Stories

Congratulations to our February Student of the Month,

Kaitlyn Hellman!

THIS CLASS COULD SAVE A LIFE.

And it's fun too!

Fellow Rotarians:

We are having a wonderful reunion with Monticello Rotary inbound Renee Theron, from South Africa to Monticello, in 2000. She and her boyfriend, Riaan van Heerden (also RSA), are here in Portland for 12 days. Here are pictures (the quartet is with current participants of y.e. in Pearl Rotary).
(Her host families: Ron and Bev Carlson, Mary Micke/Jim Dickrell, Nancy and me)

 On Monday, August 1, 2011 Lisa Hoglund recognized Paul Harris Fellows by presenting them with certificates and pins.

 From left to right:Dr. John Hering, Dale & Rosemary Dahl and Chris Kruse.

It is my pleasure to present the employee of the quarter award to one of my staff here at Best Western, Amber Korte!

Amber just turned 22, and has been at Best Western for almost seven years. She started out as a shy housekeeper who made sure our rooms were spotless for the guests. After a while, we noticed that she was always courteous and willing to help the guests, so we encouraged her to move up to the front desk. She nervously accepted the challenge and has since helped us build on a good, long list of repeat guest relations.

Amber is no stranger to Rotary Club. When she was a senior at MHS she was one of our Strive students. She graduated with flying colors and a B average. She was the recipient of our Strive  Scholarship that year. One year after she graduated, she returned to the Strive program as a mentor. It was her way to give back to the program. Amber is currently preparing for college this winter, and hopes to get back into the Strive program next year.

Amber takes pride every Monday morning to make sure our room is set up for our Club meeting. Because of Amber’s involvement, Best Western is now the “Drop Off” and “Pick Up” station for our Rotary Club. If you have a general Club meeting set up question, you can always talk to Amber.

Amber, Thank You for all you do!

One of the goals of the Monticello Rotary Club is to continue to build our organization for the future. That means introducing the Rotary concept to a younger audience and engaging them in a way that will lead toward recruiting the next generation of Rotarians.

Although we currently have initiatives that are reaching out into Millienial and Gen X demographics, we wanted to make sure we captured the interest of even younger generations by expanding engagement with our local high school.

As a result of this thinking, in September 2012, Chris Kruse, a past president of The Monticello Rotary, and Tara Rosh, at Monticello High School, approached students to determine their interest in forming an Interact Club, Rotary International’s model for Rotary in High Schools. An Interact Club was formed with more than 40 student members initially. The Interact organizational infrastructure was put into place, and officers began and continue to attend many Monticello Rotary meetings.

Since the club’s founding, several local and international projects have been initiated by The Monticello High School Interact Club. These student-led projects have included (1) “Walk for Literacy”, benefiting the Cambodian Library project, (2) an international project which provided diapers and bandages for Hospitals in Guatemala (News article and pictures attached), and, most recently, (3) a “Senior” Prom event with students hosting a prom, complete with make-up sessions, and hair-do’s for the ladies for residents of St. Benedicts Senior Assisted Living Community.

Most gratifying is that participation in these projects has not been limited to the 40 some members. Up to 70 students have participated in some of the projects, indicating strong support for this new organization that goes beyond its members and suggests potential for real growth of this Interact Club to which our Monticello Rotary is committed.

L-R: Paul Fair (March); Sam Petterson (Jan); Melissa Zillmer (Feb)

Honored at our meeting on Monday, March 4th, 2013

Congratulations to Jim Lindberg, Kim Lillehaug, Norm Stocker & Alan Loch