Inspiration – Diane Knight shared a poem called The Smile.The essence is that “a smile costs nothing but gives much.”
IDEA (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Awareness) Quote:Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common. Celebrate it every day.~ Winston Churchill
Guests:
Jim Hightower – past member
Hugh Mccurren - Rotaract
Saira Hafeez – Rotaract President
Hannah Bailey - Rotaract
Patience Peabody, CEO of Book Trust
Alli Lee, VP of Programs
Ben Reuler, VP of Development
Dave Doty – returning member, application in
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
Program – Book Trust – Founded 25 years ago in Fort Collins; have served over 600,000 students nationally since becoming a 501C3 in 2006
Mission: Providing all children equitable access to books of choice in order to promote reading motivation and engagement.
Four pillars are access, choice, ownership and joy – joy is the “secret sauce.”
Each student gets $12 stipend three times a year and gets to pick their own books (math is involved, too!)
2024-2025 By the numbers nationally:597K books, 47.3K students, 2.2K teachers, 159 schools
Vision 2040 – to spark joyful experiences for 5 million kids
If not reading at grade level by 3rd grade, kids are 4x more likely to not graduate high school
Priorities:
Expand book access
Cultivate joyful reading experiences
Strengthen the national reading ecosystem – advocacy and sharing and collaborating
Q&A
They are working on models for more family engagement that aren’t burdensome for parents
They are working on ways to partner with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which stops giving books at age 5 (there is no overlap in who they serve)
There is a lot of cross pollination when teachers and principals leave and go to other schools
There is a massive waiting list now – only constrained by funding
Peach Sale brought in over $12,000 – board decided to allocate 25% to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library; 75% to the Book Trust – they received a check for $9,048.75.
Thanks for John Hintzman (who is on the Board) for bringing us this great program.
Announcements:
John Sheltren honored five multiple Paul Harris Fellows: Carrie Campbell Broughton (+5), Walt Grady (+3), Bob Loosley (+4), Steve James (+6), Tim Cochran (+8)
Krishna Murthy announced that Oct. 24th is World Polio Day; please see the email from him on Oct. 22
Andy Chaffin announced that we had recently written grant checks for over $28,000!
Literacy - $12,000
International Service Grant with Sertoma - $5000
Veterans and First Responders - $5,200
Other Community Service Grants - $5,800
The Rotaract members announced three new projects in Guatemala (through Engineers without Borders)
Saira – thanked the club for support at the Rotaract Fall Festival
Morgan Merriman – chair for the 10K raffle – will be trying some new things this year including more cash prizes than just $10,000. Stay tuned for more details!
