banner
Articles in this issue
Outgoing President's message - Bruce Hottman
 
Incoming President's message - Jacque Niedringhaus

Interact in Fort Collins - Curtis Carlson
 
Understanding Rotary Foundation Paul Harris Points - Lyn Pring
 
The power of a District Grant - Jacque Niedringhaus
 
Rotary Leadership Institute - Carl Dierschow
 
Rotary Serving Humanity - Rotary International
 
Meet our newest member! - Aaron Rodgriguez
 
Membership update
Outgoing President's Message

Thanks Foothills Rotary Club for making this year an unforgettable experience!  I’ve truly enjoyed being President of our club.  I’m also looking forward to Jacque’s year, she’s going to be awesome!

Take a look at some highlights for the year!!

  • Membership @ 111 , overall +3
  • 9 new members
  • $72,332 total funds raised this year
  • $15,000 given to local community agencies
  • 973 hours provided on community service projects
  • $40,000+  major gifts committed to the Foothills Foundation
  • $31,781 Total TRF Funding
    • $12,050 to TRF Annual Fund
    • $19,731 to TRF PolioPlus Fund
  • $33,810 (matched) to TRF from Chris Richmond’s Bike Across America
  • 13 RYLA Scholarships
  • 24 Students of the Month
  • 7 Teachers of the Month
  • Over $70K raised at the Peach Festival
  • Student Exchange Program – Alive and well!

Club Service – We added 9  new members this year.  Overall we added 3 for a membership total of 111.  We’re very close to rolling out a new club concept called Satellite membership, stay tuned for coming details.  Outstanding social events this year from our picnic to Roto-Toast!  Our STAR committee continues to excel at introducing Rotary to our new members.  The Weekly NFL Football Pool raised over $500 for RYLA.  The CSU Football Pool raised $1,275 for RYLA!  Our Golf Fellowship raised $930 for RYLA.  These three fundraisers provided 6 more scholarships for RYLA, awesome!  Are you linked to our Facebook page?  You should as it continues to grow.  And of course, our “Programs” continue to be the best of any club! 

Thanks club service committee chairs!

  • Jacque Niedringhaus – Membership
  • Ron Randle & Pete Bullard – STAR committee
  • Tom Hyland – RoM
  • Chris Coley – Club Operations
  • Bill Trewartha – Fines
  • Andrea Walrath – Inspirations
  • Monty Weymouth – Jokes
  • JD Murphy – Programs
  • Dave Armstrong & Jamie Meyer – Social
  • Carl Dierschow – Public Relations

Vocational Service – We’ve honored 24 students this year from: Preston MS, Lesher MS, Lincoln MS, Boltz MS, Webber MS, Blevins MS, Cache la Poudre MS, and Wellington MS.  We’ve honored 7 teachers this year from Wellington MS, Fossill Ridge HS, Fort Collins HS, Preston MS, Rocky Mountain HS, Centennial HS, Boltz MS.  In May we visited Boltz MS to share our 4way test to students.  Our Foothills Foundation, the Education & Scholarship Fund continues to put out scholarships (8 this year), we’ve also added over $40,000 in major gifts, and our current endowment is at $535,000.

Thanks vocational service committee chairs!

  • Pete Long – 4 Way Test
  • Dave Joyce – Student of Month
  • Heather Buoniconti – Teacher of Month
  • Bud Frick – Foothills Scholarship Fund

Community Service – We completed the following Hands on Projects this year; Delivered holiday baskets, Painted at the Larimer County Food Bank, Implemented the garden project at Learning Tree using $1,800 from our first District grant, Volunteered service hours on a house build at Habitat for Humanity, and Building sheds in Glen Haven (if weather & coordination cooperate, this summer).  Our community service committee provided funding to the following agencies this year, Childsafe - $1,000, Give Next - $1,000, Adopt Colorado Kids - $750, Colorado Youth Outdoors - $750, Teaching Tree - $1,000, Women Give - $1,000, Eagle Scout Backpack - $1,300, A Face to Reframe - $1,000, Book Trust - $2,000, Steve’s Club - $1000. Boys & Girls Club - $1,000, Children’s - $1,500, The Family Center - $1,000, Homeless Gear - $1,000, Kayla Foundation - $1,000.  The Peach Festival was a  huge success this year raising over $70,000.  The quad club STEM project received $23,882.  Our club received $6,915 to use on projects of our choice.

Thanks community service committee chairs!

  • Gordan Thibedeau – Community Service
  • Teri Evans/ Rajan Bawa – Hands on Projects
  • Diane Jones – Peach Festival

International Service - Purple Pins for Polio raised $13,000, that’s over $40K when including the Gates match.  Our club alone raised $7,000, or $21K with match.  Our International Services committee worked hard on the Grant process, we’ve learned a lot and are better positioned for future efforts.  We committed $1,500 to the Modi Hospital Project, this is a global grant lead by the FC Breakfast club.  All four Fort Collins clubs supported this project!  Our support of The Rotary Foundation (TRF) was amazing this year.  Total funded was $31,781.  Chris Richmond’s Bike Across America ride added $11,270 with the Gates match that’s $33,810!  Our Total contribution to TRF was over $30,000.  We have 73 Paul Harris Fellows, 8 Benefactors, 5 Bequest Society, and 5 Major Donors.  Our per capita funding for the Annual fund was $111.  Our average funding with TRF was $295 per member. 

Thanks international service committee chairs!

  • Kathe Haake – International Service
  • Ruth Lutes – Purple Pins for Polio
  • Lyn Pring – TRF

Youth Services – Our Interact program is very strong with Rocky Mountain High School leading the way.  We’ve joined forces with the other Fort Collins clubs to support the CSU Rotaract club.  The Rotaract club received “Outstanding Club of the Year” at CSU this year.  Our club will support 13 RYLA students in their pursuit to become future leaders.  Our Summer Exchange is back, Madison Kaine & Quinton Kaine will be exchanging this summer.  Our long term program is also strong, Jill Klinger who is in Argentina will be back in July, Ben Martella is headed to Argentina in August.  Our inbound student, Beatriz Vitor, from Brazil will arrive in August.

Thanks youth service committee chairs!

  • Curtis Carlson – Interact
  • Brian Lacey - Rotaract
  • Terry Dougherty - RYLA
  • Rob Nelson – Summer Exchange
  • April Getchius / Deems Hargleroad & Janet Mabry – Year Long Exchange

Thanks to our Officers & Directors

  • Past President – John Davis
  • President Elect – Jacque Niedringhaus
  • Secretary – Linda Vomaski
  • Treasurer – Vince Lubenow
  • Board Members 2013 – Carl Dierschow, Suzanne Miller, John Busby
  • Board Members 2014 – Curtis Carlson, Brian Lacey, Bryan Watkins
  • Board Members 2015 – Kathe Haake, Mike Hohl, Karen Morgan

Big Thanks to all members of the Foothills Rotary Club!!

Imagine over 34,000 Rotary Clubs accomplishing similar projects in their communities around the world.  Wow!  What an impact Rotary is making to improve lives!

Thanks for being a gift to the world!

Bruce.

Incoming President's Message

I approach my year as President with excitement and, yes, a bit of trepidation. Bruce and Presidents prior to him left “big shoes” to fill.  I love this club and want to preserve what I believe is vital to our success – our culture of fun and friendship and the financial generosity of our members.

RI President-elect John F. Germ chose Rotary Serving Humanity as his theme for 2016-17. Noting Rotary’s unique ability to bring together committed professionals to achieve remarkable goals, Germ believes that “now is the time to capitalize on our success: as we complete the eradication of polio, and catapult Rotary forward to be an even greater force for good in the world.”  He asked that Rotarians around the world change as many lives as we can for the better.

I believe that our club has the ability to change even more lives for the better.  With that said, I ask that you help me focus on the following four areas, all of which the foundation was laid during Bruce’s year:

  • First, in the spirit of “having fun”, one of Bruce’s goals, I want to give members an opportunity to get to know each other better on a personal basis. I would like to have one meeting a quarter where the “program” is an unstructured time to visit with other Rotarians. I encourage you to visit with members you may not know. My hope is you find common interests and, at the end of the year, we all can say that our group of friends has expanded.

  • Second, serving as membership chairman for Bruce’s year, I know that it is critical we understand what aspects of Rotary engage younger people as our Rotarian membership average age increases each year. I am grateful to Dale Gorsky for offering to take the leadership role last year that has resulted in establishing the pilot of the Foothills Rotary-Evening Group, slated to kick off July 1, 2016. This group will be comprised of those individuals who are looking for the opportunity to be involved in service activities but don’t have the time and/or finances to be a member of our club. I want to do whatever it takes to have a thriving evening group. As well, I want to make an even greater effort to integrate Interact and Rotaract clubs with our club.

  • Third, I would like to expand our ability to engage the Northern Colorado community in our fundraising efforts through two major activities we hold each year. As financially generous as our members are, we are not applying the “financial leverage” that comes from engaging the community. I believe the way to do this is to be identified with an ongoing activity that the community comes to expect and to look forward to each year. I know we have the Peach Festival but I want an event that comes to be associated with our club and that generates enough revenue to make a significant ongoing contribution to something our club cares about. We already have the successful “Pins for Polio” fundraiser every January. However, we are constrained by the number of lanes available at Chipper and participation is mostly Rotary members. With Ruth Lutes’ leadership, we want to see if this activity can be expanded to engage the Fort Collins community. I would also like a 2nd community fundraiser for which our club is known for. At PETS (President Elect Training Seminar) held in Denver earlier this year, I met the President of the Grand Junction Rotary Club. His club has established a film festival that is a turnkey solution working with Banff Film Festival. Last year was their first year of holding the film festival and they sold out their venues and raised $20,000. The cost of $6000 was covered by community sponsors. I know that CSU already has a film festival but perhaps there is the opportunity to expand its reach and to co-brand the effort. This is an idea I would like investigated. If any of you are interested in helping, let me know.

  • Finally, I believe we are in a much better position to apply for matching District and Rotary International grants. Kathe Haake has made significant inroads into knowing how to navigate the process of applying for grants so now all we need are the funds to be matched for a project that our club cares about and that fulfills President-Elect John F. Germ’s mandate to change as many lives as we can for the better.

Thank you for the honor of serving as your President this upcoming year. 

Interact in Fort Collins

I know it may be hard to believe, but the Interact Club at Rocky Mountain High School is 4 years old already!!!  Which means that the group of students that started the club are now graduating Seniors. Crazy I know.  I think it is worthwhile to look back at some of the great things this club has accomplished since they were Freshman:

  • Raised $170.00 thru a cookie-dough fundraiser to purchase 30 backpacks of food for underprivileged kids in Larimer County.

  • Made 20 blankets to donate to patients at Children’s Hospital in Denver.

  • Put together a care package for a Military Troop serving overseas in Afghanistan.

  • Participated in the last 3 Purple Pins for Polio bowling events that our Rotary Club has put on.

  • Raised $200 in cash donations & collected 150 lbs. of food for the RMHS Hungry Baskets food drive.

  • Volunteered for trail restoration in Lory State Park.

Those are just a few of the amazing things this club has done for their community.  This Interact Club has been truly inspirational in their ability to take on projects and get them done. 

You might be thinking, just as I was a couple of months ago, with most of the current members being graduating Seniors is this club going to be sustainable going forward?  The answer to that question is yes as a handful of underclassmen have decided to step up to take on the leadership of this club and keep it going.  Those students are Kaden Rickett, Margaret Thompson & Delany Adams, all incoming sophomores.  Margaret & Delany have both applied for our upcoming RYLA camp, and Kaden just completed his Eagle Scout project so the club will be in good hands.  Keep an eye out for some of the great things this club will do going forward under their leadership.

As always, if you know anyone who would be interested in joining the Interact Club let me know and I will get them in touch with these students.  Also if you know of a student who is interested in starting up a club at one of the other local high schools, let us know as we can help them with that too. 

Interact is a great way to introduce the youth of today to the world of Rotary, so let’s help them out anyway we can.

Understanding Rotary Foundation Paul Harris recognition points

Rotary International awards recognition points to members that contribute to the Rotary Foundation through the Annual Fund or Polio Plus.  One point is awarded for every $1.00 contributed.

Once you accumulate 1,000 points in your account, you are awarded a Paul Harris award by Rotary International (RI).  The awards continue until you have attained a PH + 8 ($9,000 total gift).

After you receive your first Paul Harris award, RI also tracks your “Available Foundation Recognition Points”.  You receive 1 available foundation recognition point for every $1.00 you contribute to the Rotary Foundation.  These points can be transferred to other individuals for Paul Harris Fellow recognition.

You would expect that your personal recognition amount would always be 1,000 points more than your “Available Foundation Recognition Points”.  This is not necessarily correct.  In the past, RI has had club promotion events where additional personal points (but not “available Foundation Recognition Points”) are awarded to all club members.  This no longer occurs, but prior awards are evident in many of our members point totals.

Example – Blake had 3,875 personal recognition points and 2,225 “Available Foundation Recognition Points".

  • Blake has received his PH + 2.  Each PH = 1,000 points (PH, PH +1, PH +2).  With another contribution of $125, he will receive a PH + 3. (875 remaining personal recognition points plus a contribution of $125 = 1,000 recognition point total).
  • Blake has awarded his wife a PH.  This reduced his “Available Foundation Recognition Points” by 1,000.   He had 2,225, now he has 1,225.  He has sufficient “Available Points” to award his daughter a PH.
  • It would seem that Blake should have “Available Points” of 1,875 rather than the 1,225 he has.  The 650 point difference is due to RI club promotions .  These 650 points were awarded to his personal recognition point total only.

You can do three ways to determine your 2 point balances.

  1. Contact Lyn Pring – 970-221-3655.
  2. Call RI – 1-866-9ROTARY.  Tell them you are a member of Club 1101 and ask for your point totals.
  3. In My Rotary online, login, click on your name, go to your profile page, and then look at the donor history report.
The power of a district grant to improve our community!
Last September we had a wonderful project, with the support of a District Grant, to create a new garden for Teaching Tree.  We thought you'd like to see the sign that was just added!
 
Read more...
Rotary Leadership Institute

Rotary Leadership Institute is a program run by our Zone, which stretches across 13 states in the western central US.

Since we had RLI sessions in Fort Collins in April, Ruth Lutes, Raj Bawa and I took the opportunity to participate.  It's a powerful program, but not at all what I expected.

In the corporate world, a "leadership program" usually consists of a bunch of classes where your role is to sit back, take notes, and not fall asleep.

RLI is quite different, reflecting the unique structure and goals of Rotary itself.  You see, Rotary is driven by its members and our clubs.  So RLI builds on this as a forum for exchanging best practices and innovative ideas.

In the span of a day and a half, we covered a wide range of crucial topics such as:

  • Attracting and engaging members
  • Community service
  • Foundations at all levels
  • International service
  • Strategic planning
  • Team building

Our two facilitators weren't there primarily to teach, although we did get a whole bunch of great reference materials.  Instead, they helped encourage each of the 13 attendees as both learners and teachers, creating a rich environment of fellowship and sharing.

This was a different format than previous RLI offerings.  Three programs have been condensed into two, and the whole thing was a Friday evening and full day Saturday.  This change was made in order to better reach a broad audience of people who have limited time to invest.

It was wonderful to share experience with Rotarians who brought their ideas and best practices from many years of service in Rotary.  Please ask one of us if you would like to learn more about the specific ideas and information we collected from our Northern Colorado Rotary colleagues.

We'd like to encourage each of you to participate in RLI when it's offered - you'll create the connections to build a stronger Rotary!

Rotary Serving Humanity

Rotary has been many things, to many people, in the last 111 years. Through Rotary, our members have found friends, community, and a sense of purpose; we’ve forged connections, advanced our careers, and had incredible experiences we couldn’t have had anywhere else. Every week, in more than 34,000 clubs around the world, Rotarians come together to talk, laugh, and share ideas. But above all, we come together for one, overriding goal: service.

Service to humanity has been the cornerstone of Rotary since its earliest days, and has been its main purpose ever since. I believe that there is no better path to meaningful service today than Rotary membership; and no organization better placed to make a real and positive difference in our world. No other organization so effectively brings together committed, capable professionals in a wide variety of fields, and enables them to achieve ambitious goals. Through Rotary, we have the capacity, the network, and the knowledge to change the world: the only limits are the ones we place on ourselves.

Today, our organization is at a critical point: a historic juncture that will determine, in so many ways, what comes next. Together, we have provided extraordinary service to our world; tomorrow, our world will depend on us to do even more. Now is the time to capitalize on our success: as we complete the eradication of polio, and catapult Rotary forward, with determination and enthusiasm, to be an even greater force for good in the world.

Of the many lessons polio eradication has taught us, one of the most important is also one of the simplest: that if we want to bring all of Rotary forward, we’ve all got to be moving in the same direction. Continuity of leadership, at the club, district, and RI level, is the only way we will flourish, and achieve our full potential. It is not enough simply to bring in new members and form new clubs: our goal is not more Rotarians, but more Rotarians who can achieve more good Rotary work, and will become the Rotary leaders of tomorrow.

Near the end of his life, reflecting on the path that brought him to Rotary, Paul Harris wrote: “Individual effort may be turned to individual needs, but combined effort should be dedicated to the service of mankind. The power of combined effort knows no limitation.” He could hardly have imagined then that one day, more than 1.2 million Rotarians would be combining their efforts, and, through our Rotary Foundation, their resources, to serve humanity together. And we can only imagine what great deeds Paul Harris would have expected of such a Rotary! It is our responsibility to achieve those deeds; as it is our privilege to carry forth the tradition of Rotary Serving Humanity.

Sincerely,
John Germ
President, Rotary International, 2016-17

Meet our new member, Aaron Rodriguez!

I am a Business Relationship Manager for Wells Fargo in Gillette, WY. I have worked for Wells Fargo since graduating from the University of Wyoming in 2009 with my B.S. in Economics.

I grew up in Loveland, CO and lived in Colorado until I went to college. I am single with no children, and I have two sisters, one older, one younger.  I have served on the Board of Directors for the Campbell County Council of Community Services as Chairman of the board. This is a non-profit organization that runs the food pantry providing food to low income families, the soup kitchen, four low income housing projects, two long term care facilities, the homeless shelter and a second hand clothing store.  I was also a member of the board in Gillette for the Energy Capital Economic Development Corp.

My other volunteer activities have included serving on the board for the Gillette Energy Rotary Club as Secretary, Vice President and a few months as President before moving to Colorado, I was a member of the club for 5 years. I have volunteered as a youth mentor for the Y.E.S. House and Wyoming Cowboy Challenge Academy for the past 2 years.

Membership update
For the 2015-2016 Rotary year starting July 1st, we have added the following members:
  • Bill Hart
  • Dan Dennie
  • Jamie Meyer
  • Dave van Metre
  • Ruth Lutes
  • Charles Kaine
  • Kristen Bernhardt
  • Jennifer Cunningham
  • Raj Bawa
  • Roy Steiner
  • Aaron Rodriguez
We have lost these members:
  • Dawn Davis
  • Dennis Hogerty
  • Donna Burrill
  • Nancy Tippen
  • Eric Adams
We thank you all for your service, past and future!
Russell Hampton
National Awards Services Inc.
Sage