We opened the meeting with the Pledge and Four Way Test, followed by the Thought for the Day by Bethany Karulak. Hummingbirds…she shared some lesser known facts about those incredible little creatures. She also reminded us that they typically visit us through the middle of September, so keep those feeders full for a little longer.
Mel Stewart was our Greeter today and we welcomed three visiting Rotarians and several guests. Karen Schneider introduced one very special guest, Margret, our new exchange student from Iceland. Tiffany Leeson and her family are graciously hosting her for the next few months.
Steve Hitchcock provided us with a brief history of our participation in the 4H Livestock Sale through the purchase of a pig for the Barn Dance. Once purchased, Rex’s prepares the feast for the Barn Dance and although the costs for this is slightly higher than purchasing the meat through traditional methods, we are able to support both the 4H youth program and the Barn Dance, which currently raises money for the Boys & Girls Club. In order to defray some of the costs, we ask the members of our Club to consider making a donation. We passed around a sign-up sheet at the meeting and received a good response from those present, however, if you were not able to attend, you still have the opportunity to make a donation to these efforts. The Livestock Sale is this weekend, so feel free to contact Angela, she can put the donation right on your account, Steve Hitchcock or myself and we will get you on the list. Thank you for your support.
Jim Moylan then presented two awards that were announced at the District Conference this past May. Brett and Joanna Allison were presented with People of Action Awards, but were unable to attend the conference. Congratulations and thank you for all that you have done for Rotary and our Club in the brief time you have been members.
Our program this week was an Update on the Opioid Crisis in our Community and Beyond. Ellen Kendall introduced the panel of five specialists in this field, anyone of whom could have presented a full program on their own: Ken Davis, Director of NW Colorado Health Partnership, Mara Rhodes, Founder Mark McManus Foundation, Austin Eubanks, Chief Operating Officer, The Foundry Treatment Center, Nancy Smith Beste, Executive Director, Mountain Medical Injury and Pain Professionals and Cory Christiansen, Chief of Police, Steamboat Springs and fellow Rotarian. This program, in Ellen’s words, was so “powerful and impactful”. Each panel member was given the opportunity to provide some updates regarding the Opioid crisis in our community and ideas on where we go from here. We had so many questions from members, following opening remarks, that we postponed Good News and gave the remainder of the meeting time to answering questions. If you missed the meeting this week, you missed an extremely informative program and I can’t begin to do it justice by giving you the “Cliff Note Version”. I would recommend going to the website AustinEubanks.com, and find Austin’s Ted Talk that he gave at Mile High Conference last year. It will give you an idea of the subject matter and the quality of our panel of speakers. Ellen will be sending out a list of contacts and references that she received from the panelists.
We will get to hear from some of our newer members on August 21st and August 28th at The Grand with their Classification Talks. Have a good end of the week.
Respectfully yours,
Carol Johnson