REMINDER:  NO LUNCH MEETING JUNE 22

President Dean started the meeting on Wednesday June 15th with a little regret.  This will be his last meeting as our club President for the year.  He has done a wonderful job with the help of the board of directors and committee work this last year.  Here are a few highlights of what we did as a club:

 

Membership - When we moved from the Florence downtown to the country club we had a drop in membership.  Dean set the highest goal of bringing in 10 new members.  He was able to bring on 8 new members and 1 returning member this year.  Not bad for a goal.  We currently have 56 active members and 10 honorary members.   Dean emphasized that new members is what builds a lasting legacy of service in our clubs and community.  So ask a friend to lunch on a Wednesday.   

 

District Grants - This year we had 4 people qualify our club to receive district grants.  We also utilized every dollar given to us through our Avenues of Service giving for scholarships and other projects throughout the year.

 

Happy Bucks - It's wonderful to have Happy Bucks as a way to raise money for a variety of good causes and also share how happy you were to be a Rotarian. 

Service Projects.  We love to serve others and the world around us.   We did our best to volunteer our time and money towards several causes.

Fellowship - getting together at the last Wednesday of each month was both fun and enlightening.  We believe that building better friendships among each other we can continue to do good work for Rotary.  We also visited a lot of local breweries for those who enjoy evening socials.  We had a mystery dinner party and are doing a demotion dinner for our outgoing president.  Fun!

 

Rotaract - We were able to revised our Rotaract Club for those 18-30 year old members who want to serve our community and continue to support their efforts around town.

 

Many thanks for everyone's help to make this year a success.

 

Gretchen Collins graduated from Hellgate High School and will be attending the University of Montana this fall.  President Dean is pictured (left) handing her a check.  Accompanying her is her mom and Katie Boyen Hellgate school counselor.  Congratulations to our graduates this year.

At our June 15th meeting we celebrated two Rotarians that truly gave their time and energy this year.   Mike Schauf was surprised with a Paul Harris Award from Andrew George.   And then Andrew George received another Paul Harris Award for his contributions this year.   

 

 

 

 

Our July 1st giving will be going towards Mothers Milk Bank of Montana.   We were given a presentation from their Executive Director Jessica Welborn about what they do for babies.    Their Mission is to collect, screen, pasteurize and distribute human donor milk to infants and children with medical needs.   They proudly serve hospitals and families in the five state region that includes: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota.  Seventy Five percent of their milk goes to NICU hospitals and outpatients can get a prescription from their doctors for milk.  They don't turn away anyone away unless they don't have milk.  There is so much more need since the baby formula shortage this year.   

 

How can Rotarians help?   We can give to their organization directly by going to their website www.mothersmilkbankofmt.org or through Missoula Gives.  We can get the word out to new mothers who can help other mothers in need.