The Past Few Weeks:
On April 22 our guest speaker was Cynthia Winter, VP of Strategic Growth and Partnerships at the Jeannette Rankin Foundation, who spoke about the legacy of Rankin, and scholarships (unrestricted) that currently help over 1,300 low income women students over age 35 nationwide pursue a college degree program ($2,500 per year for up to five years).
April 15: Our program was Gallatin County Commissioner Scott MacFarlane, and covered a wide range of topics and questions from members about term lengths, taxes, legislative session updates, and more!
Our "Sip & Sample" Fundraiser was held on April 11 at the Hilton Garden Inn. Below: Heather Jurnberg was the raffle grand prize winner, shown picking up the "Instant Wine Cellar" (60 bottles) curated by Town and Country.
Our guest speakers April 8 were Superintendent Casey Bertram and Business Director Mike Waterman, who presented an annual update on the Bozeman School District, and information about the upcoming elections and levies requested.
April 1: Storm Norick from Bozeman Bucks Baseball was our guest speaker. He outlined the history of Legion baseball, the different teams, high schools now offering baseball as a sport, and fielded numerous questions.
Recent Speakers, Activities,
and News
On March 18, our guest speaker was Dr. John Baden, speaking about Water Rights in the Gallatin Valley
Our guest speaker on March 11 was Ann Swann from the World Language Initiative - Montana
On March 11, Sharon Erickson received a Paul Harris +2 for her ongoing commitment to the Rotary Foundation - Congratulations!
March 4: Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer was our guest speaker, who spoke about a wide variety of local issues and fielded numerous questions from members.
Also on March 4, Townsend Rotary member Bill Kearns (who resided at The Springs, had actively been attending our meetings and selling tickets for our upcoming fundraiser) received his Paul Harris +7 Award from AG Jeff Langlinais and Townsend Rotary President Doug Sitton. Bill was a member of Rotary for over 60 years. He passed away a few days later on March 7.
February 25: In place of a service project for our last meeting of the month, we met at Gallatin High School with their Interact Club for an update on upcoming projects they are working on.
Our guest speaker on February 18 was Carrie Krause, Artistic Director of Baroque Music Montana, who spoke about the organization, and their upcoming performances of the complete HANDEL: Messiah with period instruments. BaroqueMusicMontana.org for more information.
On February 18 we welcomed Lloyd Waldron as a new member! Lloyd had most recently been a member of Bozeman Sunrise Rotary.
Also on February 18, Jeff Vick was recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow for his ongoing level of support of the Rotary Foundation.
February 11: We recognized our Student of the Month recipients from Gallatin High School - L-R: Cate Dobson (December), Gabe Hull (January), and McKenna Matson (February) - congratulations!
Also on February 11, we welcomed new member Mary Kay Dissell!
Interim Bozeman City Manager Chuck Winn spoke at our meeting on February 4, and fielded numerous questions about a wide variety of topics (Fowler, 27th construction, street camping, warming center).
On January 28, Leslie Bredvik rejoined our club and received her red badge - welcome back! We also held a club assembly meeting looking forward to the remainder of this year and planning for 2025-2026.
Our guest speakers on January 21 were from Highgate, who spoke about Senior Living Facilities, Services, and Care Levels. L-R: Val Damschen, Sara Nicholson, Jennifer Williams, Melanie Danelson
January 14: Ellie Staley from the Downtown Business Partnership was our guest speaker. We had numerous members, guests, and visitors in attendance!
On January 7, 2025 we began meeting again at The Springs - first time since Covid started in 2020 - it's great to be back with meals on site instead of brought in! Our guest speaker was Nikki Vradenburg from Montana PBS Education, who spoke about Supporting the Meaningful Use of Media at Home and at School.
On December 10 we recognized out Student of the Month recipients from Gallatin High School. L-R: Laszlo Baumgardner (September), Audrey Kimmel (October) and Toby Dinges (November).
Our RYE student Allegra gave a presentation to the club on December 10th about her home country Spain.
Our guest speaker on December 3 was Bevin McCormick from the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, who spoke about Chronic Wasting Disease.
November 19: Our speaker was Bobbie Geise from OLLI (The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) at MSU.
On November 19, members Joseph Kielczewski (left) and Lance Dissel (right) received their blue badges from President Jackie Vick.
Our guest speaker on November 12 was Brett Cusker, Retired USAF Colonel and Executive Director of the MSU TechLink Center.
On November 5, member Pam Bredberg presented a program about the history of polio and the development of vaccines.
Instead of a lunch meeting, the last meeting each month this year is dedicated to service projects. ABOVE: October 29th was disassembling informational signs at the Glen Lake Rotary Centennial Pavilion for cleaning, and installing the steel frames for the last two signs to be installed now that road construction is complete.
BELOW: October 26th was cleaning up our stretch of the "Adopt-A-Highway" program on Frontage Road between Sunset Memorial Gardens Cemetery heading west for two miles.
Our Annual Agriculture Appreciation Dinner was held on October 21 at the GranTree Inn. ABOVE: Dr. Paul Nugent spoke about Precision Agriculture and new technologies used to increase productivity and collect yield and grazing data. BELOW: Dr. Sreekala Bajwa (VP, Dean and Director of the MSU-Bozeman Agricultural College) started the evening's program with an overview of the college.
On October 19, our RYE student Allegra participated in the Gallatin Valley Packathon for Haiti, along with other students from the Gallatin High School Interact Club (photo courtesy of John Patterson)
October 15: Vickie Lyons from the Bozeman Extreme History Project was our program presenter, and spoke about Chinese marking blocks and gaming in late 19th century Bozeman.
On October 8, we took a field trip following the lunch meeting to Caldera Cacao Roasters. Owners Logan and Lauren Burgess showed us the the process of turning raw cacao into 70% chocolate, and sample/compare differences of cacao from Ecuador and Peru. www.calderacacao.com
On October 1st, we held our first meeting at Thrive, and the program was on the two upcoming Public Safety Bond Issues voters will decide on this November. Bozeman voters will decide on two critical public safety issues: a construction bond to build a fourth Fire Station, and a mill levy to fund additional first responders.
Jim Veltkamp, Bozeman Chief of Police
Josh Waldo, Bozeman Fire Chief
Douglas Fischer, Bozeman City Commissioner
Our guest speaker on September 17 was Fran M. Albrecht, President and CEO of the MSU Alumni Foundation
On September 17, Bozeman Rotary member Todd Williamson was recognized for his new level of giving to the Rotary Foundation as a Paul Harris Fellow (plus one)
September 11-12: Prepping and painting a transitional housing unit in partnership with Family Promise, and part of our 2024-2025 Rotary District Grant. ABOVE: Joseph Kielczewski and Lloyd Mandeville; BELOW: Jackie and Jeff Vick.
Our guest speaker on September 10 was Katie Sproles, Gallatin Valley Land Trust (GVLT) Communications Manager.
September 10: Two of our Paul Harris Fellows were recognized for their new levels of giving to the Rotary Foundation - Susan Gibb (plus seven) and Bill Frazier (plus eight).
September 7 - MSU Gold Rush Game Day Parking at Town and Country, over $1,300 was raised in about one hour! Thanks to Town and Country for the opportunity to do this again this year, and to Sharon Erickson for organizing.
Our guest speaker on September 3 was Dr. Hayes Goosey, Assistant Professor at MSU who spoke about soil improvement experiments (dung beetles!).
On September 3, Tom Fulton was recognized as a Paul Harris Fellow (plus three) for his ongoing level of support of the Rotary Foundation.
Our fourth meeting of August was another service project day - Nineteen Rotarians and family members showed up at Glen Lake Rotary Park to do weeding and cleanup at the Centennial Pavilion, then labeling the dictionaries to be passed out in September to area third graders. A potluck dinner followed to wrap up the evening!
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"Service Above Self"
2632 Catron Street
Bozeman, MT 59718
United States of America