Stories

Rotary Foundation Pledging

In recent years about one-third of the club’s members have contributed to the Rotary Foundation and it has mostly been the same members each year.

Our per capita contributions have been below the district average, (e.g. $161 versus $199 in 2017). This year, our goal is to get every member to contribute at least $25. At our meeting on December 4, twenty-four members pledged a total of $1450, and eighteen were people who have not contributed in the last two years, so that was a very good start.

I pledged to match the first $25 of any contribution and I will continue that through this Rotary year. Our club gets a lot back from the Rotary Foundation through our involvement in projects in Nicaragua, Rwanda and the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. And Rotary projects have a very high return on investment in improving the lives of the people they benefit.

I would encourage anyone who has not pledged or donated yet to put the Foundation on their gift list this holiday season. It’s easy to donate at Rotary.org, or if you give me a check made payable to the Rotary Foundation, I will be pleased to process it.

https://www.rotary.org/en/donate

Thank you,

David Harper,

Chairman, Rotary Foundation

Coat Drive 2018 -Wrap Up

2018 Share-A-Coat Program Summary

January 14, 2019 - Boulder, Colorado -

The Boulder Valley Rotary Club and Art Cleaners teamed up once again for the 28th annual coat drive collection and distribution. With the help of many community members, more than 2,000 coats and other winter garments such as sweaters, snowsuits, hats, gloves, scarves and boots were collected through various Boulder and Broomfield County schools and businesses. These winter garments were cleaned, sorted and distributed earlier this winter to people in need through various charitable organizations:

The Boulder Valley Rotary Club will provide a cash prize to the schools who collected the most coats per student:

1st place - $150

2nd place - $100

3rd place - $50.

Complete results of the participating schools are attached. School contest winners are:

Small Schools (less than 350 students)

Jamestown Elementary - 1^st place

Jarrow Montessori – 2^nd place

Flatirons Elementary – 3^rd place

Medium Schools (350-550 students)

Superior Elementary – 1^st place

Douglas Elementary – 2^nd place

University Hill Elementary – 3^rdplace

Large Schools (more than 550 students)

Louisville Elementary – 1^st place

Crestview Elementary – 2^nd place

Platte CHOICE Middle - 3^rd place

Congratulations to each of these schools who will be receiving a check in the mail shortly. The schools may either use the cash prize for their school improvement or elect to donate the prize money to an organization of their choice. The Boulder Valley Rotary is helping to support the following worthy organizations this year:

Boulder Community Health https://www.bch.org/
Mental Health Partners https://www.mhpcolorado.org
Family Learning Center http://www.flcboulder.org/

Thanks to everyone who helped make this coat drive a success. Without your help, this program would not be possible!

Bob Harberg

Boulder Valley Rotary Club.

There With Care

VOLUNTEER THANK YOU

Thank you to everyone who participated in our joint project with the Family Learning Center to create Easy Meal Care bags for families supported by There With Care. With such hard-working students, the Rotarians had it easy!

~Diana Fields

Voices for Children

Voice for children

Speaker: Jacob Harmon.

A "craft talk" about his personal and work life as executive director of Voices for Children. Court Appointed Special Advocates ( CASA) is a network of 18 programs across the state. These programs range from serving a few children to hundreds, and have from one staff member to over thirty. They encompass metro and rural areas, children and families of all ethnicities and financial positions, and handle challenges of geography and resources across the state.

World Community Service Retrospect

Click the attached link for an update on the 2017-2018 World Community Service projects.

Click HERE

Colorado Congressional District 2 - Candidate Forum

A few weeks ago, the Boulder Rotary and Boulder Valley Rotary Clubs joined in hosting a Congressional Candidate Forum.

A video of the Forum is available HERE

Greeting from Australia

Dear Boulder Valley Rotarians

Tomorrow night (Australian time) our club will toast the Rotary Club of Boulder Valley. We usually have an international toast after the 4-way test at the beginning of our meetings, as a way of letting our club know of the interesting activities of other clubs which they may not otherwise learn about.

I have chosen your club because my daughter lives in Louisville, Co. The Coal Creek Club is her nearest club but I don't think they are particularly active and the web page is very limited, but I noticed that you do work together, hence your club is chosen for our international toast.

Over the past few years we have visited Colorado and I always intend to visit a club there, but so far, have not done so. I once Googled Louisville Rotary, found out the details of the next meeting, and encouraged my daughter and her neighbour to come along (they could have been prospective members). However, my daughter, on checking, discovered that I had all the information for the Rotary Club of Louisville, Kentucky. A bit far to travel on that trip, I'm afraid.

Anyway, we wish you all the very best for your service projects and hope to make it along to one of your meetings in the future. If you would like any information about my club, please let me know.

Yours in Rotary Service

ilary Beck, PP, PHF, Chair District 9630 Conference 2019

Rotary is a service organisation devoted to improving lives in communities around the world every day through thousands of service projects. We are making a difference.

Flower Power 2018

The project was another year of many smiles. We delivered close to 400 flowers to local senior centers and nursing homes around Boulder. Thanks to Brian Margolis for the use of his companies truck as well as David and Brian getting up early on Monday morning to drive to the Bronco’s football stadium to pick up the flowers. We were the 1^st truck to arrive and the loading was quickly done on a brisk windy morning.

The Margolis Team truck with Brian Margolis, David Harper, and Harma Drenth

Harma Drenth helping to load boxes.

Tom Feiereisen ( Harma’s husband) and David Harper were packing the boxes with the flowers Tom Swett and son had pulled out the flower bed.

Thanks to all the volunteers who showed up early Monday morning to deliver the flowers. Thanks to Junior Weed- Ziegler and partner, Diana Fields. As well as a big thanks to Marty Evans, Sue Churches, John Regur from the BRC! A was great group effort!

~Harma Drenth

Community Thank Yous

Following is a "Thank you" BVRC received.

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I am thankful for last night's outstanding mental health presentation at the Boulder JCC. It was so wonderful to have over 300 people from the community gather to discuss a huge issue that affects every family.

Congratulations to you and the other supporters of the series, as it was extremely well received and highly informative. Abraham Nussbaum was extraordinary, such amazing energy, informational, and great feel for the room. I'm thankful that the future presentations will be available online.

Wishing you and this project significant luck.

Dan Evans

Toronto Blue Jays

MLB Scout/Director, Pacific Rim Operations

Word(s) of the Week: "Football Move"

World Community Service Update Report

Over the last several months, members of the World Community Service Committee have been working on several exciting projects that our club is helping to sponsor. These projects are in various stages of implementation and we welcome any help that members may be willing to provide. Please see the attached update report for a description of the various projects.

Click HERE to view the report.

Update on Nicaragua Water Project:

Dear Fellow Rotarians,

It has been almost 5 months since I last reported on El Rodeo. This time we have some good news. All extra TRF requirements were finally met after proper documentation was sent from Managua. All funds were released and were consolidated in BRC's designated account. Finally funds were transferred to Managua and all relevant parties have been notified. In the next update we will hopefully have some positive progress from the implementation of the project.

Thank you again for your patience, contribution and Service,

Yani Roditis,
BRC

Bob Harberg

The Empathy and Impact Benefit

Our Boulder Valley Rotary Club will be one of the sponsors of The Empathy and Impact Benefit on November 18, 2017, 7 p.m., at eTown Hall, to bring awareness to a major human rights issue: human trafficking and modern-day slavery. Rotary International has made this an issue of focus world-wide.

We are fortunate to have a non-profit located in Boulder, iEmpathize (iempathize.org), whose mission is “to equip adults to empower youth to eradicate exploitation.” iEmpathize will be screening a film at this event, Be Relentless, which is a film about shattering the record for the world’s longest triathlon to fight human trafficking. We hope to have as many Rotarians as possible attend this event. Tickets can be purchased by clicking HERE

Diana Fields

District Governor Nominations

Dear District 5450 Rotarians -

Rotary District 5450 is accepting nominations for our 2020-2021 District Governor. Any Rotarian, who has served as club president, is a member in good standing of his/her club, and been a member of Rotary for at least seven years when he/she becomes District Governor, may be nominated.

This nomination must be accompanied by a formal resolution adopted at a regular Rotary Club meeting or by the club’s Board of Directors. Applications must be submitted by January 31, 2018 - the application is attached to this email. Review of nominations and interviews must be completed by February 28, 2018. Any past club president interested in serving as District Governor should contact his/her club President for nomination by the club. Nominations for District Governor are to be submitted directly to the Chair of the DG Nominating Committee, Past District Governor Bill Downes by January 31, 2018 at DGBill2016.17@rotary5450.org.

The position of District Governor is both rewarding and challenging. All Applicants should be aware that it is a three year assignment not including one or two post assignment years as Past District Governor. But it is an honor and a privilege. The selected Nominee will work closely with District leadership before becoming District Governor to guide how best to serve the Rotary mission in the coming years.

Thank you for your support and consideration of this very important role.

Yours in Rotary Service,

Bill Downes

William A. (Bill) Downes

District Governor 2016-17

District 5450, Rotary

303.880.9880 Cell

303.838.2000 Work

DGBill2016.17@rotary5450.org

This Week in Useless Knowledge

Suicidal Lemmings

It is a widely held belief that lemmings, from time-to-time, experience a suicidal urge that pushes these tiny creatures to throw themselves off cliffs or into the ocean where they will drown. In reality, lemmings sometimes experience explosions of populations, which result in mass migrations through tight spaces which results in some accidentally being forced off cliffs or to fall into water. So why is it such a widely held belief? You can thank the magic of Disney. While filming "White Wilderness" in 1958, Disney could not film any of these suicides in nature (because they don't actually occur), so they simply forced a bunch of lemmings off a cliff and filmed it.

Source: Snopes.com

Bicycle Relief Fund

Posted by Constance Holden

World Bicycle Relief, our Partner in Zambia

What was your transportation challenge last week? “My flight was delayed “ or I was stuck in Boulder rush hour traffic”. If this question were asked in Zambia ‘ the answer would be about walking.

Girls in Zambia never complete primary school because of distance, fatigue and unsafe roads. World Bicycle Relief is supplying more than 3.200 bicycles to Zambia inspiring young women to learn,

dream and thrive. Your Club will be supplying 50 of these bicycles. Our speaker this Tuesday will be Claire Geiger, Grass Roots Development Manager at World Bicycle Relief. She is passionate

about this rewarding position.

We have received word that there is room on the truck from Lusaka to Mfuwe, Zambia for 10 more bicycles at $147 each. Would you like to help one more student achieve their dream?

We had a meeting on this morning with Lucie Kasanga, civil engineer and assistant Rotary District Governor(on my left) and

Dr Christine Kaseba, International Rotary project chairperson and former 1st lady of Zambia. They will represent the in country club for next year’s Global Grant.

It was a great fun meeting.

Jim Beckley

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Donation for Harvey Relief Fund

Dear District 5450 Rotarians,

All of us have watched the images of the victims of hurricane Harvey and were moved by the responses of neighbors helping neighbors and perfect strangers showing up to do their part in helping others, saving animals, and giving money at this time of need. We can be proud to be Americans. As Rotarians we all want to help, and one of the best ways is to give from Rotary to Rotary because 100% of the money will be used for the benefit of those who are suffering. Also we know that our fellow Rotarians will use those funds wisely in areas of greatest need. Not only will contributions be used in the initial emergency phase of this disaster, but also in the months the months to come during the recovery phase from this natural disaster.

Rotary has established the Gulf Coast Disaster Relief Donor Advised Fund. All donations will be overseen and directed by a committee of Rotarians. You can contribute individually or via your club by check, credit card or wire transfer – click here to view instructions: https://www.rotary.org/en/rotary-districts-collect-emergency-funds-hurricane-harvey-victims. An information sheet regarding this established fund is attached.

District 5450 has also produced a video about the lives touched by Hurricane Harvey. You can view the video via this link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/0mbeoca2fzmeiyf/083117-Texas-Flood.avi

Thank you for your generous support to those in need. Feel free to forward this to your friends and family - anyone can donate to this fund.

Kind regards,

Abbas Rajabi

District Governor, Rotary International District 5450

President, Mohegan Capital LLC

303.770.2592 (office)

303.618.6859 (mobile)

DGAbbas2017.18@rotary5450.org

Click the link for more info: https://clubrunner.blob.core.windows.net/00000006862/en-ca/files/homepage/the-gulf-coast-disaster-relief-fund-(daf)/combined-relief-daf-and-ways-to-contribute.pdf

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This Week's Program - Main Street Mobility - The Next 25 years.

This presentation by Steve Meyer, Owner of Main Street Pedicabs, Inc, will recount the development of the pedicab industry in modern cities around the world,

and the role of his company in that evolution. At one time pedicabs were seen as the quaint hallmark of transportation modes in developing countries.

They were sometimes treated by officials with disdain, rounded up and thrown into the sea, as if getting rid of them was going to signal economic progress.

Now pedicabs and all forms of bicycle transportation are regaining popularity throughout the world. Meyer will talk about the impact ride sharing, self-driving cars

and improved electric motors and batteries will have on the future of urban mobility. He will be sharing his thoughts as tries to figure out what his company will

do to adapt to these new technologies and take advntage of the coming changes.

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4th of July Pancake Breakfast

Just a few of the Rotarians that took part in the Superior Pancake breakfast setup on the 4th of July 2017 in Superior, CO!!.

A big thanks to:

Kitt, Dave,Steve,Rick,Brad,Maud,Tom and Ian and John K. Not pictured was Bob Harberg.

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Transition time at the Newsletter

From your newsletter editor

Thank you for trusting me with this task. It's a little bit of new challenge learning the program but I had a great teacher! Thank you Michael for all your time. Please send stories, photos, news, meeting updates to editor.bvrc@gmail.com not to my personal email, as it may not be posted. Please bare with me for a possible 'oops' as it may happen in the beginning. I will try my best to keep you informed.

I do have to get the newsletter ready by Sunday evening due my professional obligation on Monday.

Your editor,

Harma Drenth

Polio Plus

Remembering the work

Beautiful Life

September 18, 2016 just west of Pinecliffe, Colorado. Isaac angling for Rainbow and Brook.

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Rocky Mountain RYLA and Young RYLA

It's RYLA Season!

July 19, July 26, August 2

For three weeks, you'll note the absence of Junior Weed-Ziegler, Tom Swett, Bella Weber, Maud Huey-Kenyon, John Kenyon.

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards camps are here!

It's big this year--there are two conferences for Young RYLA and two conferences for RYLA.

Young RYLA	Middle School	Ponderosa, Larkspur, Colorado
RYLA	High School	YMCA of the Rockies

Read more about RYLA here.

Success for Rwanda!

Global Grant is a GO!

Here is the first paragraph of a letter that Dean Stull received this week:

Congratulations! Your global grant application for funding to create four farmer cooperatives including training, seed storage facilities and water catchments in four villages in Cyanika, Rwanda, submitted by RC Kigali (D-9150) and RC Boulder Valley (D-5450), has been approved by The Rotary Foundation. The award is in the amount of US $64,050.

This signals the acceptance and full funding of all three World Service Grants championed by and funded in part by Boulder Valley Rotary Club.

The good for the people of this region extends far beyond the agricultural and economic benefits. These facilities have encouraged and supported true healing in a nation so recently beset by unimaginable levels of civil disorder.

Great work, Dean Stull and Carole Canale! Great support, Boulder Valley Rotary Club!

Youth Services in BVRC

Our club has year-around programs and activities supporting the young people in our community:

RYLA and Young RYLA, Rotary Youth Leadership Assembly, is an annual program that develops young leaders.
Rotary Youth Exchange, a program that builds cultural understanding, finds us hosting a student from France this year, preparing to host one from Brazil next, and sending a local student to Taiwan for a year.
Interact is a high school club for emerging leaders. BVRC started Peak to Peak Interact, in Nederland, in 2014. RYLA returnees co-chaired the club.
Rotaract is a club for young leaders at a university student or young professionals level.
Dictionary Project, giving away more than 600 copies of a handy reference book to third graders in Boulder Valley.
Peaceful Schools Program, working with Rotaract/Interact students in a story-telling program creating programs that discourage bullying and encourage a peaceful atmosphere in our schools.

If you'd like to know more about these programs or would like to become involved, please visit with John Kenyon, BVRC New Generations Chair.

Progress in the Polio Campaign

Largest in history

Think about this.

Number of children in India inoculated against polio in ONE WEEK: 151,000,000.

Imagine the logistics: the management system, the staffing, scheduling, transportation, the preparation of supplies--and the funding.

Now imagine if you can a 36-year-long project at this scale, involving the cooperation of 155 countries around the world. In the midst of famine, warfare, severe weather events, political upheaval--not to mention the planet-wide differences in language, culture, resources, values.

Unimaginable. Except for a project spearheaded by Rotary International.

It has happened, and it is happening.

1985	350,000 new cases per year
2016	10 cases, as of April, across the planet

And so the campaign enters a new and even more critical stage: a massive, synchronized worldwide switch. The story is told well in this story from NPR.

Reflections

Noteworthy past program

Douglas Duncan, PhD

Director, Fiske Planetarium

September 8, 2015

He led us to believe we would be hearing about manned flights to Mars.

What he really wanted to talk about, what he said he always wants to talk about, was total eclipses of the sun. "It's a life-changing experience," he said, speaking from personal experience--his own life--as well as observation for at least the past two decades. When he described being onboard a ship and seeing the whales and dolphins surface to experience an eclipse, we gave a collective gasp.

August, 2017, the United States lies right in the path a total eclipse, the the total shadow passing just north of Boulder in Wyoming. The image Doug left lingering on the screen told the tale.

After telling of the need for eye protection to watch it, recalling past experiences of the folks at McGuckin Hardware stocking enough simple dark glasses designed for viewing the last partial eclipse, he shared his dream: 10,000,000 glasses distributed around the United States, spearheaded by an organization "not afraid to think Big," a non-profit that would like to generate income to do good.

His audience at BVRC stirred with that. A few spoke up, asking him more details. A few wanted to follow up with conversations with him. Eagerly.

Your BVRC Board of Directors continues those conversations, and there are members of the club who are absolutely interested.

Perhaps this will be the beginning of something Big in 2016.

Second Mile Water

On August 8th, six club members climbed 14,343 foot high La Plata Peak, the fifth highest summit in Colorado, joined by ten-year-old Reid Gardner who was the team MVP.

From the left, the cast of characters for this adventure was Terry Davis, Bill Farrow, Dave and Reid Gardner, Jake Joyce, Dean Stull, and Bart Swanson. Bart drove his camper/RV and the team camped the night before, for a good early start on the climb.

Bill says, "We did it to raise money for Second Mile Water’s Nicaragua water projects." And by the way, since these members supported it with sweat and muscle, if you'd like to participate in the project from the comfort of your office, donations are still open.

Great work, BV Rotarians!

District Grant Funds are still available

Funds are available for Clubs that have not requested a District Grant for 2015-16

Posted to the District 5450 Bulletin by Carolyn Schrader (Denver Mile High)

District Goal: As many clubs as possible to sponsor District Grants

Each Club can request up to $2,500 in District Match to their cash to create a $5,000 project.

If a club recruits at least two other clubs to participate, the match can be as much as $5,000.

District 5450 will assist the club with:

Club qualification
Funding from other clubs
Meeting grant requirements

For Clubs that have already submitted a grant application: you can get DDF match for up to $1,000 in funding for another Club’s grant.

For questions or more details please contact:

Diane Messamore	email	(303)910-9355
Carolyn Schrader	email

The process is easy. Contact us.

(BVRC Members: Contact Bill Farrow for more information.)

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Rotary Global Rewards

RI President Ravi Ravindran has introduced the Rotary Global Rewards Program, which offers discounts on products and services such as travel, hotels, car rentals, dining, entertainment. Office Max offers a pricing structure for Rotarians at its small business discount rate, and you can finally give Uber a try, or Airbnb.

As with everything Rotary, the program is marked by its excellence, its thoroughness and its generosity.

Anybody can view the details of the program, but Rotarians can exercise its options by creating and logging into a My Rotary Account. It's simple and it's quick.

Check it out, BVRC!

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From our District Governor

DG Mary Kay Hasz

Membership: What message are you sending?

We stay alive and vibrant as a club as we welcome new members. Think of the energy and enthusiasm and the many contributions we've seen from the men and women who have joined us in the past year.

DG Mary Kay shares ideas on this in her District 5450 Bulletin article this month.

Turns out Membership isn't just an issue for our Membership Committee! Tom Swett and his team can use the active support of each and every one of us.

The Rotary Wheel

In its early years the Rotary Club of Chicago used a wagon wheel emblem, an idea attributed to Paul Harris. He suggested it symbolized civilization and movement. At first, every club had its own version.

At the 1911 convention of the National Association of Rotary Clubs it was suggested that delegates adopt a standard emblem. They would base it upon the wheel, which had become the generally accepted emblem of Rotary clubs. The Board of Directors appointed a committee to come up with a design, which copied the emblem used by the Rotary Club of Philadelphia. (It was probably only a coincidence that the design committee members all came from Philadelphia.)

Thinking the wagon wheel design didn’t convey the Rotary idea very well, they had added cogs to create a working wheel, symbolizing the members working together, literally interlocked with one another to achieve the organization's objectives. They used 19 cogs in honor of their club, which had been chartered as the 19^th club in the world.

The 1912 Rotary convention approved the Philadelphia design for the whole organization, though many clubs continued to use their own designs. In 1918, a Rotarian engineer from Minnesota petitioned Rotary to amend the design of the wheel. He said that a cogwheel with 19 cogs would not work. He said that the emblem had square-cornered teeth of disproportionate size, that the cogs were irregularly spaced. This Rotarian, Oscar Bjorge, called the emblem "an insult to engineering that only the brain of an artist could conceive."

So he sketched a new wheel, with six spokes (symbolizing the Six Objects of Rotary at that time) and 24 cogs or teeth. He also added a keyway, which locks a wheel to a hub, thus making it a worker and not an idler. We might wonder whether the artists in the organization made some snide comment about a sketch done by an engineer.

In 1928, the exact specifications of this engineer were written into the Manual of Procedure, approved at the 1929 Dallas convention. The specifications have been unchanged ever since.

Adapted from an article reportedly published by the Rotary Club of Bay City, Texas, in 2004 forwarded by Tom Swett, who reminds us that perhaps there are other archetypes the Rotary Wheel harkens back to.

(from the Shambala Mountain Center)

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