider the proposal for membership for Diane Spencer. She is being proposed for membership by Chris Woodruff. She is a CPA here in Greeley who just purchased an existing practice, although she has been active in this profession in Northern Colorado for over 17 years. I believe she will be a great addition to our club. The Board agreed to accept the proposal for membership.

Under our by-laws, this constitutes publication of the Diane Spencer's name for membership. You may comment on this proposal for a two week period. Please forward any comments to me or any other Board member.

Did you know that November is Rotary Foundation Month? And did you know that the Rotary Foundation is one of the most highly respected non-profit organizations in the world? We as Rotarians are fortunate to have such an organization as part of our Rotary experience. Through the Foundation we fund literacy programs, clean water projects, peace and conflict resolution, international cooperation and the eradication of polio.

Thank you Rotarians and friends for making the Annual Reverse Raffle Dinner such a great success. The club made over $16,000 on the event! The final prize was shared among four winners: Glen Droegemueller, Wayne Hoover. Dan Austin and Mike Tormey. The Paul Harris Recognition points went to Glen and Wayne.

Fred Brown was unanimously elected as the President Elect Nominee at the Oct 26 Board meeting. Fred has been a member of the club since 1997 and has served on the Board of Directors and several club committees. Fred's term as president will begin on July 1, 2012. Congratulations Fred!

Our 2010-2011 Better Schools Better Community Greeley West Student of the Year for school year is Miss Sabrina Harms.  You all may remember she was our Better Schools student of the month last December.  Sabrina has played a large part for the Greeley West Theatre program for the last three years, working both on stage and behind the scenes.  She is a member of the principal's Advisory Council. She is president of PBS (not the public Broadcasting Service) it stands for Positive Behavior Support which is a student group that partners with staff and faculty to make Greeley west a happier more positive place for all. She is involved with ROYALS, which is a volunteer organization for the Weld Library District to promote the library and encourage reading.  She is a coordinator for the Ethnicfest at Greeley West.  Sabrina is also a founding member of the teen coalition for promoting health and wellness in Greeley.

The Annual Meeting of the Rotary Club of Greeley (Centennial) will be held on Thursday, Dec. 2 at noon at the Greeley Country Club. The purpose of this meeting is to elect directors and officers for the upcoming Rotary Year (2011-2012).

On Oct 21, 2010 Bob Guthman presented a "Certificate of Appreciation" to our club for our continued support of the Immunization Telethon Program.

On Oct 7 we welcomed the return of Sergeant at Arms Joe La Porta. Joe had been out for a couple of weeks with some medical issues. Joe, we wish you a continued speedy recovery and we're glad to have you back!

We just learned that Hilda Young our long time pianist passed away. She taught elementary school in the Salemsburg, Kan., school system and the kindergarten class at Grace Lutheran Church in Hudson. She was the organist and pianist at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Greeley for more than 60 years. She also was the pianist for the Greeley Centennial Rotary Club for 16 years. Hilda was a very dear person and a cherished honorary member of our club. Survivors include her husband, Thaine of Greeley; three sons, Lynn (Anice) of Greeley, Loren (Louann) of Evergreen and Lee (Shirley) of Mountain Home, Ark.; nine grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Services were held on Tuesday Oct 6.

On Sept 24, over 50 Rotarians and guests gathered at the home of John and Roseann Guyette for our first ever wine tasting.

Cheri McLaughlin, the owner of Bittersweet Liquors in Greeley was inducted as a new Centennial Rotarian on October 21. Cheri is sponsored by Doug Lidiak. Doug and DG Bryan Cooke present Cheri her Rotary pins. Please make a point to introduce yourself to Cheri and welcome her to our club.

The Nominations Committee held its first meeting for this Rotary Year on Sept 22. This committee is charged with finding and bringing candidates for Director, Officers and President Elect Nominee to the Board.

Our Annual Reverse Raffle Dinner will be held at the Greeley Country Club on Thursday, October 28, 2010. This is an evening event, so we will not meet at noon that day. This year we will have a costume party so start making plans!

Also, please contact Lori Annand or Chris Woodruff if you have any great silent auction items for this event.

On December 2, Rotarian Patricia Book received her 'Blue Badge" from PP Bruce Bode, after having successfully completed all the requirements of the New Member "Red Badge" program. Congratulations Pat!

On Dec 2 Ron Mearsha will present our monthly Better Schools Better Communities awards. These awards are presented each month during the school year to an outstanding Greeley West student and teacher. This recognition can ultimately lead to a $1000 scholarship for the student. Our Teacher of the Month is Mike Petraglia and our Student of the Month is Holly Maldonado. Congratulations to these fine Spartans!

The Four Way Test of Rotary:

Community Service Update:

Vegetable gardens improve health and nutrition in Virginia.

Special thanks to Charles Everitt Pace who provided us with a fascinating program on poet Langston Hughes.

Our pin drawing is getting up there in value again. The point of the pin drawing is to encourage each of us to wear our Rotary pins, at least on Thursdays. But wouldn't it be better to wear your pin every day so the people you meet see it?

On July 31, the Long's Peak Rotary Club received their charter from RI Foundation Trustee Lynn Hammond, PDG David Scriven and DG Bryan Cooke.

On August 5, 2010 Jack Emery from the Arvada Rotary Club attended our meeting. The purpose of his visit was to make contact with members of our World Community Service Committee to explore forming a partnership to complete our water project in Juarez, Mexico. The Arvada club has an established working partnership with a Rotary club in Juarez and was recommended to us.

The Board of Directors appointed the following club members to serve on the Nominations Committee for this year: Mike Nichols, Dan Austin, Colette Pitcher, Lynn Miller, and Mike Oakes.

The Board of Directors met on July 27, 2010 at the Egg & I. They were joined by Red Badge member Edwin Ruis. who was taking care of one of his new member requirements.

Thanks to all Centennial Rotarians who worked at the End Polio Now booth at the Greeley Art Picnic and to those of you who stopped by to get a "Purple Pinky" or a cold drink.

Michael Masi, valedictorian of the Greeley Central Class of 2010 is the recipient of the John Dugan Scholarship this year.

Congratulations to Sergeant at Arms Joe La Porta, named on July 8 as our Rotarian of the Year and to Tom Dunn, recipient of the "Quiet Rotarian Award".

As of July 1, there are going to be some changes to the Rotary dues and billing for our club. 

The board has worked diligently over the past several months to analyze our budget and cut funds in several line items in an effort to minimize a dues increase for our members.  After final review, the board determined the dues need to increase by $5 per month or $15 per quarter.  This increase will cover the increase from the Greeley Country Club for lunch and the Rotary International dues.  The dues increase will go into effect on July 1.