Rotary Club of Casper WY

Meeting Summary

05/22/2017

 

President Jim Ruble called the meeting to order promptly at 12:30, with the ring of the bell and welcomed everyone to today’s meeting.

Inspiration, Pledge, 4-Way Test:

Gary Pehrson

Greeters:

Nick Hill and Jack Swanson were the greeters today, and Nick introduced the members who brought guests:

Charles Schoenwolf introduced Sarah Szewczyk and Phillip Rael;

Lynn Lockhart introduced Errol Miller;

Steve Loftin introduced Denise Kleemyer;

Jim Beck introduced his daughter Sarah Beck;

John Griffith introduced Kristen Galles and Bill Thompson;

Kevin Murphy introduced Terry Bay and Larry Bean;

Joe MacGuire introduced his daughters Mary and Christen MacGuire;

Dan Odell introduced his sister Winne Scott and nephew Sam Scott;

Song:

Gary Pehrson had us all stand and led us in singing “America The Beautiful”;

New member induction:

Tara Short read the Induction Ceremony to induct new member Kyle Gamroth, who was sponsored by Steven Schnell.   Congratulations Kyle.

Family of Rotary:

Deb Theriault told us that she and Gene would be travelling to visit their son who is getting married.

 

Rotarians of the Week:

President Ruble reminded everyone that there will be no meeting next week in honor of Memorial Day.  He then asked all of the veterans to stand and be recognized.

Jason DeWitt was nominated as Rotarian of the Week for being the speaker for Roosevelt High School’s commencement ceremony.

Brad Diller and Donovan McComb were nominated for the KWHS boys track team win.

Donovan McComb was nominated for becoming a United States citizen.

Kodi Merschat was nominated for doing a great job creating the Friendship Board for the upcoming District Conference.

Jim Ruble was nominated for being elected President Elect of the National Boy Scouts of America.

 

Student of the Month:

Rose Heinz from Roosevelt High School/REACH Program was honored as Rotary Student of the Month.  She presented her very special story and received a well-deserved standing ovation from the club.

Susan Griffith gave a “shout out” to the Natrona County School District for having the REACH Program available to students.

 

Scholarship Awards:

Stephanie Sneesby awarded Christen MacGuire and Samuel Scott, both from KWHS, certificates and checks for $750.00 for their winning essays submitted to the Casper Rotary Club’s Four Way Test Scholarship contest. Congratulations Christen and Samuel.

 

Announcements:

President Ruble reminded everyone that today was the last day to register for the District Conference that will be taking place in Casper June 1 – 3.

Peaches Lynch spoke about the Rotary Cares Golf Tournament coming up in July.  She reminded that members that the money raised at the golf tournament goes towards building schools in Panama.  She went on to say that they need players and sponsors for the event. 

Peaches then announced that the club would be hosting a second exchange student from Argentina this year.  The student is a 17-year-old male and she will have more information later that she will share with the club.  She reminded everyone that we need 6 host families this year and urged everyone to consider hosting one of the two students.   Talk to Peaches if you are interested.

Jim Porter reminded members about the Rotary Ride to be held July 1 & 2.  He stated that, cars, as well as motorcycles are welcome at this ride.  If you are interested, Jim suggested that you call the Saratoga Inn before June 1^st to reserve your room.  The number is 307-326-5261 and ask for a room in the “Casper Rotary Ride” block.

Brian Deurloo spoke about the upcoming Duck Derby.  He asked if anyone has any Duck Derby marketing items, such as signs or magnets for cars, to bring them to him as soon as possible.

His next subject was Crossroads Park.  Phillip Giffin has taken the lead on the maintenance of Crossroads Park and on June 3 there will be a group of young people working on various projects at the park.   Volunteers are needed that day to help with the projects.  Please talk to Brian or Phillip if you are interested in helping.

Ronna Boril is in charge of the fundraising for the District Conference next weekend.  She stated that she is putting together 4 baskets for the conference and that she needs donations of items for them.  Talk to Ronna if you have items to donate.

Hal Hutchinson talked about the Highway Cleanup that is scheduled for Thursday, May 25 from 5:30 pm to approximately 8:00 pm.   He said that he still needs volunteers for that event and to talk to him if you plan to be there.  He went on to say that Nick Hill has offered to donate food from Q’doba for the workers and Guy DeWitt will be donating water.

  

 

Program (Stanton Burns - Transitioning onto Medicare):

Kevin Murphy introduced Stan Burns who is in Wealth Management with Stifel, Nicolaus and Company, Inc., out of St Louis, Missouri.    Stan began by speaking about a Medicare Fact Sheets 2017 that he had placed on the tables, saying that the booklet has the most current information on Medicare.  He said that Medicare has basically 4 sections, Parts A, B, C & D, with parts A & B being the most traditional.  He spoke about whether you should sign up as soon as you turn 65 or not, saying that if you are working at a company that has more than 20 employees and covers health insurance, you would be better off not signing up for Medicare.    He went on to say that if you are contributing to a Health Savings Account and you get on Medicare, you will be penalized greatly.  Part D is prescription coverage for Medicare and it is administered by private insurance companies.  There are literally hundreds of different plans out there for you to choose from so it is important to shop around to get the right coverage for you.  He suggested that you go to https://www.medicare.gov to help you make that decision.    Then there is Medigap or the Medicare Advantage Plan which will help to pay for claims that Medicare A & B do not cover.  There is a website with resources that can help you with this decision http://www.wyomingseniors.com/ or call 1-800-856-4398. 

President Jim Ruble concluded the meeting at 1:30; letting us know that there will be no meeting next week, but, we are back at the Parkway Plaza on June 5th and the program will be Tony Waddell from the Wyoming Wildlife Foundation.

“Rotary Serving Humanity”

 

 

 

President Jim Ruble called the meeting to order promptly at 12:30, with the ring of the bell and welcomed everyone to today’s meeting.

Steve Higginson was the greeters today, and he introduced the members who brought guests:

Gary Pehrson had us stand and sing Cowboy Joe in honor of the UW basketball win this past week.

Dennis Lower, Red Nickerson and Martha Rakestraw are all back with us this week, welcome back!

Dennis Lower brought us a club banner from the Rotary club of Mesa East AZ.

 

President Jim announced that Bob Auflick’s mom passed away this past week so there is a card going around for him and he asked us to remember him in our thoughts and prayers.

Sheryl Foland nominated Burt Toews for helping her become a Wyoming Licensed clinical social worker.

President Jim reminded us to register for District Conference which is in Casper this year and told us that the club will pay for anyone to attend.

Peaches Lynch announced that the Golf Tournament is coming up and there are flyers on each table and there are more opportunities for sponsorship as well as open spots for teams to golf. The plan is to have more focus on more fun this year.

Tobby announced that the international dinner fundraiser will be Sunday April 23 and there are sign-up sheets on the tables to attend. Please support this great fundraiser as it helps pay for the exchange student’s trip at the end of the school year.

Richard Schwahn announced that they are looking for volunteers for a steering committee to develop a plan for the next big project that the club will undertake so please let him know if you are interested in helping out.

PE Richard Schwahn introduced our speaker today, Jaci Byrd from the Wyoming Habitat for Humanity. She is the Family Services Coordinator and has come to give us an update on what Habitat is doing here in Casper. She just returned from Atlanta from attending the National Habitat conference where she was invited to attend and represent the State of Wyoming by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. She started with Habitat in May of 2016. She told us that Habitat was founded here in Casper in 1994 by our very own Don Harris and his wife Hallie. They had a passion that Casper was in need of housing for lower income individuals and Don is still involved in the work. So far they have built 32 houses with numbers 33 and 34 started and they are working on getting number 35 started up. The women who are getting these homes were unable to attend today due to work and children. Habitat acts as the lender and builder for each of the projects and the cost for each is about $125,000. All home buyers have to invest at least 500 hours of sweat equity into the home. It takes 9-12 months to complete the home and they are required to have a down payment of $500 at the closing. Each home also has over 1500 volunteer hours into building the homes so they are always looking for people to volunteer their time and skills. They purchase the home for a no interest mortgage loan that the money is returned by the mortgage company at the end of each year to go to help build the next homes. All of the funding comes from grants, donations, fundraisers and this funding, there is no government funding at all. There will be 4 builds this year which is a great step for Habitat. A voice from the audience today volunteered to furnish the first home that will be finished this year. Out of the 32 homes that have been built, 31 of them still have the original home owners. The only reason the one is no longer there is because her husband was transferred out of State for his job. The new Restore will be at the old Roosevelt High School building and will be open soon, Casper Housing Authority will be running it and the homeless veterans that are living at the new veteran’s center will be working there.

 

President Jim Ruble concluded the meeting at 12:55; letting us know that next week we are meeting at the Casper Events Center and Charles Schoenwolf will be our speaker.