Home Page | Rotary Club of Longmont

POA_Banners_Digital_1600x550_Phase2_EN_PromotePeace.jpeg

COMING SOON - Save the Date May 16, 2026

Peace Pole Dedication & Student Peace Poetry - May 16, 2026

Join the Longmont Rotary Club for a morning of community, reflection, and action!

When: May 16
Where: Dickens Farm Nature Area (along the St. Vrain Greenway)
What: A special celebration of peace and service.

🕊️ Event Highlights

The day features the dedication of Longmont’s new Peace Pole, carrying the universal message: “May Peace Prevail on Earth.”

Ceremony: A short dedication to kick off the day.
Service: Join in on a community trail clean-up.
Family Fun: Interactive activities for all ages.
Poetry: Live readings of winning poems from our competition with the St. Vrain Valley School District.

This event reflects the heart of Rotary: a commitment to peacebuilding and service in our local community.

✨ All are welcome to attend!

Type caption here

Longmont Rotary - Update Okavango, Botswana, HippoRollers

Sunshine Club of Longmont

Emily Vallery, president-elect of the Sunshine Club, shared the remarkable 125-year history and mission of the organization, emphasizing its deep roots in service, compassion, and community partnership. She described how five 13-year-old girls founded the club in 1902 to “spread sunshine” throughout Longmont, eventually evolving into a major provider of dental care for underserved residents. Vallery highlighted the club’s longstanding partnerships with local organizations, including Rotary Club of Longmont, noting generations of shared leadership and service. She explained how the Sunshine Club supports families through dental clinics, school outreach, senior programs, transitional housing assistance, scholarships, and community encouragement initiatives. As the club historian, Vallery also discussed using AI to digitize and analyze 120 years of archives, uncovering extensive Rotary connections and preserving Longmont’s civic legacy for future generations while preparing for the club’s upcoming quasquicentennial celebration.

TLC Learning Center

Matt Eldred, CEO and President of TLC Learning Center, shared the organization’s long-standing impact and bold vision for the future. Founded in 1956 by local families seeking better opportunities for children with diverse needs, TLC has grown into an inclusive early childhood education leader serving children of all abilities. Caldwell highlighted the critical importance of early childhood development, noting its lifelong impact on education, health, and community outcomes.

He introduced the nearly completed TLC Early Learning Collaborative, a 43,000-square-foot facility in Longmont that will expand childcare, therapy services, and community engagement. The new campus will also provide space for nonprofit partnerships and support for families, including those in informal caregiving networks.

Eldred emphasized that investing in early childhood yields significant social and economic returns, strengthening families and the broader community. He closed by inviting Rotarians to engage with TLC’s mission and celebrate its 70th anniversary and grand opening this summer.

Honoring “Slick” Haley and the Spirit of Compassion - 2026

Longmont Rotary proudly recognized local students with two distinguished honors: the Slick Haley Awards and the Student Compassion Awards.

The Slick Haley Award honors students who have overcome adversity while achieving academic success. Dr. Al Carr shared the legacy of Dr. James “Slick” Haley—an accomplished athlete, World War II Army surgeon, and Longmont’s first surgeon. A dedicated Rotarian, Haley was deeply committed to helping young people succeed. As Dr. Carr noted, recipients are honored in the name of “a truly outstanding Rotarian, surgeon, and community leader.”

Rotarian Ken Kanemoto introduced the Student Compassion Awards by sharing the legacy of his father, Jimmy Kanemoto. The Tower of Compassion in Kanemoto Park symbolizes love, empathy, understanding, gratitude, and selfless giving—values reflected in this year’s honorees.

2026 Award Recipients
Skyline High School: Daisy and Brayden
New Meridian High School: Neo and Delaine
Silver Creek High School: Cory and Devin
Longmont High School: Avienne and Mya

Longmont Community Foundation

Eric Hozempa, a long-time Boulder County resident and nonprofit leader with 30 years of experience, serves as CEO of the Community Foundation. With a background in philosophy from CU, he brings a thoughtful, proactive approach to identifying and addressing community needs.

The Community Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to improving life in the St. Vrain Valley—now and in perpetuity. It manages permanent endowments, distributes

grants and scholarships,and responds to emerging challenges through targeted projects. In 2025 alone, the Foundation awarded approximately $3.5 million and has contributed over $30 million since its inception.

Key initiatives include scholarships, early childhood literacy through the Imagination Library, emergency assistance programs, and innovative community partnerships. By connecting donors with local needs, the Foundation ensures lasting impact, flexibility, and support for a wide range of causes across the region.

“FISH” - The importance of Fishing

Rotarian Ken Cline shared his lifelong connection to aquaculture and the importance of fishing to communities and the economy. His journey began when his father returned from World War II and started a trout farm, which he eventually took over in 1978. Through his work, he witnessed the rapid growth of the recreational fishing industry and later served in leadership roles advocating for the sector. A major study showed that fishing generates over $2 billion in spending and supports a billion-dollar economy in Colorado. Beyond economics, he emphasized fishing’s deeper value—creating memorable experiences, strengthening families, and inspiring conservation, illustrated by stories of people discovering joy and connection through catching their first fish. 🎣

Transforming Downtown Longmont

Kimberlee McKee, Executive Director of the Longmont Downtown Development Authority (LDDA), recently addressed the Longmont Rotary to share the vibrant future of the city’s core. With a track record of sparking $500 million in investment and adding over 600 housing units, McKee highlighted Downtown Longmont as a critical connector between Denver and Northern Colorado.

Key Development Highlights:

Hotel Longmont: Opening on or around June at 3rd and Kimbark Steet, this 84-room boutique hotel honors local history and will include a rooftop restaurant and ballroom.
Local Square: The LDDA is transforming a vacant gas station into a "town square" featuring shipping container boutiques, an artist-in-residence program, and a performance stage.
Transit & Education: Significant focus remains on the First and Main Transit Center, with active discussions regarding relocating a Front Range Community College campus to the downtown core.

Strategic Vision

McKee emphasized a "people-first, locally-driven" philosophy, noting that 80% of downtown businesses are locally owned. Using mobile data to track visitor trends, the DDA is enhancing "placemaking" through projects like "disco dumpsters" and improved wayfinding. As Longmont prepares for the Sundance Film Festival, the DDA is focused on ensuring the city’s unique "local vibe" remains its greatest economic asset.

Cultivating Longmont's Economic Prosperity

Kelly Sage, President and CEO of the Longmont Economic Development Partnership (LEDP), recently detailed her strategic vision for the city’s growth. With a career spanning Northern Colorado’s most influential economic roles, Sage emphasized that a thriving community depends on primary jobs—employers like Smucker’s and Seagate that bring fresh revenue into the local economy from the outside.

The "CARE" Strategy

Sage summarized the LEDP’s mission through the acronym CARE:

Creation of new opportunities.
Attraction of high-value industries like Aerospace and Bioscience.
Retention of existing businesses (comprising 80% of their work).
Expansion of local staples.

Current Landscape & Future Outlook

While Longmont boasts a high local workforce retention rate of 41%, Sage noted critical challenges, including a median housing price that strains affordability and a million square feet of vacant industrial space. She highlighted a specific need to modernize aging facilities to meet the "clear height" demands of advanced manufacturing.

Looking ahead, Sage is preparing for the massive $2 billion projected impact of the Sundance Film Festival in 2027 and advocating for a "3.0" economic plan to ensure Longmont remains competitive against regional neighbors while preserving its unique quality of life.

Longmont Rotary Talent Show

Longmont Rotary hosted its annual March talent show. What a spectacle! We had kazoo and harmonica players, lots of singing-opera too, animal calls, jokes, and a reading of the cowboy

code of honor. Thank you, John Dern, for your emcee prowess. It was sweet and sentimental-Rotarians coming together in fun and fellowship. The 2026 Longmont Rotary Talent Show will be one for the books!

Bright Collaborative

At a recent meeting of the Longmont Rotary Club, Kristen Fledderjohn, Development Manager for Bright Collaborative, shared insights into the organization’s work building stronger relationships and addressing conflict through restorative justice. Kristen joined Bright Collaborative in the summer of 2024 and brings extensive experience working and volunteering across nonprofit sectors.

Bright Collaborative, originally founded in 1994 by educator Beverly Title in the St. Vrain Valley School District, grew from early efforts to bring restorative practices into schools. The organization has evolved over the years—from Teaching Peace to the Longmont Community Justice Partnership—and is now known as Bright Collaborative, reflecting its mission of “Bringing Restorative Interventions to Everyone.”

Kristen explained that restorative justice focuses on repairing harm and strengthening relationships rather than simply punishing wrongdoing. Through facilitated conversations and structured “circles,” participants discuss what happened, who was affected, and how the harm can be repaired. This approach gives victims a voice, encourages accountability from those responsible, and helps restore relationships within the community.

Bright Collaborative works with youth, adults, schools, law enforcement, and community members across Longmont. Programs such as the Rewind youth diversion program help address low-level offenses by connecting young people with resources and restorative processes rather than the traditional justice system.

Research shows restorative justice can significantly reduce repeat offenses and has a very high satisfaction rate among participants. Kristen emphasized that the ultimate goal is building respectful relationships and equipping people with the communication skills needed to resolve conflict and strengthen community connections.

Community Food Share

Members heard a presentation from Kim DeSilva, CEO of Community Food Share, introduced by Rotarian John Caldwell. DeSilva shared insights into the scope of hunger relief efforts locally and across the country.

Community Food Share is part of the national Feeding America network, which includes more than 200 food banks working together to address food insecurity in the United States. DeSilva explained that food insecurity differs from starvation—it reflects barriers such as high housing costs, healthcare expenses, and limited income that prevent families from reliably accessing nutritious food.

Founded in 1981 to address growing hunger in Boulder County, Community Food Share has grown dramatically, distributing over 13 million pounds of food annually across Boulder and Broomfield counties. Through partnerships with 42 local agencies, mobile pantries, and direct-service programs, the organization now provides the equivalent of more than 30,000 meals each day. Approximately 72% of the food distributed consists of nutritious items such as produce, dairy, and protein.

DeSilva also highlighted the organization’s food rescue efforts, which collect surplus food from grocery stores, farms, and distributors to prevent waste while feeding neighbors in need. Volunteers play a critical role, contributing thousands of hours each year.

Programs such as mobile pantries and senior food delivery help ensure that families, students, and older adults across the community have reliable access to healthy food. Community partnerships remain central to the organization’s mission of strengthening local food security.

Service Above Self

We meet In Person

Tuesdays at 12:00 p.m.

803 3rd Ave.
Longmont, CO 80501
United States

Our noon meetings are in-person and a buffet meal is provided. Lunch is served at 12pm. The actual meeting starts at 12:30 and ends at 1:30 pm. We also have a Satellite group that meets in the evenings. See website for details.

District Site

Click on the image above to learn about Longmont Rotary's Satellite Club.

https://www.facebook.com/LongmontRotary/

Buletin April 2026

Apr 23, 2026

Buletin April 2026

Apr 23, 2026

Buletin April 2026

Apr 23, 2026

Buletin April 2026

Apr 23, 2026

Buletin April 2026

Apr 23, 2026

Longmont Rotary Newsletter: March 5, 2026

Mar 05, 2026

Copy of Longmont Rotary Newsletter: November 30, 2025

Mar 03, 2026

Rotary Theme

"Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change-across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves."

RI President Message

Subscribe to our eBulletin and stay up to date on the latest news and events.

Click here to sign up!

After life, a return to the earth

Conservation burials, green cemeteries, and environmental convictions are reshaping how some people think about death

Rotary projects around the globe May 2026

Learn how Rotary clubs are taking action in the United States, Costa Rica, Italy, Tunisia, and Australia.

So you want to end polio?

Far from the vaccination front lines, the fight to end the disease begins in everyday spaces, from a neighborhood pub to a commuter train to a tulip field. At the center of it all, no surprise, are enterprising Rotary members just like you

World Cup mania envelops Rotary