The Carbondale Rotary Club will soon see a “changing of the guard” for its presidential position as Rachel Hahn prepares to pass the torch to Daniel Ferguson, a man who has headed the club’s Environmental Committee since its inception three years ago. This transfer of power (aka, responsibility) is something both Ferguson and Hahn are feeling confident and excited about.
“I’m super excited,” Ferguson said. “Even though I’ve been there a short time at Rotary, I am enthusiastic about how the club operates its mission and tasks — we are very service-based, and we do help out in many directions.”
Hanh shared how during her time as president she accomplished all the goals she set for herself. She now looks forward to helping with efforts to expand outreach and get more people involved, either as club members or through a variety of programming and projects.
“We like to have a vibrant club with many different people represented in the club from various communities,” Hahn told The Sopris Sun. “That’s part of the Rotary thing, reaching across aisles and having community. I think the year went well — we had good fundraising — and I’m looking forward to handing the torch over and letting Daniel continue with it. I think it’s a great group.”
While many towns and cities in the country have one, some folks are uncertain about what a Rotary Club does for its community. The short answer? Well, just about everything. Rotary was founded in 1905 by Paul Harris in Chicago, Illinois, so that professionals with diverse backgrounds could gather to exchange ideas and form meaningful and lifelong relationships. There are now 1.2 million Rotarians around the world, each belonging to localized chapters adhering to acts of club, vocational, community and international service.
The Carbondale Rotary Club has supported numerous local efforts, including raising scholarship funds for local school students and sending high schoolers on year-long study abroad trips. Additionally, the Youth Services Committee oversees programs for graduating seniors. The club has also assisted several businesses and nonprofit organizations with funding.
“Some of the things we’ve done locally is help fund the pickleball court, we have contributed to the Carbondale pool, Lift-Up, VOICES, and we helped with the elevator at [Thunder River Theatre Company],” Hahn rattled off. “We have two fundraisers: the Potato Day fundraiser … and the big one is the Fireball Drop,” Hanh explained. This year’s Fireball Drop occurred on First Friday, May 2, during the Family Block Party.
International efforts have included supporting the work of Annie Zancanella, aka the Tanzanian Tooth Fairy, and partnering with a Rwandan chapter dedicated to feeding orphans, the Chinle Navajo Reservation in Arizona, Rotarians Against Malaria and The Guatemala Literacy Project. Each project received between $1,000 and $2,500 from the Carbondale Rotary Club.
Ferguson shared more information about his Environmental Committee efforts, providing grants to Rocky Mountain Sport Riders to support an initiative for responsible trail riding, for example and undertaking a periodic highway clean-up project on 82 and 133.
“The Environmental Committee is the newest committee in the Carbondale Rotary, and we had a nice campaign where we joined forces with the Town of Carbondale, CLEER and some other key players, where we encouraged people to turn in small engine gas-powered lawn care equipment in favor of receiving a gift card, for consideration of purchase of battery-powered or xeriscape alternatives,” Ferguson explained.
He continued, “Going forward, the Environmental Committee has a lot of ideas. It can be pretty daunting to pick topics, but we pick one thing at a time.”
The club also brings guest speakers to its weekly meetings, which take place every Wednesday from 6:45 to 8am both in-person at the Carbondale Fire Station and over Zoom. These meetings are open to anyone to attend. Carbondale Rotary wants to assure the community that all are welcome.
“For a long time, Rotary has had this stigma of being an ‘old man’ club. We are now pretty diverse in age, and we would like to be more diverse with ethnic groups in our community,” Ferguson stated. “We just want to be all inclusive that way, whereas we can then also reach out and communicate with various communities.”
For more information or to get involved, visit www.rotarycarbondale.org