The Service Committee reports on the status of Lander Rotary service projects
Rotary Service Committee Meeting
June 20, 2018
Attendees: 1) Carol Chidsey, 2) Hart Jacobsen, 3) Staci Lancaster, 4) Joe Quiroz and 5) Jack States
Discussion of ongoing service projects
Canyon Scholars Library—Jack States and Hart Jacobsen provided an update on the Canyon Scholars library project. A June 27 meeting with folks visiting from the Canyon Scholars is scheduled to follow the regular Rotary meeting to learn more about the project. All interested members are invited to stay for that. At Carol’s suggestion, Staci reached out to Leslie Calkins to extend an invite to the Interact Club to participate in the meeting.
Earlier this month, Joe Quiroz and Mike Lilygren submitted a request for a Rotary District Grant for $2,700 to support building a library/classroom for Cusarare elementary/junior high school in Tarahumara, Mexico, and our club will be providing a $2,000 match for that grant. Our club has a long history of supporting the students and school.
Friday Community Meals at Methodist Church—Jen Peterson is coordinating with Michelle Motherway for leading the July 20 meal. There was discussion about challenges of filling the volunteer slots lately. While folks scatter during the summer, there was discussion about the possibility of many of the same Rotarians volunteering every month and discussion about reaching out to Interact for volunteers and possibly pulling in another service group (Lions, etc.) to also partner with Rotary and Kiwanis on the project. There was also discussion about whether the general club membership is committed to volunteering to assist with this project moving forward. Post meeting, Staci looked at past volunteer numbers for assisting with the meals, and 32 different Rotarians have assisted with the meal over the past Rotary year (15 of those volunteers volunteered at 2-5 or more meals).
Staci asked about whether there are ideas about another Rotarian who could lead the meal preparation when Jen Peterson is out of town, and there was later discussion that maybe Rotary should either alternate months leading the meal preparation or lead a set half of the meals while Kiwanis commits to leading the other half (or some arrangement like that).
Are we pursuing the right kind of service projects that meet the expectation of our club’s membership?—As we went over the ongoing service projects, Staci asked about what projects our club’s overall membership thinks are important, and there was discussion about the importance of getting a sense from our membership about what types of projects they most want to participate in. Joe reached out to Mike Lilygren and Mandy Fabel to see about the timing of future opportunities to survey the membership and whether any upcoming surveys could help us get a handle on what the current service project desires of our members are. The discussion with Mandy is ongoing, as she indicated new ideas for questions and surveys (member phone calls, one-on-one meetings and others) can also be explored.
Institute For Peace/Domestic Violence—Joe Quiroz is leading an effort to look into whether our club can assist with helping to address Domestic Violence as part of the Rotary District’s emphasis on the Institute for Peace effort globally. He is thinking through a way to address the issue and reaching out to those engaged on this issue locally to ask advice on how we might approach the problem in Fremont County. He is also engaging fellow Rotarians, including the Riverton Rotary Club to be part of the effort.
Lander Live—Rotary agreed to adopt the first Lander Live concert of the season—July 19—and will be working to provide volunteers. Staci and Sarah Hamlin coordinated plans to line up Rotary volunteers, and Sarah plans to send the electronic volunteer signup around to the membership close to the beginning of July, to not get it too mixed up with the push for volunteers for the Rotary Fourth of July Barbecue. Staci will also start taking a hard copy signup to meetings after we get through June.
North Park Spruce Up—Staci reached out to Sarah Felix to discuss the club’s inclination to just go with the basic low-cost sign replacement, on the three signs in need of replacement at North Park due to other service commitments and discuss plans to move forward with the replacements.
Library Project—Staci plans to reach out to Ray Charles with the Friends of the Library to see what the library’s needs are following the Challenge for Charities efforts and whether there is a need for Rotary to help with a project, possibly with resources and materials for children’s programming at the library. This may fit with Rotary’s focus on literacy.
Relay For Life—The upcoming Relay For Life Cancer Walk prompted Staci to ask if there is interest in tracking this and possibly creating a Rotary team for the walk next year. We have had a team in the past. With the upcoming barbecue and other service commitments, we may be a bit stretched for this year, but maybe the club may want to participate next year?
Dictionaries—This projects is pending student numbers for dictionary orders for the next school year.
Read To Me—Staci reached out to Gannett Peak Elementary School’s Principal to see what teachers would like to participate next year to start the process of connecting Rotary Readers with teachers hopefully before the start of the new school year. She is also checking on the expectations for reading again with Lights On In Lander.