We had a strong turnout from our club for volunteering at Care and Share on Wednesday night. Our Community Service Fund joined with Trinity Brewing and Picnic Basket to support Care and Share and also thank the volunteers that day by providing some refreshments after the volunteer shift. A wonderful way to help the community while enjoying some fellowship!
Our meeting this week is the Mayoral Runoff Debate, which is sold out. Please plan on coming early to enjoy lunch before the debate. Also, we will have guests from the community joining us so please give them a great Rotary welcome! It's also a perfect opportunity to let them know about Rotary - who knows - a few might be interested in joining.
Tuesday is our April Rotary social at Wackadoo Brewery. More information is later in this bulletin.
Next Friday is the first of the two Diamond Awards programs. If you have not attended one yet, be prepared to be moved and inspired by the amazing, dedicated teachers that our club will be recognizing. A true highlight of the year! As always, don't forget to RSVP by 5 pm Monday for this great luncheon.
A few little tidbits -
Does anyone know the whereabouts of the Otter costume that Rotarian Paul Foreman used for his water safety classes in elementary schools? Paul's 2 grandsons died in 2016 in a tragic accident up near Estes Park and you may remember Paul's presentations, books and otter costume. Paul, unfortunately, died in 2021 and a friend is looking for the costume.
Caryn Adams and Dennis Shoemaker will be singing at a concert this Saturday at 2 pm. Enjoy an afternoon of music with the Interdenominational Festival Chorus as we celebrate Earth Day and God's creation. The 2 pm concert will be at the First United Methodist Church at 420 N Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80903 Caryn has some free tickets available if you are interested. Email her at caryn@gasperlaw.com.
Please take time to read the bulletin each week and check out our website that has more information about all our events, activities and upcoming speakers.
RSVP to Ron Rubin no later than May 22nd. We need to get a count into Tara King our Area Director so she can let the restaurant know. The clubs will be chipping in to provide some light appetizers. Each member will purchase their own drinks.
Our Memorial Tree planting and park cleanup will be April 29th at Millibo Art Theater at 1626 S. Tejon St. Colorado Springs, CO 80905. Please join us as we remember those Rotarians we lost this year. This is a special way to celebrate Rotary fellowship and Rotary's environment area of focus.
Watch for further details on this and our May service projects.
As our Community Service Fund is considering supporting this event, I thought it would be of interest to you. Please note that the registration deadline is April 23rd.
Our Community Salutes of Colorado Springs will host its Annual High School Enlistee Recognition Ceremony to honor its Class of 2023 high school seniors and two of their parents, guardians, or mentors on May 3, 2023 at 6:30pm at Flying W Ranch at 3330 Chuckwagon Road, Colorado Springs. There is no cost to attend this event. Local businesses and individuals are underwriting the entire cost of the ceremony in honor of our Class of 2023 high school enlistees who have made the selfless decision to serve our country. Suggested dress attire is business or business casual.
3333 Templeton Gap Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80907
PURPOSE
Now in its fourth year, the Craig and Kyle Whitney Memorial Golf Tournament was established to provide community service. To-date, this very fun event has been sponsored by a wide range of local businesses and individuals and has raised more than $50,000 to benefit our community through the programs of the Salvation Army and the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs. Beginning last year and now going forward, the Whitney Tournament also provides “scholarships” for First Tee youth.
“Being able to participate in the Whitney Memorial Golf Tournament gave our participants an experience that they will never forget because it gave them a chance to grow and provided them a safe place to fail. They were pushed outside of their comfort zones and were able to rely on all the active learning experiences that we have been teaching them through our life skills and leadership curriculum.” Emily Ortmeier, LPGA, Director of Golf and Education First Tee – Southern Colorado
PEN (Practical Education Network) in Accra, Ghana (installation of online training facility) $5,000
Science Lab at Masai Mara High School in Kenya, Africa. $2,500 (with $2,500 from the Los Altos, California Rotary Club)
Social Work Scholarships at Hubert Kairuki Memorial University (HKMU) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (Two individual scholarships) $3,000
School bus purchase for Rotary Volcanes School of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico $2,000 (Tri Lakes Rotary Club project; total goal from area clubs and District grant $16,000)
Ukrainian Letter Project (supplies, printing and shipping) $2,600
Ankara Turkey disaster response $3,000
Our Community Salutes (recognition of high school military enlistees) Vendor Booth $500
March is WASH Awareness month, so lets take a look at RCCS engagement with the 6th SDG! Two water purification enterprises were just installed at 2 Maasai communities in Kenya. Once certified and launched this Spring, both will be run by Maasai women and will be supplying purified water to over 20,000 per day, and generating an annual revenue stream of over $300,000 combined each year. This was funded 90% by a Program Related Investment from a Minnesota Rotary Club, and 10% by our own CSF and an anonymous club member.
We are developing some exciting projects going forward. These include:
A Refuge de Higene in Guatemala at Escuintla Regional Hospital. For the past 4 years, the H2OpenDoors project has been adding purification equipment made here in Colorado. This last January, an expedition of 34 installed the final system, bringing total capacity to 100,000 liters each day. Next January we return to cut the ribbon on a new 20 toilet and sink building to provide sanitation and hygiene for the family visitors to the hospital. Their pediatrics unit performs 45,000 births annually.
A rural community in Peru will be receiving a large water system from Global Water First, our social impact investment strategy to fund projects. Our Minnesota Rotary partner will be funding their second PRI for $80,000 to establish a water business. An expedition will be promoted to Rotary members in late Spring once political unrest calms down there.
Ethiopia and Somalia are experiencing extreme drought. Global Water First will be working with Alight Foundation to rehabilitate dozens of boreholes and establish water distribution points to serve over one million people.
At EarthX in Dallas on April 19-23, we'll be displaying 6 water tech configurations made in Rocky Ford to an estimated 200,000 attendees and investors. EarthX is the largest environmental and climate conference in the world, and for the first time we will have our own Rotary Pavilion. Opening day of the Expo features a presentation by Jon Kaufman, followed by Past RI President, Mark Maloney.
Update on the Monument Club's Mexican School Bus project from Khurshid Qureshi: The project has been approved by the District Grant Committee. Inside the bus, there will be a engraved plate for your club name. Outside the bus will be Rotary Logo and District 5470 painted on the back. We will have formal ceremony for handing over the bus keys to the school in Purto Vallarta. Your partnership in this project has helped us to get this grant. It is also a model that how a newly formed small Rotary Club can accomplish big things by leveraging a bigger club. - Khurshid Qureshi
Warmly,
Jon Kaufman
P.S. If you are interested in participating in our International Committee, please email Jon Kaufman jk595@aol.com to be added to the notification list!
1. These trips are only for Rotarians, family members and in some cases friends (assuming they are potential rotarians) to participate.
2. Each trip for 10 days. Visit local attractions, rotary clubs through varies social events, attending cultural events, museums, shows, restaurants and more.
During the trip, we will meet with talented young people in the country (often they are interact and rotaract members), will select group to participate in RCF International Cultural Exchange for the trip to USA as Cultural Ambassadors in 2024.
3. RCF responsible: Arrange Airline tickets to travel as group, ground transpiration in the country, hotels and coordination with in country rotary clubs.
RCF representative will travel with the group, coordinate and manage logistics during each trip (teams ~ 15 people)
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If you have bulletin announcements, please email the EXACT WORDING of your announcement to kay.rendleman@comcast.net by Wednesday at 5 pm. I don't write your announcements, but I do make them nice 'n' fancy!
PEN (Practical Education Network) in Accra, Ghana (installation of online training facility) $5,000
