Barbara Lawlor, Nederland. About 40 people gathered at the Pioneer Inn last Thursday night, enjoying the restaurant's famous artichoke dip and quesadillas. Most of the attendees were members of the Peak to Peak Rotary Club and some of them lived in Nederland. Their mission was to develop a strategy to have a Peak to Peak Nederland Satellite Club. The goal of the satellite is to be of service to the Nederland community.

Elaine Love of the Colorado National Speaker's Association and a member of the Paul Harris Society, a part of Rotary International, addressed the group, saying that this part of the campaign for the satellite group was to find 20 service-oriented individuals to join and participate in service projects in the town, county, state, country, and world.

Love said that because one Rotarian had the idea to offer a vaccine to those who had polio, we are now 99 percent polio free. But, she said, polio is like the present ebola epidemic, just one plane away from becoming an epidemic again.

"We have 34,000 clubs. We teach people how to get and keep their own clean water. Every project Rotary does is sustainable.” The list of international projects for the Peak to Peak Club is long, including latrines for indigenous people in Panama, books to Cambodia, backpacks to Afghanistan schoolgirls, tsunami relief funds, Shelter Boxes for victims of disruptive events like hurricanes, five Rotary Exchange students from Brazil, France, Austria, Finland and Switzerland.

Locally, the Peak to Peak Rotary has funded $2,000 scholarships to Nederland and Gilpin schools, Art Awards in both schools, $1,000 apiece to Nederland and Gilpin Food Banks, and $250 to the 9Health Fair in Nederland. There are now Interact Clubs in both area high schools. And every year, at least two young people are chosen from the Peak to Peak area to attend RYLA – Rotary Youth  Leadership Awards – from which every participant has returned claiming it was “life-changing.”

In the past, the club has purchased shoes for the Nederland track team, given a $10,000 grant for literary progress in Gilpin, Nederland, Gold Hill, and Jamestown Schools and many other projects in the area.

Jaydene Morrison, a Nederland resident and member of the Rotary Club said, "We are ready to get rolling in Ned." The current members stressed that Rotary is not all about good works. “We’re here to have fun, too. Fellowship is a large part of our mission.”http://themtnear.com/wp-admin/edit.php?page=jr_dks_settings

The next meeting was scheduled for last Wednesday, November 12, when interested members gathered to come up with a project and a strategy on how to accomplish their goal. It is to be a high-profile project to announce the beginning of Peak to Peak's Nederland Satellite community service goals.

A time and a place for future meetings will be posted.

For more information contact Jaydene Morrison, JaydeneMor@aol.com; Frank or Susan Lutz, lutzfs@gmail.com; Jim elder, Jim4900@gmail.com or Gary Ennor, rotary@en-noer.com.