Boulder Rotary presents awards annually to recognize members who have given exceptional service to our club and its projects. These awards also inform the entire club about the vitality and commitment to service which makes our club outstanding in the community and the larger world of Rotary.
As happened last year, this year’s awards, with an obvious exception, are given to relatively new members with fewer than nine years of membership and some even newer to the club. Their energy, commitment and new ideas keep our club strong.
The Rotarian of the Year is given to a member of our club who has made a significant impact on the Boulder Rotary Club and it’s programs and projects throughout the year.
This year Sue Deans served as program chair for the club, a challenging task, which brought the club an amazing group of speakers on a variety of interesting and important subjects She also met and hosted many speakers and provided support to the members who sponsored the speakers. Sue has been a member since 2004 and gives leadership and help to a number of committees including gaining favorable publicity for the club. Sue also has been an active member our Board
Her work extends beyond our club. Sue helped support a project of the Niwot Rotary Club in producing a book telling the story of homeless in our community. She serves the community as a board member of the Dairy Center, Imagine, the CU Journalism department and he Downtown Management Commission.
The Humanitarian Award goes to a member who improves the quality of life for one or more individuals or community.
Marty Evans can be seen lending a hand to many projects in the club, in fact, it seems she is everywhere there is an opportunity to serve the club and the community. Her work with the Caring Committee is extraordinary. Its eleven members are in daily contact with calls, email, letters and personal help to members and their families. Their work extends to keeping in contact widows or family members of former members and involving them with the club. They help with the Academy Event, the Signature Event, Rotation Day, Progressive Dinner, and the Holiday Party by showing care to those who want to remain connected to Boulder Rotary and its events. Marty’s work goes beyond contacts. She makes things happen for those in need, many times when the need is not observed b y others. It is very hard to be a member of our club without contact with Marty. She is either asking for help or offering help. The help she asks for usually turns out to be enjoyable and fulfilling to those who say yes to her projects.
Our Humanitarian of the Year Award goes, with our thanks for all she does, to Marty Coffin Evans.
This year’s Service Above Self Award goes to a very new member. Mike Brady joined our club July 16, two years ago. He has make a major impact in that short time. He has brought a host of new ideas to our club, which is a reason he has been invited by incoming District Governor, Mike Klingbiel to serve as an “at large” member of the District Executive Committee. Mike has been co-chair of the Red Badge committee and has done an outstanding job of setting up presenters and hosting that group. As a member of the program committee, he has sponsored three outstanding speakers and given the committee enough suggestions to fill up a few years. He sponsored a new member, volunteered for Community Food Share Drive, and Crayons to Calculators.
Mike has traveled to Africa annually for the past five years to promote the cause of “entrepreneurship” in Uganda and Rwanda and while in Uganda has helped with Habitat for Humanity’s builds.
He works with the Longmont Community Justice Partnership and is a board member and president of that group, and for the past five years has been a community facilitator for the Boulder Restorative justice program. For many years, he has worked with the Peacemaker Institute , a program designed to bring dignity to the homeless. He is a board member of the Youth Correctional Facility in Golden and manages to do even other good works, making him the ideal example of Service Above Self in Boulder Rotary. Of course he has the support of his Rotarian Wife Cassidy.
Quiet Hero Award
Our “Quiet Hero” award is presented both to club members or members of the community, in recognition of their extraordinary actions or service which has been behind the scenes or otherwise out of the eye of the general public. This year, we are presenting this award to someone who perhaps is not well known in Rotary, but who has the potential to impact Rotary International in an historic and game changing way.
Boulder Rotary sponsored the first ever Rotary e-Club, a way for Rotary to adapt to every changing patterns in society and to keep up with the fast paced changes in technology. It has been a phenomenal success. There are now about 70 members in 14 countries and there are more than 50 Rotary e-clubs worldwide.
Now Boulder Rotary is at it again. As one of 200 clubs, we have been selected by RI to establish the Boulder New Generations Rotary Club as a pilot project. The goal is to attract and offer opportunities for younger service minded professionals to experience the benefits of Rotary.
Laura Smith has stepped forward to become president of the club, a satellite of Boulder Rotary. Her efforts have brought together a group that is, in fact, a new generation of Rotarians. Her vision, and the efforts of these new members, can change the future of Rotary. It is the source for the future members of traditional clubs, but can also be seen as a success if its members embrace the values of service above self and become life time Rotarians even if not a member of any club.
Rotary, especially Boulder Rotary, has a large stake in its success and members will find it rewarding to help Laura in her leadership efforts and this introduction to the world of Rotary. The members of the New Generations club are also full members of Boulder Rotary.
Theme Award - “ Reach Within to Embrace Humanity”
Our Theme Award goes to a member who has goes beyond the borders of our own club and community. It focuses on the global reach of Boulder Rotary and its impact serving the needs of the international community.
Dr. Scott Nelson did indeed reach to embrace Humanity. The District 5450 World Community Service Award was available to all 68 (Check this) clubs in the District. Boulder Rotary won that award this year for the project developed by Scott. He enlisted the participation of nine American clubs and a club in Cameroon to fund and oversee the project. Due to his efforts, matching grants from the district and Rotary International were obtained. The project is to establish a first ever otolaryngology (ENT) department as well as equip it and train doctors in the specialty. Cameroon has a population of four million and is lacking in medical resources. The impact will be an improvement in ENT care and provide services including treatment of head and neck tumor, care of ear, throat, neck and sinus infections, loss of hearing, cleft palate repair. Scott joined Boulder Rotary in 2009.