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Are you an established professional who wants to make positive changes in your community and the world? Our club members are dedicated people who share a passion for community service and friendship. Becoming a Rotarian connects you with a diverse group who share your drive to give back.

Rotary Scholarships Awarded

Posted by Livia Cloman Lynch on Jun 26, 2021

The Pagosa Springs Rotary Club is proud to announce those individuals receiving 2021 Rotary Scholarships totaling $21,125.

Ella Blechman---Ella plans to attend the University of Colorado to study Political Science with emphasis in systems of government and political behavior.

Madeline Metzger--Madeline will attend the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio where she plans to obtain a nursing degree.

Lorah Jacobson—Lorah plans to attend Otero Junior College and will pursue an Associates of Arts degree in Education.

Nicole Bartz—Nicole will attend Colorado State University and will pursue a degree in Biology with a concentration in animal physiology, while minoring in Art.

Kylie Keuning—Kylie plans to attend Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI and she will pursue a five-year Bachelor to Master’s program for Speech Pathology and Audiology.

Ella Hemenger—Ella will be attending the University of Northern Colorado and plans to major in Elementary Education.

The Pagosa Springs Rotary Club congratulates the outstanding class of 2021 and wishes each of them success in their future endeavors.

Since 1983, the Pagosa Springs Rotary Club has awarded a total of $498,125 in scholarships to 186 local high school graduates. The Pagosa Springs Rotary Club would like to thank the Pagosa Springs community for their continued support of Rotary fundraisers and sponsorships that have made our local scholarships possible again this year. Additionally, the Pagosa Springs Rotary Club was pleased to receive Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative matching grant funds this year.

Winning for Twinning

Posted by Pat Love on Jun 26, 2021

I came to Rotary “later in life” just as I was winding down a career that included many years of international service. Tired of long-distance travel, feeling enormous gratitude for the opportunities I’d had in many countries, I was eager to put my energy into making a difference in our local community. With enthusiasm, I volunteered for committees; helped raise money for local causes; took on leadership roles; and recruited new members by telling them they too could make a difference in the town we love.

But, as you are no doubt aware, Rotary isn’t a one-way street; you get back far more than you give. My meager investment afforded me great personal satisfaction; a deeper feeling of belonging; and greater knowledge of our local community—but it al-so gave me something I wasn’t expecting: a humble awareness of Rotary’s magnanimous international impact. I learned that, not only has The Rotary Foundation made polio an all but distant nightmare, but it has fought other diseases; provided clean water; saved mothers and children from poverty; supported education; and promoted peace.

The information I’ve learned about Rotary’s powerful international impact didn’t come cheap, nor did it reinforce my comfortable, myopic view of service. As I grew more uncomfortable with my international inaction, I laid the blame mostly at the feet of David Smith. Seriously, how long can you listen to his inspiring stories of bringing the very first microscope to science teachers in the poorest parts of the world without wanting to help out? How many pictures can you see of happy faces knowing they don’t have to carry water for miles every day to keep their families alive, without wanting to support more of these efforts? So, when David presented the idea of “twinning” with a club in Niamey, Niger, I eagerly volunteered to help make that happen.

High school teachers in Niamey, Niger study the optical properties of double convex lenses in a teacher training workshop organized by the Niamey-Gaweye and Pagosa Springs Rotary Clubs.

Thanks to a reluctant knowledge of Zoom, having an active “twin-club” relationship with members of the Nia-mey-Gaweye Rotary Club in Niger has never been easier. Of course, we can still (someday) travel with David as he continues his kind, quiet, altruistic journeys; or we can develop personal relationships with the Niamey members without ever leaving home, or our pajamas! And because the Niamey-Gaweye Club offers service to remote, outlying villages, even a meager investment on our part can have impact in a part of the world rarely receiving support.

Rotary Inducts New Officers

Posted by Shellie Peterson on Jun 26, 2021

The Rotary Club of Pagosa Springs inducted new Officers and extended thanks to those Officers and Board Members who were outgoing. Among the Directors whose term is completed, Art Benzel, Jenelle Syverson, Bill Hubbard and Livia Cloman Lynch as Immediate Past President. Directors elected to serve an additional term are Larry McClintock and James Garrett. Newly elected to the Board are Sam Pittmon and Pat Love. Allen Roth was installed as the 2021-2022 Rotary President. Congratulations Allen!!

Our immense gratitude goes out to Mike and Renee Vanover. What a difficult year to be President of Rotary!! Through all of the Zoom meetings, Mike remained steadfast in holding the Club together and encouraging our members.

Michael C. Branch was honored for his many years of service to the Rotary Club of Pagosa Springs and the Pagosa Springs Rotary Club Scholarship Foundation Inc. For many years, Mike Branch has offered his professional services to the Rotary Club and the Scholarship Foundation. His services were way overdue to be acknowledged by the Club!! Thank You Mike for all you have done for us in the pursuit of serving this community and the graduating class of High School Seniors since 1983!!

Patty Tillerson was our special guest. Patty and Bob Tillerson's love and commitment to Rotary is well known in this community! She is seated here with Larry Parks, husband of our wonderful Pat Love.

A beautiful afternoon to celebrate everything we do in this community and in the world.

The New Rotary Theme for 2021-2022

Posted by Shellie Peterson on Jun 27, 2021

Incoming Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta urged members to become more involved in service projects, saying that caring for and serving others is the best way to live because it changes not only other people’s lives, but also our own.

Mehta, a member of the Rotary Club of Calcutta-Mahanagar, West Bengal, India, revealed the 2021-22 presidential theme, Serve to Change Lives, to incoming district governors on 1 February during the Rotary International Assembly. The assembly, a yearly training event for district governors-elect, was originally set to take place in Orlando, Florida, USA, but was held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mehta spoke about how participating in service projects through Rotary changed him as a person and made him empathize more with the needs of others. Soon after joining his club, he helped carry out projects that benefited rural communities in India.

Some of the poor conditions he saw in those communities strengthened his commitment to service. “I truly understood the plight of my brethren,” he said.

Mehta participated in initiatives that brought artificial limbs to children, clean water and sanitation to homes, and better health care facilities to communities.

“Rotary kindled the spark within me to look beyond myself and embrace humanity,” he said. “Service became a way of life for me and I, like many others, adopted the guiding philosophy that ‘Service is the rent I pay for the space I occupy on this earth, and I want to be a good tenant of this earth.’”

Rotary Is Thankful for its Sponsors

The Rotary Club of Pagosa Springs would like to thank the following individuals and businesses for their unwavering support of Rotary’s community efforts and scholarships for 2021.

Without our donors, Rotary would not be able to do the community outreach that we are committed to doing. While most are not Rotarians, they truly understand the Rotary motto of “Service Above Self.”

Platinum

Jack Threet

Pagosa Springs Medical Center

Gold

A Affordable Storage

Pagosa Springs Sun

TBK Bank

Ears to You Hearing Aid Center LLC.

Wolf Creek Run

Silver

Bank of Colorado

1^st Southwest Bank

Jann C. Pitcher Real Estate

KWUF 1400 AM 102.5 & KWUF Radio

La Plata Electric Association

Mike & Renee Vanover

Rhonda & Bill Webb

Silver Dollar Liquors

Terry’s Colorado Home Supply / Ace

Two Old Crows

Tennyson Event Center

Sherpa Real Estate

Pagosa Office & Storage

Salvation Army

Bronze

Bank San Juans

Brown Insurance Agency Inc.

Choke Cherry Tree, Inc.

Colorado Dream Homes

Devo Capital Management

Durango Dermatology & Surgery

Elite Recycling

Jim Garrett, Attorney

Kim Moore – Exit Realty

Morehart Murphy Regional Auto Center

Pat Love

Rocky Mountain Physical Therapy

Scott Strategic Investments

Timothy Miller Custom Homes

Bee Hive Homes of Pagosa Springs

Colorado Title and Closing Services

General

Anthony & Veronica Doctor

Backwoods Enterprises

Brian Butzen MD

Davis Engineering Services

Elk Park Animal Hospital

Goodman’s Department Store

Jim Smith Realty

King Campbell DDS

Lee Riley – I sell Pagosa LLC

Mountain Eye Care

Pagosa Chiropractic

RG Bank

Subway Pagosa

The Tile & Carpet Store

The UPS Store

Village Interiors Carpet One

Michael C. Branch CPA

High Country Title

Bryan & Jane Wetzel

Gary & Claudia Weger

Alfons & Stephany Bouchier

Pick'in Up the Trash

Posted by Jann Pitcher

Nine brave souls tackled Putt Hill on Saturday morning of the Memorial Day Weekend!

Meg Wempe, Cindi and Kareena Galabota, Renee Vanover, Elaine Feeney, Paula Tennant, Elsa Lindner, Kim Moore and Jann Pitcher were not for the faint of heart no matter how busy the highway was!! The Rotary Club of Pagosa Springs is proud of our community and one of the ways we show it is by cleaning up trash along the highway. It is always great fun and super rewarding. Sometimes we have found some pretty interesting items to boot!

June is Fellowship Month

Posted by Shellie Peterson

RI PRESIDENT-ELECT ANNOUNCES 2021-22 PRESIDENTIAL THEME

Incoming Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta urged members to become more involved in service projects, saying that caring for and serving others is the best way to live because it changes not only other people’s lives, but also our own.

Rotary Supports our Teachers

Congratulations to Jillian Cram, Kelly Vining, Heather Rose, Katrina Thomas, Malinda Burnett, Dale Scrivener, Linda Lutomski, Kelle Bruno, Rachael Christiansen, and Karla Parker Choat!

The Pagosa Springs Rotary Club Teacher Mini Grant Program is a long-standing annual program for our club and this year was no different. The mini grant program awards a limited number of grants with a maximum award of $400 for special classroom projects to individual teachers in kindergarten through twelfth grade in Archuleta County. The mini grant provides working capital to innovative teachers who want to develop new ideas to enrich the student classroom experience. The mini grants also provide funds to teachers for materials or projects that would not otherwise be available through the school district or for teachers that would otherwise have to use their own money to fund them.

Thirteen applications were received from six different schools and ten teachers were selected. We are so fortunate to have such innovative and creative teachers with the desire to inspire and expand the learning opportunities for our children.

Some of the interesting and fun projects we were able to fund included purchasing microscopes for science classes, reading intervention materials for phonics skills, 3-D wooden puzzles for Art class incorporating science, technology, math, and language, and yes, boomwhackers! Three teachers in the Middle and Family School joined together to apply for this purchase to expand their collection of boonwhackers to teach different aspects of music theory to over 200 students. Add to that, cameras for learning about digital photography and creating digital portfolios, and an egg incubator to give the students the opportunity to learn about the life cycle of a chicken!

Rotary Once Again Supports Rise Above Violence

Posted on Feb 28, 2021

Local Rotary Responds to Victims

Rise Above Violence would like to recognize the generous contributions of the Pagosa Springs Rotary Club for their continued recognition and support for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Rotary members have been especially cognizant of the effects COVID-19 has had on survivors, where victims were further isolated from supportive friends, families and systems, many having job loss due to closures and workplace restrictions. This has required Rise to provide higher than anticipated levels of support, including financial help for rent, emergency shelter and food, utilities, and legal representation. The Pagosa Springs Rotary Club has invested in our vital services and support programs, ensuring survivors are fully assisted when the need arises. Thank you Pagosa Springs Rotary, your progressive and immediate response has been especially timely and impactful.

Rotary Provides Clean Water for African Village

Posted by David Smith on Jan 05, 2021

The Rotary Club of Pagosa Springs, working with Rotary Clubs in Vienna, Austria and Niamey, Niger, has completed a project that provides both drinking and irrigation water for a village located in the Sub-Sahara desert of Africa. Drilling of this 350 foot deep well and management of distribution of the water was organized by the Catholic organization, Fraternité des Servantes du Christ à Maradi. This region, like most of Niger, is primarily Muslim.

This organization seeks to educate and generally improve the lives of the 7,500 residents living in the village of Saé Saboua. Because most of the water in this region comes from the July/August rainy season, water is scarce throughout much of the year. Most residents use contaminated surface water for drinking and bathing.

Rotary Completes Third-Grade Dictionary Project

Posted by Jo Ann Laird on Dec 30, 2020

While a pandemic may shut down, close up and change our habits, it didn’t stop your local Rotary club from delivering their annual gift of colorful dictionaries to the elementary school third grade classes.

It was different to be sure. Typically, Rotarians have the joy of handing out the books to over 100 children and teaching them the benefits a dictionary can provide. The students find words and their meaning they never knew before, travel the world thru displays of international flags and learn our country’s history thru Presidential biographies. Though Rotarians were not able to enter the school this year, there is comfort in knowing the children received these books, once again.

This year has been a tough one for Rotary, as it has for most non-profits. The annual fund raisers Rotary has, such as the Casino Night and Barn Dance could not be held.

The funds derived from these events go toward local endeavors of not only the 3^rd Grade Dictionary Project but also gifting $20,000 plus annually for high school scholarships, provide manpower and resources for the needed Backpack Program, pick up highway trash, place benches for those awaiting public transportation, endow teacher mini-grants to defray their expenses, donate monies and items to the Food Pantry, help fund the GGP Greenhouse Project, host foreign students for the Student Exchange Program plus send local students to study abroad, fund expenses for high school students to attend RYLA, a leadership training program and assist the town with the 4th of July Parade. Rewarding, fun and in some cases, life changers.

Virtual Alumni Event for Kyrgyzstan

A very special event happened this past Tuesday! Some of our Rotary Club members, presenters, and host families were able to reconnect with our delegates from 2018!

Theme: Tourism Destination Management

Original Travel to Pagosa Springs: May 31, 2018

9:00 – 9:05AM

Overview of Participation Procedures

Alexa King, Program Manager at the Open World Leadership Center

Opening Remarks

Jane Sargus, Executive Director of the Open World Leadership Center

9:05 – 9:15 AM

9:15 – 9:50 AM

9:50 – 9:55 AM

9:55 – 10:25 AM

10:25 – 10:50 AM

Welcome Back to Pagosa Springs

David Smith, Rotary Club of Pagosa Springs

Host Families:

Jo Bridges
Kim Moore

Alumni Updates from Kyrgyzstan: Presentation on what they have been up to since they participated on the Open World program and the effect of COVID-19 on the tourism industry in Kyrgyzstan.