Meeting Summary for 09/27/2021
President Mike Howe called our hybrid zoom/in person meeting to order promptly at 12:11, and welcomed everyone to today’s meeting.
Inspiration, Pledge, 4-Way Test:
Phillip Rael
Greeters and guests:
Dan O’Dell and Dick Stribling were our greeters and Both introduced the members who brought guests.
- Eric Easton introduced our Students of the month and guests; from Roosevelt HS, Riley Plum and her Dad Richard Plum, Jim Catlin (New Principal at Roosevelt), From Midwest School Kendell Smith, her mom Echo Smith, and her sister Katelin Shoopman, Also Kristi DePoorter (Counselor at Midwest School);
- Mike Howe introduced Ross Schriftman;
- John Griffith introduced Shannon O’Quinn;
- Dan O’Dell introduced Nancy Boswell;
- Dick introduced all of our visiting Rotarians, President Cyndi Brainard (Reveille), Matt Young (Rotaract), Kevin Morgarieidge (Reveille), Greta Hinderliter (Reveille), and Brandon Kosine (Five Trails);
Family of Rotary:
Denise Prugh let us know that her son and his team as well as the girls team swept State Finals Tennis for KWHS, GO TROJANS!
Lynn Lockhart announced that the Cowboys won!!
Rotarians of the Week:
Miamie Sleep nominated Steve Loftin for heading up the work on the bridal trail and let us know that Oil City News did a write-up about it.
Jim Porter nominated Mark Owens for helping him set up Zoom on his new laptop so that he can join the meetings while traveling.
Anthony Martinez was nominated for delivering water and helping at the Platte River Revival.
President Howe announced that on this Wednesday, September 30th we will have a club social at the Yellowstone Garage and you are encouraged to bring guests.
Dusty Johnson announced that we should go up the mountain and see the fall foliage as it is wonderful. Then he announced that Wednesday, October 6th at 5 PMish we will be once again packing food for Nicaragua, sign up sheets are on the table.
Steve Loftin announced that next Monday will be our time to volunteer at the Food Bank of The Rockies, he will not be here but Becky will be taking care of it. Right Richard?
John Griffith announced that the Boulder Park is currently closed as when they were doing the final inspection they discovered some cracks so the people, we purchased them from will be here Friday and Saturday to repair those cracks.
Mike Lougee announced that there will be an orientation on Tuesday, October 19th at the Gruner Brothers Brewery, everyone is invited and especially red badgers should attend.
Birthdays of the week:
Dean Cline on the 29th, Greg Pope and deb Theriault both on the 30th; Happy Birthday to all
Student of the Month:
Eric introduced our students today from Roosevelt HS, Riley Plum, and from Midwest HS Kendell Smith. Two fantastic young ladies who as always leave us feeling lazy and inadequate.
Membership:
Ross Schriftman was inducted into the club today, Welcome aboard Ross!
Special Presentation:
President-Elect Miamie Sleep passed out checks to our fellow clubs for their partnership with the Duck Derby.
Program (Never Forgotten 77 Suicide Loss Survivor Group):
PE Miamie Sleep introduced our speaker, Tina Sterken. Her husband, Mark, started the group because of his experience with the suicide of his son. She started by introducing us to the people they have lost through their pictures and stories.
The first was Brandon Sterken, her husband’s only child, who was an impressive football player and was fun-loving. At the age of 17, in 2012, he took his own life. After this, her husband Mark found help to deal with the pain and loss and received training. He then started the Never Forgotten 77 Loss Survivor Group in honor of his son’s football jersey number, 77.
The second individual was Norman Jeffrey Clements, Tina’s husband. They were together for 18 years and the last 10 were spent traveling the country as long-haul truckers. In December of 2014, he took his own life. He suffered from mental illness and many unresolved traumas in his life.
After his death, Tina moved in with her parents who lived between CA and WY. While living with them, she was able to spend time with her mother for her last 9 months of life while she battled cancer.
While in CA she tried some different grief groups and then, in the summer of 2015, came back to Casper and went to Highland Park Church where she was introduced to her now-husband Mark. She started going to classes with his group and they became good friends. In October 2016, they got married. She joined him as a member of the Natrona County Suicide Prevention Task Force and as a facilitator with his group.
The third person she introduced from her life is her daughter Anna Marie Stenson, her oldest child who took her own life in November 2018 at the age of 35, leaving two young sons. Tina still does not understand why, even though they were close.
After this Mark and Tina decided that they needed to do more and especially do more with raising awareness. They had an idea to do a poker run and have started doing that to raise money and awareness. So they decided to become an NP organization.
She stated that Wyoming is one of the deadliest places in the world with only two countries with a higher per capita suicide rate than what Wyoming has. In the last three decades we have been in the top three states for suicide per capita, this year we are the highest, as of today in Natrona County we have had 26 suicides this year.
There are many factors that play a part in a person deciding to take their own life. Unresolved trauma and mental illness play a big role. Could be the loss of a job, family problems, and many other things. Many times we will never know why someone has taken their life. The one factor that is in all of them though is hopelessness. Hopelessness invades the person's heart and mind and they then feel that they no longer matter nor belong. When we see someone who is hopeless, we need to reach out to that person. We need to spread hope and reach out to people.
They have a fourfold strategy to help accomplish the spread of hope. 1. Awareness 2. Creation of Community 3. Prevention, and 4. Postvention. As far as the awareness they have their annual poker run, followed by a BBQ and music in the park to raise awareness and spread comradery and hope. Along with this, they work with the Natrona County Task Force to spread awareness by going to events and any other way they can. They create community with their peer-led support group by hosting a once-a-year retreat up on Casper Mountain at the Lions Club for a weekend. They offer this retreat free to those whose lives have been touched by suicide. They offer classes and activities to help these people learn to cope and to have some fun which is very hard for most of them to do. They partner with another organization to have this activity.
Tina also facilitates a suicide survivor attempt group which is for anyone who suffers from thoughts of suicide or who has attempted suicide. They share stories and learn from each other on how to live with the consequences and how to keep from reaching that place again.
Community involvement is critical, everyone can reduce the stigma by having open and honest conversations with themselves, and with those around us about suicide. Education opportunities are abundant around Casper and online. She encourages all of us to learn more on how to observe and intervene. If you want more information, please contact her.
The flipside of prevention is the postvention, which is walking someone through the first couple of years after the loss. This is very important because statistics show that someone who has lost another to suicide is 65% more likely to commit suicide themselves. Losing someone is a very intense and difficult time. She said that Casper has a great victims advocate group here that immediately goes into action to lay the necessary groundwork to begin the survival process. After the death, the pressure intensifies as the survivors have to plan funerals, take care of details with homes, rent, bills, etc., and is very daunting. Sometimes a hazmat cleanup needs to be done, construction or changing things in the home may need taken care of. Knowing what to do with the person’s social media, how to get survivor benefits etc. are just a few of the things that follow a suicide and nobody should ever have to walk that path alone. Joining with other community partners they can help walk these people through what they need and be there to help them with whatever they need help with.
In the future, they are exploring how to do YouTube or a podcast to create an ongoing online support system. They are planning on expanding further into WY starting with the Riverton/Lander and reservation area. They were invited to TN and MO recently to help lay the groundwork for groups out there. Giving back what they have learned and helping others is what they are here to do. She did say that we finally have a suicide hotline number here now in Casper.
It is up to all of us to raise awareness and do what we can to help others and to raise Hope!
She then opened it to questions:
She was asked about the situation with our Veterans, especially those coming home from Afghanistan. She said that they partner up with other organizations to assist the Veterans and they honor them in all they do as they are very aware of the high losses of our Veterans and it is very important to support them.
Someone commented on how our culture, especially Hollywood, has desensitized us toward suicide and asked if this has increased numbers of suicide. She stated that she agrees that Hollywood has made it a very flippant thing which means more then ever that we need to raise awareness and make sure that we take it seriously and listen to those who are feeling suicidal and to take their feelings seriously.
How can we bring hope to people? She encourages everyone to look within themselves for what they have hope in and help others to discover where they have hope by listening to their story and help them discover a positive safe thing to place hope in and work towards. This is why it is so important to educate ourselves on how to intervene ourselves and or help them find someone who can help.
She was asked why WY is so high. She stated that WY MT and Alaska are the top three every year. She said that there are many factors, such as the “cowboy up” attitude, the emptiness and wide open spaces as well as the prevalence of firearms everywhere.
President Mike Howe concluded the meeting at 12:58, he let us know that next week, we will be back at the Ramkota and our guest speaker will be Officer Cody Meyers and Canine Kevin who will do demonstrations on how the Canine officers work.
“We serve to change lives”
Cody Meyers and his four-legged companion, Canine Kevin, will demonstrate police dog “takedowns” and drug-sniffing maneuvers. Another officer will participate in the demonstration while wearing a bite suit. This way, no attendees have to “volunteer” to be the demonstration’s criminal that is taken down by Canine Kevin.
As many of you may remember, in March 2021, the Rotary Club of Jackson Hole presented to our club about the recent water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects they had completed at no-fee schools in the Makhanda, South Africa township.
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