Larimer County is now in Safer At HomeLevel Red, which means our meeting venue, Nicky's Steakhouse, is closed for in-person dining. Our Thursday, Dec. 3 club meeting meeting will be conducted solely on Zoom. President Bill Solms will lead the meeting from Doug Mann's conference room so that a strong Internet connection will allow us all to participate.
Scott Thompson will be our Zoom Host. Join the program by clicking on the Zoom link before noon:
Our program is the Awards Presentation to 2019-20 Club Leaders. Thanks to Karol Rinehart, Club Administrator, for making all the arrangements! Look forward to presentations by Bill Solms, Dennis Gellhaus, Madison Casey, Kathy Groesbeck and Ron Gordon.
Update from President Bill Solms
Please join us this December 3d on Zoom to honor our past Club leadership as presented by Ron Gordon, Madison Casey, Kathy Groesbeck, Dennis Gellhaus, and yours truly!
Community Service is collecting Christmas goodies for needy kids and families. Please be looking on how to contribute this week.
Your Duck Race Committee has continued to meet and plan both a live Duck Race and a virtual Duck Race; either will be held May 1st. Participant organizations have received their application forms which are now being received by Larry Williams. We are working on our email communications capacities to further perfect the use of electronic adoption forms supplemented by adequate advertising at points where printed adoptions were customarily distributed.
Quackfully,
Bill Solms
Grant will deliver holiday cheer
The 2020 Friendship Card has made a new friend! The Estes Park Police Department Auxiliary’s Blue Santa program has received a $300 grant from our club. The grant was made possible by proceeds from sales of the 2020 Friendship Card, which provides discounts at area businesses.
The Community Service Committee, led by Beth Weisberg, generated the grant request, which was approved by the Board of Directors.
The popular Blue Santa program delivers food, gifts and hygiene products to the disabled, shut-in and elderly in the Estes community.
“The Blue Santa program reaches many Estes Park residents whose need might otherwise have gone unnoticed,” said Weisberg. “The Noon Rotary Club is happy to support Blue Santa in bringing comfort and cheer to these members of our community.”
Police Auxiliary Commander Bill Bradford with Karen Thompson.
The 2021 Friendship Card goes on sale at several locations in December. For a $10 investment, Friendship Card owners unlock discounts at 73 local merchants. See https://www.facebook.com/EPFriendshipCard for details.
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!
Projects will brighten the holidays for many
Just a reminder that the Community Service Committee is running two holiday projects, each with a short time frame:
Our Rotary club is “adopting” a family through Bright Christmas this year. The family has four young children, plus Mom and Dad, so plenty of need and ways to help give them a happy holiday. Please contact Beth Weisberg before you buy items, to find out what is still most needed. Also, if you aren’t comfortable shopping this year but do want to contribute, checks and gift cards are most welcome.
Items should be wrapped and labeled with the name of the person it’s for, and also “Family #50”. Gifts can be dropped off on Beth’s front porch ideally by December 7, and no later than noon on December 8, since Bright Christmas’ collection ends at 4 p.m. on December 8 and we will need time to deliver the gifts to them.
We are also collecting non-perishable food for Crossroads this year in lieu of our usual holiday party. There will be a drop box in the lobby at Nicky’s from December 1 – December 17. Details, including a list of the foods most requested, are contained in an email you received from the club on November 29.
If you have any questions at all, or want to deliver items, gift cards, or checks for either or both of these projects, please contact Beth Weisberg: cell phone (301) 787-7327. Many thanks to everyone for supporting these efforts!
Member Spotlight: Dave Evans
Each week our Spoke is profiling a member of our Club in order to get to know them better and stay connected through these socially distant times.
Dave Evans
I was raised in Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio, and went to college and grad school at MIT, getting degrees in Electrical Engineering, and having 4 exciting years of lightweight crew. The other highlight was meeting Betsy Newcomb, whom I married in 1965. We had 3 children and 4 grand-children; Judy and family live in Fort Collins, Chris and family live in New Hampshire, and Bill and family live in California. My career mainly involved both design and management of engineering and scientific software development, working for Bell Laboratories, ITT, small companies and startups. We lived in Massachusetts, New Jersey, 5 years in Boulder, then 20 years in Connecticut. Betsy and I had always wanted to return to the Front Range for retirement, so in 2000, we bought a house in Estes Park, initially renting it out. In 2003, business problems forced my employer to outsource all software operations, and to lay off my entire software department, including me. We decided to move to our place in Estes, and I did some contract software work here for a few years. We were welcomed by early friends Pete and Lois Sumey, and Pete sponsored me for membership in our Rotary Club in 2007. I quickly found that this Club provides opportunities for service, as well as good fellowship. Betsy died of cancer 2016; in my grief, I was greatly helped by support from family, friends and the community. In particular, fellow Rotarian Karen McClure invited me to events and walks to draw me out of the house. Our friendship steadily grew, and we married in 2018. My other interests are choral singing (sadly, suspended during the pandemic), church and volunteering. I have also worked part-time at the YMCA, and have driven for Good Samaritan (also suspended during the pandemic).
Member Spotlight: Tom Gardner
Tom Gardner
Short Bio: Born in Hackensack, New Jersey on August 4, 1944 and lived in Ridgewood, NJ until I was 18 years old. I went to Nebraska Wesleyan University, majored in history. Linda and I met in a religion class there and married there August in 1966. I have better details of our courtship if anyone is interested. I enlisted in the US Army in September 1967 and spent three years in service with time in Viet Nam. I served as an air traffic controller on the front lines. I was discharged in 1970 and worked for the Federal Aviation Administration as an air traffic controller and then tower manager in 14 or so locations over a 30 year stint. We chose every move.
When we lived in Lincoln, NE the second time, I was a member and president of SERTOMA, another service club. Linda has been a travel agent, PE teacher, bridal consultant, substitute teacher, concierge and my guidance counselor during our life together. We retired in 2000 and moved to Estes Park; this was our plan from the day we married; we had both been here as children, love the outdoors, so this was a natural and great choice. We have two wonderful daughters (whom we left behind to find husbands when we moved from Minneapolis) and four grandchildren.
My post graduate education was varied and interesting. I did graduate school work in Chicago (Northeastern Illinois University in political science) and Minneapolis (Augsburg College for a Master’s Degree in Leadership).
Hobbies: Linda and I share these: Travel (50 states, 7 continents), RV camping, hiking, genealogy research, photography, journaling, reading. Linda knits and crochets, I like to split firewood by hand and discover new beer.
Rotary Inspiration: Ron Kuhns explained Rotary to me while we hiked was my membership sponsor and in truth my inspiration to get involved. I left Rotary for a year then wanted back in. Larry Williams agreed to support me in this effort. Both deserve the credit (or blame) for my membership!
Posted by Jim Whiteneck
Have an opinion, advice? Share it, please
As your Club is planning for the future, we need your input regarding what is being done “right” and what things can be improved upon so that we may move forward strongly. It is important to hear what areas you would like to expand upon and what areas have a diminishing importance to our members.
In our Normal (non-Covid) years, we have been involved in the Duck Race for local 501-C-3 organizations, Golf Tournament for Scholarships, Pumpkin Distribution, Salvation Army bell ringing, Josh the Baby Otter, Shred-a-thon, Town Cleanup, Time Capsule, maintenance of the “Estes Lake Rotary Shelter” and the “Welcome to Estes Park Rock”, Clean Water and many other national and international projects!
Please take a few minutes to help us by answering a few questions and giving us some input on what you think would be our best way to be the most vibrant Club possible. Link to member survey:
Thanks in advance for your help in making our Estes Park Rotary Club a better place to be! We are planning to keep the survey open till December 4. The results have been very helpful but we need to hear from more members.
Friendship Card Contest winner: Scott Dorman
Scott Dorman has been selected as winner of the photo contest for the Rotary Friendship Card 2021 design. A familiar presence in Estes Park, Dorman retired in 2016 after a 33-year career in fire service, with the last 20 as Chief of the Estes Valley Fire Protection District. Since retiring, Dorman has been able to devote more time to his lifelong passion for photography and is pleased that his work has produced an award-winning photo.
The decision of the judges was overwhelmingly in favor of Dorman’s photo. It captures spectacular fall colors on the Bierstadt Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park.
“I am very honored and humbled to have my photo chosen for the Friendship Card," Dorman said. "Thank you for the opportunity to share my photography.”
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.
