Estes Valley Sunrise Rotary Recognizes The Past And The New Year

Estes Valley Sunrise Rotarians held their annual “Pass-the-Gavel” dinner on July 8th – a passing of the gavel from the outgoing president and board to the incoming team. This night marked the conclusion and accomplishments of one outstanding Rotary year while ushering in a new one.

many things to help our club

• Jean Rissmiller - Rotarian of the Year Award for their enthusiastic proactive willingness to just step up, in so many different areas that our club is involved, and get it done! President Elect, Secretary, Arts

Please read, heed, and weed responsibly!

The Estes Land Stewardship Association (ELSA) has been serving the Estes Valley for over 16 years in promoting good land stewardship, weed identification and education, and free educational materials including the most popular Twenty Ob-Noxious Weeds in the Estes Valley Identification and Management Guide. Now is the time to remove mature noxious weeds that contain seeds that will be next year’s -- and many more years -weeds. The next Monitored Weed Drop-off will be held Saturday, August 19 from 9:00 a.m. to noon located north of the Waste Management transfer station at 666 Elm Road. No early birds or illegal drop-offs; the gate will be closed until the 9:00 a.m. start. Do not block the driveway entrance shared with recycling. The line will form up-the-hill/north of the entrance on the east-side of Elm Road. Estes Land Stewardship Association (ELSA) volunteers will be on hand to answer weed questions at-a-distance and direct traffic flow. You will unload your paper yard bags into the dumpster or truck. We have limited dumpster capacity, so a maximum ten paper yard bag limit will be imposed – no plastic bags. When we are at full capacity, the drop-off will end. Noxious weeds only, not native plants! No slash, pine needles, pine cones, trash, yard waste or dirt! Please remove/shake off dirt from plant roots. Excessive weight of wet weeds and dirt is a safety hazard for our volunteers. Bag flowers and seed heads rather than entire plants. Read our weekly Estes Valley’s Weed Alert articles (published April through September) to help identify invasive plants and manage seed producing plant parts for disposal. Unauthorized dropoffs at this location (w/video surveillance) are considered theft of services. No bags of non-noxious weed materials and general yard waste will be accepted at this event. Paper yard bags are available for purchase at local hardware stores.

If you want ELSA to continue to sponsor these events, please adhere to the guidelines. Owning property in the Estes Valley can be challenging and different! Bagging mature weeds this time of year is not ideal weed management and not how you want to spend your time. Be proactive – learn your native plants and manage the invasive plants in a timely manner with a weed management specialist if you don’t have the time, energy or expertise to manage your property. A list of weed management specialists who can help is available at larimer.org/naturalresources/weeds/applicators Also refer to the information and Helpful Documents at estes.org/weeds

These events are being made possible with the support from Estes Land Stewardship Association, Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, and donations. Depending on participant adherence to regulations and funding sources, another Monitor Weed Drop-off/ Weed Roundup will be held September 16. Free Twenty Ob-Noxious Weeds in the Estes Valley Identification and Management Guide weed booklets are available year-round at the Estes Valley Library, Ace Hardware, and Town Hall Public Works and Police offices. Electronic versions are posted on the Town of Estes Park website: www.estes.org/weeds

ELSA meets the first Thursday of the month (February, March, April & November) at 9:30 a.m. in the George Hix Room at US Bank. For more information about ELSA contact: elsa.weeds@gmail.com Thanks for being good stewards of your property and surrounding areas!

Outgoing president Aaron Florence praised the club’s accomplishments throughout this past year included raising $100,000 from both the Labor Day Arts & Crafts Show and Autumn Gold for local non-profits, donating $14,000 for Estes Park high school scholarships, providing $31,000 for Estes Valley Community Grants, sending $2000 to support drilling a water well in El Salvador and sending $2500 to Rwanda to teach nurses how to diagnose strep throat as a way to prevent Rheumatic Fever which leads to heart failure.

Additional successful local projects noted were leading the community recycle drive, supporting Estes Park High School senior’s project to paint their own parking spaces, and financial support for Bright Christmas.

Award Winning Rotarians we honored for their exceptional service are:

• Stacey Cole-Winsor – Rising Star Award as a new member, she got involved right away and never took her foot off the gas!

• Kendra Wallis - Spirit of Rotary Award for their sweet spirit of compassionate service in a kind and loving, yet no-nonsense way and for leadership of our community grants efforts

• Treasurer John Tessler – Service Above Self Award for their meticulous attention to detail in so many ways to help the financial side of the club run smoothly

• Bill Howell and David White – for their Service Above Self in both our Rotary Club and for their Patriotism and service in our Community and Country

• David White – Quiet Rotarian award for quietly helping when needed, and more importantly, being proactive and looking for ways to help our club.

Steve Misch – Outstanding Achievement award for their timeliness and great outreach to help our community appreciate what we do as Rotarians and what we stand for

• Mark Holdt and Gordon Slack – Distinguished Service Award for their unending positive leadership throughout this past year and willingness to do so

& Crafts. Besides installing our new president, we acknowledged the past year’s club and foundation board members. A sincere thank you was expressed to the club board members for their initiative during the year and we remembered the sudden passing of past President and founding member, Scott Webermeier, and our Rotary Foundation President, Jerry Flood. Special thanks went to Cory Workman for taking on as Rotary Foundation President. The health of the Foundation Board is the lifeblood for our monetary gifts mentioned above.

With deeply personal and heartfelt words of thanks for the opportunity of serving as president, Aaron Florence presented the gavel to incoming President Jean Rissmiller, who in turn said words of thanks and spoke of her vision for the fiscal new year. Jean acknowledged the newly appointed club and foundation board members as a team that will help guide our philanthropy efforts of service to others and spread goodwill through our community:

2023/2024 Sunrise Rotary Club Board Executives & Directors

President Jean Rissmiller

President Elect Bill Howell

Past President Aaron Florence

Treasurer John Tessler

Secretary Janet Zeschin

Public Relations Steve Misch

Sergeant-at-Arms David White

EVSR Foundation President Cory Workman

Director – Fundraising Terri Martin

Director – Social Sunny Schmidt

Director – International Rick Beesley

Director – Community Service Bill Howell

Director – Youth Service Niki Gassmann

Director – Youth Exchange Stacey Cole-Winsor

Director – Membership Gordon Slack

Director - Arts & Crafts Kendra Wallis

Director - Autumn Gold Leslie Glover

Director – Programs Sue Yowell