Our Rotary year is moving into its fourth quarter -- I've enjoyed being your president.  Actually, I'm getting to the point where I've pretty much figured out how to do things presidential and the year comes to an end; but I wouldn't be truthful if I didn't say that I'm also looking forward to Ron Rubin assuming command on July 1st.  I understand from those who've served in this role before me that the best position on the board is that of "Past President".  

 

What's happening in the coming three months?  

 

- Palmer High School Walk-for-Water -- April 22nd -- see the article below for more information.

 

- April 28th -- The Second Diamond Awards Program.

 

- District Assembly & Roundup (aka District Conference) is April 20 - 22 in Glenwood Springs.-- P.E. Ron Rubin will be attending the Assembly and the first part of the Roundup.  Also in attendance, our Rotary Youth Exchange Student, Christopher Grundner, joins other district exchange students for a final gathering -- they present the flags of their countries at a special ceremony.

 

- Celebrating 30 years of women members in Rotary will be during the month of May.  We will have women speakers from around the community at each of our luncheons.  Nancy Saltzman, Author of "Radical Survivor", will join us on May 5th at The Hotel Elegante.  We'll have a report from our Nicaragua team spearheaded by Rotarian Jean Feist on May 12th.  Michelle Blessing will speak on May 19th and we're still confirming our May 26th speaker as this goes to press.

 

- June 10 - 15 marks the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta.  Liz and I will be attending along with Past-President Jane Hammoud.  The speaker lineup at the convention looks great with Bill Gates and Jack Nicklaus, to name just a couple.  There will also be a 100th Anniversary party in celebration of the Rotary Foundation.  The last I read they're expecting about 40,000 to attend.  Should be fun.

 

- June 16 - 19 is RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) at the Colorado Mountain College Spring Valley Campus in Glenwood Springs.  Our club is sponsoring four high school students for this annual high-caliber leadership camp.  I'm sure we'll get a special report on the event by our attendees late in the Summer.

 

- Our final meeting in June will be on the 23rd -- that will be the time to close out my year as President and hand the gavel to Ron.  So, no meeting on the 30th.

 

- I'll have a more detailed report on our membership in a couple of weeks -- looks like we're at 131 today with 8 new members on the horizon.  Thanks for sharing the news of Rotary and welcoming prospective members each Friday.

 

- Many thanks for your timely financial support for our club, not only in our operating budget but also your contributions to the Service Fund, the Rotary Foundation, and PPARE.  We've stayed in the black all year and have great opportunity for doing good in the community.

 

- Finally, just in -- our exchange student for the next Rotary year is Romi Bogarova from Sala, Slovakia http://slovakia.travel/en/sala   She's 16 and will turn 17 in November.  I'll have more information in a future edition.  Many thanks to Juliana Howard our Rotarian who is assuming the duties of Youth Exchange Officer this year.