Today's speaker was Dan Driscoll, Area 3 Director of the West Dakota Water Development District, sharing information and successes on several erosion projects in Rapid City /Pennington County area. Protection and improvement of water quality has been a goal of WDWDD and these erosion control projects using wattles, erosion blankets, tree limbs, and silt fences, are intended to improve water quality by reducing sediment loading. Projects discussed included Lacroix Linx, SD Mines, Raider Park, and a Flagship project North of Star Village. More information on these projects can be found at https://www.westdakotawater.com/projects
Today Terri Davis received her Paul Harris +3 and Georgia O’Connor received her Paul Harris +5.
Congratulations ladies and thank you for your support of the Rotary Foundation. For information on giving to the foundation and becoming a Paul Harris Fellow visit rotary.org.
Today was Rotary day. Our speaker was our own incoming District Governor Bruce Nearhood. He shared his passion for Rotary as a 37 year member and his goals for his upcoming year. The district conference will be here in Rapid City, SD October 3-6, 2024. Show your support and get registered. Registration is open at rotary5610.org under events.
Today we welcomed George Larson, Director, and Tim Schneider, Community Resource Coordinator, from Meals on Wheels Western South Dakota. From 22 locations they serve 64 communities each with their own manager and location. Over 2250 meals per day are served from all these locations. Meals on Wheels also keeps all local donations local. They provide a great service which includes socialization and well checks. They are in great need of volunteers to help package meals and deliver Monday-Friday. If you are interested, or would like more information please visit their website www.mealsprogram.com.
Our speaker today was Sara Hornick, Executive Director, Rapid City Public School Foundation.(RCPSF). She shared information on their campaign to raise $30,000 in the 30 days of June to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the RCPSF. Started in 1994 by an endowment, they have awarded over $1 million to educators in Rapid City. Four areas of awards are: Staff Recognition, Grants Program, Evening of Excellence honoring the top 5% of the graduating class, Community Outreach. For all their information and stories and to Please consider helping our Rapid City educators by donating go to at www.rcpsfoundation.org.
Pat Sutliff won a $100 Runnings gift card in the district 5610 raffle.
Past District Governor Doug Lind received his Paul Harris Fellow +7 today. Congratulations and thank you for your support to the foundation.
Today we welcomed new member Lynn Kendall. She received her Rotary pin and 4-Way Test plaque.
Lynn is the Community Affairs Manager for Black Hills Energy. In her role, she facilitates community engagement, public relations, and charitable giving for Black Hills Energy in South Dakota. Lynn is focused on support and engagement strategies that cultivate strong partnerships to impact community needs and exemplify the company brand.
Lynn’s previous professional experiences span over 15 years of community building, connections, advocacy, and engagement throughout the Black Hills with the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce, and then the South Dakota Ellsworth Development Authority. Lynn has been engaged in policy making at the state level and has led and participated in many local and statewide election campaigns.
Lynn served in the United States Air Force for 10 years in the Munitions Systems career field where she was stationed at Kadena AB, Osan AB, and finally at Ellsworth AFB.
Lynn received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science from Black Hills State University, South Dakota, and her Master’s Degree of Organizational Leadership with an emphasis in Civic Engagement from Claremont Lincoln University. She is a graduate of Leadership Rapid City, Leadership South Dakota and has her Institute of Organizational Management designation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Lynn is an active member of the community and currently serving on the boards of the Central States Fair Foundation, YMCA of the Black Hills, Leadership South Dakota, Dakota Resources and the Board of Trustees for Western Dakota Tech.
Lynn is married to Scott Kendall. Together they have two children, Logan and Lillian.
Last night was our transition dinner at the Mount Rushmore Society Building celebrating our outgoing President Micheal Steve and welcoming incoming President Heidi Bell-Gease. Also in attendance was District Governor Rich Burns and his wife Kelly. He welcomed incoming District Governor Bruce Nearhood and passed along the original District Governor pin. Because the upcoming Rotary theme is The Magic of Rotary, Bruce presented Heidi with her own magic wand! The Rotarian of the year was also announced. Congratulations Jeff Meyer! Thank you for all your hard work in Rotary. A great evening and a big thank you to Michael for a great year. Welcome to Heidi and Bruce, we look forward to a great year under your leadership.
About 60 people gathered during a two-day summit in early June on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to increase awareness about human trafficking and missing indigenous people. It also gave Rotarians an opportunity to interact with students to provide them with tools to become leaders to prevent sex trafficking from happening to them or in their communities.
The gathering was the first phase of our district’s newest global grant which is a collaborative effort between three districts, and two clubs with one mission. The global grant effort started with Makiko Nakasone, 2023-2024 District Governor D5280 in Los Angeles, CA who three years ago approached our District Governor Rich Burns and Ashok Kumar of the Rotary Club of Rapid City about a project to raise awareness and provide education about human trafficking for school age children and community members living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Our international grant partner is Rotary District 2620 in Hammatsu-Harmony, Japan. The $55,000 global grant is shared among our district, the LA district and the district in Japan. This is the first of 2 2-day summits for Pine Ridge youth (followed by 12 smaller capstone sessions over the next year ) and their parents or guardians. The project is led by the Rapid City club with several from Rushmore Rotary involved. The Summit had several breakout sessions to address overall awareness and health. Rushmore Rotarians led one of the breakout sessions several times to bring awareness to what is Human Trafficking to approximately 50 participants. Mikaela Leners was amazing in using her teaching skills to really get through to these youth on such a heavy topic. Thank you Jennifer Rollins, Tom Katus, Sandra White-Shield and Mikaela Leners for your hard work in bringing this grant to a reality.
Rushmore Rotarians showed up to run/walk in the Tom Pfeifle 5K in Rapid City. A beautiful morning for a wonderful event! Thanks for your support. Facebook.com/tompfeifle5k.
Congratulations Jeff Meyer, our Rotarian of the year! He also receives a Paul Harris Fellow bringing him to +4! Great job and thanks for all your hard work with the Children’s Home Golf Tournament and work with Interact and all your other help.
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