Gregg Tomlinson, Stapleton Rotary Club President

On Friday, December 16, the Stapleton Rotary Club volunteered at the Food Bank of the Rockies for an afternoon. Members who attended were Tom Wolfe, Evan Brooks, Ed Cole, Jason Postregna and Gregg Tomlinson. The Food Bank of the Rockies receives surplus food from a
variety of sources that is sorted and organized and distributed to needy families throughout the state of Colorado.

The work is fun and social and on top of that we all got some exercise and weight lifting during the afternoon as well as spending some quality time with friends old and new.

More information about volunteer opportunities at the Food Bank can be found here:

http://www.foodbankrockies.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Volunteer

Host families are asked to provide a bed, breakfast, dinner, and limited local transportation (bus or light rail passes will be provided to cast members if needed). Cast members are out in the community during most business hours Monday through Saturday – Sunday is considered “Host Family Day.” This is an opportunity for families to connect with other countries and cultures while sharing your community.

Host families receive two complimentary tickets to the February 3rd show in Denver. More information is available on the Up With People website.

If you are interested in hosting, please contact Shawna Reed at 303-408-4143 or email her at sreed@upwithpeople.org

Bhutan is a small mountainous country on the southern slopes of the eastern Himalayas, bordered on three sides by India and by China to the north. Bhutan is a primarily Buddhist country, called “Druk” by its residents.There is just one airport in the country – in order to land at the airport, the pilot has to fly a curving flight path thru valleys in order to reach the airport.

Ed and Kay were with a group of nine tourists, visiting Bhutan during a three-day festival where the residents wore colorful costumes and performed many ritual type dances. The highest point in Bhutan is Gangkhar Puensum at 24,840 ft, which is also the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. The highest point Ed and Kay hiked was 13,000 feet.

One striking featuer as Ed and Kay traveled the country were the prayer flags. It is believed by many Bhutanese Buddhists that the ideal number of prayer flags for deceased people is 108, preferably made from freshly cut trees.

The farms are very small plots. Oxen or very small tillers work best on the small plots. Farm houses in Bhutan are built with three levels. The bottom level housed the animals. The second level is where the family lived. The third level was for storing the crops. There was usually a small temple inside each house.

She told us that children ages 0-5 years are the most likely to suffer to from hunger and that 23% of Colorado residents have a food hardship.  The incidence rate is  increasing; the severity is increasing.  Hunger is a solvable problem.  The School Lunch Program offers free and low cost lunches and many offer breakfast programs, but the programs are not well utilized.

In  Colorado we have an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system as a successor to the old “food stamps.” This program provides a card that can only be used to purchase food (not household goods or incidentals), and it actually serves as an economic stimulus program since the purchases help support markets, food service workers, farms, etc. Colorado is ahead of only Guam in participation. HFC is trying to raise awareness of the problem, and they are getting more sites approved to distribute food.  With help from HFC, the number of sites in Colorado has increased by 90% in two years.

HFC also has a Hunger Free Hotline at 720-382-2920 or toll free at 855-855-4626.  People can call to see what programs are available to them, with information customized to their individual needs, and receive help in applying for food assistance programs. Information is available in both English and Spanish.

For more inormation about Hunger Free Colorado, please visit their website at www.HungerFreeColorado.org

I am reaching out because Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver is building 6 homes in Commerce City this winter and we’re in need of volunteer support. With the Stapleton neighborhood just south of Commerce City I thought this might be a great volunteer opportunity the Rotary Club. Volunteer opportunities are available Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays starting in January and running through March. Volunteers must be at least 16 years old and willing to work from 9-4:30 p.m. Thank you in advance for your help.

For more information, please visit Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver’s website at www.habitatmetrodenver.org

This might be a little unconventional, but I volunteer with the non-profit USGBC Colorado Green Schools Initiative. We host a Green Schools Summit every year. This year ours is on October 28. We were thinking about ways to get participants to the event via carpool or other, and we don’t have the additional volunteer power this year to spearhead much in this vein. Do you have any folks interested in assisting? we are certainly open to ideas. The event will be held at the Evie Garrett Dennis Campus, a Denver Public School facility. Any ideas or help you can offer would be great to talk about.

Feel free to call Margaret at 303 250 8450 for more information.

Rotary District 5450 - Colorado, USA

As many of you know, October is Rotary Vocational Service Month. It seems to be an opportune time to remind everyone that Rotary now has five areas of service as it spun out youth programs such as RYLA and Rotaract to the New Generations Avenue of service from Vocational Service.

Vocational Service at the District 5450 level now concentrates on the Four Way Test, Leadership, and Ethics in Business. All Rotarians should remember that Rotary was founded on the principle that its members maintain high levels of integrity and this should be emphasized throughout the year. Specifically, for October, please consider the following types of activities to recognize Vocational Service Month:

Organize a club gathering such as a membership fair, open house, or other activity to bring together folks from various occupations and who are not Rotarians.

Insure that Club members give Vocational Service talks so all may gain an understanding and appreciation for the various occupations represented in the club.

Host a visit in October or sometime during the year from members of the District Four Way Test committee chaired by Doug Young of the Parker Club and the Leadership Institute chaired by Karen Briggs of the SE Denver Club. We can all benefit from hearing of the activities of these committees. They are in our communities making a difference in the lives of Rotarians as well as many others.

Let us remember the Declaration of Rotarians in Businesses and Professions:

1. Consider my vocation to be another opportunity to serve
2. Be faithful to the letter and to the spirit of the ethical codes of my vocation, to the laws of my country, and to the moral standards of my community
3. Do all in my power to dignify my vocation and to promote the highest ethical standards in my chosen vocation;
4. Be fair to my employer, employees, associates, competitors, customers,the public, and all those with whom I have a business or professional relationship;
5. Recognize the honor and respect due to all occupations which are useful to society
6. Offer my vocational talents: to provide opportunities for young people, to work for the relief of the special needs of others, and to improve the quality of life in my community
7. Adhere to honesty in my advertising and in all representations to the public concerning my business or profession;
8. Neither seek from nor grant to a fellow Rotarian a privilege or advantage not normally accorded others in a business or professional relationship.

Have a wonderful October and remember to recognize Vocational Service month.

• Live in another culture. Speak another language
• See new places. Make new friends
• Jump start your personal growth
• Impress colleges and employers

Open to teenagers 15½ to 18½ years old at the time of exchange.

Apply for the 2012/2013 school year by mid-November 2011, or apply in your freshman, sophomore, junior, or even senior year (for a gap year exchange).

Students and parents, please mark your calendars for a lively and informative presentation on Rotary Youth Exchange:

Date: Sunday, October 23, 2011

Time: 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Location: Auditorium of Broomfield High School, (1 Eagle Way, Broomfield).

RSVP for further details

Contact: Joe Prizio, zprizio@comcast.net or 303.517.5289

Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) has been sending students around the globe since 1929. Each year Rotary clubs worldwide arrange for thousands of high school exchanges. Rotarians involved in this not-for-profit undertaking are volunteers, helping to keep costs to the families of exchange students low. Website: www.rye5450.org.

Deadline for registering for a table of 10 at $400 is November 11th. After that, price increases to $500 or $55 per person. Remember that this is a good opportunity for potential new members to learn about Rotary.

Clubs that commit to a table of 10 by November 11th will receive two tickets to the Governor’s Mansion reception in early December.