The Pagosa Springs Rotary Club is a diverse group of engaged individuals participating through friendship and camaraderie in opportunities to serve our community and other communities around the world.
While the Pagosa Springs Rotary Clubs are widely known for their fun and imaginative fundraising events such as the Kentucky Derby Party, Ice Melt Contest, Las Vegas Casino Night, Jeans and Jewels Barn Dance and Gary Morris Concert, you may not know how far reaching the results of the monies raised actually go. It's all about the club's motto, "Service Above Self".
Locally, one of our largest endeavors go to scholarships for PSHS graduating students. Since 1983, Rotary has awarded over $450,000 to 174 students, to be used for advanced education in colleges and trade schools. In 2019 alone, $37,000 was awarded.
Rotary supplies weekly manpower and food to the elementary school Backpack Program, filling in the need for food left by the gap between Friday's school lunch program and the Monday morning bell. Rotarians pick up highway trash, place benches for those awaiting public transportation, give beautifully crafted dictionaries to every third grader, 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.
Internationally, we are the face of eradicating Polio from the world. We're almost there. While Polio still exists in two countries, between Rotary International and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, it only a matter of time before this deadly disease will be forever gone.
Your local Rotary also funds educational and humanitarian efforts to Niger and Senegal and has donated medical vehicles in Pakistan. Rotary monetarily assists other regional clubs with funds for some of their projects, like the installation of clean water systems and wheelchairs in Mexico and Central America.
Wanting to be there when our community is in need, Rotary has just authorized an additional expenditure of $15,000 for food and other community needs related to COVID-19 crisis. Rotary knows their 2020 fund raising efforts may not be as good as in years past, for obvious economic reasons. However, they will do what they can to help. After all, isn't it all about, "Service Above Self"?
There are two Rotary Clubs in Pagosa. The original and largest club meets on Thursdays at 11:59 AM at the Pagosa Brewing & Grill. However, at this unprecedented time and until further notice, meetings are held via the free and easy downloadable app, ZOOM. This is your invitation to attend a meeting from the comforts of your home, on Thursdays at noon . The Mountain Morning Club generally meets every Thursday, at 5:30 p.m., also at Pagosa Brewing and Grill but is not meeting at this time. Incredible speakers educate us about subjects from post forest fire life to the most current information available on the COVID-19 virus. Both clubs would love to have you as a guest, should you consider the giving of your to time to better our community. For more information, see www.pagosaspringsrotary.org or www.pagosarotary.org.
Spring is sprung and the Lake Hatcher ice melted enough to drop the fifty-five gallon barrel, containing a clock, to the depths of the lake. This proved bad news for the clock but great news for three lucky people who won some serious money.
The contest was based on guessing the exact date, hour, minute and second that the ice would melt enough to drop the barrel in the water, thus stopping the clock. According to the clock reading, this happened on March 26, at 3:53 and 41 seconds. Missing the exact time by an astonishing two minutes and 15 seconds and winning $1,000 for the closest guess was Lisa Gamber, second place, winning $500, was Dawn Eggleston and third place went to Warren Brown, winning $250.
Sounds like an easy contest but there's more than meets the eye. Getting the barrel on the lake's two foot thick ice late in early February was a bit of a chore, as there's always the chance of slipping and falling. Retrieving the barrel from the cold watery depths is another story.
An unsuccessful attempt to retrieve the barrel happened on March 27 but not to be deterred, the recovery happened on March 31. Under the watchful eye of Chief Larson and Deputy Chief Karn Macht, a twenty foot Rescue Boat was launched with firemen Lyle Hoffschneider and Anthony Ferguson. Although tethered to the shore in case of an incident, two additional firemen were at the ready, if needed, as required in the two in, two out rescue method. This method proved the right choice for these highly trained firemen, as the barrel was swiftly and safely retrieved from the lake and brought to shore.
In addition to Pagosa Fire and Paramedic Department, the Pagosa Springs Rotary Club, in cooperation with the Pagosa Lakes Property Owners Association (PLPOA) would like to thank The Pagosa Sun, KWUF Radio, The Choke Cherry Tree, the Chamber of Commerce, Al Myatt and Ski and Bow Rack for providing services that helped make the Second Annual Ice Melt Contest another success. All proceeds from this contest will go toward the Rotary Scholarship Fund for Pagosa Springs High School graduates.
When cabin fever sets in for 2021, as it surely will, this fun, profitable and rewarding contest will be back to help chase those blues away.
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