President-elect Nominee Cari Yturri and board member Todd Neighbor represented our club at the International Peace Park Assembly at East Glacier last weekend.
Pictured here are Cari and Todd in the middle, flanked by Cari’s husband, Dr. Jim Yturri, and Great Falls Chamber Membership Director Joann Gogo. The Great Falls contingent found the weekend both fun and fascinating. Todd even demonstrated his polka talent for those assembled!
Our hearty thanks to Cari and Todd for representing us so well at this signature event. It's important for our club to be represented in District 5390, and we couldn't ask for two better ambassadors.
May I Have a Word with You?
Gear up: our dictionary project is coming soon! Every year we give free dictionaries to all the third-graders in Great Falls and much of the Golden Triangle, distributing some 1600 dictionaries in all. We make arrangements with the school principal to schedule a time and, usually in pairs, visit a third grade classroom to distribute the dictionaries and show the kids all the wonderful ways dictionaries can help them out.
It's a ton of fun and just takes about an hour of your time. Denise Gray (dgrayreality@gmail.com) heads up the project. Contact her to let her know what school you'd like to visit and she'll start preparing a spreadsheet.
And thanks, Denise, for heading up this worthy project yet again!
This Week at Rotary
At this week's meeting we'll get a recap on Harvest Howl from our wonderful Harvest Howl Planning Committee, chaired by the indefatigable Mike Wier. Join us at noon at the country club!
We'll also celebrate another successful Harvest Howl as our end-of the-month social this Wednesday (Sept. 28), beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the country club. MLCC is treating us to appetizers, and there will be a no-host bar as well. We'll be in the two rooms to the left as you go up the stairs.
Last Week at Rotary
This week we got the opportunity to meet our new District Governor, Malinda Shafman, of the Evergreen Rotary bordering Kalispell. Malinda is extremely well-spoken and has a broad array of employment and service experiences. She started out as a high school English teacher and now works for the Montana Logging Association, a nonprofit providing a number of services to the logging industry. Malinda specializes in insurance services.
In an inspiring talk, Malinda encouraged our club to engage in “random acts of kindness” as we live out the Rotary code of service above self. Reminding us of famous Auschwitz survivor Victor Frankl’s observations about the importance of finding meaning in one’s life, she pointed out that serving others is also rewarding to those who serve.
Malinda also pointed out that the old rules for Rotary have become more flexible and encouraged us to explore other formats for meeting, including online and streamed formats, as well as new categories for membership, including corporate membership.
After our Tuesday meeting, Malinda visited Camp Rotary and returned to Great Falls for a dinner at the country club with several Rotarians. Thanks to all the club members who made Malinda feel so welcome.
Milestones
Just one birthday this week, but it's a biggee. Happy birthday this Tuesday, to Tom Nelson, who has done so much to bring great bands to Great Falls for the Harvest Howl!
We also got some great news this week from District Governor Shafman. Rotary International has recognized Rotary Club of Great Falls for having the highest growth rate for female members in District 5390 over the past year. And that's just a measure of quantity. For quality, we have to be best on the planet. Let's pat ourselves on the back!
Weekly Wisdom
Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, and autumn ... a mosaic of them all.
Stanley Horowitz
Photo of Two Medicine by Neal Wedum of Choteau, MT
