Rotary Club of Casper WY
Meeting Summary
8/14/17
President Richard Schwahn called the meeting to order at 12:30, welcoming everyone to today’s meeting.
Inspiration, Pledge, 4-Way Test:
Mark Owens
Greeters:
Phillip Rael and Kyle Gamroth were the greeters today, and Phillip introduced the members who brought guests:
- Ann Ruble was a visiting Rotarian from 5 Trails;
- Jimmy Goolsby introduced Steve Carpenter;
- Charles Schoenwolf introduced Sarah Szewczyk and Carly Applegate;
- John Griffith introduced Bill Thompson;
- Susan Griffith introduced Beau Griffith;
- Cori Cosner-Burton introduced Tammy Noel;
Song:
Denise Prugh led the club in singing “Cowboy Joe” in honor of the adventure racers that took third in the Cowboy Tough Adventure Race last week. She added that they maintained their third in the world status.
Induction:
Tara Short read the induction ceremony to welcome Sarah Szewczyk into the club. Sarah’s sponsor was Charles Shoenwolf.
Rotary Tidbit:
Today’s Rotary Tidbit, brought to us by President Schwahn, was all about Membership. He spoke to us about who can join Rotary, how they can join, what are the benefits of Rotary and what is expected of Rotarians.
Rotarians of the Week:
- Tom and Lynn Lockhart were nominated as Rotarians of the week because they ran at the Paint Wyoming Pink event that weekend.
- President Schwahn nominated Rick Reimann for lending his trailer to his son to attend classes in Sheridan.
- Deb Theriault spoke about Habitat For Humanity named a new subdivision “Harris Crossing” after Rotarian Don Harris.
- Charles Schoenwolf was nominated for selling 15 Duck Derby tickets at the Farmer’s Market last week.
- Deb Theriault nominated Liz Becher and Barb Redder for hosting a wonderful District Conference picnic to thank everyone who worked on the committee.
Family of Rotary:
No one had Family of Rotary to report today.
Announcements:
Steve Loftin asked for volunteers to help with the Food Bank of the Rockies food loading in two weeks. They will be volunteering to pack food Monday afternoon following the Rotary meeting.
We will be hosting only one exchange student this year. Freida will be arriving at 3:30 pm on Tuesday. The club is still looking for families to host Freida.
Dave Elmer announced that he wanted to number 1500 more ducks that evening at the C-can at Crossroads Park.
Classification talk:
President Schwahn is asking long-time members to give a classification talk to help introduce themselves to newer members.
Charlie Shopp took his turn at giving his classification talk.
Program (Craig Showalter and Vickery Fales Hall; The Wyoming Community Foundation):
Dick Jay introduced Craig Showalter, President and CEO of the Wyoming Community Foundation. Craig began by saying that The Wyoming Community Foundation is a non-profit, charitable 501(c)(3) organization that connects people who care with causes that matter to build a better Wyoming. WCF manages & distributes charitable funds for the state of Wyoming. It was established in 1989 and has made 8000+ grants and has given over $60+ million given to organizations in every Wyoming county. Based in Laramie, they have a professional staff of 16 including regional staff in Casper and Lander. WCF has six local boards in Casper, Dubois, Evanston, Rock Springs, Sheridan-Johnson and Sublette County. They have three priority funds: Wyoming Afterschool Alliance, Wyoming Wildlife Foundation and the Wyoming Women’s Foundation. They have over 135 volunteers serving on boards and committees. WCF is proud to be the Kids Count grantee for the state of Wyoming. Kids Count is designed to track the well-being of children in the US and Wyoming by providing high quality data and trend analysis. WYCF has 7 strategic focus areas: Women, Children and Family; Wildlife and Conservation; Education; Civic and Community; Health and Human Services; Arts and Culture; others as directed by advised fund donors and community needs. In 2016, $485,185.00 in grants was made to 35 organizations in Casper. Also in 2016, WYCF helped individuals and families invest $900,795.00 into charities they value through Donor Advised Funds.
President Schwahn wrapped up the meeting at 1:30 pm. There will not be a meeting on August 21, 2017. The following week we will be meeting at the Parkway Plaza and the program will be Emily Strand speaking about her year as an exchange student.
