Presiding: Caitlin White
Professor’s Quotes: John Vandel
Humor: Todd Pearson
Meeting Room setup/takedown and general problem solving: Tom Mangan and Ron Van Ekeren
Introduction of Guests: Dave Krause
Guests: John Bard introduced the Junior Rotarians
Junior Rotarians: Kit Ng and Ben Taboga
Visiting Rotarians: Victoria Ziton
Foundation Drawing: Jaime Stine won $10 with $1024.50 in the jackpot and 26 cards in the deck.
O’Dwyers Drawing: Annette Mello won a $20 gift card from O’Dwyer’s.
Announcements:
- Kit Ng announced that Laramie Interact has re-formed and they are working with Emily Parsons on a winter coat project.
- Rollin Abernethy announced Dine and Discover in collaboration with Food Bank of the Rockies.
- Tim Eisenhauer reminded us of Club Visioning on November 9th and asked that everyone bring in their surveys to the next meeting.
- John Vandel will again be matching members who want to earn Paul Harris Fellow status.
- Noel Welch is collecting cash for Christmas Families.
- John Freeman announced that Rotary Reads is again looking for readers – talk to him or Caitlin.
- Ray McElwee announced that we have recruited an outbound exchange student for next school year and that we will need host families for an inbound student.
- Caitlin White passed around library books bearing our seal, showing how our speakers are recognized.
Rotarians of the Week: Nicole Hauser nominated Steve Gosar for coaching not one, but three kids’ basketball teams.
Special Presentations: Kit Ng received recognition for being a Junior Rotarian.
Upcoming Programs:
November 15 –Dale Steenbergen, Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce
November 22 – Thanksgiving, no meeting
November 29 – Bay Roberts/Kierra Peterson, One School at a Time
Songs – Jan Lawrence – Shine on Harvest Moon and Rotary Wheel
Program: Victoria Ziton, Wyoming Food Bank of the Rockies Victoria Ziton, Wyoming Food Bank of the Rockies
Introduction of Program: Tim Eisenhauer
The Wyoming Food Bank of the Rockies is now centrally located in Casper after being in Cheyenne for 25 years. With 13 staff and a new warehouse, they distribute food every year to over 70,000 people in all of Wyoming’s 23 counties.
They primarily deal high protein food, fresh fruits and veggies and dairy products.
The Food Bank is the hub in a distribution wheel that includes 247 partners in Wyoming. In Albany County, partners include Interfaith Good Samaritan, Cathedral Home, and the Laramie Soup Kitchen. Partners on the other side of the supply chain include businesses like Safeway, WalMart and Starbucks. Programs we may be familiar with are Dine and Discover and school backpack programs.
This is a very efficient program where $1 donated provides 4 meals, and 96 cents of every dollar donated goes directly to food distribution. Donors include individuals, foundations, and corporations.
The Food Bank of the Rockies also recognizes that some communities with no infrastructure (like our soup kitchen) still have hungry people and they have therefore set up mobile food pantries.
On a regional scale the Food Bank is a part of Feeding America, with a hub in Denver, who directs trucks that need to find a use for produce and also sells or brokers food on a large scale. They also partner with Food Bank of the Rockies out of Denver.
Overall, the Wyoming Food Bank of the Rockies has a budget of $2.5M annually and distributes 1.5 M pounds of food. In Albany County alone, they distribute 460,000 pounds of food annually, which equates to 1019 meals/day.
Responding for the Club: Sara Davis
Response: The Rotary Club of Laramie will make a donation to the public library children’s book fund in the speaker’s name.
NOTE: We Do Not Donate a Book!
Rotary 4-way Test:
Of the things we think, say, or do
- Is it the Truth?
- Is it Fair?
- Will it build Good Will and Better Friendships?
- Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?
Spoke Editor: Tony Hoch, 307-760-9386 or tony.hoch@lrcd.net