Home Page | Rotary Club of Rapid City Rushmore

Rushmore Rotary is a local club composed of inspired individuals who translate their passions into relevant social causes to change lives in our community. We were organized in March 1986 and currently have 78 members. Rushmore Rotary Meetings are held every Tuesday morning at 7am at Howard Johnsons Express, 950 North Street, Rapid City, SD. Virtual Zoom meeting logins are available. Contact our President for a zoom invite or to find out more information about Rotary International visit Home | Rotary International

February Bingo Social at the VFW

Great bingo social tonight at the VFW. Many winners and a lot of fun! Thank you Larry for your incredible bingo calling skills and Deb for being our Vanna!

Bell & Gavel held hostage by Rush the service dog.

After our March 7th meeting, our speaker’s service dog Rush was not happy with the noise created by our bell and gavel- so he took them and held them for ransom. Our club raised $300 to go to SD Service Dogs as ransom and Rush returned the bell & gavel at our March 21st meeting. He and his handler were also presented with the history of Rotary’s bell. Thank you Rush for being such a conscientious service dog!

Community Action Volunteers

We had 10 Rotarians and friends helping at Feeding South Dakota on March 21st. Amazing group! Thank you for your help.

March 21 Meeting

We paid the ransom to Rush to get our gavel and bell back. $300 was raised(paid) for SDSD. Thank you Rush!

Our speaker today was Beth Ann Ferley, Asst. Development Director with Abbott House. Abbott House provides premier services for youth & families that have suffered severe trauma. They have psychiatric residential care, therapeutic foster care and independent living for kids through age 18 and independent living through age 21. They have provided these services in SD for 84 years. Most of their funding comes from the state. They are always looking for volunteers to take the kids on outings and donating clothing, sports equipment, etc. please see their website for more information. www.Abbott house.org.

Black Hills Children’s Home Gala 2023

The Black Hills Children’s Home Gala is coming up on Saturday March 25, 2023 at the Holiday Inn Downtown Convention Center. Please join us for this wonderful event benefiting the Children’s Home Child Advocacy Center. Rushmore Rotarians will receive invitations by mail, but you don’t need to be a Rotarian to attend. Please invite people to join you for this fun evening.

The fun begins at 5:00pm with a complimentary bar until 6:00pm. Cash bar starts at 6:00pm.

Entertainment will be a musical journey through the decades by Brad Johnson.

There are some fantastic auction items including a 2CT diamond necklace from Riddle’s Jewelry worth over $3800.

This year absentee bidding will be aloud by contacting Teresa Schreiner at the Children’s Home with a max bid and she’ll assign a bidder at the event for you. You can see auction items on their website.

You can get more information under events and download invitations with all the information under downloads.

www.chssd.org

facebook.com/CHSSD

LinkedIn.com/company/children’s-home-society-of-south-Dakota/

instagram.com/chssdorg

twitter.com

Romania Wheelchair Distribution

We have a modified wheelchair distribution trip scheduled for March 11 - 19, 2023. Attached is an itinerary. We will travel to Bucharest, interact for an evening with a local Bucharest Rotary Club, then go to Barlad. In Barlad, we will participate in a one-day wheelchair distribution, view the new Hope Haven International facility in Barlad and interact with local Rotarians in Barlad. Then we will travel to Brasov and Sinaia, tour Peles Palace, Dracula's Castle in Brasov and enjoy the mountains for a bit.

We will finish in Bucharest and then home. I estimate the costs for this trip to be around $2,000 per person. If you have questions, please email me at: msiemons@hopehaven.org. Or call me at 712.470.0298. I am looking for 2 - 4 people to fill our team. I would like to book air travel next week. Hope you can join us for this trip!

Mark Siemonsma

Rotary Foundation Giving Match begins 1/1/23

Recall that when you contribute to Happy Bucks, the money is donated to Polio Plus (one branch of the Foundation). With each dollar we receive, the club receives one point. Points can then be used to reward an individual (a fellow Rotarian or community member) with a Paul Harris Fellowship (this takes 1,000 points). This is a big deal! Of note, this is the same for you personally. As you donate you acquire these points. For example, with your $10 or more contribution to Happy Bucks, one point per dollar is given to you. Once you have collected 1,000 points you can choose who to honor.

The Board decided to match, in points, all donations made by a member who donates to the Foundation between January 1 and May 31, 2023, one point per dollar. In other words, for those of you who are close to receiving a Paul Harris Fellowship, your donation in this window is essentially doubled and may put you over the 1,000 mark to achieve this special recognition. For those of you just starting a contribution or one time donation, this match will give you a great jump start to eventually reach Paul Harris Fellowship recognition.

Our Foundation is the lifeblood of our organization, please consider giving.

The Rotary Foundation

Every day, Rotary members respond to challenges big and small, emerging and ongoing. And when members like you participate through service or with a donation to our Foundation, we make an even bigger impact.

Please donate online or send your contribution by mail to The Rotary Foundation’s Annual Fund-SHARE or one of our Annual Fund's areas of focus. Your gift will support projects like these and make Doing Good in the World possible.

Rotary's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Code of Conduct

What we say and how we behave matter. Although free expression is important, we must take responsibility for how our words and actions may affect others. The RI Board has approved a new DEI Code of Conduct to help Rotary members create and maintain an environment that is collaborative, positive, and healthy for everyone. Simply put, the DEI Code of Conduct asks you to: