Inspiration: Mary Catherine Limbird inspired us with sharing and recognizing ‘small kindness’. The everyday brief moments of exchange we are grateful for and that help us recognize kindness. She encouraged us to make someone’s day.
Meeting Leader: Diane Knight was President of our club in 2014-2015. She considers herself the ‘Accidental President’ that year as our planned president had to step down due to family issues. A requirement of our Club is that the person has attended PETS (President Elect Training) and since Diane was President of the Golden Rotary Club in 1998-1999, she met the requirements. A fun side note on Diane’s journey is that our own Susan Peterson introduced Diane to Paul Knight and as they say, the rest is history!
Guests:
- Joe Wimmer – has applied to join our club. He and his wife moved here from Southeast Kansas and he works in the Finance Department for City of Fort Collins. While his wife is working at Poudre Valley Hospital.
- Marcy Woodland – returning guest who has requested an application to join our club.
- Matthew Fugate — returning guest of Curt Bear.
IDEA (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Awareness) Quote: “In my lifetime, the world has become better, not worse. And the world is moving, very slowly but surely, with more democracy and a more liberal way of thinking, more inclusion and more diversity.” Isabel Allende (Chilean American writer)
Future Programs: Please see the side panel for upcoming speakers and be sure to invite your friends.
Rotary Cares: If you are aware of a fellow Rotarian who is going through a challenging time (i.e., personal or family health, family death, etc.) please let Sara Murphy know so we can let them know we are thinking of them and provide whatever support we can. Sara.jane.murphy1@gmail.com
Announcements:
- Tony Catania asked for help with the sign-up sheet to take your peaches on Saturday at the Peach Festival (i.e., any peaches not sold)
- Dave Haase asked our club to step in and help if you see something that needs to be done at the Peach Festival. While many of our members will be volunteering at the Peach Booth, he appreciates those who signed up for the Peach Festival.
- Teres Lambert encouraged members to get out and sell 2 boxes each. She is going to provide a quick and updated flyer to post on NextDoor, tape to your mailbox, share with friends, etc. We have sold 673 boxes as of this morning toward of goal of 800 boxes… we know our club with People of Action can hit this goal by Monday, 8/19 at 6:00 pm.
- Joe McCarthy asked us to share information from the Quad Club meeting for the Foothills Club’s 1st annual Duck Race fundraiser on September 7th from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm, at the “Lazy River” at City Park Pool. Prices will be awarded – 1st duck gets $2,500; 2nd place duck gets $1,500, and 3rd place gets $1,000. The link to adopt a duck is: https://fcrotaryduckrace.org
- Gary Turner shared that the last meeting of the month, on August 29th, will be held offsite at the Larimer County Emergency Services and Fire Rescue office at 1303 N. Shields, Fort Collins, CO 80524.
Program:
Gary Turner introduced Dave Stewart, neighbor, friend, long time Rotarian (joined in 1982 – same year as Gary) with a Ph.D. in environmental engineering who is passionate about Water and the Colorado River Compact.
Dave shared information about the River, and work being done within the 7 states.
- The 1922 Colorado River Compact is due for renewal in 2026. Dave is coordinating a meeting of representatives from all 7 states, through a Rotary District Grant, to meet and negotiate using the 4 way test.
- The meeting will be held in January at the CSU SPUR campus and Rotarians will be able to live stream the meeting.
While the video was difficult to hear at first – the link to the video which can be found here: Colorado River in Crisis (note: it is a 30 minute video full of information). A few of the points stressed in the video were:
- Agriculture uses 80% of the water available out of the Colorado River for crop irrigation.
- If you eat a salad in January, anywhere in the United States, that lettuce will be grown with Colorado River water.
- There are dozens of endangered species on the Colorado River.
- Las Vegas has done remarkable conservation work over the years going from 135 gallons per day per person to 30 gallons per day. This has been done via xeriscaping new homes (and old homes), minimizing water features, incentives for conservation, and increasing awareness.
- Crop choices play a role in the use of water as well – based on farm, location, what climate the crops grow in, etc. The farms are trying to take less water from the river; though, sprinklers and water systems are quite expensive. Utilizing underground water has been effective with less evaporation than dams, reservoirs, etc.
Good News:
- Andy Chaffin shared that after 19 years, he took the plunge and bought a new car. The bad news is he has to learn all the new technology on the car.
- Vic Purdy was excited to share that next week, he and his wife, leave for an Alaskan Cruise
- Gary Turner shared that he and his wife have had their 2 grandchildren with them, 8 and 11 years old. They are exhausted!
- Tony Catania has recruited a new member for our club as his mother-in-law is moving from Texas to Fort Collins (Thanks Tony!).
Past President Diane ended the meeting on the importance and value of her meeting ending phrase: “If you are lucky enough to be a Rotarian, you are lucky enough!”