Rotarian of the Day

Cindi Galabota

Rotary Minute

Presented by Rob Foster: In 1905, Paul Harris gathered three friends and founded Rotary. They introduced the idea of rotating meetings to foster equality, friendship, and a shared commitment to ethical leadership and community service.

Member Update

Ken Petersen, Shellie’s husband, recently had his knee replaced. We signed a card wishing him a quick recovery.

Barn Dance Update

Tickets to our tenth annual Jewels and Jeans Barn Dance are for sale for $35 each. Get yours now at PagosaSpringsRotary.org. The dance is October 18, 6 to 10 p.m., at the PLPOA clubhouse.

Kirsten Bennett is holding a planning meeting at 6 p.m. Saturday, August 16, at her house. She asked for a chair to organize the event set-up and take-down. She also needs another cochair for the silent auction.

Wine Walk

Cici Stuart asked for volunteers to distribute posters for the Wine Walk.

Our club will host the downtown Wine Walk on August 27. CiCi Stewart is organizing volunteers. Participants can enjoy wine tasting at various businesses while strolling the 400 block of Pagosa Street downtown. The event benefits the Main Street Business Assistance Program. Tickets are $10 cash. This is a fun way to support our downtown businesses during the road construction.

Global Grant for Niger

David Smith announced that we won a $108,000 grant for science education in Niger. WOW! David will travel there this winter to begin to implement it. Anyone want to go along?

Beer Garden

Greg Langford thanked everyone who worked in the beer garden at the county fair last week. Tom Bruin and Rob Foster were team captains. Greg said we raised around $5,000 this year, up from $2,200 raised last year. Way to go!

Runway for Rise

Our club is a sponsor for the October 4 Runway for Rise event this year. A group of us will go together. Let Pat Love or Renee Vanover know if you want to join us. It is lots of fun!

Membership committee

Livia Lynch and Melanie Garrett are cochairs of the Membership committee now. August 14 is the first quarterly meeting, to be held at 1 p.m., after our regular meeting at Coyote Moon. All are welcome to attend.

Interact

Frank Wiley and Rob Foster shared that they will be meeting with the new Interact club’s faculty sponsor and club president. They asked us to consider sponsoring students for $25 so we can provide them with Interact t-shirts. Interact clubs bring together young people ages 12-18 to develop leadership skills while discovering the power of Service Above Self.

Pagosa Springs Area Tourism

Jennifer Green, Executive Director of the Pagosa Springs Area Tourism Board, gave us an inside peek into all our community does to encourage and support tourism. As we all know, tourism is a key driver of our economic growth. It supports our local businesses and generates tax revenues. Everything is better in Pagosa Springs when tourism thrives.

The Tourism Board actively communicates with visitors through their website, an app, signage, and visitor center materials. They promote fire, wildlife, and river safety awareness. Waste reduction is a priority, too, as they provide free reusable cups and biodegradable trash bags.

The board is launching an Ambassador program to inform visitors of all our community has to offer. The free training lasts about 1.5 hours. Reach out to Jennie if you would like to participate. Send her a request to receive the weekly email. Sales@VisitPagosaSprings.com

Board Meeting

The next Rotary Club board meeting is noon Monday at TBK Bank’s uptown branch.

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