Rushmore Rotarians served the April lunch at the Cornerstone Rescue Mission.  Servers: Chris Russo, Shawn Walters, Hoodie Smock, Mary Kenner and Heidi Bell Geise. All had fun. Our next serving opportunity is May 7.  

 

    

Today we welcomed Olivia, the first place winner of the 6th grade 4-way test essay contest from South West Middle School. She read her winning essay, which was excellent!

Above is the 2nd place winner and the two that tied for third. Great job!

 

 

Several Rotarians battled the wind and distributed food for Feeding South Dakota.  

 

We are looking for host families for our new Youth Exchange high school inbound student, a boy from Thailand by the name of Peach Tancharoam.  He is a 16-year old looking forward to learning all about America and the Black Hills.

 

If you are interested in hosting him for part of the year, call 

Bill Spindle at 907-227-4970 or email him at William.spindle@sdsmt.edu.

   

 

Clean Up Rapid City took place on Saturday, April 27th. Several Rushmore Rotarians came out to help clean up trash. Great job all!

The Sturgis Rotaract club is moving forward on their music in the park project. This is a  picture of the concrete all set and they are in the process of purchasing the equipment pieces to install. They have been fundraising for several years , so this is a really exciting step for this little club! 

 

 

 

Our speaker today was Dr. Eric Zimmer, Director of Philanthropy for the Black Hills Area Community Foundation. Founded in 1987, they support other non-profits by coordinating their needs. They help with set up, grant making, alignment with donors and offer administration support. With $60 million in assets they have been able to give $35 million in assets to the community. For more information on this vital group go to www.bhacf.org.

 

Jon Cass received his member badge today after completing the new member requirements. Congratulations!

 

STORY BOOK ISLAND UPDATE 

 

Malory Hook, the new Executive Director for Story Book Island gave us an update on the park. In 2023 The Christmas Light Nights raised $187,000. A new Santa’s workshop was added.  The Winnie the Pooh Tree Gala raised $39,000, bringing the total raised to $461,000.The 2024 season opens May 25th. It is the 65th season. There will be adult fun nights, new decorations and photo ops. They will also have $1 train ride nights. The birthday house will also reopen for rentals. Mark your calendars for August 16th. That will be the park’s 65th birthday celebration.

 

Club committees 

 

Rene Sorenson introduced all the club’s committees and their chairpersons to help new and older members get information on how they can be involved.