Rotogear for February 13, 2008

RI President Wilfrid J. Wilkinson's Website

The Rotogear
of the Rotary Club of Fort Collins

February 13, 2008

Bob Powell

Doug Hutchinson will introduce Bob Powell, consultant and trainer for Character Fort Collins, and Wendy Williams, president of the CFC Board of Directors.

Bob will briefly outline the history of the organization, relate insight into its vision and rationale, and review activities to date.

A video showing CFC in action and reactions to its activities will be shown. Finally, Wendy Williams will discuss future steps-the "going forward" activities, hoped for results, and expectations for upcoming years.

Presiding at Last Weeks Meeting

Jan Bertholf

Lloyd Thomas

Presiding: Jan Bertholf

Invocation & Pledge: Lloyd Thomas

Music: Steve Busch

Song Leader: Bill Moellenhoff

Greeter & Introductions: Barbara Jones and Amelia Streigel

Sergeant at Arms & Microphone: Melanie Chamberlain

Guests Last Week

Ester Mngola

Jamie Grim, Lee Jeffrey, Thom McCarthy, Chris Neese, Michelle Sunkel, Ester Mngola guests of the club

Scott Billington, guest of Neal Carson

Don Johnson, guest of Max Getts

Jan Allen, guest of Kirvin Knox

Dick Eshelan , guest of Gary Watterson

Visiting Rotarians

Ron Clark of the Windsor Club

Member Resource Additions on Club Web Site:

Sankaram Mantripragada has made major additions to the Members Area of our club web site. The additions are mainly forms and requirements. The additions are:

   Rotary Membership:
         Proposal And Application Form
         Personal And Biographical Form
         Financial Requirements
         Red To Blue Badge Requirements

   Programs:
         Submission Form
         Responsibilities of a Rotarian Sponsoring a Speaker
         Guidelines for Speakers

Classification Talks:
Classification Talks - Guidelines

Disbursement Requests:
Disbursement Request Form

Announcements

Paul Hudnut

Claude Piché

Dawn Davis

Dan Mackey introduced our exchange student from England, Ester Mngola again. He said that she probably had never seen snow before comming to Fort Collins. On January 25th she had the opportunity to go skiing and did well.

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Paul Hudnut invited members to attend a series of programs being held at CSU. Lannie Boyd will send out an announcememt about the programs.

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Claude Piché asked members to check their personal information in the members area of our new web site and make the appropriate changes. If they do not know how to find the section and/or make the changes, see Claude.

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Claude Piché also announced that there will be another trip to Guatemala this summer to build a home similar to the Habitat for Humanity home built last summer by club members and Fort Collins Interact members. If you are interested, see Claude. Also visit our web site to see the write-up of last years event. It is under International Programs/Habitat House Guatemala.

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Dawn Davis asked club members to take the time to do a Homelessness Initiative survey from the Homelessness Initiative Task Group of UniverCity Connections. She said that Lannie would be sending out the information.

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Max Getts talked about some great investment opportunities he had in the past. He also provided a handout on the tables that showed stock certificates in "The Gray Goose Airways" and "Metal Safety Railway Tie Company". The handouts also included some history of "The Gray Goose Airways" and the original prostectus of the company.

Classification Talk

Doug Hutchinson

Doug Hutchinson was born in Billings, MT. His family moved to Ft. Collins when he was 4. He completed his public schooling in Poudre School District. He joined the military, specializing in intelligence and spent 23 years in the Air Force and retired as a Lt. Colonel in 1999. His education after Ft. Collins High School included a bachelor's from CSU, a Master's from USC , and some work at Colorado Technical University. He and his wife Cathy have three children, all living in Fort Collins, and six grandchildren plus one on the way.

Doug said, "I thought I had enough hobbies to keep me busy when I retired. I have been an amateur radio operator since 1956 and that has been a great hobby my entire life. I like woodworking, especially cabinet making and precision kinds of woodworking. I also enjoy reading and the mountains, but a funny thing happened on my way to retirement. I spent three and a half years writing a column in the Coloradoan and going to council meetings and then in 2005 I ran for Mayor. So now here I stand delighted to have the chance to give back to the city that I love. I am delighted to be a Rotarian."

Foundation Report

Bob Meroney

Bob Meroney presented facts and assessment studies about the Rotary Foundation. He showed how the Foundations money is obtained, invested and spent with PowerPoint slides obtained from Rotary International. His major point was, how does the Rotary Foundation’s financial performance compare to other charities? Bob showed the results of three rating organizations, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Charity Navigator and the U. S. Better Business Bureau Report on charities. The BBB report has been used by Forbes Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times studies about charities. The BBB recommends that at least 65% of a charity’s total expenses be spent on programs. The Rotary Foundation has always exceeded this standard and is normally in the mid to high 80% range. The data comes from Rotary’s Federal Tax Form 990, which is available on line. The entire PowerPoint presentation that includes more than Bob showed is also available at the Rotary International web site.

New Member Induction

Lee Jeffrey

Jamie Grim

Jan Bertholf performed the induction of Lee Jeffrey and Jamie Grim as new members of the club by welcoming them to our club. Lee was sponsored by Dave Schump and Jamie was sponsored by Henry Weisser. Jan informed Lee and Jamie of the purpose of Rotary and their obligations as a members. Lee said that he has been doing international service as an individual and looks forward to doing this type of service as a member of a respected organization. He thanked Rotary for offering him that opportunity. Jamie said that her grandfather was a member of Rotary for 57 years and she is proud to follow in his tradition and thanked us for the opportunity to be a member. Lee's classification is Physicial - OB/GYN and Jamie's classification is Education - Politics & Government.

Cadet of the Month

Col. McCarthy

Chris Neese

Shelly Godkin introduced Colonel Thom McCarthy, Professor of Air Studies, to introduct the Cadet of the Month, Cadet Chris Neese. Col. McCarthy said that Chris is a great kid, great American. He was born in Minnesota and started college at South Dakota State, but decided to transfer to CSU. He is a sophomore physics major and is considering a military career as a pilot or doctor. Thom suggested he become a pilot doctor. Chris thanked the club for the recognition and the support of the entire cadet corp. He felt honored to selected from among so many strong candidates in the unit. He is excited about being able to serve in the Air Force.

"To serve is beautiful, but only if it is done with joy and a whole heart and a free mind." -- Pearl Buck

Last Week's Program

Tanis Roeder

Carol Bennis

Tanis Roeder introduced Carol Bennis, the Executive Director of Beet Street, as the first of a series of programs about Fort Collins. Carol started by saying, “welcome to Beet Street” and then started to describe what Beet Street is and does.

Beet Street is an organization started by the Downtown Development Association. It is a non-profit Arts Organization whose goal is to make Old Town Fort Collins a cultural destination for tourists from around the world. The organization presents thematic arts, in partnership with the cultural and scientific programming that already exists. They are working to raise the cultural awareness and to distinguish Fort Collins as a community where everyone is welcome to share in reflection, discussion and creative expression.

Yes, she said, it really is a “Beet”, the question she gets asked most often. And no, they are not renaming any street. The reference to the beet is obscure, but is partly a polite nod to the agricultural history and strength of Fort Collins. She described the purpose, core values, financial backing and goals of the organization, all of which can be seen on their extensive web site. There are sixty five partner organizations listed and linked to this organization.

Carol described in some detail the current programming for 2008. It includes Science Café, Life on a Shoestring, Chautauqua Scientific and Literary Club, Social Media, Jazz Fest Fort Collins and the Peace Corps Reunion. She also had handouts that further described these events. For example, the first Science Café event was standing room only and is scheduled to be held at Lucky Joe’s the second Wednesday of each month. The “Life on a Shoestring” series is scheduled from February 19th until March 22nd and provides the community members with a buffet of presentations and discussions on specific “you can make a difference” strategies for reversing our area’s poverty trend.

All of this and more can be found at the web site: http://www.beetstreet.org/.

Calendar

Feb. 19 - Rotaract Meeting at Manos Grill, 7:30 pm

Mar. 08 - Black Tie Bingo at the Rio Grande, sponsored by the After Work Rotary Club

May 15 - RYLA, deadline for clubs to submit signed applications to registrar

Jun. 5-7 - District Confernce in Cody, Wyoming, see Don Johnson is interested

Jun. 15-18 - Rotary International Convention in LA

Future Meetings

Feb 20 - Economic Development, Mayor Doug Hutchinson

Feb 27 - Rural / Urban Day, Glenn Schmidt and Milan Rewerts

Mar 05 - Chuck Rutenberg Special Program

Feb 12 - Membership Committee Program

Warren and Genny Garst Wildlife Collection at CSU Click here or on the "tiger."

Rotary District 5440 Home Page - We recommend browsing this page particularly the links to other Clubs in District 5440 as your time permits.

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