Club President John Starnes called the meeting to order at 12:25 welcoming all Rotarians and guests to Rotary.

 

 

Jim Allison and Toni Lussier were our greeters and Jim introduced guests:

John Jorgensen introduced Greg Dixson from Hilltop National Bank;

Daniel Fulton introduced Brook Kreder;

Chad Nelson introduced Matt Kadlick;

Robin Mundell introduced VH McDonald;

Bill DeGraeve introduced Dale Bohren from the Casper Start Tribune;

Dennis Lower introduced Dr. Michael Skaff;

Martha Rakestraw introduced family members of the SOM from NCHS, Jennie Keating, and Wanda Street along with the Principal of NCHS Shannon Harris and Vice-Principal Larry Meeboer;

Eric Easton introduced the family members of KWHS SOM, Kris Funk; and Bob and Sandy Young;

President Starnes acknowledged that Mike Lougee was here today and has been courted by all of the other service clubs in town, so he needs a big hug from our club to make sure he feels welcome;

 

Dennis Lower treated us to a good chuckle and then he told us a joke, after which Gary Pehrson had us all Rise and sing “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and then we sang Happy Birthday to Dennis Gazdiewich.

 

President Starnes let us know the Percy Anderson had knee replacement surgery last week and is healing well.

President Starnes also let us know that Liz Becher’s son also had knee surgery and is up at the WMC.

President Starnes also told us that after three tries his son was able to finally get enlisted in the Navy and will be reporting to boot camp in March.

 

Jim Anderson reminded us that today is Pearl Harbor day and asked all of the Veterans to please stand and be recognized for their service.  

Robin Mundell nominated Glen Januska for not towing her vehicle that she left in the 15 minute parking spot while she was tending to her husband Rodney who had fallen.

Doug McLaughlin nominated Rachel Baily for the great job she does with the Symphony and their great concert from this past weekend.

Brian Deurloo nominated Tucker LaPrade for volunteering at the Lego Robotics event at the Event Center this past weekend.

Jim Allison nominated Maribeth Plocek and Jim Ruble for sending their engineers to the Evansville School weekly to help the kids prepare for the Lego event.

 

We had students from both KWHS and NCHS today, Eric Easton introduced the KWHS students first, Jeremiah Young and Ashlyn Daniels; two great young people who have many great accomplishments and plans for the future.

Martha Rakestraw then introduced the NCHS students, Victoria Street and Joe Keating. Also two great accomplished students with bright futures ahead of them.

   

 

Fred Feth introduced himself to us today; he is married to his wife Lois for 53 years and has two adult children. He was born in Minnesota and raised in the Chicago area, graduated from DePauw University in Indiana. He then attended University of Chicago law school for a year and then entered the service as a victim of the Berlin Wall crisis. He spent three years in military intelligence while serving. He then was honorably discharged and went into Human Resource management as a civilian with different companies through the years and ended up in Casper a couple of times before settling down here. He eventually in 1984 became the Director of HR at Casper College where he stayed until the year 2000 when he retired and then went to work as the part time administrator for the Presbytery of Wyoming. He retired from that position this past October. He likes to help with community service having served and still serving on Boards of Director for several organizations. He loves to travel and has been in 17 foreign countries and many of the 50 States. He thanked Rotary for the opportunity to be a member and Steve Shive for being his sponsor and Mark Owens and Tom Bromley for their help in him becoming a member of our club.

 

Jim Ruble reminded us that next week we will be meeting at Casper College at the Gateway building. He also reminded us that the 21^st from 9-11 we will be volunteering at the Wyoming Food Bank of the Rockies and signup sheets are on the table. He then introduced today’s program from the Wyoming Food Bank of the Rockies, speakers Lorraine Long and Tonja Funch. They showed us a slide show and told us about what they do and what their mission is. Their mission is to end hunger in Wyoming, they do this through many different programs. They work with Feeding America and the Food Bank of the Rockies out of Denver. They opened their doors here in 2004 and work with food pantries in all counties in the state. Last year they gave out 8.7 million tons of food, which is over 800 million meals, in the State. They have the backpack program which gives kids a backpack of food to take home over the weekend so they have food to eat. They also have the summer feeding program which helps kids who do not have access to enough food. Nearly half of the food they distribute is to Wyoming kids. They work with all of the 501 (c) (3) organizations around the state that distribute food. They rely heavily on volunteers as they have only 14 employees. Donations of time and money are always welcome and appreciated. For every dollar contributed, 96% of it goes to buying and distributing food. That one Dollar equals about 5 pounds of food which is distributed to those in need. They ask if you donate food please make sure it is shelf stable foods rather than perishable foods as the shelf stable ones last longer which gives them time to distribute it before it goes bad. They are always looking for volunteers so spread the word and come help out. You can find more at their website www.feedingwyoming.org

 

President John Starnes adjourned the meeting at 1:25 with the ring of the bell, reminding us that next week we are meeting at Casper College and then we will be back at the Parkway for our Christmas meeting on December 21^st.