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Evening Group Update
 
Greetings from the Evening Group of the Foothill’s Rotary Club!  Our group has continued to grow since our last update in December with four new members.  We have grown from five members to 21 over the past 12 months with these four new additions:
 
  • Moe Reuter
  • Greg Reuter
  • Christine McCloud
  • Sanjay Agarwal
 
Stop by our permanent home at the Hop Grenade and visit us sometime – we meet every other Tuesday at 5 PM.  Our next meeting is March 5th.
 
As discussed in our last update, the focus for the Evening Group is on ensuring the children in our community have the nutrition, tools and support necessary to obtain a great education.  Our emphasis is on our partnership with Putnam Elementary School on the north side of Fort Collins.  Putnam just received the Excellence in Education award for the second year in a row.  This is exciting news for the school.  See the attached thank you email from Deb Gillan, our contact at Putnam.
 
One of the programs we support at Putnam is a leadership course for their top students.  We have provided funding for field trips and team building t-shirts for the students.  We have also provided speakers on leadership.  Guy Mendt will be giving them a 3-part course on leadership in April.  Thanks Guy!
 
We are continuing to augment the Book Trust program by helping read to the students once a month at both Putnam and Laurel.  We really need more readers to make this program effective.  It only takes about 30 minutes and is very fun and rewarding.   The schedule is at the end of this update so please see if it might fit in your schedule.  If so, contact me at niedringhaus1@comcast.net and I’ll fill you in on the details for volunteering.
 
We are also continuing to pack weekend meals for the kids through the McBackpack program.  It only takes one hour each Thursday from 7:30-8:30 AM.  Again, contact me for more details.
 
Here is the schedule for our volunteer events over the next couple months.  We would love to have extra hands at any of these events so let me know if you’d like to help:
  • Mar. 7, 7:30 am – McBackPack
  • Mar. 8, 8:30 am - Reading at Putnam
  • Mar. 14, 7:30 am – McBackPack
  • Mar. 16, 8-10 am, Sharin’ O’ the Green race for Partners – FCAT table
  • Mar. 16, time tbd – Odells for St. Patrick’s Day – FCAT table
  • Mar. 21, 7:30 am – McBackPack
  • Mar. 27, 5-7 pm – Ale Trail Days at The Mayor
  • Mar. 28, 7:30 am – McBackPack (continues every Thurs. through the school year)
  • Mar. 28, 10:00 am – Reading at Laurel
  • Apr. 5, 8:30 am – Reading at Putnam
  • Apr. 25, 9:15 am – Reading at Laurel
  • Apr. 27, 1:00 PM – FCCC - Cornhole Tournament
  • May 3, 8:30 am – Reading at Putnam
  • May 16, afternoon/evening - Putnam Carnival
  • May 23, 10:00 am – Reading at Laurel
Thanks for your support,
Scott
 
Here is a message from Deb Gillan at Putnam Elementary.
 
Hope your New Year is off to a great start.  The exciting news is that Putnam was awarded the Excellence in Education Award by the state of Colorado for the second year in a row.  This is an amazing accomplishment for our school and we are so very aware that we could not do what we do here without the support of our community partners.  Thanks for all you have done for us and we hope to see you here soon.  We are scheduling Guy to speak to our Leadership students in April to help prepare them for middle school.  Such an exciting time for them.  We will do our community event at Parkwood Estates for Valentines and the Leadership Team is currently running Pennies for Patients to benefit and support children in childhood cancers. 
 
 

Community Service Committee Update

I'm very happy to announce that we have a new committee member, Annie Davis. We look forward to Annie's participation on the committee. 
 
Our committee met on February 5th and reviewed five grant requests:
 
 1) The Boys & Girls Clubs of Larimer County, $1,500 to go towards supporting staff and supplies for their Academic Success, Healthy Lifestyles, and Good Character and Citizenship programming.
 
2) Foundation Music School, $1,200 to purchase instruments for a class called ‘Instrument Explorers’ where students aged 3 & 4 will explore various instrument groups.
 
3) McBackpack, $1,000 to purchase nutritional food for children and families within the Poudre School District who may otherwise go without food over the weekend.
 
4) N2N (Neighbor 2 Neighbor), $1,000 to benefit at-risk youth living in N2N’s affordable apartments by continuing N2N’s Youth Entrepreneur Program which teaches earning potential an
money management skills to young N2N residents.
 
5) CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), $1,000 to provide an abused child (or sibling set) a CASA volunteer for one full year.
 
We gave preliminary approval to $5,000 toward these requests and will finalize the awards as we complete background research on the agencies. 
 
Thanks to all the members of the Foothills Rotary Club for funding these grants as part of their yearly dues payments. 
 
Thanks!
Guy Mendt

Foothills Rotary Cornhole Classic

When: Saturday, April 27th   12pm-7pm
 
Where: Fort Collins Country Club
 
Details:
  • Adult teams can enter the tournament for $60/team and that includes registration fee, lunch and 2 drink tickets.
  • We will also host a children’s tournament (Age 13-18 bracket & 12 & under bracket).  The registration fee for children’s teams is only $30 and includes lunch.
  • We still have the following sponsorship opportunities available:
 
Presenting Sponsor - $5,000
  • Exclusive listing in event name and on all marketing & advertising materials
  • Company logo will be added to all bean bags at event and will be included in any set that is auctioned off
  • Company name mentioned in all announcements by the MC the day of the event
  • Large company banner at event
  • Company logo on Rotary website for the month of April & May and 6 mentions on our various social media accounts
  • Logo with link in four E-Blasts reaching over 2,500 email addresses
  • Four team entries in the tournament
  • Complimentary Board Set with Company logo

Gold Sponsor - $2,000
  • Company name on all marketing & advertising materials
  • Large company banner at event
  • Company logo on Rotary website for the month of April & May and 4 mentions on our various social media accounts
  • Logo with link in four E-Blasts reaching over 2,500 email addresses
  • Three team entries in the tournament
  • Complimentary Board Set with Company logo
 
Silver Sponsor - $1,000
  • Large company banner at event
  • Company logo on Rotary website for the month of April & May and 2 mentions on our various social media accounts
  • Logo with link in four E-Blasts reaching over 2,500 email addresses
  • Two team entries in the tournament
  • Complimentary Board Set with Company logo

Board Sponsor - $300
  • Medium company banner at event
  • One team entry in the tournament
  • Complimentary Board Set with Company logo
 

9th Annual Fort Collins Rotary Clubs Purple Pins for Polio - Another Great Event

 
More than 130 Fort Collins Rotarians, Colorado State University Roteract and Fort Collins Interact club members and guests came together on January 27th at Chippers Lanes in Fort Collins for the 9th annual “Purple Pins for Polio” bowling event.  It was a great opportunity for fellowship across the Fort Collins Rotary Clubs and to get to know current Roteract and Interact club members – and everyone had a great time!
 
The combined Fort Collins Rotary Clubs set a record this year for Purple Pins Lane Sponsorships with a total of 44 Lane Sponsorships representing strong support from all the Fort Collins Rotary Clubs.  Foothills Rotary Club contributed 15 Lane Sponsorships along with more than $2,200 in additional donations to Polio Plus.  With the double matching funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the total contribution from the Foothills Club to Polio Plus for 2019 is more than $18,000.  With the double matching funds, the total contribution to Polio Plus across all the Fort Collins Rotary clubs is over $40,000.  Thank you to all our generous Rotarians and guests!
 
Foothills Rotary Club donors to Polio Plus
  • Brad Bischoff, State Farm Insurance – Lane Sponsor
  • Bonnie Brummer
  • Marcia Donnan, Donnan Charitable Foundation – Lane Sponsor
  • Eric Ferm
  • Mick Garrett
  • Doris Gisi
  • Dale Gorsky, The Gorsky Group, Merrill Lynch – Lane Sponsor
  • Kathy Haake
  • Mike Hohl, Hub Real Estate -  Lane Sponsor
  • Bruce & Lori Hottman
  • Diane Jones
  • Denise Juliana, Eide Bailly – Lane Sponsor
  • Michelle Lahti
  • Barbara Larkin
  • Vince Lubenow,  Hog Wild BBQ -  Lane Sponsor
  • Ilan Levy, Exodus Moving & Storage – Lane Sponsor
  • Ruth Lutes – Lane Sponsor
  • Karen Morgan
  • Jacque Niedringhaus
  • Chris Otto, EKS&H/Plante Moran – Lane Sponsor
  • Lyn Pring
  • Mike Sanders, Great Western Bank – Lane Sponsor
  • Bob Sanderson, State Farm Insurance – Lane Sponsor
  • Garrett Tate, Don’t Panic IT Solutions – Lane Sponsor
  • Erica Siemers, UCHealth – Lane Sponsor – Lane Sponsor
  • Greg Vosseteig, 20/20 Vision Center – Lane Sponsor
  • Wynn Washle, Laura Jo Washle & Wynn Washle – Lane Sponsor
  • Newt Wyler/ Shorewood Real Estate
     
We also want to recognize our very generous food donors who have enthusiastically supported the annual Purple Pins for Polio event over the years:
 
                 Domino’s Pizza                   9 Year Sponsor of Purple Pins for Polio
                 Qdoba                               9 Year Sponsor of Purple Pins for Polio
                 Chick-fil-A                         4 Year Sponsor of Purple Pins for Polio
                 Sprouts                             5 Year Sponsor of Purple Pins for Polio
                 King Soopers                     New Sponsor
                 Sam’s Club                        New Sponsor 
 
We also express our thanks and appreciation to the Fort Collins Quad-Club Committee that made the 2019 event possible: 
 
                 Sharyn Salmen:     Rotary Club of Fort Collins
                 Ruth Lutes:           Foothills Rotary Club
                 Phil Murphy:          Fort Collins Rotary Breakfast Club
                 Tanis Roeder:        Rotary Club of Fort Collins
                 Newt Wyler:          Foothills Rotary Club Evening Group
 

Puerto Vallarta Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Project

Ten Rotarians and significant others from our Foothills Rotary participated in a Community Service Trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico from Jan 21-26, 2019. Our purpose was multi-fold.
Our projects included a day’s visit to two schools located in the rural area of Yelapa.  We distributed school supplies, such as pencils, paper, printer ink cartridges and playground equipment.
 
The following day we participated in a distribution of 109 water filters to members of a rural community.  Classes were held on-site to educate the local group on use and maintenance of the filtration systems.
 
Another main goal of our trip was to develop relationships with other Rotary clubs to determine further needs in the Puerto Vallarta local area for dental or physical health projects.  We are also expanding our school reach with projects associated with the Volcanes School Programs, including scholarship programs.
 
We had joined with other Rotary clubs in the cost of purchasing and distributing these vital sanitation tools. We also expanded our reach by giving out toothbrushes, toothpaste and other hygiene products.
 
Special thanks goes out to
Ken Reiser and his great team from the Rotary Puerto Vallarta Sur club for organizing and hosting our group. We look forward to continued collaboration with these excellent Rotarians
 
To quote our upcoming President, Mike Hohl, “ Super project! It involved significant others, it was absolutely wonderful.  It was truly what Rotary should be about! Let’s make it an annual event.”
 
OK, Mike – You’re On.
 
We’ll be organizing a next service trip to the Puerto Vallarta area for 2020. Keeping in mind our Foothills goal – Improve Lives and Have Fun.
 
Here's a fun video showing some of the fun on this year's trip.   

Foodie Trail Update

The Foodie Trail will work much like the Ale Trail and the price will be $30.  The plan is to have participating restaurants offer with the purchase of one meal get $10 off the second meal.  We are currently speaking with local restaurants and working on the logo for the Foodie Trail.  Our goal is to have 30 locally owned restaurants participating and to launch the Foodie Trail in early April.  In order to meet our goal we need to get more restaurants on board.  If you have any connections with local restaurants that you would like to see participate in the Foodie Trail please speak with any of the members of the Ale Trail or contact Wynn Washle directly at (970) 215-2255 or wwashle@thegroupinc.com.
 
 
Project Self-Sufficiency Vision Maker Award.

At Project Self-Sufficiency, we have the bold vision that every low-income, single parent in Larimer County is selfpowered to become self-sufficient. We cannot accomplish this vision alone, and we rely on the expertise and resources of our community partners to leverage our impact. We have many partners, including donors, nonprofit organizations, government, educational institutions, investors, businesses, and volunteers. Each year, we honor a key community partner with the Project Self-Sufficiency Vision Maker Award. Past winners of this award include:

 

2011        Janene Dellenbach

2012        Linda Clark

2013        Mary Fuller

2014        Tom Tonoli

2015        Friends of Project Self-Sufficiency

2016        Loveland Housing Authority

2017       Cindy Bragdon

2018       United Way of Larimer County WomenGive

 

We are thrilled to let you know that our team has chosen the Rotary Club of Fort Collins Foothills as the honoree for our 2019 Project Self-Sufficiency Vision Maker Award. Your club’s ongoing commitment of providing scholarships to our participants over the last 20 years has had remarkable impact on our single parents’ ability to successfully complete school and launch into their careers. Your vision of funding participants for multiple semesters, demonstrates a high level of understanding of the unique challenges faced by single-parent students. You walk alongside them until they reach the finish line, and this speaks to your “all-in” dedication to their success. We have greatly appreciated your partnership and impact in our work, and we look forward to celebrating your club this year at our 2019 Community Luncheon on Tuesday, March 26th at Embassy Suites.

 

Volunteers Needed for Reading to Students
 
The Evening Group has extended the Book Trust program by helping with reading with students at Putnam and Laurel Elementary schools.
 
 On the First Friday of the month you can help read with student at Putnam Elementary.  Please arrive at the school no later than 8:30 am to sign in and be directed to a class for reading.   Reading at Putnam finishes at approximately 9:10 am. 
On the Last Thursday of the month you can help read with students at Laurel Elementary.  Please arrive at the school no later than 9:15 am to sign in and be directed to a class for reading.  
 
To be able to volunteer in the schools you will need to do a one-time registration with Poudre School District.  Please go to    https://psd.ezcommunicator.net/edu/poudre/ezcomm/VolunteerRegistration.aspx?app=0
 
Calendar of Events
  • Mar. 7, 7:30 am – McBackPack
  • Mar. 8, 8:30 am - Reading at Putnam
  • Mar. 14, 7:30 am – McBackPack
  • Mar. 16, 8-10 am, Sharin’ O’ the Green race for Partners – FCAT table
  • Mar. 16, time tbd – Odells for St. Patrick’s Day – FCAT table
  • Mar. 21, 7:30 am – McBackPack
  • Mar. 27, 5-7 pm – Ale Trail Days at The Mayor
  • Mar. 28, 7:30 am – McBackPack (continues every Thurs. through the school year)
  • Mar. 28, 10:00 am – Reading at Laurel
  • Apr. 5, 8:30 am – Reading at Putnam
  • Apr. 25, 9:15 am – Reading at Laurel
  • Apr. 27, 1:00 PM – FCCC - Cornhole Tournament
  • May 3, 8:30 am – Reading at Putnam
  • May 16, afternoon/evening - Putnam Carnival
  • May 23, 10:00 am – Reading at Laurel

Do you have something you would like to see in the next newsletter?

The next newsletter will be published in the beginning of June.  If there is something you would like to see in the next newsletter, or you have an item or photos you would like to contribute, please contact Michelle Lahti at michellelahti@comcast.net.
 
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