This year's District Conference is coming up quickly on Saturday, September 28 from 9:00-4:00 p.m.  You have until Monday, September 23 to register.  This year's topic is Protecting the Environment.  Click here for more information and to register.

Holidays at the Denver Indian Center -- Saturday, December 21

Join us at the Denver Indian Center as we pass out presents for native children on Saturday, December 21 from 8:45 a.m. - noon.  Click here for more information and to sign up online.

Task Force Food Drive at Stroh Ranch King Soopers -- Saturday, January 11, 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

Sign up for one of the two-hour shifts to solicit donations for the Parker Task Force!  Click here for more information and to sign up.  Note: the memorial service for Mike Oldham is the same day.  Our club can staff the first and last shifts and still attend the service and reception, but we are looking for other volunteers to help with the two middle shifts.

Rocky Vista MASH Camp -- Saturday, February 8

Save the date -- Rocky Vista University will be holding its MASH camp on Saturday, February 8.  This gives local high school students an exposure to medical professions while giving Rocky Vista students a chance to share their craft.  Stay tuned for more information on the volunteer opportunities that will be available to us.  

Our club has had a long-standing relationship with Affinity Ranch (formerly Praying Hands Ranch), an equine therapy center east of Parker. Michael Graham-Hyde gave us an update on an exciting new range of projects that our club is pursuing at Affinity, which will help them expand their services to neurodivergent people.  Please click here to check out Michael's PowerPoint presentation, which gives the details. 

Please note: We will hold our club meeting at the ranch on November 7 so all club members can see their facilities and services in person.

From the left: Amanda Jones, Wyatt Jones, Addison Oldham, Jessica Oldham, David Cannon 

We welcomed five high-school and middle-school students who had participated in RYLA and Young RYLA this past summer to our meeting on September 5.  What is RYLA?  Rotary Youth Leadership Awards -- RYLA for high school students and Young RYLA for middle school students.  Local participants spend a week at a camp in the mountains learning and practicing leadership skills and making new friends.  The Rotary Club of Parker sponsored these students to attend so there was no cost to them.

Interested in participating in a future RYLA or Young RYLA?  Check out their webpage.

 
The Rotary exchange student that our club hosted over the past school year, Mario Garcia Banon, returned to his family in Spain in May.  Mario’s host family, the Dishongs, visited Mario and his family in Spain this summer – a visit that of course included a soccer game!  That’s the Club Deportivo Eldense that everyone is supporting.

Join your fellow Rotarians for libations and snacks at Takoda Tavern (12365 Pine Bluffs Way, Parker 80134) most Thursday afternoons starting about 4:00 p.m.  It’s a chance to get to know each other in a casual setting while we solve the problems of the world!  All are welcome.

A group of Rotarians went out to Affinity Ranch on Tuesday, August 20 to see the horse exercise area put to work for the first time!  Members of our club put up the fencing that created the exercise loop.  Here are just a few of us who helped with this project, with some of our clients shown in the background.  If you have more photos of the fence construction, please pass them along!

Here are the two horses who tested the loop, while some envious horses looked on...

Here's a story to make you smile!  Affinity Ranch sent us a video showing four of their horses testing out the exercise loop that our club created by putting up the fencing.  Check this out on Facebook and enjoy!  (You don't have to log into Facebook to enjoy this -- just skip the login screen.)

https://www.facebook.com/reel/515259384392229