This week John Juras and Lacey Gallagher will give us an update on the bridge to Camp Rotary. The bridge is a vital conduit to our top-priority project, so we have to get this right! Join us at noon at the country club. The following Tuesday, we'll hear from Casey Lozar, regional outreach executive for the Federal Reserve. Casey has been recognized as an up-and-coming Native American leader and was recently elected chairman of the Montana Board of Regents of Higher Education.
There is no evening meeting this week. We'll combine the next evening meeting with the Dream Street social on August 28.
There will be no bulletin next week. Your cub reporter will have her arms full of grandchildren.
Spotlight on the President
In July, Cari Bennett Yturri assumed the gavel as president of our club. She joined Rotary because, as a busy business owner, she saw membership as a "two-fer": a way to connect with community leaders and engage in community service at the same time. Through the years, though, she's been impressed by the regional and international connections Rotary offers as well. Additionally, because Rotary is not political and not religious, she appreciates Rotary's openness to all and ambition to serve all who are vulnerable and in need of assistance. "I have benefited greatly from my relationships with my fellow Great Falls Rotarians," Cari said, "and I am honored to serve as President."
Cari spent her career with Bennett Motors, a family-owned car dealership. In 2015 she sold the business and retired, but she's been far from idle. She helped care for her father-in-law and her own father in their last years while participating in Leadership Montana. In 2016 she joined the University of Providence Board of Trustees and the NeighborWorks Board and she still serves on both. Last fall, she started pursuing a master's degree in Organizational Leadership at University of Providence. She plans to use that knowledge and additional management expertise to work in the non-profit sector.
Cari and her husband, Dr. Jim Yturri, who is Chief Medical Officer for Benefis Medical Group, have two children, Ben (age 24) and Catherine (age 23). She and Jim enjoy reading, golfing, skiing, hiking, biking and fishing. One of Cari's daily activities is to walk or run with their dogs, Dixie and Dillon, to keep them in shape for bird hunting ... and keep herself in shape for running short races. Last month, she joined Ben, two brothers-in-law and three of her sisters to run the Missoula 1/2 marathon together. (Ben and her sisters join her in this photo.)
Always active, engaged, and productive! Good qualities in a president!
This and That
Sandy Filipowicz is chairing the Silent Auction Committee for Harvest Howl and is appealing to ALL members to consider what they can donate to make this important aspect of our fundraising a success.
Our end-of-the-month social will be on Wednesday, Aug. 28, as part of NeighborWork's Dream Street celebration. The formal event and tree-planting starts at 4:30 and the social will be after that.
Last Week at Rotary
Last week John Faulkner, Executive Director of Great Falls International Airport, gave a presentation at the noon meeting focusing on the Low-Cost Airfare Initiative. Through a partnership between the Great Falls Chamber of Commerce and the airport, the initiative was launched seven years ago and has accomplished a great deal since.
It has lowered ticket prices, saving Great Falls travelers more than $32 million. The average one-way airfare at GTF dropped from $230 (2007 to 2011) to $201 (2012 to 2018), making Great Falls International Airport the low-cost leader in Montana.
These price reductions were spearheaded by Frontier Airlines’ presence in Great Falls, whose ultra-low fares and tourism marketing led to the busiest four years in the airport’s history. Although Great Falls lost Frontier service and incentive money was never used to attract them, Frontier is still a good target for new service to Great Falls.
The initiative was also directly responsible for United Airlines’ launch of direct service to Chicago, the longest scheduled route every flown from Great Falls. Chicago flights started as weekend-only service in the summer of 2016 and expanded to daily in the summer of 2018. The new option has been highly successful. United has also expanded their brand to grow Denver traffic, adding flights in the second half of 2018 with record volumes since.
The years since incentives began in 2012 have been the airport’s busiest years. Moreover, adding a new airline or even a flight to a new hub on an existing airline can have a major impact on fares and that, in turn, generates traffic. John urged Rotarians to support a new investment in this successful initiative to keep us competitive with Bozeman, Billings, and Missoula, all of which invest over $1 million to provide incentives for greater airline presence in their communities.
Milestones
Happy birthday today to Shim Abbasi and tomorrow to Malissa Hollan. Next week Art Taft and Zach Swartz celebrate birthdays on the 25th and the 29th respectively. To all you of, from all of us, nothing but the best wishes for a happy, healthy, and productive new year!
Weekly Wisdom from First-Graders
First-graders were asked to complete the following well-knowing adages. Enjoy!
Don't put off till tomorrow what ... you put on to go to bed.
You can lead a horse to water but ... how?
No news is ... impossible.
Love all; trust ... me.
Laugh and the world laughs with you; cry and ... you have to blow your nose.
.jpeg)
