My apologies for the tardiness of your newsletter. Good help is hard to find. I'd tell you why it is late, but I fear I won't get much sympathy. Thank you to my contributing editors, Ashton Hewitt (I'm sorry for entrusting such an important responsibility to a Carolina Panthers fan, but she did produce a valuable recording so all is not lost) and Christina King who provided me with lots of photos. Up next as your February Editor-of-the-Month is Dan Johns, so be sure to show up, speak up and send him lots of interesting stuff to make his experience as enjoyable as mine has been.
In this Issue:
- There were happy bucks despite yet another attempt by the President to block all happiness.
- The board meeting date has changed. I know, thank The Great Pumpkin I got the newsletter out in time so that you can change your calendars. You don't want to miss this hour with your Rotary board.
- Craig Melville pulled a fast one and kept everybody on their toes with this week's speaker.
Speaker: Laura Seay, District Manager - Junior Achievement of the Roaring Fork Valley, which serves schools from Aspen to Parachute. Laura joined Junior Achievement in September 2013 after moving to Carbondale in 2012. Laura is an honors graduate of the University of Oklahoma and has worked in the fields of banking, telecommunications and pharmaceutical sales. In her role with JA, she oversees the district's program implementation and daily operations including coordination with educators and supporters and volunteer recruitment.
Although JA was founded in 1954, it was brought to the Roaring Fork Valley in 1999 to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise and understand business and economics to improve the quality of their lives. JA offers 19 different K-12 integrated education programs that are correlated to Colorado State Standards. The three pillars of JA are: Financial Literacy, Entrepreneurship and Workforce Readiness.
JA is still working to grow the program in Aspen, although it is strong in the valley. The program is offered upon request by teachers in the service area. When a teacher requests a JA program in their classroom, Laura coordinates the program date, volunteer teacher and provides all of the study and lesson materials at no charge to the volunteer teachers.
JA of the Roaring Fork Valley provided 160 programs in 2015. All JA programs are taught by volunteers from the community who are willing to give of their time for a six-lesson program.
Volunteer Opportunities in Aspen - Economics for Success Program. This course gives students the information they need to build strong personal finances. Students learn the importance of exploring career options based on their skills, interests and values. They also learn about spending money within a budget; saving and investing wisely; and using credit cautiously.
8th Grade (Aspen Middle School): March 8, 10, 14, 16, 18 and 24 (six total lessons). All courses are taught from 2 - 2:45 p.m. except March 16, which is 1 - 1:45 p.m.
6th Grade (Aspen Middle School): Alternating days for two weeks in February (six total lessons). Courses can be taught at 8 a.m. or 9:25 a.m.
No teaching experience is necessary and JA provides all lessons and preparation guidebooks. "If you have life experience and you want to help a teacher, you can do this," said Laura Seay.
If you are interested in volunteering or just want more information about the program, contact Laura Seay (pronounced "C") at laura.seay@ja.org.
John Ward offered three volunteers to the program, two of whom he mentioned didn't know they would be volunteering. We're sure this will work out well.
Announcements:Jeanette Darnauer thanked Steve Wickes and Roger Nicholson for their work on the PR committee to get the newsletter off the ground. The committee will meet immediately following the Rotary Club meeting on Feb. 4. Anyone interested in the PR Committee is welcome to attend the meeting to volunteer or learn more. And just because you attend the meeting, doesn't mean you'll end up having to be a newsletter editor-of-the-month (you'll get the full court press, but stand your ground and you'll make it through without committing to anything you didn't want to do. Probably.).
Guests: There were no guests. How is that possible?
2.4.16 -Todd Musselman. Entrepreneur, motivational speaker, leader and mentor. Todd combines his background as a business owner, sales representative, and professional musician to produce strong, measurable results in the fields of organizational training, motivational speaking and executive/life coaching. To learn more about Todd before he arrives in Aspen, visit http://www.toddmusselman.net.
2.11.16: Gena Buhler, Executive Director, Wheeler Opera House.
You may not realize that the Aspen Rotary Club President Elect position is also, by default, the Speaker Chair. As you can imagine, this leaves a lot to do for the man or woman in this role. So, if you have any amazing speaker ideas, contact Speaker Chair/President Elect Craig Melville at craig@themelvilles.com.
UPDATE: 2.19.16 - Board Meeting. Join President John and the rest of the board for what is always a fun and informative meeting. The meeting will take place at 7:30 a.m. in the Sister Cities room in City Hall. Note: This meeting has been changed from the original 2.12.14 date due to a holiday on Monday, Feb. 15. The President informed us that he would be out of town for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, thus moving the meeting. MLK Day was in January, so further research indicated that Saturday, Feb. 13 is World Radio Day. Of course Feb. 14th is Valentine's Day. But Monday, Feb. 15 is, actually, President's Day. So, by deduction, the real reason for the board meeting change is that the President will be celebrating his Presidency over the long weekend.
2.4.16 - PR Committee Meeting. The PR Committee will meet immediately following the Rotary Club Meeting. Anyone is welcome to attend to learn more.
June 10 & 11. Aspen Camp Clean-up Weekend.
Maurice Emmer shared that Samantha Johnston has accepted the role of District Coordinator for Inbounders. He made the job sound much bigger during the meeting than he did when he pitched it to her. If you can believe this, Ashton Hewitt, announced, out loud, that she is a Carolina Panthers fan. The booing and hissing could be heard loudly in the audio recording. She did share a story that shows us there is still hope for her children. After the Broncos beat the Patriots, her son Jack said, "Your team is going down (referring to the Panthers." So, he has converted as expected. And, since happy bucks go to the Aspen Camp, I guess we'll take any news if you pony up. Roger Nicholson coughed up happy bucks to say "Go Broncos." Someone noted that Emily Burr was wearing orange and blue for the Broncos, but she said she's a Patriots fan. It's hard to keep this crowd straight. Mike Tunte was happy to live in Aspen, "Its the greatest place in the world and it's lovely to be here."
On January 13, 2016, Rotary International announced $35 million in grants to support the global efforts to end polio.
In 2015, only two countries - Afghanistan and Pakistan - report a single strain of the wild poliovirus.
2015 Polio Milestones
Nigeria - the last polio-endemic country in Africa - was removed from the World Health Organization's list of endemic countries in September, following one year without a new case of the wild virus. The last wild polio case anywhere on the African continent was in August 2014.
In September 2015, one of three strains of the wild poliovirus - Type 2 - was certified as eradicated, with no cases since 1999. Type 3 has not been seen anywhere in the world since November 2012.
Pakistan, which continues to report the majority of the world's polio cases, reduced its caseload by 82 percent in 2015 over the previous year.
Funds Needed
Experts estimate that $1.5 billion is needed to sustain the polio eradication progress. Without full funding and political commitment, the disease could return to previously polio-free countries.
Rotary's current funds will support efforts to end polio in Pakistan ($11.4 million) and Afghanistan ($6 million).
Public Relations Committee: The PR Committee will meet immediately following the 2.4.16 meeting to discuss changes to the Aspen Rotary Club website, upcoming editor-of-the-month assignments, social media and a host of other marketing and communication topics. Everyone is welcome to attend the meeting and anyone can get involved. There are lots of jobs to be done. For more information about the meeting, stay tuned to your newsletter, or contact Jeanette Darnauer at jeanette@darnauer.com.
There are no new members this week, but stay tuned for more bios about the awesome people in our club.
The Weekly Newsletter of the Rotary Club of Aspen.
.jpeg)
Thursday, January 28, 2016
.png)
.png)
