LeBaronLogic

Rotary Club of AF on the Move

Several Rotary Activities are in the works or have been done....

• In conjunction with UDOT, UTA and AF city, a new bus stop complete with sidewalks and disability ramps has been completed at State Street and 1100 East. This was a Centennial event project, celebrating 100 years of Rotary circa 1905.
• Tomorrow (Saturday) the American Fork Rotary Club is cooking and serving breakfast (for the 3rd year) to the American Cancer Society Relay for Life participants at Lone Peak High School from 6am to 10am. Come by and say hi.
• In 2 weeks SLC welcomes some 40,000 Rotarians from around the world for the 2007 Rotary International Convention.
• The Rotary Club of American Fork has a fairly new official website. Check it out occasionally.
• The First Annual (shouldn't that be INAUGURAL) Back Pack Attack was a success. 82 back packs were gathered by students at Barratt Elementary, then filled with school supplies for Hope Alliance to take to Guatemala and Peru. 

Rotary Club News

The American Fork Rotary Club continues to be involved. There have been previous Rotary Club postings you may want to check out. We are in the midst of the Dictionary Project, where we partner with local businesses to place dictionaries in 3rd grade classes. LeBaron Law Offices is placing 216 books in Legacy Elementary in my neighborhood in American Fork and in Lincoln Academy, a charter school north of the LDS Mount Timpanogos Temple, where Tanner, our 8th grader attends. Our club is also sponsoring 6 local high school students in attending RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards), a youth leadership seminar in Aspen Grove later this month. I have also placed the American Fork Rotary Club's new website in my Web Links (lower right)  click here to access and surf to your Rotary heart's content. All in all it is great to be a Rotarian these days.

Rotary Club of American Fork News

Today is the start of the new Rotary year. In the American Fork Rotary Club, we welcome Lani Larkin who succeeds Glenn Smith (who assisted with this posting) as Presdent. Our club had an eventful year and we look forward to a tremendous year upcoming. Some highlights of the past year: (For info on what Rotary is, click here.)

1.  We sent Rebecca Glather - as an Ambassadorial Scholar to England.  She returned earlier this month.  (Our Club Nominated her and the District provided the $25,000 scholarship)

2.  We hosted an Youth Exchange Student - Emilio from Chile.

3.  We delivered 3300 Dictionaries as part of Rotary's focus on Literacy to Third Grade Students in 27 Elementary Schools in the Alpine School District.  This was about triple what we did the year before - and it was only possible because of the business sponsorships that were secured by members.  We led District 5420  (District 5420 consists of 42 clubs in the state of Utah) in number of dictionaries delivered, in number of schools impacted, and were among the leaders in per capita dictionaries per Rotarian)

4.  We were the Host Sponsoring Club - assisting to establish a Rotary Club in Lehi which was recently chartered.

5.  Our Centennial Bus Stop Project ground breaking will be announced soon.  This has been an effort of collaboration with organizations such as UTA, UDOT, American Fork City, Wal-Mart, IHC - American Fork Hospital, and Magnum Manufacturing. 

6.  We obtained a Rotary Foundation Matching Grant - which we were the lead club on.  This was to help the newly formed Meru, Kenya Africa Club - of which we were a small part of by helping send their newly formed club leadership to their District Conference.   This grant ties in with YouthLINC and the projects and scholarships that we have been participating with them in the past.

7.  We helped the American Fork Police Department purchase a new K-9 for their patrols.  Consequently, they came back with 3 new dogs.

8. We sent 6 students to RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards), a youth leadership training seminar held last fall at Aspen Grove.

9.  We cooked breakfast as a community service for walkers at the American Cancer Society Relay for Life last month at Lehi High School. We also helped with sponsorships.

10. We raise funds weekly for goats in third world countries. Goats are considered valuable assets to families for milk, cheese and other little goats.

This upcoming year..... We plan on helping welcome 40.000 rotarians, who will be visiting our fair state at the 2007 Rotary International Convention to be held in SLC next June. We will continue to build on the items listed above as well as others.  If you are interested in learning more about the American Fork Rotary Club or any other Rotary club in your vicinity, fill out the Prospective membership form and send to Rotary or email me.

The World (Rotary) is Coming to SLC

No,  not the Olympics again, or anytime soon. But there will be 25,000 Rotarians from around the world coming to Utah. The Rotary International convention is to be held in SLC in June 2007. I was able to attend the 100 year celebration of Rotary with their convention in Chicago this summer. I was overwhelmed with the internationality of the event. It is truly inspiring to see what this organization is doing across political, religious, and nationality lines locally and around the globe. Rotary is an organization of business men and women who espouse high ethical standards and are involved in community and international service. The American Fork Club is finishing distributing dictionaries to all 3rd grade classes from Lindon to Cedar Fort. Over 3,000 dictionaries will help in the literacy cause. Businesses involved in the sponsorship partnership are Greenwood Dental, American Fork IHC Hospital, LeBaron Law Offices, Zion's Bank and Bank of American Fork. The club also is involved in Youth Leadership Camps, youth exchanges, intl. youth service projects and the eradication of polio. See www.rotary.org. The local Rotary Club meets at noon on Tuesday at Jim's Family Restaurant on east state road. Guests are welcome.

Rotary Club, Dictionaries and Literacy

The Rotary Club of American Fork's Dictionary Project partners with local professionals and businesses in giving dictionaries to 3rd graders from Lindon to Fairfield. The children are so excited, one child exclaimed, "Thanks for the dictionary, I am on page 89 so far!" (Maybe we should take to reading dictionarys for insomnia or how about during City Council mtgs?, it is sure to be more exciting at times). The project is highlighted in New Utah.

Dictionaries to be distributed by Rotary Club of American Fork

Hundreds of dictionaries will soon be distributed to 3rd graders from Lindon to Cedar Valley. This project is being initiated by the Rotary Club of American Fork partnering with local businesses (to be highlighted later). This is one of the many community projects undertaken by Rotary. Other activities include helping finalize the eradication of Polio in third world countries, providing livestock to families, youth exchanges, youth leadership seminars and ethics training in jr. high schools are among some of the things Rotary is involved in. More information can be found at www.utahrotary.org. The Rotary Club helps make our community and world a better place to live. The American Fork Rotary Club meets weekly on Tuesdays at 12 noon at Jim's Family Restaurant, 1488 S. State in American Fork. Visitors are welcome.