Rotary Club of Casper WY
Meeting Summary
02/29/2016
President John Starnes called the meeting to order promptly at 12:25, and welcomed everyone to the club meeting on this great leap day!
Inspiration, Pledge, 4-Way Test:
Craig Valdez
Membership:
We had new member induction for six new members today, four new and two transferring from other clubs; Tim Chenoweth sponsored by Chad Nelson, Mary Bates sponsored by Martha Rakestraw, VH McDonald sponsored by Doug McLughlin, Casey Allison sponsored by Steve Loftin, and our two new transfers, Cheryl Foland sponsored by Maribeth Plocek, and Caryn Luberto sponsored by Vicki Diamond, Welcome to the Casper Rotary Club!!
Greeters:
Mike Ward and Steven Schnell were the greeters today, and Mike introduced the members who brought guests:
First, Visiting Rotarians, Jan Nixon (Casper Five Trails) and Helen Bishop (Jackson Supper Club);
- Dick Jay introduced Donovan McComb (First Interstate Bank);
- Rev. Pierce introduced his daughters Jackie Pierce and Tiera Rimmer along with his grandson Romeo Rimmer;
- Tucker LaPrade introduced Alison DeBoer (Girls Scouts of America);
- Martha Rakestraw introduced the family members of the Students of the Month from Roosevelt HS, Mom Josey Kienzle, Mom Kelly Conley, Sister Brittney Wilcox and boyfriend Brendan Stover;
- Susan Griffith introduced Interact students , Raquel Baca and Christyonna Martinez;
Song and Merriment:
Dennis Lower cracked us up with a couple of jokes, and then Gary Pehrson asked us to “please rise” and led us in singing “ROTARY”.
Family of Rotary:
President John showed us an old picture of one of our Rotarians who had a Birthday yesterday, Happy Birthday Jack Swanson!!
Mark Owens informed us that his daughter and her husband have a new son, a grandson for Mark, born two weeks ago today. Congratulations Mark!
Rotarians of the Week:
Steve Loftin nominated Maribeth Plocek for her promotion to assistant manager of the Sinclair Refinery, Congratulations Maribeth!!
Students of the Month:
Two students from Roosevelt were introduced to the club today and shared their stories and aspirations. Taylor Wilcox and David Kienzle told us all about their accomplishments and future plans. They both have been active in Interact at Roosevelt and enjoy the service that they are able to perform in that organization and the interaction they have with the Rotary Clubs.
Classification Talk:
Greg Dixson introduced himself to club members today. He started by thanking John Jorgensen for being his sponsor and for being instrumental in getting him here to Casper. He is a Wyoming Native born in Cheyenne as were all four of his children. His Mom was a banker in Cheyenne and so he followed in her footsteps to become a banker and currently serves as the President of Hilltop National Bank. They moved to Nebraska when he was a young man and he wanted to attend the University of Nebraska but Dad said he had to be a Cowboy, despite his efforts he ended up going to UW. He studied Geology but then decided he needed a business degree to be a banker so he got his degree in business. They moved to Steam Boat Springs for the quality of life back in 1998 where he opened a new bank and worked there up until about six months ago when he came to Casper to work for Hilltop. He thanked Dave True for believing in him and allowing him to get this job. His wife is an art teacher down in Steam Boat still while she is getting their son through his last year of High School. His two Daughters came to Casper and visited him this past weekend and really enjoyed Casper. His hobbies include biking and skiing and he is very excited to have those type of activities available here in Casper. He is happy to be in Casper and to be a Rotarian. Welcome aboard!!
Announcements:
- Helen Bishop told us all about the plans for the District Conference which is coming up in May 19-21 in Jackson Hole at the Jackson Lake Lodge. They have many great things planned for the conference and she encouraged us all to attend. Dave True then added that our club will pay for registration and three night’s hotel for club members and we should sign up soon to take advantage of the early bird discount. He also said that Windy in his office will schedule the hotel rooms so just give her a call.
- Brian Deurloo told us that he and Dennis attended the first and third sessions of RLI and encouraged everyone to go through that training. There will be a session two RLI next month on April 30 so please sign up and attend. Brian also told us that there will be a Rotary WASH symposium; this is a key action group that focuses on water and sanitation. The symposium will be March 19 in Denver, so if you are interested in these type of programs please attend.
- President John then once again asked for a volunteer to be club treasurer, no takers, but he said they will continue to announce it until someone finally signs up so come on Rotarians someone be a trooper and volunteer already!
- Bill DeGraeve announced that he is in charge of putting together a list of candidates for new board members. He will be assembling this list during March so it will be ready for the April meeting so if you would like to serve or know a Rotarian you think would be good then please let him know. He also needs a President Elect nominee for the board. He then told us that in 2019 we will be celebrating our club’s 100th birthday so on each table is a paper that has some questions that he would like everyone to answer and then turn it in to Tim Monroe, so please take this paper and participate.
Program (Pop in the Shop):
PE Jim Ruble introduced the program. We were blessed to be able to hear from Jerry Knight who told us all about this wonderful program that he is running to help young men ages 7-17 who are living in single parent homes with no adult male father figure. Jerry showed us a great slideshow while explaining the program to us. He started this program four years ago in his garage where he started teaching boys how to work on cars and how to restore classic cars. They now have a nice size shop that they can have more than one project going at a time. They work on the Classic cars because they are more basic without the computers and such that the newer vehicles have so it is easier to teach them, They have Mentors that work with the kids teaching them everything from mechanics and electrical to body work and customization. They take them to car shows so that they can get more ideas on things to do to the cars. They also have their own car show on Father’s day weekend so the boys can be with father figures on father’s day. They have valve cover races where the boys build small race cars out of valve covers then race them down the track much like the Cub Scout Pinewood derby cars. They also work with the kids to teach them about giving back to the community through service. These boys end up feeling like brothers with the other boys through everything they do together. They restore the cars and then normally auction them off to help pay the expenses of the program. They were rebuilding cars and donating them to single moms but they are short on mentor volunteers so they are not currently doing that. They have a new project that they are planning on keeping to use to pull the trailer that they will use for the parade float and also they will use it to go pick up donated cars when needed. This one is an old 1939 pickup truck that the boys are really enjoying working on and have big plans for. One of the service projects they do is free oil changes once a year for single moms in need. They do some fundraising like Pizza Ranch which they will do again this summer. They also do a concession stand selling hot dogs at Plains Tire which they will be doing again soon. The program is a three year program where they teach them different things each year and watch them progress. They also award them with a letterman’s jacket and patches that they can earn and sew onto the jacket, much like the BSA merit badge program. They only have four mentors currently and have 41 kids on a waiting list so they are in great need of men to volunteer to spend time with these boys. They will have their annual program April 19 at Highland Park Community Church, where some of the moms will speak about the difference the program has made for their boys, everyone is invited. They also have scholarship programs for college and they also have a connection with Job Corp and Wyotech as well as Casper College. They have had a couple of their graduates get jobs at local car dealerships. Popular Mechanics magazine called in 2013 to do a story on them and told them that they are the only program in the U.S. that teaches boys about working on cars so now there is an interest in other places to start up programs there or to expand this program to other places. They have a website
www.popintheshop.com and they are also on Facebook. You can learn more there and also you can call or email Jerry if you are interested in helping out.
President John adjourned us with a ring of the bell at 1:33 and he let us know that next week we will be meeting at the Nicolaysen Art Museum.
“Be a Gift to the World”
