Life is meant to be fun and delectable while appreciating that as human beings, we all have more similarities than differences.
Knowing that, as well as the best way to help yourself is to help others, I am greatly looking forward to being the steward of such an amazing Rotary club!
District Governor, Becky Smith, was our honored speaker last week.
The following is an excerpt from prvrotary.com: "Becky’s rise to the governorship began in 2006 when she joined the Pine River Valley Rotary Club. She rose to the presidency in 2010 and served in that position for two years. Becky helped increase club membership through recruitment and public events. Today, the club has 27 members and is very active in Bayfield and Ignacio.
During the coming year, Becky will manage a budget in excess of a quarter million dollars and guide 2,000 members. She will visit all 57 clubs within the 52,000 mile boundries of District 5470. Becky sees her goals for the coming year as helping clubs re-energize and encouraging members to continue their “service above self.”
Becky also has a goal of raising funds to help educate girls in third world countries. She hopes to raise $25,000 through donations from each club. District 5470 and Rotary International will match those donations, for a total of $70,000. Becky will be working directly with a Rotary club in Kenya to provide infrastructure and supplies to help young female students complete their education.
Becky’s service during the next year will be taxing but no doubt rewarding for someone who has dedicated her life to public service. PRV is proud to have such a leader! Good luck Becky and thanks for your unwavering dedication!!"
As usual, listening to Becky speak was insightful, encouraging and entertaining!! Using the example of the Rubik Cube, she encouraged us to 'shake things up' in little ways that the community will notice and appreciate. She also encouraged us to take care of ourselves as a Club by taking care and being mindful of each of our members.
It was the honor of the Rotary Club of Pagosa Springs to receive the Rotary Citation for the Club year 2020-2021!! Even more special was having the District Governor here to present it to us!
To be eligible for the Rotary Citation, clubs need to begin the year as active clubs in good standing – or having paid each invoice balance in full upon receipt. Rotary club leaders can go into Rotary Club Central and select at least 13 out of 25 goals they wish to apply toward citation achievement. This flexibility allows clubs to choose the goals that are most relevant and achievable and complete and record their progress.
The Rotary Club of Pagosa Springs has once again, obtained this distinction.
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
1st 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
These businesses and individuals have made contributions to the Pagosa Rotary Community Assistance Fund and the Pagosa Springs Rotary Club Scholarship Foundation. The Pagosa Rotary Community Assistance Fund provides funding for the Feed Our Children Backpack Program as well as Teacher Mini Grants, 3rd Grade Dictionaries and the Pagosa Outreach Connection along with many other projects. The Pagosa Springs Rotary Club funds scholarships for graduating High School Seniors.
It’s crucial to eradicate polio from the last two countries where it remains endemic and to keep other countries polio-free.
If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.
Be a part of history
Donate your funds
We’re close to eradicating polio, but we’re not done yet. We still need funds to continue immunization and surveillance efforts. Your gift will get us closer to the finish line.
Ending a disease is a massive effort, and Rotary and our partners can’t do it alone. You can join us in our efforts to end polio by being a part of World Polio Day.
Rotary International's impact around the world is most famously recognized as the efforts to eradicate Polio, but there is so much more!! This global grant from the Rotary Foundation will enable countless children to better their learning by greatly improving their learning environment! Specially constructed school desk tables and attached benches will improve these childrens' lives as well as let them know the Rotary Club of Pagosa Springs Colorado, District 5470 and the Rotary Foundation find their future important to invest in!
The Rotary Club of Pagosa Springs is excited to announce that Casey Lynn Crow has been selected to receive a scholarship in the amount of $30,000 to continue her education toward a PhD in Public Health and Policy from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Casey holds a bachelor’s in Political Science and Global Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a masters in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies from the London School of Economics. As a second-year doctoral student, her research explores access to sexual and reproductive healthcare in humanitarian crises, particularly for refugees and people with disabilities. Apart from her research, Casey is a dancer, choreographer, and owner of Pagosa Springs Dance Academy, and is passionate about merging art and activism. Having worked with refugees in Kenya, Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico and Greece, she has witnessed the transformational power of the arts to improve mental health and promote hope, healing and connection for survivors of trauma. Casey founded Beyond Words International in 2018 with the hope of collaborating with artists, therapists, and those serving in their communities to increase opportunities for healing, empowerment, and positive expression.
Ms. Crow was endorsed to the Rotary District 5470 by the Rotary Club of Pagosa Springs. District 5470. in partnership with the Rotary Club of Hampstead. The award has been approved for funding by The Rotary Foundation. We look forward to encouraging Casey and watching her continue to pursue her passions.
When Casey was notified about being awarded this scholarship, she said, “I am unspeakably honored and grateful to be chosen as a Rotary Global Grant Scholar. This award will allow me to continue my studies and conduct my fieldwork in the largest refugee camp in the world, Bidi Bidi Camp in Uganda, next year. I am thrilled to represent Rotary as I continue my research and do my best to make a difference in the world. Special thanks to the Rotary Club of Pagosa Springs for their incredible encouragement and support!”
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.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, look at the rapt attention of the men in David’s 2017 Teacher Training Workshop; or the joyous look on the children’s faces inspired by a visit from Rotarian DJIBO Hamani in a rural school. Among the thousand words these pictures inspire, is the reminder that local and international service are not mutually exclusive, and that winning can be as simple as twinning.
