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Rotary Club of Casper WY
Meeting Summary
03/23/2015
President Bill DeGraeve called the meeting to order promptly at 12:30 and welcomed everyone to our Rotary meeting. He then turned the time over to Marcia Patton, director of the Casper Children’s Chorale, and the children entertained us with five beautiful songs. The Chorale is in its 36th year and many Rotarians have children, and grandchildren, participating. Special thanks to Jack Swanson and John Starnes for setting this special performance up.
Inspiration, Pledge, 4-Way Test:
Dusty Johnson
Greeters:
Tim Monroe and Jack Swanson were the greeters today and Jack introduced guests:
Visiting Rotarian, Crystal Burback (Five Trails);
Al Metz introduced his wife, Margi;
Jack Swanson introduced his wife, Kathy;
Bob Auflick introduced his business colleague, Bill Thompson (Jonah Bank);
Chad Nelson introduced Dennis Jack (hospital administration) and Steven Schnell (Science Zone);
Robin Mundell introduced Dan Cantina(12-24 Club Director);
Denise Prugh introduced her husband, Ted Rasmussen;
Martha Rakestraw introduced the parents of the Students of the Month;
Susan Griffith introduced our Interact students; and, of course - our fabulous exchange student from Brazil, Giulia was in attendance.
Song and merriment:
Pinky Ellis entertained us with a great joke and Gary Pehrson led us in singing “My Country Tis of Thee.”
Family of Rotary:
Stan Lowe and Susie McMurry were welcomed back to the Club, and Ronna Boril announced that Don Harris was in today’s meeting with a new pacemaker, but that his wife was in the hospital.
Rotarians of the Week:
Tara Short nominated Liz Becher for organizing the Rotary volunteers for Mick McMurry’s funeral. Liz then nominated the many Rotarians who had worked with her on the Traffic Assistance for the Mass – Brown Ewing, Scott Skavdahl, Steve Liebzeitr, Dean Cline, Mike Stepp, Dennis Gazdiewich, Jim Anderson, Lesha Thorvaldson, Jimmy Goolsby, and John Griffith, and served as ushers for the public memorial service at the Casper Events Center – Bill DeGraeve, Angela Emery, John Starnes, DGEN Barb Redder, Anne Ladd, Val Roberts, Ronna Boril, Lori Klatt, Jim Beck, Mandy George, Ron Salveson, Tara Short, Chad Pew, Connie Brezik Tim Havasi, Bob Tarantola, Chaz Farnham, Don Mealer, and Krista Beale. Special thanks to Rod Aaker for making special Rotary Volunteer buttons for all of us to wear. Susie McMurry then stood and thanked the Club for their outpouring of love and support, and said how proud she was to be a Rotarian. President Bill nominated the Rotarians who had helped write the “thank you” notes for the Casper Rotary Foundation Dinner - Roxy Skogen and Brian McCash (Five Trails), and Mandy George.
Red to Blue Badge Ceremony:
John Watson (sponsored by Stan Lowe), who expressed his great pride in how John has gotten so involved in our Club.
Students of the Month:
Susan Griffith introduced our student from Roosevelt this month – Mary Regalato. She has the highest GPA in her graduating class and is aspiring to be a medical examiner.
Club Announcements:
- Hal Hutchinson reminded the club that about the Highway Clean-up scheduled for April 25th.
- Brian Deurloo announced that planning has begun for this year’s Duck Derby. He has secured all of the Committee Chairs!
- Rev. Bill Pierce thanked the Board for helping sponsor the Juneteenth celebration this year.
Program:
Today’s program was introduced by John Starnes. The program featured Kathleen Nganga, who is a first year undergraduate student at Northwestern University. She is studying political science. Her passion is advocating for social justice, or the belief in equity, equality of opportunities, and egalitarianism. Her presentation is entitled, “The Helping Hand.” She focused on her work and travels to the country of Kenya, and the slums of Nairobi. In 2013 she was part of a summer mission trip to Hillside, where she worked with the University of Wyoming to build water well. The project was funded by donors, and today the 18,000 residents have drinking water. In 2014, school uniforms were supplied to the students of that community. Today’s cause is the Hillside Classroom Project – to build a functioning learning venue for the students. The organizers have raised $23,000 so far. The team will be going back this summer to start the build. Several Casper volunteers will be on the trip.
Classification Talk :
Crystal MacGuire, sponsored by her husband – Joe. Crystal is a pilot, entrepreneur, volunteer with the Casper Youth Orchestra, mother of two daughters, and totally loves Casper.
President Bill announced that John Starnes, Jim Ruble, and he will all be out of town for next Monday’s meeting due to Spring Break. PP Liz Becher will run the meeting. The speaker is our own Angela Emery, speaking about the Platte River Trails Trust. The meeting adjourned at 1:40 p.m.
“Light Up Rotary”
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