If you don’t know Jack, you don’t know much about our Rotary club here in Estes Park. Jack lived here for many years with his dear wife, Mary. Then Covid hit and he ended up down in the valley at the Good Samaritan Village. Jack watches most of our meetings via Zoom. I bet half of you have no idea about this man. I have had the privilege of knowing him for many years as a result of knowing his wonderful wife. So don’t miss Thursday’s presentation. It will tell you who that face is on Zoom and all that Jack has contributed to our Rotary.
Our program this week will be held in person, but a Zoom link will be provided. Click on the link below to be admitted. Meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/ 7985707369
Rotary Weekly Luncheon Place: American Legion Time: Lunch served from 11:30 - 12:00 Cost: $20 Parking: American Legion and the church only
Please call my cell at 970-231-6697 if the meeting is starting and you are unable to get the Zoom link. I will try to help.
Still Time to Sign Up for the District Conference!
Location: 101 S. Saint Vrain Ave, Estes Park, CO 80517
Full conference registration includes Thursday ice cream social & museum tour, all meals, breakout sessions & speakers on both Friday & Saturday.
Rates are as follows:
$220 early bird - good until March 15th - too late!
$235 regular: March 16th-April 30th
$250 late: May 1st-May 31st
Ala carte registration options are available as follows (only sign up for these if you can't attend entire conference-pick the ones that work best for you):
Chicken Piccata – Tender breast of chicken, lightly dusted then sauteed, finished with Lemon Caper Wine Sauce, Rice Pilaf and Steamed Broccoli.
Wild Caught Salmon – Broiled Salmon accompanied by Blood Orange Burre Blanc, roasted red potatoes and asparagus.
Grilled New York Strip - Grilled NY Strip, caramelized mushrooms and onion confit garlic mashers and steamed broccoli.
Registration will close May 31st.
A 10% cancellation fee will be charged until May 31st to cover credit card transaction expenses.
After May 31st there are no refunds as meal headcounts will be given to the hotel on June 1st.
Update by President Dennis Gellhaus
I was experiencing dreams about the Duck Race Saturday night (must be duck overload); one last note: Over 10,000 ducks, and over $195,000 to non-profits!
I hope your Mother’s Day weekend was reflective and that you were able to honor the mothers in your life.
Karl Fuchs wrote: “Mother” is such a simple word But to me there’s meaning seldom heard For everything I am today, My mother’s love showed me the way.
If you were fortunate enough to have a mother that showed unconditional love, you were/are blessed!
Don’t forget our District Conference coming up! As the host Club we should be well represented! June 8-10. You can still register for all or part of the Conference.
Thanks for listening
Dennis
Meeting Notes for May 11, 2023
President Dennis Gellhaus called the meeting to order.
Ruby Bode gave the Invocation – a reflection on mother and Mothers’ Day and a Kipling poem on mothers.
Dennis led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Madison led the song “April Showers” for the rainy weather.
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Guests of Rotarians:
Jim Whiteneck introduced his wife, Carol.
Wayne Newsom introduced Dave Scott, a part time resident from Lake Charles, LA.
Ron Gordon welcomed Longley Parker back visiting us from new home in Iowa.
Announcements:
Jim Whiteneck reported on May 5 we had four readers of Josh the Otter to the elementary school students on water safety. With him were:
Jim Austin
Jim Jonell
Tara Moenning
Pete Sinnott.
Big thanks to Sue Fereday for funding the books.
Our club foundation meets next Thursday May 18 at 1:30 at Quality Inn.
Duck Race results: Big Duck Bill Solms and Little Duck Scott Robins reported.
Everyone present today participated.
It was a record year with the net to the charities $196,196 for 10,124 ducks!
Our Rotary Foundation’s community grant fund benefited by $7,000 as follows:
$4,762 duck tickets sold
$1,500 merchandise sales
$800 from Duck Squat.
We were aided by many great volunteers from the community and organizations!
Madison Casey reported on the Duck Squat:
We earned $803 for the foundation which was a record due to new price of $10 per square on the second game, now the same as the price on the first game.
Many thanks to volunteers- Jim Whiteneck worked this all day with help at various times from
Dennis Gellhaus
Chris Davis
Jim Jonell.
Scott Thompson and truck hauled the equipment and workers and worked loading and unloading.
Tonight is the fun event of the Scholarship Assembly of all the winners and presenters at the EP High School auditorium.
President’s Night plans were reported by Karol Rinehart.
She discovered this year that all the restaurants in town have a new pricing policy- a large room fee - ranging from $2,000-$3,000, plus the usual food and service cost!
Therefore, we will stay at the American Legion.
We are so grateful that there is no fee and the price per dinner is $45 for multiple entrees, sides, desserts.
Time: 5:30 social, 6:00 dinner, 6:45 program.
Happy Birthday to Sue Fereday.
Karen commented it was nice that the big $10,000 winner of the Duck Race worked at the Wheel Bar and was dealing with some financial issues.
3rd place $4,000 went to the new pastor of Summit Church, who is new to town.
Karen Thompson gave the background on her acquaintance with today’s program speaker.
He is a peace corps veteran and Rotarian, like her daughter, and they met in the Peace Corps satellite Rotary club of LoDo Denver club.
Dennis presented Longley Parker with an honorary member badge.
Many thanks for continuing his treasurer work supporting new treasurer Gregg Jurgens.
Longley Parker receiving his Honorary
Membership Badge from President Dennis
Gellhaus
Scott told his joke and then Dennis piled on with his joke.
Happy Money:
Longley Parker is glad to be back visiting today and plans to visit from Iowa at least annually.
Jim Austin is happy for Longley’s visit.
Last year they built the duck racks together and they still work.
Jim thanked his finish line crew and is happy to turn this coordination over to Ben Van der Werf for next year.
On clean up day they cleared out two rock dams at the finish line
he commended Anna Weddle for doing many times the work tossing more rocks than anyone else.
Wayne Newsom is happy that Karol Rinehart organizes these meeting events for us and researched and figured out President’s Night banquet.
Virgil Holtgrewe thanks the duck crew and he will pay the $1 for Annie for The Spoke challenge game.
Annie Slack was happy
Dennis saw his Rotary number in the game
Beth saw her number again
Gary Nelson enjoyed being re-assigned to be a sweeper in the duck race
he rejoicing that today is the official end of the Covid Pandemic.
Beth Weisberg is happy that today is the fourth anniversary of her moving to Estes.
Jim Jonell is delighted to report
they now have the host families arranged for our exchange student from Italy.
Thanks to assist from Chris Davis.
Also, a week from tonight is mental health & youth dialog at the Middle School.
We are all invited and our presence is helpful even if we don’t think we have anything to say.
Free dinner provided.
Ben van der Werf thanked his great crew for the duck race finish.
Extra people showed up to fill the gaps in the initial lineup so all went swimmingly.
Thanks to Jim Austin for his instruction.
Bill Solms was very grateful for
Carol Whiteneck who stayed with his wife Marianne while he worked the Duck Race.
He was happy for a father-son team of the Van der Werfs working the finish line.
Scott Robins put in $1 for each team leader for the Duck Race.
He reminded us that he needs a Little Duck to work with him next year.
Jim Whiteneck was happy for Ben working the finish line.
Ron Gordon was happy for Longley’s visit and our speakers today.
Program:
Ron Gordon introduced the program- On zoom were Andy Lenac of Denver, first generation American Ukrainian, and Oksana Petrukh in Ukraine. Andy has been in Rotary Clubs wherever he lives and has been club president many times. He was in Peace Corps to his ancestral Ukraine and in Rotary there. He told us about a simple, effective effort that he is working on, started at Western Colorado University, to reuse solar panels and send to Ukraine. He buys $15 USB adapters on Amazon and then the panels can recharge 4 cell phones at once, as well as other USB connected electronics. Shipping materials are donated and $100 shipping cost needs to be funded. He has shipped 45 so far. He has a short instructional video to enable others to get involved to assemble and fund these panels. He suggests clubs like ours partnering with clubs in Ukraine.
Oksana in Ukraine told us about her Rotary Club activities to help civilians in the war, and showed a moving video of her visit to the front lines to deliver supplies and offer support to auxiliary units there.
Andy Lenec, Oksana Petruhk, Ron Gordon
Adjournment:
We closed with the Four Way Test.
Madison Casey, scribe
Longley's Thank You
I am so grateful for being honored with the designation of “Honorary Rotarian”. I will not take that distinction lightly and plan to continue to serve The Rotary Club of Estes Park as long as I can from Iowa and as long as the Club will allow. It was great to see many old faces and the faces of many new members. I wish I would have had more time to visit with everyone. Thanks again!
Karol Rinehart Scholarship: Mike Bird and Valentyna Trydukh
Mike Bird Valentyna Trydukh
Coffman Memorial Scholarship: Reese Thompson
Reese Thompson
Hagemeister Memorial Scholarship: Katherine Gonzales
Katherine Gonzales
Brunson/Thorp Memorial Scholarship: Lucy Leija
Lucy Lieija
Kuhns Memorial Scholarship: Sadie Morgan
Sadie Morgan
Academic: $4,000 -Maya Kiser
Maya Kiser
Academic $10,000: Amy Goodwin, Sam Miller, Mason Wignall
Amy Goodwin Sam Miller
Mason Wignall
Estes Park Memorial Observatory Scholarships
Dawson Ash, Lily-Ann Miller, Mike Connolly, Oleksander Khvorostia, Michael McCown, Samuel Miller
Our fellow Rotarian, Mike Connolly's scholarship winners
Support Lawrence Trifiletti Raising Funds
for St. Jude's in the San Diego Half Marathon
June 4, 2023
Lawrence Trifiletti
I am raising money for St Jude's by running the San Diego Half Marathon. I have chosen to run for a reason bigger than myself by fundraising for the kids and families at St. Jude. I am training to cross the finish line on race day and with your donation we can cross the fundraising finish line together because the money you donate helps find a cure for childhood cancer.
Did you know:
Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food - because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.
Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80% since it opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude won't stop until no child dies from cancer.
St. Jude freely shares the discoveries it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children.
Donate today to help me reach my goal of $500. Even when the race is over, the fight to end childhood cancer continues. 10536378
RSVP to Karol Entree and dessert selection or sign up at the meeting.
From The Chaplain
Do you know a Club Member who needs assistance? Maybe a ride to meetings, or just a phone call to keep in touch? Please contact Bill Smith 970-420-1033 or billsmithbronx1956@gmail.com.
Find Your Rotary Member Number
Do you know your member number? I will be inserting one member's number in the Spoke somewhere each week. If you find your number and let me know, I will add a dollar to the Happy Money jar. Have fun reading the Spoke!
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