Rotary Club of Casper WY
Meeting Summary
8/1/2016
President Jim Ruble called the meeting to order promptly at 12:28, and welcomed everyone to the club meeting.
Inspiration, Pledge, 4-Way Test:
Glenn Januska
Bill DeGraeve and Ronna Boril were the greeters today, and Ronna introduced the members who brought guests:
First, Visiting Rotarian John Wallace from the Somerville, TN Rotary Club;
- Lauren Griffith introduced her daughter, Beau;
- Brian Deurloo introduced his daughter, Vivi;
- Cori-Costner Burton introduced Amy Kirkman (Mercer Family Resources);
- Mike Stepp introduced Jason Cooper;
- Maribeth Plocek introduced Michael Foland, husband of Sheryl;
- Casey Allison introduced Starla Atkinson;
- Lisa Hubbard introduced Phillip Giffin;
- Mary Koernig introduced Lisa Scroggins (NCPL Exec. Director);
- Richard Schwahn introduced Jane Strand and his wife, Michelle (mothers of our two outbound exchange students); and,
- Charles Schoenwolf introduced Rick Vaughn (Western Distributors) and Dan O’Dell (pastor at Christ UMC).
A BIG Rotary Welcome to all of our guests!!!!!
Song and Merriment:
Dennis Lower shared a funny blonde joke he had heard in New Zealand 40 years ago, and then Gary Pehrson led us in singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
Special Golf Tournament Recap:
Anthony Martinez and Peaches Lynch thanked all of the players, helpers, sponsors, and goodie-bag donors for making this year’s tournament one of the best! It keeps getting better and bigger each year, with more non-Rotarians playing in the event and raising the awareness of Rotary in the world. Proceeds will benefit our international club project in Panama and allow us to build a classroom for 11th graders at the new high school. Peaches listed the sponsors and helpers by name and nominated them as Rotarians of the Week.
Classification Talk:
Sheryl Foland, our new Club Treasurer, introduced herself to the club. She shared a PowerPoint presentation she had put together with photos of significant events in her life. Sheryl has lived in multiple locations around the world, but has been happily living in Casper since last August. She is married to Michael Foland and they have two sons who live in Oregon with their grandchildren. One son is a Marine veteran, and the other is a Navy veteran. She is VERY proud of both of them. Sheryl thanked her sponsor, Maribeth Plocek, for inviting her to join our club. Her new hobbies since moving to Casper include camping and rodeo photography. She recently completed her education and is a provisional clinical social worker for Casper Family Connections. She thanked Bert Toews for helping and encouraging her through that process.
Family of Rotary:
None this week.
Rotarians of the Week:
Brian Duerloo acknowledged Anthony Martinez and Peaches Lynch for their leadership with the golf tournament. Jim Porter recognized Chaz Farnham and Liz Becher for winning one of the special “hole” shots at the tournament. Chaz Farnham recognized the salesmanship abilities of Dennis Lower on taking money on the special 11th hole competition, all for a jolly good time....... Dave Elmer recognized the club members, and their family members, who had helped count ducks last week: Gene and Deb Theriault, the Dewitt’s, Grant Stombaugh family, Dick Wimbish, Mike Stepp, Greg Brondos, Percy Anderson family, Dave McNaulty, Dennis Jack, and Jim Porter.
Club Announcements:
- President Jim announced that Duck Derby posters are available to put up at your businesses. The club meeting will be at the Petroleum Club next week. There will be a Rotary Park meeting at 11:00 next Monday before the club meeting.
- Dave Elmer announced that duck counting will finish up this Wed. night at 5:30 at the Crossroads Park Rotary Pavilion. Please come help and bring a lawn chairs. In addition, a few more volunteers are needed for the Farmer’s Market ticket sales this week and the Bear Trap Festival this weekend.
- Lisa Hubbard reported that the Duck Derby prize forms to donate prizes are on the tables. Please let Mandy George or Lisa know if you have a prize to donate. We would like to keep the value at $50 or greater to encourage ticket sales.
- Darren Divine announced that U.S. House seat debates will be held at Casper College Wheeler Auditorium this week in partnership with the Casper Star Tribune and PBS. There will be three sessions in order to include all Democrat and Republican candidates.
- Donovan McComb shared that the First Interstate Plaza will feature a dinner event on August 12th called “Neighbors feeding neighbors” to benefit the hungry in our community. The cost is $10.
- Steve Loftin asked for 6 volunteers for next Monday, after the club meeting, to pack food for the Food Bank of the Rockies (2:00 – 3:30).
- Peaches Lynch asked for volunteers for some upcoming events –
- Dennis Jack and Mike Stepp volunteered to call and remind members to pick up their duck tickets.
- Glenn Januska, Lori Klatt, Mary Koernig, and Steve Loftin volunteered to key in ticket sales in the Rotary Club Central trailer on the day of the Derby.
- Our two exchange students arrive in Casper on August 17th at 4:30 p.m. Please try to be at the airport so we can have a big welcome party. We still need 2 host families for Tavi, our male exchange student from Taiwan who will be attending NCHS.
Program (Our two outbound exchange students):
PE Richard Schwahn reported that our originally-scheduled speaker had fallen ill, so Richard asked our two outbound students to step in and do a program about the countries they will be living in for the next year. Our club sponsored Madeline Schwahn and Emily Strand (from the Loveland club). Both young ladies shared PowerPoint presentations about the countries. Madeline will be going to the Netherlands and Emily will be going to Belgium. They will each stay with three different host families. Madeline heads over on August 11th. She is very excited and looks forward to seeing windmills and tulips, and learning some Dutch. Emily has taken four years of French and is excited to use it in Belgium. She is also looking forward to trying Belgium French fries and chocolate. She sincerely thanked our club for sponsoring her. The ladies answered questions from the club members and each received a 4-way test coin and theme pin.
Next week’s meeting will be at the Petroleum Club and the program will feature the Biathlon Course on Casper Mountain. The meeting adjourned at 1:21 p.m.
