This weeks meeting will be held Monday May 11th, 2015 at The Parkway Plaza

 

President Bill DeGraeve called the meeting to order promptly at 12:30 and welcomed everyone to the meeting.

 

Randy Hein, who stepped in for Mandy George.

 

Greeters: Randy Hein and Jim Allison were the greeters today and Jim introduced guests:

Visiting Rotarians – Dennis Jack, Borger TX and Helen Bishop, Jackson;

Victoria Ziton introduced Cheryl Howard;

Robin Mundell introduced Dan Cantine (12-24 Club Director) and Jennifer Forsberg;

Stan Lowe introduced his caregiver, Felicia Martinez;

Chad Nelson introduced Steven Schnell (Science Zone);

Susie McMurry introduced Jason Adrians (Casper Star Tribune);

Susan Griffith introduced Brenda Sanders (aunt of one of her Interact students), and Interact students- Annicka, Justin, Luara, Miguel, Chiyian, Brinna, Shayahna, and Lindsay;

and, of course - our fabulous exchange student from Brazil, Giulia was in attendance.

 

Dennis Lower entertained us with a great joke and  Gary Pehrson led us in singing “Down in the Valley” – where the winds blow; a true Wyoming love song. 

 

No updates  were shared this week.

 

Stan Lowe announced that June 4-7 will be a reunion of Vietnam War Veterans, and nominated Bill Pierce for helping put the event together, and being a Vietnam veteran. Susan Griffith  nominated all of the Interact students from Roosevelt who have been very involved this year; four of them will graduate this year. Dennis Lower nominated Deb Theriault  for  stepping up to help with the Friendship Exchange with India this summer. Paul Ann Doane nominated Walt Nolte for receiving the Chamber of Commerce’s “Person of the Year” at their annual dinner over the weekend. She also announced that his retirement reception will be this Friday. Martha Rakestraw  nominated Mike Stepp for his work in the Civic Chorale concert. Tom Crull announced that the Chamber dinner also recognized Maribeth Plocek and Jim Ruble for Sinclair’s involvement with the event, Mike Stepp for the market expansion of Donnel’s Candies, and Gilda Lara for organizing the event. Mike Stepp nominated two new CC Board members – Craig Valdez and Mary Lynne Shickich. Dave Bishop nominated his step-daughter, who graduated from the Keystone nursing program. Bill DeGraeve nominated Jim Fowler for hosting the new member orientation last week, the Board members who participated, and the red badgers who attended (Lynette Boatright, Chad Pew, Crystal MacGuire, Andrew Beheyler, and Brown Ewing). 

 

Dick Wimbish, RI Foundation Chair, gave an overview of giving to Rotary International, and then presented  Jim Ruble with his first Paul Harris Fellow. Congrats Jim!!!

 

Eric Easton introduced the student from Reach High School, Brett Cassel, and Susan Griffith introduced the two students from Roosevelt High School, Shae Richards and Lindsey Gordon. All three students received a certificate and 4-Way test coin from President Bill.  

 

 

 

 

Brown Ewing introduced himself to the Club today. He is a CPA and Director with PMCH. He thanked his sponsor, Martha Rakestraw, and the club for the opportunity to join Rotary. Brown is a tax accountant who has worked with a variety of all industries and feels it has been a rewarding career. He got to Casper via the Beaumont/Houston area.

 

John Starnes reminded the club members that on 5/11 the meeting is at the Parkway, on 5/18 it is at Casper College, and on 5/25 there is no meeting for the Memorial Day holiday.

 

He then introduced today’s program.  Our speaker was Amber Pollock, one of the four founders of Backwards Distilling Company, makes Wyoming’s first vodka and gin. Amber is in charge of tasting room operations as well as marketing for the company. She is a graduate of the University of Wyoming with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in music education. Amber is a Casper native.  The other founders of Backwards Distillery are her father, mother, and brother. In October 2012 the family had an “ah-ha” moment and started researching how to make vodka. They all enjoyed drinking spirits and wondered if they could make their own. “Craft” spirits are on the rise around the country and distilleries are popping up in many places. These distilleries are often smaller scale markets and emphasize local production and the process. In January 2013 they formed an LLC and purchased their current building. It took two and half years to move from the idea to the launch of their product. They aggressively learned the process, sourced equipment, applied for licenses, got ordinances written, and developed their brand. The still that they use was imported from Germany. Their launch experienced several delays, but finally in November 2014, Ringleader Vodka, hit the market. The tasting room opened in December 2014. Vodka sales are expanding around the state. Backwards Distillery has a full summer of participation ins statewide, community events.  Their gin was released last month.  It takes approximately one month to produce a batch of vodka and gin. The name of the business came from a combination of their first names (Bill, Amber, Chad, and Kathy), and they created the word, Backwards, to signify how they went abut the process of starting the venture. Amber took several questions and stuck around after the meeting in case members have more questions.

 

President Bill adjourned the meeting at 1:30 p.m.