Today our meeting was hosted by the Oyate Health center. We heard from Jerilyn Church, CEO of the Great Plains Tribal Health Board. Since 2019 they have been transitioning to have the facility tribal run instead of under IHC. The new building was completed in February, 2023. They have set up a system of care that treats their patients as relatives and so all staff refer to them as such. The care is patient centered care and culturally sensitive. The center has grown from 14,000 patients in 2019 to 160,000 projected this year and employs 443 individuals of which 62% are Native American.
This beautiful facility has state of the art equipment and care along with incredible Native art throughout. Thank you to Rusty for the incredible tour.

 

Today was Rotary day. President Heidi Bell Gease went over the recent club survey and the 2024-2025 club goals. They include 20 service projects, $6,000 to Polio Plus, membership of 80, service project participation of 50, 12 socials, district conference attendance of 8. Roger Heacock will review our bylaws. There will also be better tracking of participants hours and we will take on one new project, looking at a companion club and upgrading the Rotary gazebo at Storybook Island through a grant. 
 

 

 

Mark Barry spoke to the club about our upcoming football Books sales. This is our major club fundraiser that supports Storybook Island and our club projects. There are 21 Monday Night Football games this year, so a chance to win $50 each week. He shared great ideas for selling the books, such as putting SBI support upfront, the large number of chances to win, post on your social media. Most of all, just ask! They really do sell themselves. Please turn in your book receipts and money weekly if you can to help the committee get them recorded on time. 

 

  

 

Our speaker today was Tenise Chapman, owner of Black Hills Tire. She shared information on their passion project, Camp Drive. It began when she saw a gap in kid’s summer camps when it came to automotive interests. With the help of her awesome staff she has created a hands on 1 1/2 day experience that teaches kids all about automotive repair while letting them try different aspects of repair from welding to engines and brakes. They hosted 40 kids this year! To learn about this terrific camp please visit their website: www.campdrivebht.com.

 

Our annual Children’s Home Society golf tournament was held yesterday. We raised $87,000! Great job everyone! This morning we presented the check to Michelle Lavallee, CEO CHS, Mark Niemeyer, CAO, Jon Mammenga, CPO, and Kara Flynn, Director of Development RC.

 

  

 

  

 

Our Peace Pole was installed on July 1, 2024 in the Rapid City Memorial Park next to the Berlin Wall memorial.  This was a joint effort of the Rapid City Rushmore and Rapid City Rotary clubs. The words, May Peace Prevail on Earth, are written in four languages, one on each side.  The languages are English, Lakota, German and Japanese.  There are over 200,000 peace poles around the world, each one dedicated to bringing to light the need for peace around the world.  All of the work that Rotary does around the world is only possible when there is peace.  When Rotary members work on curing diseases , educating people, improving the health of mothers and infants, addressing economic security and cleaning up the environment it can only be lasting if those affected by our work live in peace.  It is imperative that we do all we can to make Peace Prevail on Earth!

  

 

Rushmore Rotarians and friends went agate hunting Friday led by our own Dr. Scott Van Dam. Looks like a beautiful day!

 

Lynn is a SD native, growing up on a cattle ranch north of Presho. After high school graduation she studied theater at the University of Minnesota then returned to SD to earn her degree in journalism from South Dakota State University. She served as editor of the Rock County Star Herald in Lucerne, MN for 3 1/2 years, had a brief stint with the Mitchell Daily Republic as City Editor and eventually landed at the Rapid City Journal where she served as a reporter for 20 years. After leaving the Journal in 2013, Lynn worked briefly for Wellfully before leaving to launch the Helpline Center Volunteer Connections program in Rapid City. This program helps connect volunteers with nonprofits that need them. She left that position in 2017 to become the strategic communications coordinator at South Dakota School of Mines. In that position she managed the school’s social media accounts, wrote research blogs and articles, wrote website content, photographed events, and created video scripts and more. In 2020 she ventured out on her own to start Lynn Taylor Rick Communications. She provides writing services, social media management, public relations assistance- basically any and all communications services needed- to business in Memphis, Sioux Falls, Rapid City, and Las Vegas. 
Lynn is a 2015 graduate of Leadership Rapid City, a graduate of the South Dakota Mines Leadership Academy, and in 2011 was a Regional Health Journalism Fellow with the Association of Healthcare Journalists. She was also a member of the first Rapid City Collective Impact Fellowship.

Lynn has been married for 29 years to Randy Rick, a retired forester with the US Forest Service. The two have three daughters-26 year old twins Laurel and Peyton, and 22 year old Alison. In her spare time she loves to fly fish, hike, camp, ski, kayak and generally spend time in nature.

 

 

Rushmore Rotarians donated over 400 children’s story books to be distributed to Little Free Libraries around Rapid City!

     
Our annual Children’s Home Society golf tournament was Monday 7/29 at Arrowhead Golf Course. It was a beautiful day and fun for all. $87,000 was raised this year! Thank you to all the coordinators and volunteers that make this happen.