Our program this week will flood you with information about our town's water quality and how it is maintained. Bring a gallon or two of questions! Our presenters will be Chris Eshelman, Town of Estes Park Water Superintendent, and Deb Callahan, Town of Estes Park Water Quality and Laboratory Supervisor.
Chris Eshelman has worked for the Town a total of 12 and half years. Formerly, Chris operated his own local excavation company. He grew up in Estes Park, raised his kids here with his wife, Marlys, and is looking forward to introducing his new baby granddaughter to the Town as well.
Chris Esheleman
Deb Callahan has been with the Town for three+ years after retiring from her laboratory career at the Water Purification Plant in Sioux Falls, SD. She is in awe of the beauty of Colorado! Deb enjoys exploring new places and advocating for her two daughters to follow her lead and move to Colorado too!
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Deb Callahan
Posted by Rita DuChateau
Duck Race fans broke records May 1
The Rotary Duck Race proved for the second year that a pandemic could not dampen the community spirit that propels the 33-year-old event. Because a record number of ducks were adopted, 7,198 to be exact, the 65 Participating Organizations will receive a projected $118,579 to shore up their budgets and continue their important work in the Estes Valley.
The May 1 event got an early start with a breakfast at The Egg of Estes for Duck Race Committee volunteers, followed by the Estes Park Running Club’s Duck Waddle 5K on the scenic Lake Estes Trail. Beginning at noon, programming was live-streamed from The Estes Valley Community Center’s Lazy River and viewed on YouTube, Facebook and TDS Channel 8/108 - The Rocky Mountain Channel. A Pre-Flight Show featured performances by singer/songwriter Cowboy Brad Fitch and Ballet Renaissance. Kurtis Kelly and Scott Thompson served as emcees and provided lively commentary as Major Sponsor and little race ducks navigated the current of The Lazy River. Personnel from the Estes Valley Fire Protection District, Glen Haven Area Volunteer Fire Department and Pinewood Springs Fire Protection District represented first responders that were honored this year for their heroic efforts during the recent wildfires. They participated in the duck drop and shared a timely message about wildfire preparedness.
The top prize winners for 2021 were:
Mark Wagner - $5,000
Donald Kutz - $2,500
Christopher Marr - $1,000
Kenny Lefebvre – Yellowstone Vacation Package
Debby Westley – Glacier National Park Vacation Package
Leading the Rotary Duck Race flock this year as ‘Big Duck’, Bill Solms met the challenge of capturing the spirit of the event without the benefit of its traditional outdoor venues and cheering race fans. After the last duck was plucked from The Lazy River, Solms ‘quacked out’ some well-deserved thanks to several partners.
“On behalf of Rotary and all those who worked so hard to help this event accomplish its purposes, I thank all who invested in this venture: the Town of Estes Park, the Estes Valley Community Center, Mayor Wendy Koenig, Chief David Wolf, and all of our other firefighting forces!”
Solms is most appreciate of the strong community support that resulted in a record-breaking number of Duck Adoptions.
“This year’s 33rd Rotary Duck Race allows us to send vital support to 65 participating non-profits as summer begins,” he added.
Looking ahead to 2022, the Rotary Duck Race Committee is anticipating a return to the traditional format, with ducks racing on the Fall River from Nicky’s to Riverside Plaza. During 2020 and 2021, the race occurred indoors and without spectators, for the safety of race fans and volunteers.
One former Big Duck said the 2021 race “proved its mettle and staying power for this community by hanging in there for the long haul and adapting to a worldwide pandemic. The fact that the Duck Race is standing strong and ready to go back to the river shows its important value to the community because people show up to support it no matter what.”
Don Widrig, volunteer since 2002 who wrote the 41,000 lines computer code that runs all aspects of the race added his praise, “I rank this as the best race that I have ever participated in.”
Since its inception in 1989, the Duck Race has distributed $2.9 million to various Participating Organizations.
Posted by Pete Sumey
April 22, 2021 Meeting Notes
President Bill Solms rang the bell at 12:00. Anne Slack gave the Invocation. Bill Solms led the Pledge of Allegiance. Guest Introductions: Visiting Rotarians, None; Guests: Marianne Solms.
Announcements
President Bill announced a Duck Race Committee meeting today at 5:00 hosted by Scott, the last meeting to review preparations before the race on May 1st. Also, this afternoon at 3:00 there will be a race software committee meeting hosted on Zoom by Bill.
Beth has received commitments for over 200 prizes with more coming in. Contacting potential donor businesses by mail was not successful this year.
Lee announced that 3,213 duck sponsorships have been sold online so far, with over $60K in money for the charities.
Longley announced that we have received close to $20K in sponsorships.
Happy Money
Tara Moenning announced the community-wide trash pickup starting at 9:00 on Saturday.
Beth’s younger son and fiancée visited her. It was the first time she had seen him in more than a year.
Karen and Scott will soon be grandparents. Karen’s father Wayne Newsom will be a great-grandfather for the 20th time.
Jim and Carol Whiteneck saw three grandkids in New York and will see three more in Arkansas.
Longley is back from a turkey shoot with his son in Iowa. They each bagged a bird.
Madison & Marty had their California kids visiting for 12 days, the first visit in over a year.
Committee Reports
International Services Director Ron Gordon reported that the Children’s Training Center in Albania, recipient of a Rotary Grant, is conducting the first training session now.
Madison reported that the Estes Park Rotary Foundation met last Thursday to review first quarter results. Portfolio investments were up 1.67 percent, outperforming long term bond results.
Anne announced that EPHS Scholarship Night will be held on May 19th at 5:00. President Bill will be awarding academic and named Rotery scholarships to worthy recipients.
Program
There was no program presentation today.
Adjournment
President Bill closed the club meeting with the 4-Way-Test.
Respectfully submitted by Pete Sumey.
Pete Sumey, scribe
A Rotary Thank You
I would like to thank Bruce Brown, Gregg Jurgens, Tara Moenning, Pete Sumey, Guy Van der Werf and Jim Whiteneck for volunteering their time to review scholarship applications to decide which students will receive our money. This is a big deal. This is where all the hard earned money we raise through the Gulf Tournament, the Shred-a-Thon and the Duck Race go. These students have dreams but the price tag is steep for them to achieve those goals. I so appreciate these six Rotarians taking time to evaluation the requests.
Thank you.
Anne Slack
Global Grant for Albania underway
Ron Gordon, Chairman of the International Service Committee received this update from Nehemiah-Gateway's Sarah Pita on the club's Global Grant:
Dear Rotary Club of Estes Park,
I am so excited to tell you that the Rotary Global Grant project is now officially underway! Today, NG Albania hosted the first of two trainings for local schoolteachers on working with children with autism. Due to COVID, the trainings are being held in small groups—10 participants today, 10 more tomorrow, and, on Saturday, a session for NG clinic staff, as well as a teacher from our Amaro Tan project and the social worker from our Gjirokaster project.
Speaking here is NG Albania Executive Director Herolinda Shkullaku.
Ylli Seitllari, president of the Pogradec Rotary Club. (see the Noon Rotary logo behind him?)
This is Dr. Migen Sulaj, who is one of Albania’s leading experts in childhood autism. Having the opportunity to bring her to Pogradec to work with local teachers and our staff is very exciting. Special education is a new area for Albanian schools and these classroom teachers have autistic children in their classes.
Due to COVID, this is the first event NG has hosted on our campus in a very long time. It is also the beginning of our Global Grant project. According to the team in Albania, the permitting process for the Learning Center is moving along quickly now and we are hopeful that construction will begin this summer. We couldn’t do any of this without you—THANK YOU!
All the best,
Sarah
Is Zoom a challenge?
Anne Slack has the answers!
For anyone new to the workings of Zoom, it can be a confusing experience. Our Membership Chair Anne Slack took on the challenge of creating a step-by-step tutorial on navigating Zoom.
The document is posted on our club website's home page, under Home Page Download Files (left hand side of the page) for your future reference. Click on this link to be taken to our club's home page to read all about the world of Zoom, and think about printing it out for a friend. https://portal.clubrunner.ca/5241
Thanks, Anne for your efforts to keep all of our members engaged until we can meet again!
Give to our Foundation while you shop!
Do you find that you are placing Amazon orders more frequently these days? Don't forget to help your Rotary Club of Estes Park Foundation with every order. As a recipient of funds in the smile.amazon.com, our foundation will receive a portion of the sale. All you need to do its sign up to get the funds flowing. And SHOP!
Choose the charitable organization by typing in Estes Park Rotary Foundation. Our club and the Longs Peak club will come up in the search. Click on Estes Park Rotary Foundation.
Create a bookmark so every time you shop Amazon, you will participating in the smile.amazon.com program.
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