Stories

Born a South Dakota native in Watertown, he relocated with his family to Rapid City in 1972 and graduated from Stevens High School class of 1987. In 1997, he married the love of his life, Kristi, and together they raised two sons Dylan (currently working in Kuwait) and Camden (currently working in Rapid City). Work and life took them away from South Dakota for many years and after losing his wife to cancer in 2018, he moved back to Rapid City to finish raising his youngest son, and reconnect with his hometown and spend more time with his family.

Doran works as a Financial Advisor with Modern Woodmen of America, and teaches Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University several times a year. He also works with the Pennington County Authority to assist others to create financial success in their lives. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, was heavily involved in Scouting for many years, and has a real love of working with outreach programs and helping others.

He likes to fish, but mostly spending time with his family, attending local events with his girlfriend, April, and traveling regionally to connect with old friends.

let’s give Doran a big welcome!

Our speaker today was Steve Hildebrand, Founder of The Promising Futures Fund (and brother of our own Kim Nearhood).
This fund was started in Sioux Falls to make a difference in the education of children growing up in poverty. They believe that a child’s economic background should never prevent them from having the same education, same experiences and same opportunities as a child whose family has more resources. 
Because Rapid City’s school poverty rate is at about 40% , with 5 elementary schools at 100%, they are looking to expand this program to Rapid City and are looking for people here that would like to work with educators to make this happen. 
For information on The Promising Fund please visit www.promisingfuturesfund.org.

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.

Welcome, we are so glad to have you!

Welcome to our newest member, Mikaela Leners. She received her Rotary pin and 4-Way Test plaque today.
 

Mikaela graduated cum laude from Iowa State University with a major in physics and minors in astronomy, biology, and English.  After concluding that oil field work was too dangerous, Mikaela began teaching.  She has taught in most school types: a parochial boarding school in New Hampshire, an all girls private school in Pennsylvania, a public school in the frontier of Utah, a classical academy in Florida and an online school.  She currently teaches remote by contract to schools without a classroom teacher.  With educator endorsements in math, physics, chemistry and general science, she has taught over 18 different courses including math grade 6, observational astronomy and trigonometry based physics.  She has taken advantage of her time off in the summer to work as a backcountry ranger for Glacier National Park and to become a wilderness emergency medical technician.  Outside of the classroom, she mentors undergraduate students and volunteers at the humane society.  In addition, she spends a lot of time hiking in the backcountry.  For example, last summer, she foraged over 55 pounds of wild red raspberries.

Tanner grew up in Norfolk, Nebraska. Also the hometown of Johnny Carson. He then attended SDSU in Brookings and graduated in 2011 with his Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. From there, he practiced as a nurse in the hospital setting for six years in Sioux Falls before transitioning to Rapid City in 2017 to pursue opening Profile. Tanner manages all day-to-day operations for the location as well as works with individuals 1:1 as a Health Coach. Tanner is married to his beautiful bride Brandi and has two sons Dempsey(8) and Summit(4).

In his spare time Tanner enjoys hunting, fishing, hiking, and pretty much anything to do with the outdoors and his family. He is excited to connect with other members of the Rotary and make a positive impact on our community.

Hoodie Smock

Hoodie was born in Ft. Riley, KS. the spoiled only child of Louise & Lt. Richard Smock.  Her father was killed during the Korean Conflict.  She and her mother moved to Spearfish, SD where her maternal grandparents lived and Spearfish became home base.  Her mother decided that she wanted her to see as much of the world as possible (at least as much of the part of the world that interested her) so she overcame her fear of flying and after she finished her degrees she took jobs that allowed them to travel to Japan, Guam and South America.  But Spearfish and Black Hills State University were always home base for them.

                  She eventually graduated from Black Hills State University with a BS in Speech w/ Theater .  She worked in professional dinner theater for several years.  Hoodie got a Masters in Speech Pathology and worked in the Kansas and Wyoming school systems.  Eventually she went back to get a Masters in Counseling and worked as a School Counselor in Eagle Butte, SD.  Eventually she decided to go back and get a Masters in Social Work and eventually moved back to Spearfish and worked as a Medical Social Worker with the Hospice of the Northern Hills.  She retired in 2016.  Yes my friends I have three Masters degrees and no doctorate - my sanity is in question.

                  She moved to West Hills Village in Rapid City on September 30th 2021.  She has some family in Saint Paul, NE but most of her family is on one coast or the other.  She has a lot of wonderful friends.  Hoodie also has a Havanese named Kona Lou who has not read the literature on Havanese dogs and doesn’t know that the breed doesn’t bark (she does) and is a lap dog (she isn’t).  She loves to do theatre and was very active in Spearfish.  She hopes to get more active here in Rapid City.  
 

Kara Flynn

Kara moved to Rapid City in 2006 with her husband Leo and sons Leo, Kelley and Nathaniel.  She was born and raised in Sioux Falls and holds a BA in Latin American Studies from UW Madison and an MS in Geography from SDSU. After staying home to raise her sons for many years, Kara returned to work as the Executive Director of the Rapid City Public School Foundation, served on the RCAS School Board and chaired the signage and volunteer committees for the 2020 school bond.  She is currently the Director of Development for Children’s Home Foundation and serves on the boards of Friends of South Dakota Public Broadcasting and Black Hills Community Theater. Her son Leo attends the University of Montana in Missoula and Nathaniel will graduate from Stevens HS this year. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, skiing, camping and cooking. She is a former member of the singing group TRASH and still believes that “Laughter cures what ails you!”

Rotary Action Fund (RAF) was created in 2020 to help children and families in crisis access resources to meet their immediate and urgent needs. 

    The fund was established after talking to Connie Olson, Chief Development Director at Youth & Family Services (YFS). Connie shared that a number of the families served by YFS who are facing ruinous situations can often be kept from homelessness, severe hunger, or other hardships simply be receiving a small, one-time financial gift. Although YFS offers a variety of services and programs to support families—especially families from low-income homes—organizational funding is most often restricted to support programming and not available to assist with families’ personal crises. 

    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, YFS began seeing a significant increase of families facing these difficult situations. Not only were families facing circumstances that were more troublesome but the number of families experiencing them also increased. In an effort to help these families, Dr. Ashok Kumar from Rapid City Rotary and Dr. Willis Sutliff from Rushmore Rotary, decided to “pass the hat” to see if we could collect enough money to help some of these families. We were delighted when more than $14,000 was raised for this effort. 

    These funds made a tremendous impact during the COVID-19 pandemic. Funds from this initial collection lasted nearly a year and a half and garnered great results. In an effort to continue this support, the two Rotary Clubs applied for a joint Rotary 5610 District Grant. Each of the clubs raised an additional $2,000 dollars for a total of $4,000 which was then matched through the grant, giving us $8,000 to utilize over the next Rotary year. Again, we saw great results from these funds. Although those funds have been utilized, it is our goal to carry on this programming to continue supporting families in need. Currently, the RAF is continuing through the generous support of Rotarians. 

Welcome to our newest member Erin Erickson. Today she received her Rotary Pin and 4 Way Test plaque. Give her a warm Rushmore Rotary welcome. Here is Erin’s bio: 

Hi all. My name is Erin Erickson and I was born and raised here in Rapid City, SD.  I adore the Black Hills and my husband Noah and I have a large, blended family including children ranging from 2 yrs to 21 yrs. old. I am passionate about BE-ing present and value connection with others. I am a self proclaimed life-long-learner, and enjoy innovative ideas.

I am the pastor at First Congregational UCC in Rapid City and have an MDiv in Interfaith Chaplaincy from United Theological Seminary (in the Twin Cities). My undergrad was from Colorado State University.

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:

• Use respectful language
• Be supportive
• Foster a welcoming and inclusive environment
• Celebrate diversity

After many years of dedication to his studies and with your support, John has graduated from the Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences(CUHAS). John graduated on the 13 November 2021 from CUHAS with a Diploma in Medicine and Health Services. John is one of the third group of BSJ scholars to have accomplished this phenomenal milestone. Thanks to your incredible support, John and 89 of his peers are now equipped to become the future leaders their communities and nation needs. Over the past two years, we have celebrated graduates from different fields: accounting, engineering, education, nursing, architecture, business and so many more. Last year was even more incredible! What made last year extra special is the fact that we celebrated our very first graduate doctors. Your support of St Jude’s has made this possible.

St. Jude's is very appreciative of our support to Furahini - the gift of a 100% free, quality education. It is thanks to the generosity of supporters like you that St. Jude's  are able to continue fighting poverty through education and nurturing the future leaders of Tanzania! This year, our sponsored student, Furahini successfully transitioned to an Advanced Level (A Level) academic scholarship - she is now in Form 5 at St Jude’s! This will surely be an exciting and challenging leap from her O Level studies due to new responsibilities that accompany higher years of education; however, we are sure that, with continued guidance from our dedicated teachers and secondary staff, Furahini will continue to thrive.

Pat Sutliff was honored at the District Conference with the 2018 Roger Kozak Service Above Self Award. It is given in recognition of exceptional service to Rotarians in Rotary District 5610.  Congratulations Pat!