Bill Morris co-founded Blue Star Recyclers in 2009 after discovering people with autism and other disabilities possess innate skills for tasks involved in the recycling of electronics. Based in Colorado Springs, Blue Star is a nonprofit social enterprise with a mission of recycling electronics to create jobs for people with disAbilities.
Bill was named Colorado’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year, Small Businessperson of the Year, Employer of the Year, and Recycler of the Year. Blue Star was named Colorado Nonprofit of the Year, Social Enterprise of the Year, and has received the Samaritan Award and Colorado’s top 24-Karat Environmental Award.
A Rotarian is a person who digs wells, from which they will never drink, A person who vaccinates children they will never meet, Who restores sight for those they will never see, Who builds houses they will never live in,
Who educates children they will never know Who plants trees they will never sit under, Who feed hungry people, regardless of race, religion or politics Who make crawlers walk half a world away Who knows real happiness, which as Albert Schweitzer said, 'can only be found serving others'.
Thank you, Annie Valades, for sharing this from a Rotary Club Newsletter in Australia!
Paul Harris wrote: "Each Rotarian is a connecting link between the idealism of Rotary and their trade or profession". Vocational Service may be the least understood of the Rotary Avenues of Service, and yet it is the very foundation of Rotary itself. The introductory statement and three of the four objectives of Rotary relate to Vocational Service, underlining its importance to the philosophy and culture of Rotary.
Those objectives are:
To encourage and foster high ethical standards in business and professions, to recognise the worthiness of all useful occupations, to dignify the Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society.
To apply the ideal of service in personal, business and community life.
To advance international understanding and goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of businessmen and professional men and women united in the ideal of service.
The Object of Rotary is a philosophical statement of Rotary’s purpose and the responsibilities of Rotarians. The concept of vocational service is rooted in the Second Object, which calls on Rotarians to “encourage and foster”:
• High ethical standards in business and professions
• The recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations
• The dignifying of each Rotarian’s occupation as an opportunity to serve society.
As a Rotarian, how can you put these ideals into action? Consider these suggestions:
• Talk about your vocation in your club, and take time to learn about fellow members’ vocations.
• Use your professional skills to serve a community.
• Practice your profession with integrity, and inspire others to behave ethically through your own words and actions.
• Help a young person achieve his or her career aspirations.
• Guide and encourage others in their professional development. If you do any of these things, you are performing vocational service. And if vocational service motivates and energizes you, then you’re in the right place, because vocational service is the very essence of Rotary. It is what sets Rotary apart from other service organization.
1. Where were you born and where did you grow up? Los Angeles, California (ok, actually Torrance, CA but nobody knows where that is). I grew up in a small beach town, Manhattan Beach – before it became a destination for upscale home buyers.
2. Have you lived outside the US? If so, where and for how long? I’ve traveled and worked oversees everywhere from American Samoa to Saudi Arabia but only resided in the US of A.
3. Coffee or tea? Coffee
4. Do you currently or have you ever played a musical instrument? I’ve tinkered with the piano but never mastered it.
5. Favorite sport to watch? Favorite sport to play? Favorite sports teams? As we call it in the USA, Soccer is my favorite sport to watch. Volleyball is my favorite sport to play. Favorite sport team to watch? I would have to say the San Francisco 49ers during the early 1980s and the USA woman’s soccer team of 2019.
6. Who would you consider to be your “hero” or “mentor” and why? I’ve always admired people with courage. The ability and desire to take on centuries old traditions and customs and to inspire other people is something I wish I was better at. Martin Luther King Jr. embodies those traits and deserves a special place in the history books.
7. Do you speak any languages besides English? Yo puedo hablar el Espanol un pocito.
8. What is one item from your Bucket List? I want to complete the Planet Walk project.
9. Do you have pets? Please describe! Include a picture if you'd like! No pets, but extremely cute grandkiddos.
10. Do you collect anything? No, in fact our house is overflowing with things that no longer fit! Our house runneth over.
11. What is one thing you’ve done that you never want to do again? I spent a summer in Saudi Arabia followed by a winter in Alaska – I never want to do that again.
12. If you had to give up one of your five senses for the rest of your life, which one would it be: sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell and why? I would give up my sense of smell. Why? because I’ve already lost most of it anyway – I’d make a very poor hound dog.
13. What was your first job? My first job was as a dish washer at a bar and grill near the Manhattan Beach pier in Southern California. I’ve got some funny stories to tell about that experience.
14. How long have you been in Rotary? Have you ever been a Rotarian in another club? If so, where? I joined in 2017. I was a member of the Lions Club during my extended project in Palmer, Alaska.
15. What is your favorite community service activity that our club has participated in? I have really enjoyed helping with the Flight effort.
16. Is there another effort that you would like to see our club contribute/volunteer? I’d like to see Rotary help me get the word out on the Planet Walk project.
17. What program have we had at our weekly meetings that you’ve found the most interesting? The words of inspiration usually help my frame of mind a great deal.
18. Who was your rotary sponsor? Caryn Adams
19. What board positions have you held in our club or in prior clubs?I am the former Chairman of the Southern Colorado section of the ASME (the American Society of Mechanical Engineers).
20. We do a lot of good things in our club. In your opinion, where is an area that we could do better and how? We celebrate the high achiever students in D-11 but perhaps we could also work with some of the below average kids also.
21. What is something else that would be interesting or entertaining for our club members to know about you? I am a former nuclear power plant operator on a US Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine. We served in the Pacific Ocean but made a very memorable cruise through the Panama Canal to the Atlantic Ocean.
The photo is of me with my wife Elli, our daughter-in-law Jeni and our son Richard at the Elli Caulkins theater in Denver. We saw “The Lion King” It was great fun.
We will discuss International projects for 2021 via email this month. Please contact Jordan Davis if you are interested in participating in International rotary projects this year.
This past year has worn so many of us out. Then 2021 started with a lot of noise and negativity, even though we had such high hopes for a better year. HOPE has become such an impactful word to me that I chose it for my Word Of The Year.
The actual definition of HOPE is "The feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. To look forward to with desire or reasonable confidence."
"HOPE isn’t pretending that troubles don’t exist. It is the HOPE that they won’t last forever. HOPE is not giving up. That hurts will be healed and difficulties overcome. That we will be led out of the darkness and into the sunshine. At the end of the day, all you need is hope and strength. Hope that it will get better and strength to hold on until it does."
I have HOPE that we will meet again in person even though many of you are zoom-weary right now. I have HOPE that Covid19 won't always hang over our heads like a dark cloud. I have HOPE that we are learning to see strengths and needs in those around us and someday race, religion, politics, orientation, ethnicity, or economics won't be barriers but will be reasons to celebrate. HOPE is when your boss, your partner, your friend says "That's impossible" but your heart says "Hold my beer!" HOPE is trusting the timing of the universe. HOPE is believing that the sadness and the madness of the world is all part of the plan and something better is on its way. Some call it faith. I call it HOPE. HOPE is going through pain and knowing that you're growing into a better version of you.
Before my accident in 2017, life was moving at the speed of light. I loved it but I never took the time to listen to my head and my heart. I buried my frustrations and disappointments in life with so many distractions that I couldn't hear that voice that helps you find the way to healing. I probably had some windows of opportunity to listen but I would just take on another responsibility. Something about spending a month in the hospital, 6 months in a wheelchair and 2 years being housebound made me listen. Sometimes listening was the only thing I could do. One thing I heard was that I didn't have to constantly volunteer and take on more responsibilities to matter. I heard that I mattered by being a voice whether from a wheelchair or a hospital bed or even limping along with my cane. My HOPE story here is that I have grown through this experience (and continue to grow.) When the accident brought my entire life to a standstill, I had to keep feeling hopeful that I would still matter and that I could still do good in the community. I have HOPE that I will continue to listen, continue to grow and continue to matter.
And lastly, HOPE stands for Hold On; Pain Ends. As long as you can stay focused on that, you are growing stronger and you have HOPE.
If you have makeups you would like to turn in to be counted for your attendance, please email me with the date and purpose of the meetings! KSaltmarshVoss@yahoo.com
If you have bulletin announcements, please email the EXACT WORDING of your announcement to KSaltmarshVoss@yahoo.com by Wednesday at 5 pm. I don't write your announcements but I do make them nice 'n' fancy!
As you're doing your shopping online, did you know that you can support our Rotary Club with every Amazon purchase? Here’s how:
Go to smile.amazon.com (not amazon.com). Amazon Smile is the same company, same account, same password, but the Amazon Smile program gives one half of one percent of every purchase to charity. No, it’s not a lot, but it’s also not nuthin’ (to be exact: about $150 for the Club so far). So again, go to smile.amazon.com
Sign into your Amazon account as you normally would
On the very top left of the page, next to the AmazonSmile logo, are three horizontal bars. Click there for the drop-down menu.
Scroll ALL the way down to “Your AmazonSmile”; it should be the last option right before “Sign Out”; Click on “Your AmazonSmile”
On the right side of the page, click on the “change charity” box under Your current charity (Note: If you are currently supporting another charity, that’s awesome! These instructions are for those who are not doing so. Also, if you have not previously selected a charity, your default option will be St. Judge Children’s Research Hospital.)
Type in Community Service Fund of the Rotary Club of Colorado Springs; click Select
That’s it. You’re all set. Just remember to go to Smile.Amazon.com when you shop from now on.
