Kevin Learned

Improve your Chances of Receiving Angel Funding

2012-02-08T07:21:00.001-08:00

I recently attended a seminar on Trends in Raising Capitalin Palo Alto sponsored by the Angel Capital Association (ACA). The ACA is an association of about 300angel groups throughout the US and Canada. Those 300 groups collectively represent about 10,000 activeangel investors.

The seminar provided information to leaders of angel groupson the current state of the angel capital market. One section I found particularly interesting was titled“Meeting Investor Expectations.” The information, which I summarize below, was based upon a membershipsurvey by the ACA. 58 groupsparticipated representing more than 3,400 individual angels. Those angels participated in more than200 deals in 2010, and invested more than $45 million.

Generally only one out of ten or twenty applications receivesfunding. According to this survey, there are things the entrepreneur can do toimprove the chances of favorable action. While the survey was of member groupsof the Angel Capital Association, I believe the findings can informentrepreneurs approaching individual angels as well.

Get a Referral. The typical group receives 15-30applications a month, which is more than they can thoughtfully respond to. A referralto a group by a trusted party (e.g. another angel group, a respected individualangel or VC, an entrepreneur in which the group has invested) may help move theapplication to the top of the pile. Referrals from economic development organizations and websites areviewed as having little value. Theperception is that the interests of these organizations are not aligned with thoseof the angels and therefore their referrals cannot be trusted.

The Importance of theExecutive Summary. The executive summary is like a resume. The purpose is to get a interview. Likewise, the purpose of the executivesummary is to get a meeting with the angels. In the case of the Boise AngelFund, over four years we received 214 applications. Only 66 were invited to a meeting. So two thirds of theexecutive summaries did not capture sufficient interest to result in a meeting.

Good executive summaries are hard to write. In my experienceentrepreneurs often spend weeks on their business plans and minutes on theirexecutive summary, when in fact they should devote a great deal of effort tothe executive summary. In the ACAsurvey, only 38% of the executive summaries were rated as good.

Writing the ExecutiveSummary. Compelling executive summaries are not more than two pages inlength. They are well written andwithout grammatical and typographical errors. They are delivered in PDF formatso there are no accidental changes or formatting problems.

They cover the following both “POST” and “STORM.”

P-the Problem

O-the Opportunity or market size

S-your Solution (your product or service)

T-your Technology

S-your go to market Strategy

T-your Team

O-Others in the market (the competition)

R-Resources needed by your business

M-Milestones you intend to reach with the resources

Obtaining a referral to a group or an individual angel and preparinga thoughtful executive summary will improve your odds that you will be invitedto a meeting with angels, which is the first step in the funding process.

_____________________________

Dr. Kevin Learned is a counselor at the Idaho Small BusinessDevelopment Center (www.idahosbdc.org)at Boise State University where he specializes in counseling with entrepreneursseeking equity capital. He is a member of the Boise Angel Fund, and is aprincipal in Loon Creek Capital (www.looncreekcapital.com),which assists angels in forming angel funds. Loon Creek Capital is working with The Core to help create the new Treasure Valley Angel Fund (www.treasurevalleyangelfund.com). He can be reached by email to kevinlearned@boisestate.eduor by phone at 208-426-3875.

State Small Corporation Offering Registration (SCOR)

2011-12-29T10:45:00.000-08:00

Federal securities law requires that securitiesissued by companies to their investors must be registered with the Securitiesand Exchange Commission unless the offering qualifies for an exemption fromregistration. Registration is a complicated and expensive process, generallyprohibitive for smaller companies.

One exemption from registration is available ifthe company offers securities only to accreditedinvestors in a private offering. An accredited investor must meetcertain criteria, the most important of which is that he or she, including thespouse if one, has a net worth of more than $1 million, excluding the value ofthe person’s primary residence. Aprivate transaction means that there can be no advertising or publicity aboutthe offering, including no mention of the offering on the company’s web pages.

This type of offering is problematic for manyentrepreneurs. If they don’t havedeep networks of accredited investors, it may be virtually impossible for themto raise capital, given that they can’t talk publically about their offering.

There is an alternative. An entrepreneur can chose to register its company’s offeringwith its state securities regulator. This offering is known as a Small Corporation Offering Registration orSCOR. A SCOR offering allows acompany to raise up to $1 million from an unlimited number of investorsresident in the state using public advertising. The investors do not have to beaccredited.

A SCOR offering is not simple, but it is doable. Boiseentrepreneur Doug Joseph is currently conducting a SCOR offering for hiscompany Locate Express as a means of raising capital to expand hisbusiness. Doug reports that he wasable to do most of the work of registering his offering himself.

In Idaho our regulator is the Securities Bureau ofthe Idaho Department of Finance. The Bureau has published a SCOR manual and other useful documents on itsweb site. Click on “SCOR/U-7 Filings” under “FormsAvailable Online” in the upper right of their home page.

I’ve summarized the basics of a SCOR offeringbelow. But there are technicaldetails that are important and anyone contemplating such an offering must engagelegal counsel to advise the company and to give an opinion regarding thesecurities.

According to the SCOR manual the company must be acorporation or limited liability company. This offering cannot be used for companies engaged in petroleumexploration and production, mining or other extractive industries. And the company must not be adevelopment-stage company with no specific business plan or purpose other thana merger.

The stock price must be $1 per share or more. Financial statements must beprovided. If the company israising less than $500,000 the statements must be reviewed by a CPA; forofferings between $500,000 and $1 million, the statements are generallyrequired to be audited.

To register your offering with the State, you filea disclosure document known as a U-7 and other documents along with a filingfee of $300. The purpose of thefiling is to disclose all material information about the Company that a typicalinvestor would want to know before making an investment in the company.

The Idaho Securities Bureau is willingto talk on the phone or meet with an entrepreneur considering making a SCORoffering to review the requirements before the entrepreneur submits thedocuments. You can reach theBureau at 888-346-3378.

______________________________________________________

Dr. Kevin Learned is a counselor at the Idaho Small Business Development Center at Boise State University where he specializes in counseling with entrepreneurs seeking equity capital. He is a member of the Boise Angel Fund, and is a principal in Loon Creek Capital which assists angels in forming angel funds. He can be reached by email to kevinlearned@boisestate.edu.

New Data on Pre-Money Valuations

2011-10-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

I thought my previous article was going to be my last for a while on the topic of valuation. But some germane new research has just been published.

In previous articles I discussed the concept of pre- and post-money valuation. Pre-money valuation is the value the entrepreneur and the angels negotiate before the angels invest. Post-money valuation is the pre-money value plus the amount of the investment, and it used for computing the percentage of stock the founders will retain after the investment by the angels.

In the second article on valuation I noted that one of the factors in setting pre-money valuations is the average regional deal value; that is at what value have other similar deals in the area been done? Since angels tend to invest close to home, the entrepreneur will have to compete for funding locally. Angels will look at the value of other similar deals in the area in deciding what value to offer or accept from the entrepreneur.

Bill Payne is a well-regarded angel investor in Montana. He is a member of the Frontier Angel Fund. The Boise Angel Fund and the Frontier Angel Fund have a close working relationship, from time to time investing in each other’s deals. Bill teaches classes on angel investing for the Angel Capital Association and has made more than 50 angel investments himself.

He just completed a survey of 35 angel groups in 26 states and two provinces. The complete results are available on his blog at http://www.billpayne.com/. His survey asks the question “What was the average pre-money value for investments made by your group in pre-revenue companies?” The average answer was $2.1 million, an increase of $400,000 from the previous year.

However, averages hide a lot of data. Valuations ranged from a low of $800,000 to a high of $3.4 million. Interesting for local entrepreneurs is that the Boise Angel Fund was one of two with the lowest valuation of $800,000. The other was Fargo/Morehead Angels, another group with which the Boise Fund has a relationship. In fairness, the Boise Angel Fund only did one pre-money deal in the past year, so that value was very specific to the deal that was done.

There are several implications for Idaho entrepreneurs.

1. Many Idaho angels have generally avoided pre-revenue deals due to their inherent riskiness. In order to entice investors to accept that risk, you have to offer a terrific deal, which means a low valuation.

2. While it is even more difficult to secure money outside of Idaho than inside, an entrepreneur with a truly exceptional opportunity may want to try to get the attention of non-Idaho groups.

3. Some valuations are skewed by the fact that bioscience and medical device deals typically receive higher valuations at the pre-revenue stage. Most Idaho angels will not do such deals.

4. Your pre-revenue deal will likely receive a lower valuation in Idaho than it might receive in a money center. The cure for this is to not seek funding until your company has secured its first revenue, thereby lowering the risk to investors. With a lower risk profile comes a higher valuation.

In our consulting practice at the Idaho Small Business Development Center at Boise State we frequently work with entrepreneurs to help them set a value on their businesses before they go to the market to raise capital. Our services are free and confidential. Call the SBDC at 426-3875 for an appointment if you would like to discuss your company’s value with one of our counselors.
_______________________________________________________________

Dr. Kevin Learned is a counselor at the Idaho Small Business Development Center at Boise State University where he specializes in counseling with entrepreneurs seeking equity capital. He is a member of the Boise Angel Fund, and is a principal in Loon Creek Capital which assists angels in forming angel funds. He can be reached by email to kevinlearned@boisestate.edu.

Valuing Early Stage Businesses, Part III, Understanding Angel Math

2011-10-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

This is the final article in a series on valuing early-stagebusinesses from the standpoint of the angel investor. You can find the earlier articles at my blog, http://kevinlearned.blogspot.com. Thanks to Mark Woychick, a participantin the MBA Honors Program for his assistance in preparing this series.

In the earlier articles we talked about the riskiness of aninvestment in your company and how lowering that risk will result in a highervaluation. We also talked about the importance of comparable such as theaverage regional deal value and similar businesses and about the value of theteam.

In this article we want to present the math that mostinvestors go through in order to validate a valuation. It’s pretty simple. Take these variables:

1. Howmuch money does the company need in this round?

2. How much can the company be sold for and in howmany years?

3. What multiple of my investment do I believe Ineed to have the potential to earn to justify my taking the risk?

Given the answers to these questions, we can compute apreliminary valuation of the company. For example:

1. The company needs $500,000.

2. The entrepreneur and our own due diligencesuggest the company can be sold for $20 million in five years.

3. Given the risk profile, we believe we need tohave the potential to receive ten times our investment. Therefore we need tohave the potential to receive ten times the investment of $500,000 or $5million when the company is sold.

4. If the company will sell for $20 million and weneed $5 million of the sales proceeds, then we need to own 25% of the companyat exit ($5 million/$20 million).

If we need 25% of the company at exit in order to meet ourreturn objective, and IF the company does not need to raise any more fundsbetween now and exit (admitted a tenuous assumption in that most companies willneed to raise additional capital which will dilute our ownership), then we cancompute the value of the company today as follows:

1. Money raised, $500,000

2. Percent of company needed for this investment,25%

3. Value of the company after investment (the“post-money” value) must be $2 million. That is, with a value of $2 million, our $500,000 investment willpurchase 25% of the company.

4. This means the value of the company before theinvestment (the “pre-money” value) must be $1.5 million (post-money value of $2million less investment of $500,000).

Most investors will triangulate on a number of differentapproaches to valuing the company to substantiate the value. In the above example, they will comparethe computed value of $1.5 million to what they believe similar companies inthe region are worth. They mayadjust the value up or down depending upon the quality of the management teamor the strength of the intellectual property. They may run a discounted cash flow analysis on the pro formaprojections to see how it compares.

Valuation of early-stage businesses is difficult and as muchart as science. In the endanalysis, the value is what the investors and the entrepreneurs can agreeupon. But the well preparedentrepreneur will understand the different approaches and be prepared tonegotiate with the investors based upon them.

In our consulting practice at the Idaho Small BusinessDevelopment Center at Boise State we frequently work with entrepreneurs to helpthem set a value on their business before they go to the market to raisecapital. Our services are free andconfidential. Call the SBDC at426-3875 for an appointment if you would like to discuss your company’s valuewith one of our counselors.

_____________________________________________________________

Dr. Kevin Learned is a counselor at the Idaho Small Business DevelopmentCenter (www.idahosbdc.org) at Boise State University where he specializes incounseling with entrepreneurs seeking equity capital. He is a member of theBoise Angel Fund, and is a principal in Loon Creek Capital (www.looncreekcapital.com), which assists angels in forming angel funds. He canbe reached by email to kevinlearned@boisestate.edu.

Valuing Early Stage Businesses, Part II, Comparisons

2011-09-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

This is my secondarticle on the valuation of early stage businesses. These articles have beenwritten from the perspective of angel investors in the hope that I can givesome insight into this mysterious process for entrepreneurs who have tonegotiate valuation with prospective investors. I have been assisted inpreparing these articles by Mark Woychick, a participant in the Boise State MBAHonors Program.

The focus of these articles is valuation from the standpoint of theinvestor. I hope they will giveentrepreneurs some guidance in how their businesses may be valued when they seekcapital. I assume your businessplan (e.g., business concept, market size calculations, competitors, use ofinvestor capital, etc.) makes sense.

I should pointout that in my opinion the traditional discounted cash flow method of valuingbusinesses doesn’t work for an early stage business. This method may beappropriate for a stable business with an operating history where you can havesome confidence in the projections. But an early stage business has neither an operating history norstability and therefore projections for such businesses are unreliable. In themany deals I have reviewed, I have never seen an investor do a discounted cashflow analysis.

Last time Idiscussed the fundamental relationship of risk and return, how the earlier inthe business cycle a business is, the riskier the investment is likely to be,and therefore the lower the valuation of the business will be for purposes ofseeking investment capital. Ofcourse this is an important factor but not the only one. Here are some others that will likelyimpact the value of the company:

Average regional dealvalue. Sophisticatedinvestors know the current valuation of deals in their region. For example, the Boise Angel Fundparticipates in a monthly phone conference with about ten other angel groupsthroughout the Northwest. We talkabout the valuation of the deals we are seeing. This gives us a basis for the initial valuation of a localdeal. For example, we know fromthis discussion that pre-revenue deals in the Northwest rarely have valuationsof more than $2 million, and they are usually substantially less no matter howexciting the potential. Soif you approach local angels for your startup company with a valuation of $3million, you are likely to not even get to negotiations as your proposed valueis completely out of line with what other deals are being done for.

Comparable businesses. If there have been other companiesstarted in your space, then angels may want to use the valuation of those dealsas a basis for the valuation of your deal. For example, many Software as aService (SaaS) deals have raised capital in the last year. Generally well thought out SaaS dealsare valued a bit higher than businesses which carry inventory and accountsreceivable as they have the potential to be very capital efficient and to behighly profitable.

Team. All businesses are dependent upon the qualityof the management team. A superbteam with background and experience in bringing a company to market in yourspace is unusual and valuable. Inmy experience, all investors will increase or decrease the value of a businessbased upon their perception of the management team.

In the next article we will examine the mostimportant, and most difficult component, which is projecting the exit value forthe investors and then try to bring all these factors together.

Dr.Kevin Learned is a counselor at the Idaho Small Business Development Center (www.idahosbdc.org) at Boise State University wherehe specializes in counseling with entrepreneurs seeking equity capital. He is amember of the Boise Angel Fund, and is a principal in Loon Creek Capital (www.looncreekcapital.com), which assists angels informing angel funds. He can be reached by email to kevinlearned@boisestate.edu.

Valuing Early Stage Businesses, Part I: The Value of an Early-Stage Company is Related to its Riskiness

2011-09-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

One of the toughest things to do is value an early stage business. Yet, in order to sell stock, the entrepreneur has to set a value on his or her company. Today’s article is the first of several on this topic. I’ve been assisted in these articles on valuation by Mark Woychick, a participant in the Boise State MBA Honors Program.

Risk and Return

Investors expect to be compensated for the risk they assume. The higher the risk, the higher the potential return must be to entice the investor to accept the risk. And early-stage investing is a risky proposition. Research suggests that around 40% of all angel investments in early-stage companies result in a loss of the investment, even after extensive due diligence. So investors must see the potential to make substantial returns in order to justify accepting the risk.

Business Stage

Risk is, in large part, correlated with the stage of the business. Here is a rough listing of risk, stage and returns expected in order to accept the risk.

Stage           Level of Risk           Return expected (compounded
                                                    per year)

Idea             Extremely high        100%+

Prototype    Very high                 75%

Initial
revenue       High                        50%

Multiple
customers   Modestly high            40%

Growing     Intermediate              25%

To put this in lay terms, if angels invest in a business that has started to generate some revenue, and if they expect a return of 50% (called the internal rate of return), then they are seeking to make about ten times their investment in five to six years.

Terminology

Most sophisticated angels use the concepts of “pre-money” and “post-money” valuation. The pre-money valuation of a company is the value that the entrepreneur and the investor agree the company is worth immediately before the investment. The post-money valuation is the pre-money valuation plus the amount of investment. If the entrepreneur and the investor agree that the company is worth $500,000 before the investment (the “pre-money” valuation) and the investor invests $250,000, then the company must be worth $750,000 immediately after the investment is made (the “post-money” valuation).

You can derive percentage ownership from the pre and post-money valuations as follows:

Pre-money valuation          $500,000        67%

Plus investment                  $250,000       33%

= Post-money valuation       $750,000      100%

After the financing the entrepreneur (and those who have previously invested) would own 67% of the company and the new angel investors would own 33% of the company.

Relationship of Risk and Current Value

The riskier your business proposition, the lower the current value of your business and the higher the proportion of ownership the angel will demand. If the angel is considering two deals, one which is only at the idea stage and the other is at the initial revenue stage, then, all other things (e.g. management, size of opportunity) being equal, the value of the company at the initial revenue stage will be higher than the company at the idea stage and the percentage ownership the entrepreneur will have to give up will be less. For example:

Stage:                     Idea                    Initial Revenue

Money needed         $100,000            $100,000

Value of company    $200,000             $400,000

% of company
to investors               33%                    20%

The lesson for the entrepreneurs is the further developed you can get your company before you seek outside capital, the more valuable your company will be and the less you will have to give up to investors.

Of course, valuation takes into account more factors than stage of business. We will explore other factors in subsequent articles.
____________________________________________________________
This article was originally published in the Idaho Statesman's Business Insider on August 10, 2011 under the title "How to set a value on your business so you can sell stock."

Dr. Kevin Learned is a counselor at the Idaho Small Business Development Center at Boise State University where he specializes in counseling with entrepreneurs seeking equity capital. He is a member of the Boise Angel Fund, and is a principal in Loon Creek Capital Group which assists angels in forming angel funds. He can be reached by email to kevinlearned@boisestate.edu.

What is an Opportunity?

2011-08-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

Published in the Idaho Statesman Business Insider, July 6, 2011

I recently spoke to BSU Professor Kent Neupert’s MBA class on opportunity recognition. How do we know when an idea is a good business opportunity?

This is an important question for entrepreneurs and for investors. Seemingly great ideas don’t necessarily result in viable businesses. The idea has to be paired with a market that will demand the product.

For example, an entrepreneur may have a terrific salsa recipe that has been in the family for generations. Family and friends encourage her to go into the salsa business because everyone loves this homemade salsa. Is this an opportunity worth pursuing?

Or some professors have developed a computer game platform that can be used by teachers to create learning quests. Early research shows that some students may be able learn faster and retain more by using the game rather than more traditional teaching methods. Is this an opportunity worth pursuing?

Here are three questions they might ask themselves before leaping into either business:

1. Is there an unmet need in the market place?

2. Is the market large enough to allow the company to make a profit?

3. Can the market be reached for reasonable cost?

Let’s see how these questions might be applied to these two ideas.

Need. It’s hard to argue that the market place needs another salsa. The supermarket shelves are filled with national brands. Specialty stores such as the Boise Co-op carry smaller less known brands, even local brands.

On the other hand, there is a trend in education to reduce costs by deploying more technology. If in fact this gaming platform does lead to improved student outcomes along with lower cost delivery, then it seems to speak to an unmet need.

Size. Clearly both of these markets are huge. It would not be unreasonable to assume there are hundreds of millions of dollars spent each year on salsa and on technology in education, just in the United States. And the worldwide market must be considerably larger.

Distribution. Customers have to be able to learn about and find the product or service. How might that happen with these two ideas? The consumer products market is quite mature. Most people will go to a retail store to purchase a product like salsa. This is an exceedingly difficult and costly market to penetrate. While it may be possible to build an Internet-based salsa business, shipping costs will likely be a significant barrier.

With regard to the technology product for education, distribution is not as defined as with consumer products. Reaching the market will depend upon which market. Will the target be school districts, home schooled children or individual teachers, just to name a few? But since technology is frequently marketed through on line techniques, it may be possible to cost-effectively reach the market.

So is there an opportunity for either of these products? I think the answer for the salsa is no. The market appears saturated and the costs of distribution are overwhelming. I think the answer for the gaming platform is maybe. There appears to be a need for technology in education and the market is large, but it is yet not clear how the market can be reached.

Dr. Kevin Learned is a counselor at the Idaho Small Business Development Center (www.idahosbdc.org) at Boise State University where he specializes in counseling with entrepreneurs seeking equity capital. He is a member of the Boise Angel Fund, and is a principal in Loon Creek Capital (www.looncreekcapital.com), which assists angels in forming angel funds. He can be reached by email to kevinlearned@boisestate.edu.

Angel Funds Support Job Creation

2011-07-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

Published in the Idaho Statesman Business Insider June 22, 2011

It takes three things to successfully launch a new business: (1) an idea that solves a meaningful problem, (2) capital, and (3) management. Capital is not the most important, but without it the other two can’t create function.

One source of capital is angels, high network individuals who are prepared to invest a portion of their financial resources and their time in early-stage businesses. Sometimes an angel will operate as a lone wolf, making his or her decisions individually and investing without regard to other angels. Other angels prefer to work together in some type of group process. Groups bring the benefit of multiple minds working together to analyze potential, structure a deal, and share risk.

One type of group is the angel fund. An angel fund is a limited liability company that raises its capital from angels and then invests that capital in entrepreneurial ventures. Typically angel funds are managed by their members, not by professional managers. The members create processes for reviewing deals, making investment decisions, and assisting and tracking the company once the investment has been made.

Two regional examples are the Boise Angel Fund (www.boiseangelfund.com) and the Frontier Angel Fund of Kallispel, MT (www.frontierangels.com). In both funds there are around thirty members each of whom has invested about $50,000 giving them capital of around $1.5 million to invest in local ventures.

For the entrepreneur, angel funds are a place to go where he or she knows there is capital and an interest in investing in promising early-stage local businesses. When adopted by an angel fund, the entrepreneur receives capital, advice, and access to the experience and contacts the various members have. And even if the entrepreneur does not get any capital, often they get free and valuable advice as they go through the process.

For example, local entrepreneurs Paul Unger and Rem Fox created a secure web portal for patients and doctors (see “Web-based system links patients with health professionals” in last week’s Business Insider). They needed capital. The Boise Angel Fund provided a portion of the capital they needed. It introduced them to other angel groups around the region, one of which has made a commitment of additional capital. Members of the Fund also helped them to hire an experienced CEO, and two highly experienced board members who are now helping to guide the business.

For the angels, a fund is a way of increasing impact and reducing risk. When each angel’s capital is combined with the other angels, they can invest larger amounts than typically is prudent for any one angel to do alone. And, since the fund will make a number of investments over its life, the individual angel gets a share of a number of investments, thus participating in a diversified portfolio.

It has been a dream of some of us in the Boise Angel Fund that other Idaho communities develop similar funds as has been done in other states. We believe such angel funds could help to drive the creation of new local growth businesses which in turn will create local employment.

Kevin Learned is a counselor at the Idaho Small Business Development Center, a member of the Finance Committee of the Idaho Technology Council and a member of the Boise Angel Fund. Contact him at kevinlearned@boisestate.edu.

Where Do Jobs Come From?

2011-06-20T09:09:00.000-07:00

We all know good-paying jobs are important to our economy, both locally and nationally.

Our legislative and congressional policymakers spend a good deal of time debating job creation policy. Each city in the Treasure Valley has an individual assigned to economic development. Our chambers of commerce work to improve the economy for our local companies.

But sometimes I fear all this effort, while well-intentioned, is under-informed on how jobs actually get created.

About 30 years ago, Professor David Birch of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published groundbreaking research showing that about two-thirds of all net new jobs (jobs created minus jobs lost) between 1969 and 1976 were created by firms with 20 or fewer employees (David Birch, “Who Creates Jobs,” Public Interest, Fall 1981, pp. 3-14). This research led us to understand better the extremely important role of small business in the U.S. economy.

Now the Kauffman Foundation has published a surprising new study of job creation in the economy (Tim Kane, “The Importance of Startups in Job Creation and Job Destruction,” The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, July 2010). Their research mined a new U.S. government dataset called the Business Dynamics Statistics, which includes age of company as well as employment data. Here’s what they found: “Startups aren’t everything when it comes to job growth. They’re the only thing.”

The data show that in all but seven years in the period from 1977 through 2005, existing firms on balance lost more jobs than they created.

Clearly employment didn’t drop in the other 22 years. So where did the job growth come from? It came from new companies.

How can this be? If you think about it, a startup by its very nature starts with zero jobs and with its first hire creates a job.

Over this 28-year period, startups created an average of 3 million jobs each year. But once started, some firms add jobs, others lose them. On balance, after the first year existing companies lose more jobs than they create. Of course, not all companies destroy more jobs than they create, but when summed together, existing firms stop growing, may lay off workers or even go out of business.

This has several public policy implications. Of course we should not ignore our existing businesses. Helping them grow is important. But I am intrigued about what we can do to encourage entrepreneurs to start businesses in our Valley. Here are several thoughts.

INVEST FINANCIAL RESOURCES

We should consider investing some of our economic development resources into support for entrepreneurs. Recruiting a company to come to the Valley may lead to good headlines, but may not lead over the long run to job growth. Some states have used tax policy, such as tax credits, for investing in new businesses to encourage capital.

FOSTER RESEARCH AND SUPPORT

Incubators, when combined with support such as that provided by the Boise State University TECenter in Nampa, can provide nurturing support for entrepreneurs.

Funding research programs in our universities produces new knowledge that can become the basis for a new business.

And joint public/private partnerships such as The Core in Meridian may provide a seed bed that will attract entrepreneurs and capital.

Kevin Learned is a counselor at the Idaho Small Business Development Committee, a member of the Boise Angel Fund and the finance committee of the Idaho Technology Council. Contact him at kevinlearned@boisestate.edu.

How To Make an Effective Investment Presentation

2011-06-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

Special to the Idaho Statesman

Published: 05/04/11

In my last article I wrote about getting the interest of investors by clearly stating the problem your product or service addresses. So if investors say they are interested in learning more, then what?

Typically the next step is an investment presentation, or pitch.

Your pitch is a sales presentation. You are selling your belief that you can execute a business plan that will make the investors money. Of the 60 entrepreneurs who made pitches to the Boise Angel Fund over the past four years, only 25 moved to the next step. More than half didn’t inspire the confidence of investors. Here’s some of what I’ve learned from listening to all 60 pitches:

BE PREPARED

I have been surprised how many entrepreneurs treat this step casually and come underprepared. They stumble through their pitches, they read their PowerPoint slides and they make a disjointed presentation.

BE SUCCINCT

Typically the time allocated to the pitch is short, perhaps 15 minutes or less. Funding Universe of Salt Lake (in which local VC Highway 12 Ventures invested) gives entrepreneurs only four minutes.

You’ve got to get directly to the point of the business proposition quickly. Guy Kawasaki, in his excellent book “The Art of the Start,” says, “I’ve never heard a pitch that was too short … a good one will motivate listeners to ask questions that extend it.”

AVOID THE LIFE STORY

One angel said, “Never have I sat in a pitch wishing the entrepreneur had told me more about his life.” Yes, of course you should be passionate about your business. But get to the point. The investors don’t need to know much about how you came up with your idea, just what it is and what problem it solves.

LESS POWERPOINT

The point of your presentation is not to demonstrate your prowess with PowerPoint. While slides may be helpful in reinforcing your points, the investors are primarily interested in your ability to explain your proposition. If you are going to use slides, avoid distracting dissolving and flying transitions. Put a maximum of three points on a slide. Remember that slides are best used to present bullets, not long dissertations.

DEVOTE ONE SLIDE TO YOUR PRODUCT

Investors want to know first about the problem you are solving — what it is and how big it is.

After you have convinced them that such a problem exists, you can tell them briefly how or why your product or service addresses this problem.

HOW WILL YOU REACH THE MARKET?

Once you have addressed the problem and your product, the next question will be, “How will you get a customer?” Entrepreneurs frequently believe that if they make the product, the market will somehow miraculously come.

The investors know better. You must convince the investors that you have a reasonable plan to distribute your product or service and the cost of going to the market (advertising, sales personnel, distributors, etc.) will be low enough that the business will be profitable.

The entrepreneur who makes a concise and thoughtful pitch that addresses the magnitude of the problem being solved, how his or her product solves the problem and how the product will be taken to the market, will have potential investors saying, “That’s interesting. Tell me more.”

Kevin Learned is a counselor at the Idaho Small Business Development Center, a member of the Boise Angel Fund and the finance committee of the Idaho Technology Council. You can reach him by email to kevinlearned@boisestate.edu.

Investors want to hear about problem first, product later

2011-05-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

Investors want to hear about problem first, product later
By Kevin Learned - Special to the Idaho Statesman

Published: 04/20/11

The Boise Angel Fund was formed four years ago. It makes equity investments in early stage Idaho companies. Since formation, the fund has considered applications from 199 companies; it has made 10 investments. Why so few? Clearly, most entrepreneurs don’t understand what the angels are seeking.

Entrepreneurs are always proud of their product or service. They frequently begin with how terrific it is. But angels and other sophisticated investors aren’t very interested in the product or service, at least not at the beginning of the conversation. Rather they want to know what problem or opportunity exists in the marketplace.

In its section on pitching an investment idea, the website for the Boise Angel Fund (www.boiseangelfund.com) says: “Our experience is that most entrepreneurs devote too much time describing the product or service and not enough time describing the opportunity. By ‘opportunity’ we mean we are more interested in the problem the customer has and how important it is for the customer to solve this problem.”

First you have to convince investors that you have identified a problem of significant financial magnitude. After you have established this with the potential investors, then they will be interested in how your product or service speaks to that problem.

Here are two examples of Idaho companies that have raised capital from sophisticated angel investors in the past several years and the problems their products attack.

Inovus Solar (http://www.inovussolar.com/) recognized that there are millions of streetlights in the United States drawing energy from the electrical grid. Energy is costly and in short supply. Each streetlight stands in sunlight during daylight hours. Inovus recognized that a streetlight could generate its own power by converting the solar energy hitting it during the day into electricity that the pole can use at night. The company now produces and markets a line of solar light poles.

Prosperity Organic Foods: Hailey entrepreneur and scientist Cygnia Rapp suffered from digestive health problems. Her problems caused her to study the spread (e.g., butter and margarine) category.

She learned the U.S. market for butter and substitutes is $3 billion a year and that most butter substitutes are either unhealthy or targeted to address cholesterol concerns. She formed Prosperity Organic Foods Inc. (http://www.meltbutteryspread.com/) to develop and market healthy spreads, primarily to younger women. Prosperity’s Melt buttery spread is now sold in more than 600 supermarkets in the West.

What is common about these companies is that they each began with a problem — streetlights consume electricity, many spreads are formulated from unhealthy fats. They each assessed the magnitude of the problem and concluded that they could develop and market a product that would profitably solve it.

Both companies raised local capital to fund their journey through the Valley of Death, that period of time in every new company’s life when cash goes out the door faster than it comes in.

A successful request for investment capital begins with the question: What is the problem in the marketplace, and how big a problem is it? Answer this question and you are well down the road to developing a business plan investors will find compelling.

Kevin Learned is a counselor at the Idaho Small Business Development Center, and a member of the Boise Angel Fund and the finance committee of the Idaho Technology Council. He is a shareholder in both Inovus Solar and Prosperity Organic Foods. Contact him at kevinlearned@boisestate.edu.
Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/04/20/1616119/investors-want-to-hear-about-problem.html#ixzz1MXI42nTp

Four sources of investment capital for early-stage businesses

2011-05-16T10:38:00.000-07:00

By Kevin Learned - Special to the Idaho Statesman
Published: 04/06/11

All businesses pass through a period when the business is spending more cash than is coming in. We call this time the Valley of Death, because if the business doesn’t reach a point where more cash is coming in than is being spent, it will die.

A common misconception is that banks will lend money to cover the shortfall. This is not the role of banks. They finance only businesses with a history of profitable operations. Early-stage businesses must look to other sources, typically equity capital.

Equity capital is risk capital. If the business does not succeed, the capital will likely be lost. If the business succeeds, the capital will earn a share of the profits.

Generally, there are four sources of equity capital, listed here by ease of access:

1. FOUNDER’S SAVINGS. This is the cheapest capital a business can have. It comes without having to share interest in the business. Frequently, no one else will accept the risk, so it may be the only capital available. And any other investor will reasonably expect that the founder has invested his or her savings. If the founder doesn’t have the confidence to commit savings, then why should a nonfounder accept this risk?

2. FAMILY AND FRIENDS. Family and friends invest because they have confidence in the founder. Often they are not experienced business people, and typically they will not do hard economic analyses. Family-and-friends capital is a mixed blessing. It may be relatively easy to raise, but in my experience, there is no pressure like that of knowing your family or friends will lose their money if you don’t succeed.

3. ANGELS. Angels are high-net-worth individuals who invest a portion of their own capital into businesses. They typically invest not just to make money, but because they like to help entrepreneurs. They will do economic analyses and will negotiate terms of their investments. They will invest only in opportunities they believe have an excellent chance of success. The Keiretsu Forum and the Boise Angel Fund are angel groups that accept applications from Idaho companies.

4. PROFESSIONAL CAPITAL. Often referred to as “venture capital,” this money is invested by professionals who make their living by investing in early-stage businesses. Typically, but not always, venture capitalists invest later in the business cycle than the above three types do. Highway 12 Ventures is a Boise venture-capital firm that accepts applications from Idaho businesses.

Raising equity capital is tough for a new business. Successful fundraising requires planning and perseverance. The entrepreneur must have identified a business problem for which there is no optimal solution, must have a product or service that can profitably solve the problem, must have a viable plan to get the product to the market, must persuade investors that he or she can execute the plan, and must present a deal to the potential investors that will allow them to make a profit in line with the risk they assume.

Kevin Learned is a counselor at the Idaho Small Business Development Center, a member of the Boise Angel Fund and a member of the Finance Committee of the Idaho Technology Council.

kevinlearned@boisestate.edu

Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/04/06/1594008/4-sources-of-investment-capital.html#ixzz1MXIyvHX1

Information for Entrepreneurs Seeking Angel Capital and for Angels Wanting to Invest in Entrepreneurs

2011-05-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

I am a counselor at the Idaho Small Business Development Center and the Administrator of the Boise Angel Fund. In these two capacities I often am asked questions by both entrepreneurs seeking angel capital and by potential angels thinking of investing in an early stage business.

To address both of these, I write a column every other week in the Idaho Statesman's Business Insider magazine. Because you must have a paid subscription to the magazine to read the articles, I am going to reproduce them here after they are published in the hope that they might be helpful to both entrepreneurs and angels.

I hope you find them helpful and informative.

A Rotary Christmas Meal at an Alternative High School

2009-12-29T14:55:00.000-08:00

I have finished all my club visits except for the new Boise East Rotary Club and Caldwell. I will visit both in January. It's now my intention to focus this blog on the activities of Rotarians throughout out district. I invite you to be a "guest blogger" and to send me a report on a Rotary activity that is meaningful to you. You can send them to me at kelearned@mac.com.

Our first such report was written by Rotarian Todd Fischer of the Boise Rotary Club. This was taken from the Boise club's web site: www.boiserotary.org.

Holiday Dinner at Frank Church High School

At the November club board meeting, it was agreed to donate $500 to help offset the cost of the food for the holiday dinner. I lobbied for the funds, and thus was awarded the opportunity to be our club's representative. To make sure the money was delivered in time, I dropped off the check at the school earlier in the week. Although I was only in the school only a few monents, I received the most heart felt "bless you" I have had spoken to me. It was clear the faculty and administration were dedicated to these students, and equally clear the need was great. I am sorry each member of our club couldn't have experienced the gratitude our contribution made.

On the date of the dinner (served at lunch while the students were at school), I arrived early so I could wander the halls and try to get a feel for the space. The Frank Church High School bulding is just a few years old and this was my first chance to see how it was different than the other schools. Frank Church High School serves at-risk students or students who struggle in traditional schools so they can get an education and earn a high school diploma. I found the library very busy, with a librarian enthusistic for lively students to spend time in the most inviting library I have been in. I also wandered the halls, finding them spotless, and empty, as classes were in session. I tried to see the computer room (as you know my passion), but alas, it was locked. I wasn't in the halls for more than a minute before a teacher made sure I belonged there. My wanderings caused me to re-evaluate my biases, as I didn't anticipate the respect with which these students treat their school.

I asked to come in time to eat with the students in the Victory Academy (formerly Work & Learn). I must admit, I haven't heard of the Victory Academy before, and it isn't really described on the district's website either. Victory Academy is for a small number of students, around 30, who have been in legal trouble or have exceptional home issues. Stated overly simply, Frank Church High School catches those students that fall though the cracks of more traditional high schools and Victory Academy is for those students that have fallen though every crack there is.

I have been wondering what makes a civil society; giving it a lot of thought actually. In my travels I find that Boise is more civil that many places I have visited. I am coming to believe that it is the community's collective, and individual, response to the social challenges in our midst that makes a society civil. That is why I lobbied our club to support Frank Church High School and why I wanted to be a small part of our response to the need of these at-risk students. If we, as a society, neglect these students, many will turn around and prey on us in order to survive. On the other hand, if we join together to raise each precious child to their full potential, we will be helping to empower the creative and productive abilities that will turn around, and not prey on our community, but vitalize, and revitalize, our civil society.

I sat at a round table with built-in sets, with pink haired, and pieced students enjoying what had to be the best meal I ever ate at school. During the conversation, it came out that I was there because of the assistance to make the meal possible. In return, I received sincere thanks. The 9th grader next to me, with dreams of becoming a chef, cleaned his plate. An observant teacher or counselor quickly offered to get the boy more, as she thought he still looked hungry. I was amazed at the attention to the student's needs and also the idea of being seated next to a child who maybe didn't get any breakfast (or maybe was just a growing teenager). When was the last time you sat next to a child who didn't have access to regular food?

There was a short break between the Victory Academy students and the 11th and 12th Frank Church High School students. I moved to a table of Boise School District administrators, including our very own Dr. Stan Olson. Also at the table was a student, "Sarah", that may have been in a photography class, as she had a nice camera around her neck and had been taking pictures. During our conversation it came out that when she was 8, her father left and she hasn't seen him since. Then, she said, last week her mother kicked her out of the house. She ask, "if my dad left me, and my mom doesn't want me around, doesn't anyone care about me?" Two faculty quickly, and I mean quickly (while I was struck dumb), both said they cared. The school, the students, the faculty, the cooks, the janitors, and the security personal, were her family. I later found out that she is now staying with an aunt in Caldwell and the school worked to get some gas money so the aunt could drive her to school every day so Sarah wouldn't have to drop out. When was the last time you sat at a table with a child who got kicked out of their house that week?

Soon more kids filed in and sat at the round tables. The teachers and faculty served the meals. On the tables were markers and on the walls large strips of colored butcher paper. Some students grabbed a marker and wrote their thanks for the meal. The high school choir sang Christmas carols and there was even hot spiced cider. Santa Claus made an appearance handing out candy canes. Again someone at the table asked why I was there and again several at the table let me know the meal meant a lot to them. I asked a student to point out who the best teacher in the school was. He pointed out the teacher who taught character education. Later I talked to the teacher and relayed the students words. The teacher said that made his day and then talked about treating the students with respect. You can see why Sarah felt this school was home.

So what is a civil society and what is our role is vitalizing and revitalizing our community? I am sure it is many, many things, some large and some small, like helping out Frank Church High School put on a holiday dinner.

**********

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

A boda in Mexico

2009-12-06T15:58:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

Twelve years ago or so I received a Rotary Foundation fellowship to teach entrepreneurship in Mexico for a summer. I was fortunate to meet a wonderful Mexican Rotary family who took me in for the summer. Gabriel Acevedo and his wife Lucy had three young sons, ages 12, 15 and 17.

You can guess the story because it is a typical Rotary exchange story. We all bonded. I became like a ¨tio¨ (uncle) to the boys. Since then I've been to their home in Mexico many times. They have been to ours. One of the boys, David lived with Rotary families in Boise for four months when he was a college student to practice his English.

Three and half years ago David and his mother came to Boise to attend the wedding of my son Mark and his wife Cheryl. They stayed in our home. It was very fun to share our American customs with these very close friends.

Well, what goes around comes around and I am now at their home in Guadalajara with Amy's 12 year old son Quinn. We came for the wedding of the middle son, David, the young man who lived with us in Boise. Part of the time David lived with Denise and Nate Taylor. Nate couldn't come, but Denise (who is also a member of the Boise Rotary Club) came with us.

What fun we have had being part of a Mexican family at a wedding. The wedding itself was yesterday, Saturday. But the festivities began Friday evening. We arrived about 2 pm. By 4 pm we were at the home having a traditional Mexican dinner with Gabriel and Lucy and the three boys. We had pork, mashed potatoes, rice, tostados and salsa (a bit hot for our tastes, but very good nevertheless). Oh, and since the state of Jalisco is the home of tequila, of course, we had to have a few toasts with tequila.

Then, following the required siesta it was off to the church for confession followed by late evening snacks with the family around the family dining table. The bride was to stop by to meet us before the evening was over. Being Mexico, that means she arrived about 11 pm. We managed to keep our eyes open long enough to be gracious.

We got up about 7 the next morning for the big day. The bride (whose parents died in an accident two years ago) was already at our home with the hair and make up experts. She was already very pretty, but even then they worked on her for three hours. None of this ¨the groom can't see the bride stuff the day of the wedding¨here. We all paraded through the living room throughout the morning to watch the transformation.

By 11:30 we were all dressed in our suits and dresses and ready to head to the church. The bride had her own car. The rest of the family along with the three of us drove in a couple of more cars to the church. Being Mexico, we were naturally late. But no one cares in Mexico. The priest and many of the guests were waiting for us to make our arrival. Finally the bride arrived and the procession began to live music (violin, trumpet, organ and singer). Following a lot of Spanish and a mass somehow we figured out they were married, so back into the cars and back to the home where we were set up for a fiesta.

But first, we had to have the civil ceremony. In Mexico you go to the church for the religious ceremony, then you have a civil ceremony with a government official. Boy are they married! At least on paper. They each signed about 15 pieces of paper, including putting their thumb prints on the certificates. Then they were signed by the parents and by the witnesses.

The party began about 1:30 in a tent in the back yard. By party I mean tequila, frozen margaritas, whiskey, wine, and soft drinks and 8 piece band. Dinner was served to the 100 or so guests about 4 pm--fillet minion, spaghetti, salad, and many many kinds of pastries and cakes. Around 7 pm the first band stopped playing. An hour later the mariachi band arrived. By now we are all very happy and everyone is dancing and signing to the mariachis.

Most of the guests left by about 10:30 pm (recall they arrived at the church at 11 am). But the younger set and the hardy stayed on. By 11 pm ten of us were in the house watching a very important boxing match on TV (the Mexican defeated the American, much to everyone's delight). At midnight Quinn and I went to bed. There were still quite a few people in the house enjoying themselves.

I got up at 8 am Sunday. The father of the groom got up at 9, the mother about 11, the first brother about noon and the second brother about 3 pm. By 4, the bride and groom arrived for a family BBQ outside followed by opening the wedding gifts.

Tomorrow the bride and groom go to Cancun for the luna de miel (honey moon) and we head back to Idaho. We are very happy that we could be here for our Mexican friends. Quinn Stuebner, my step son, comes home with a new appreciation for culture. As we said, culture is neither better nor worse, just different. What fun, what an education for Quinn. What a wonderful part of the Family of Rotary.

Enjoy the Ride--There is no Return Ticket

2009-11-25T15:22:00.000-08:00

Casey Clements, District Training Chair and a member of the Blue Lakes-Twin Falls Rotary Club shared the following with me about aging. It seems an appropriate message at Thanksgiving.

George Carlin's views on aging:

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.

'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life! You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Ooooh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone..

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST92.'

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them.. That is why you pay 'them.'

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever, even ham radio. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.'
And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

*********

I have been blessed by many breath taking moments with Rotarians in the five months since I became governor of Rotary District 5400 and for that I am especially grateful this Thanksgiving.

May you laugh often, have only cheerful friends, and tell those you love that you do so every day.
Happy Thanksgiving

The Family of Rotary--East Idaho Falls Rotarian Phil Anderson

2009-11-07T13:15:00.001-08:00

From time to time we will publish in this blog and on our web site individual Rotary stories. Our first article is about Phil Anderson, a member of the East Idaho Falls Rotary Club. If you have a story or know of Rotarians about whom we should write, please let Boise Rotarian Beth Markley know at beth@markley.com.

*********

As Rotarians, we know about the importance of “Service above Self.” But for many members, this motto is embraced by family members as well.

Phil Anderson of the East Idaho Falls Club has an especially heartwarming story to tell about the power of community service and “the family of Rotary.”

A Rotary member since 1995, he says that his small club is full of active members who often enlist their families to serve. One member regularly volunteers as a Salvation Army bell ringer with his two teenage daughters, who sing Christmas carols to passersby. Annual community clean-up events often draw entire Rotary families.

Several years ago, the club adopted the Dictionary Project. The program helps third-graders become better readers and creative thinkers with the gift of their own personal dictionary. During the first year of his club’s participation in the program, Anderson, his wife, and another Rotarian distributed dictionaries to children at Ucon Elementary School – a small school in a very rural area.

Anderson said it was not uncommon for children to take the dictionaries, look through them quietly, then ask “when to I have to give this back?” So he says club members learned to wrap up their presentations by showing children where they could put their name in the book, and assuring them that this was a gift they could use and keep for themselves.

At one point after such a presentation, Anderson recalls a class of about 25 students thumbing through their dictionaries. “My wife, Denise, was hanging back,” Anderson says. “Then one of the boys came up to her with his personal notebook. He asked for her signature.”

Denise demurred at first, until the teacher said it would be OK. Then the boy and other students got the idea to have Denise, Phil and another Rotarian autograph their dictionaries.

“The joy of the event spread from there,” says Phil. “Leave it to a child to turn a really special moment into something even more. It was one of those moments.”

It has become one of Anderson’s most cherished memories of Denise, who died more than a year ago.

The summer following Denise’s death, Anderson’s club presented him with a Paul Harris Fellowship in recognition of the club’s financial contributions to Rotary International in Denise’s name. Anderson calls the gesture “one of the really honorable and heartwarming things” that his club has done to support him in the difficult months since her death.

The club is continuing with the Dictionary Project, finding funding to purchase the books from grants and corporate contributions. Anderson says it takes only a little time to implement the project and give Rotarians the opportunity to see the results in the form of awed and appreciative students, making it easy for them to continue. In fact they’ve become leaders in the Dictionary Project in the district, and Anderson has been invited to talk to other clubs about the program.

While the experience has been a very positive one for his club, Anderson says, the story about Rotary is one that has a very deep meaning for him personally.

“That’s what separates Rotary from some of the other service clubs,” he says, “we’re not afraid to make it personal.”

**********

A Rotary Youth Exchange Message from Finland

2009-10-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

We have twelve high school aged students from Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon living with Rotarians outside the US for this academic year. From time to time I publish their letters home. This one is from a student from Nampa living in Finland for the year.

Date: Sep 26, 2009

Thank YOU so very much for this opportunity abroad. My first month and a half has been difficult, but the people I have met and the area around me is truly amazing!

The truest stereotype of Finns is one that I have heard many times, and only through first hand experience have I been able to agree with it: The majority of Finnish people are shy. As you can see this can often become a road block in the path of an exchange student. But as time passes I make more and more friends, because I’m not as strange and scary as some people might think. And the friends I am making here are no doubt friends for life.

The Finnish language is “different not difficult.” If you ask me I would tell you it was difficult and then give you about a hundred examples why this is so. But the fact is it’s only more difficult than learning French, because that’s all I have to compare it to.

The Finnish education system is one of the best in the world. Everyone in my high school is fluent in Finnish [I think she means English]. However, being the shy people that they are, they only speak to me when they have been drinking.

I am learning at a pretty normal speed. Whenever I am with my Finnish friends, I am constantly asking them “How do you say this” and “How do you say that.” One of the most difficult things is pronunciation. However, I do recall during one of these times where I was attempting to learn new phrases that rather than saying Banaani Leipä (Banana bread) I said Banaani poika. My host sister and friend laughed and proceeded to repeat my mistake until finally I realized I had just said ‘Banana boy’.

Creating memories, learning a new language, and not repeating the same mistakes; are only a few ways that I am growing here on my exchange. I hope to do a lot more, and I know that I will.

Although I have come from the decent sized town of Nampa, Idaho, to the tiny town of Ähtäri, Finland; I can recognize the advantages and am very pleased about my home for a year.

I hope all the other exchange students well and want to say thank you again for such an opportunity to live abroad,

Kiitos ja Moi Moi: Suomi,

**********

If you'd like to know about the Rotary Youth Exchange, information is available on our web site.

The Only Geyser in Idano

2009-10-29T03:58:00.001-07:00

I'm embarrassed to admit that in a lifetime of living in Idaho I had never visited the SE Corner. One of the joys of being District Governor of Rotary is the opportunity to thoroughly explore Southern Idaho, including this stunningly beautiful area.

This is high desert land punctuated by the Bear River Mountain Range, the northern most extension of Utah's Wasatch Range with passes at 8400 feet. Surrounded by the Caribou-Tarhgee National Forest, it is located just north of the Utah boarder. The area was settled by early Mormon Pioneers migrating north from the Salt Lake Basin and some of the original beautiful church buildings are still standing.

We have three Rotary Clubs in the three principal towns, Preston, Soda Springs and Montpelier.

Preston is situated in a valley west of the Bear River Mountains, and east Bannock Range, just 15 miles north of the Utah boarder. It's so close to Utah that the Rotarians took me to dinner at a restaurant in Logan. An interesting business tidbit is that Rotary Club President Pat Nealy manages a large, modern newspaper printing plant which prints six or seven daily newspapers including Pocatello and Logan along with a dozen or so weekly newspapers. I wrote about the Preston Rotary Club in my last blog.

Soda Springs is 50 miles north of Preston at the northern foot of the Bear River Mountains. It was named for the springs which are naturally carbonated and continue bubbling up to this day. Early pioneers believed the springs held curative powers for what ever ailed you. The town has the only geyser in Idaho. Right in the middle of the town, it erupts hourly to fifty feet or so. The geyser was created when a well driller searching for hot water for a swimming pool hit a pocket under extreme carbon dioxide pressure which erupted. President Teddy Roosevelt told them to cap it as he was worried it would drain water away from Old Faithful some 200 miles to the north.

The Soda Springs economy is driven by very large phosphate mining operations. Both Monsanto and Simplot mine there. One of the environmental managers for Monsanto belongs to the Rotary club and is justifiably proud of their treatment of the environment.

The Rotarians put me up at the historic Enders Hotel in downtown Soda Springs. Built around 1920, it has been lovingly restored and is worth a visit just to stay in the hotel. Half the hotel is a museum and the other half is a bed and breakfast. This looks like great mountain bike country. My wife Amy and I will plan a trip back with our bikes to stay in the Enders Hotel and play in the local mountains.

The Soda Spring Rotary club is one of our growing clubs with membership at 22, up from 17 five years ago. Like all Rotary clubs, it is highly active in supporting the town through fireworks at the 4th of July parade, dictionaries for the third graders, blood drives, scholarships, senior citizen help and international water and micro bank projects.

I'll blog next about Soda's neighbor, Montpelier.

**********

Travels with Kevin, Where did the time go?

2009-10-18T11:08:00.001-07:00

Wow! Amy told me I would run into a wall by trying to blog about every Rotary Club in Southern Idaho and Eastern Idaho...all of sudden I've made eight more club visits with writing about them. My apologies to those clubs. They are all terrific, but I just ran out of time and steam to write about them all. So here are short pieces about each club:

Boise Metro. 100% Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY). This means 100% of their members give something to the Rotary Foundation each year. I presented six Paul Harris Fellowships at my visit, three new PHF's and and three multiples.

Boise Sunrise. Working on ten international projects, surely the most active internationally of any club in the District. They give a $50 gift to the Rotary Foundation in the name of each new member to help them start on their way as Paul Harris sustainers ($100/year).

Western Treasure Valley (Ontario). Holds a very large rose sale each year which raises about $8000, all of which they give back in scholarships. Sister club with Durban, South Africa.

Emmett. One of our most active small town Rotary Clubs. They just completed the Visioning process and have written a dynamite five-year plan which you can read by clicking here.

Meridian. They've run "Bossy Bingo" for years. Put Bossy the cow into a gridded field, sell chances on the squares and wait for Bossy to do her thing. They make about $7000 a year which goes to scholarships. They are beginning a "Service Above Self" essay competition in local schools.

East Idaho Falls. They sponsor an Interact Club which was the Club of the Year in the local high school. They collect used cell phones and printer cartridges that they turn into gift cards. The gift cards are given to the teachers when the celebrate Teacher of the Month.

Pocatello Centennial. They are hosting both an inbound Ambassadorial Scholar and a Youth Exchange student from Spain. They have been instrumental in developing the Pocatello Greenway along the Portneuf River as well as a number of urban parks.

Preston. This 86-year-old club is the heart and soul of the annual 4th of July celebration where they put on the parade, feed the crowd and produce the fireworks show.

**********

We don’tlet children die because it is fatiguing to save them.”

2009-10-10T15:14:00.000-07:00

District Governor Elect Terry Gilbert attended his Governor Elect training at the Zone Institute in Oklahoma City last week. This is his third of three reports from that institute.

October 4, 2009

“We must have no tolerance to lose!” Dr. Bruce Aylward

Tired of the battle against polio?

Are you a Western cynic who believes polio will never be defeated?

Had you heard Dr Bruce Aylward as he addressed the Rotarians gathered in Oklahoma City for the Rotary Zone Institute on October 3, you would have been proud of the work of Rotary International. And you would have been filled with hope.

What was the message from the director of the World Health Organization’s Global Polio Eradication initiative?

The polio virus has existed since the beginning of time. But, we are winning!

There are only five zones in four countries where polio has never been stopped, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria (PAIN). But, there has been significant progress in these countries in just the last six months.

Rotary has an organization that no other institution can match. Rotary is key to winning this fight!

Yes, fighting polio is a tough job. “But, we must have no tolerance to lose!”

Dr. Aylward then talked in specific terms about the progress we are making against polio.

Nigeria Then – In 2003 government officials and clerics the northern state of Kano, resisted allowing WHO & Rotary from vaccinating children because the vaccine “…is part of a United States-led conspiracy to de-populate the developing world,” according to a leading Muslim cleric who spoke to BBC in 2003.

Nigeria Now – The Governor of Kano who joined the resistance against vaccination in 2003, has personally vaccinated his 8-year old daughter and is allowing all other children to be vaccinated. In the last 6 months, no Type 1 polio has emerged in Nigeria, thanks to Rotary’s patience and perseverance in overcoming resistance of both the government and clerics, said Dr. Aylward.

In India - Polio remains in the Kosi River Basin, home to 10 million people who experience flooding each year but have no health services. Bill Gates paid tribute to efforts in the state's hard-to-reach Kosi River. "I have a new appreciation for how challenging it is to vaccinate every child in the Kosi River embankment. However, we cannot let the polio eradication effort stall because it is difficult. ”

Afghanistan & Pakistan - War and mobile populations make these two countries difficult to address. However, Rotary International, WHO and UNICEF have jointly created a 4-point plan with health and government officials of the two countries.

· Joint appointment of community influencers to overcome security issues
· Microplanning of immunization efforts and mapping of border areas by the two countries
· Regular contact between health officials and exchange of technical data
· Assessing the need for new vaccination posts in border areas

The government of Pakistan has also infused the polio eradication program with a focused campaign of money and the naming of Asifa, the daughter of slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, as the head of the eradication effort.

Finally, Dr. Aylward asked Rotarians to apply the Four Way Test to the question of whether the struggle against polio is justified. My answer? “Yes, it is!”

As Bill Gates said recently about eradicating polio, “Eradicating a disease is hard, slow, painstakingwork. But failure is no alternative at all – we don’tlet children die because it is fatiguing to save them.”

If you'd like to know about the Rotary Polio eradication effort, information is available on our the Rotary International web site.

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

Rotary Youth Exchange letter from Spain

2009-10-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Rotary District 5400,

I have loved every single moment of this month in Alicante, Spain. Even though I miss lots of people back home, I have yet to feel homesick. I have gone to the beach every day and I’m starting to get some mad tan lines

School is great, and my family is awesome! Something I’ve noticed is that at school there are no cliques or groups of friends; everybody in my class are friends with one another.

A lot of the people are friendly and almost always say ‘buenos dias’ or ‘ buenos tardes’ as I walk by on the street. Another thing I’ve noticed is that my Spanish is getting better everyday as my English steadily worsens.

The food is so delicious, every time my host mother cooks I feel like I’m at a fancy restaurant. I’ve also joined a Spanish soccer team in my neighborhood. Most everything is positive. But not everything...

Challenges I’ve overcome:

Asking for help from strangers
Eating seafood
Getting lost (not always a bad thing, it’s gorgeous here)
Looking at young topless women at the beach
Embarrassing myself
Being lonely
Using lots and lots of sign language
Staring at the Spanish girls at school
Using lots and lots of sign language to communicate with the Spanish girls at school
Occasional headaches from trying to understand Spanish
Occasional headaches from trying to understand Catalan (dialect)
Occasional headaches from trying to understand Valenciano (dialect)
Taking siestas :-)
Missing out on life back home
Missing my family and friends back home

I keep looking forward to the next day. I just remember to smile. A smile usually fixes all the problems.

I’ll have to cut this email short because my family is going to the beach!! Hasta luego!

If you'd like to know about the Rotary Youth Exchange, information is available on our web site.

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

Rotary Youth Exchange Letters from Brazil and Austria

2009-10-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

This continues our blog posts quoting letters from our Youth Exchange students now studying in other countries.

Olá. Tudo bem?

Things are going great in Brazil. I love it here and I am so glad that this is where I ended up. If I had known what it was like here, this country would have been at the top of my list when we circled our choices in Buhl!

Brazil is absolutely beautiful…even my town, which has a pretty good balance of poverty vs. middle and upper class and isn't quite as clean as what I'm used to, is "bonita." The tropical climate makes everything green and lush. One of my favorite things is seeing the huge blue parrots or toucans flying around town.

Everything is extremely different. They have just as many bicycles and motorcycles as they do cars, and school is really nothing like school in the US. I'd have to say the best thing about Brazil, though, is the people. They are open minded and very affectionate. Everyone is eager to talk to each other and they love to joke around with each other, so it's easy to find friends!

This coming month is a very exciting one. I am traveling with my school to an amusement park during the first week and then the next week my host family is taking me to the capital, Campo Grande, to see a live soccer game. Brazil vs. Venezuela. At the end of the month I have my first tour with Rotary to the Pantanal/Bonito.

I am learning the language fairly quickly. I am really glad that I knew a fair amount of Spanish and then worked on my Portuguese with Rosetta Stone before I came. I am speaking more Portuguese than the other exchange students in my district. However, some of them are understanding more than I. For example, I made a friend from Mexico and she understands nearly everything that is said but can't say as much because she gets the words mixed up with Spanish and Portuguese. It's nice to have friends that are exchange students as well, though, because we are all going through the same things and we are helping each other learn the language.

The obstacles I have faced are more or less what we talked about at our orientation meetings back in Idaho. I get frustrated when I get lost trying to follow a conversation or when I misunderstand what someone said and respond in a way that makes no sense which is then followed by laughter. But everyone is eager to help, so I just laugh with them and let them correct my Portuguese. It's all part of the learning process.

Overall, I feel like my exchange is going well and is going to get better and better as my Portuguese improves. Thank you for giving me this opportunity! I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Tchau Tchau,

Dear Rotary District 5400,

When I first got here I had major jet lag, but I was happy because my host family speaks excellent English and on the way home from the airport, we stopped at my host grandparent's house. They live less than 1/4 mile away from my house and I go there for lunch everyday after school. My house doesn't have a single TV, but that has encouraged me to get out and do more stuff.

After a week of being here, I went to language camp which was the funnest (is that a word?) two weeks of my life. There are about 70 inbounds here coming from North America, South America, Australia, and even a few from Europe, so I made a lot of friend. I have 13 or 14 friends living in the city that is 5 minutes from my house so I get to hang out with them a lot.

I have also made some friends in school. My class has 30 people in it and they are all really nice. In fact, once I'm done with this email, I'm going to go hang out with a bunch of them.

I get to go on a trip to Italy with them from the 4th of October to the 10th. They are all so great and whenever they see me they say "... from Idaho!"

I haven't really faced any problems here because I can always find someone that speaks English to help me if I don't understand something. The only problem I have is that my Rotary Club here hasn't contacted me yet but I talked to Ingrid Zeller and she said she would take care of it.

I hope all the inbounds and other Outbounds are having fun.

Bis später,

If you'd like to know about the Rotary Youth Exchange, information is available on our web site.

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

Update from Belgium

2009-10-10T13:58:00.000-07:00

Here's a report from an Idaho Youth Exchange student from Meridian who is living for the year in Belgium.

Oct 2, 2009

Well the first month and a half or so has been going great. I think getting used to the different culture, food, etc. is not the hardest part, but getting used to it alone.

I have had to make all new friendships and start off fresh with everyone and everyone thinks on a different wavelength than I do, but the people here are so welcoming and nice so it’s been going well. The food is really great, and I love the waffles with chunks of sugar and coats of chocolate!

It’s a lot smaller here than Meridian, but I think that’s kind of a good thing because here I can walk or bike anywhere in town. Going to different towns is kind of a drag because I have to take the train and it costs money, but it’s still kind of fun to take the train.

I’m still getting used to not being as independent as I was at home, I have to build a new foundation of trust with my host parents and I can’t drive so that’s an adjustment. I don’t like having to rely on other people to get me places, but it’s fine, I think that’s probably another good reason it is so small here, I can rely on my feet.

My French is coming along, I’m beginning to think in it, and talking in it is now a habit. Some of my friends will sometimes say things in English to me (or strangers do) but I still always respond in French. It’s very natural to hear French now, even though I still don’t understand all of it, I like it a lot. That may be one of my favorite things…the language change, and also in school I’m learning Dutch, German, and Spanish and it’s really fun. Those classes are actually my easiest because I don’t really have to understand that much French, I just have to learn the new language with everyone else.

The other exchange students that came here with the Rotary are really great, too. I try not to hang out with them too much because we usually speak English, but yesterday was my friend Caroline’s birthday. (She’s from Mexico) So when I went to her birthday party it was with a lot of kids from South America and they were speaking a lot of Spanish to each other and they were speaking French with me, because one of the girls has already been here for 7 months and the other one studied it before she came here too. I’m going to try and learn as much Spanish as I can while I am here. Also, my host mum speaks it fluently and a lot of the exchange kids speak it so that should help.

I also really love how close everything is here, for example, in October I’m going with the Art Acadamie to Paris for the day, it’s so easy to travel.

It’s hard here getting used to all the hills, because it is very hilly, in Meridian and Boise it’s pretty much just flat. Especially when I go running and I have to tackle the hills, it’s a pain, but I’m getting used to it and it’s becoming natural. They have a lot of stairs here in Belgium too. My room is on the third floor in our house, so I’m also adapting to lots of stairs. I really love it here and I am very much looking forward to the rest of the year.

If you'd like to know about the Rotary Youth Exchange, information is available on our web site.

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

Rotary Peace Scholars

2009-10-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

District Governor Elect Terry Gilbert is attending training at the Zone Institute in Oklahoma City. This is his third dispatch from Oklahoma.

You have one minute to decide the three items you will take because you must flee your home. Members of the neighboring tribe are coming to kill you. What will those items be?

The above challenge was voiced today to 300 Rotarians at the Zone Institute by Ms. J. M. Vulnovich, the 2006-2007 Rotary Peace Fellow and 2003 Ambassadorial Scholar, as she added realism to life and death struggles in conflict ridden countries.

So, I pose her same question to you. What three items would you take?

Personal identification?
A weapon for self-protection?
Food?

Now quick. Rush out the back door as the killers from a neighboring tribe enter the front door. What have you forgotten? What about the deed to your house so you can prove ownership later to displace the squatters?

Ms. Vulnovich’s startling question captured the imagination of her audience as we struggled in the safety of a downtown Oklahoma City hotel to imagine the horror of such a decision.

As we listened to her experiences with refugees, we learned that Rotary International created seven International Centers for studies in peace and conflict resolution in 1999, as part of its ongoing efforts to achieve national and international peace. While war, famine, poverty and disease are rampant worldwide, Rotary Centers give scholars the knowledge and tools to combat these obstacles.

Rotary designates 70 scholars from approximately 1,500 applications each year. Scholars obtain a two-year master’s-level degree in international relations, with the focus on the roots of conflict and successful resolution of the world’s problems. Scholars must commit to a career devoted to national and international cooperation and cross-cultural understanding.

These scholarships are for two academic years and include round-trip transportation, tuition and fees, room, board and other limited expenses. Ms. Vulinovich has completed her M.A. in Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

Later in the evening, Carolyn, my wife, and I had an opportunity to talk to Ms. Vulnovich who has worked with the International Refugee Committee in Boise. She was an impressive speaker, holding the interest of her audience and building enthusiasm for this important work of Rotary.

Ms. Vulinovich, one of 400 Peace Scholars Rotary has produced, is now pursuing a Juris Doctorate at the University of Arizona. She intends to focus her skills in the fields of refugee protection, conflict resolution or post-conflict justice institution building.

I am proud to a member of Rotary which has the vision to work on peace. Aren’t you?

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

You Have to be Taught to Hate

2009-10-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

District Governor Elect Terry Gilbert is attending the Zone Institute in Oklahoma City where he is receiving training in becoming a District Governor. This is his second dispatch from OK.

SEPT. 30, 2009 – Day Two

Dr. Roger Whitcomb, Rotarian, author and professor emeritus of international relations and foreign policy studies at Kutztown University, Pennsylvania, spoke to 300 Rotarians tonight about Rotary in a conflicted world. Alluding to lyrics from the musical, “South Pacific,” he reminded us, “You have to be taught how to hate.”

Teaching people to dehumanize and hate others to the point of subjugating them with sexual violence as happens between husband and wives in Afghanistan, for instance, or committing horrible acts of warfare on the other - a world-wide phenomenon – is the challenge of our age, he said.

“Wars begin in the minds of men,” he reminded us. Visions of violence are spread by poverty and illiteracy, yes, in our own country, as well as others.

“There will be no peace without solving the problem of poverty,” Dr. Whitcomb warned.

Was his speech an accounting of the bleak future of mankind? No. While humankind is at a major turning point, one organization stands ready to remake the world. “Everything we do in Rotary ultimately leads to peace,” said Dr. Whitcomb who has served as a GSE leader, participated in National Immunization Days to India, overseen several Adopt-a-Village initiatives in Sri Lanka and Thailand, and been part of two Rotaplast missions to Venezuela. .

The man is not just talk.

After the speech in a private conversation, I thanked Dr. Whitcomb for his excellent presentation but reminded him that while his academic perspective was international, he gave his speech in Oklahoma City, the site of the deadly bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995 that killed 168 and injured 680 just a few blocks from our hotel. The perpetrators? Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, American born terrorists.

Further, American citizens are witnessing heated political rhetoric, a display of guns at town hall meetings and dehumanizing language of late, ominous signs.

What can Rotary do about creating a peaceful America?

The husband of a retired middle school principal, Dr.Whitcomb immediately talked about Rotary clubs sponsoring anti-bullying programs in our schools.

My conversation was not extensive enough to delve into his other thoughts, but I liked what he said about anti-bullying efforts because it is something that District 5400 clubs can do “tomorrow.” Through partnerships with educators, Rotarians can lead the way into peace and conflict resolution on school grounds.

I was reminded of what Dr. Whitcomb had said earlier in his speech to us: “Good ideas need champions.”

Expect to hear more from me about anti-bullying efforts as a worthy project for our clubs.

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

Tsunami and Earthquates--How can Rotarians Help?

2009-10-01T18:29:00.000-07:00

I received this message from Shelterboxes, a Rotary partner that provides a rapid response shelter kits for tragedies such as the Tsunami in Samoa and the earthquakes in Sumatra.

This week a succession of catastrophic large scale disasters has hit areas around the Pacific, leaving thousands without shelter. This series of unprecedented and devastating tsunamis, typhoons & earthquakes hit the Pacific leaving entire communities in need of help. ShelterBox International Disaster Relief organization and the largest global Rotary club project in the world desperately needs donations to responds rapidly. Many Rotarian volunteers are packing in the warehouse and preparing to deliver aid.

The Indonesian island of Sumatra has been struck by two earthquakes in less than 24 hours. Yesterday, the first earthquake caused buildings to collapse and fires to rage in the city of Padang. A second earthquake hit the island early this morning, causing further devastation. ShelterBox prepares to send volunteers and boxes

On Tuesday, an 8.3 magnitude earthquake caused a large tsunami that crashed into Western Somoa, American Somoa and many other islands in the South Pacific. The islands have been left shattered, with thousands of homes destroyed and a rising death toll. Again ShelterBox has sent a team of volunteers to assist.

Over the weekend the Philippines was hit by the hugely destructive Typhoon Onday (Ketsana), ShelterBox immediately sent a team of volunteers who have witnessed thousands of people evacuated to churches and municipal buildings, conditions are unimaginable. This has been described as ‘one of the most damaging storms of recent years’ for this region.

General Manager Lasse Petersen says, “This been an been one of ShelterBox’s most challenging set of deployments to date and we are urgently appealing for donations to enable us to alleviate the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people across the globe who have lost everything in the last week.”

Donations are greatly needed. We hope you can help spread this message so more Rotarians and the general public can help. Go to www.shelterboxusa.org for more information and to donate.

Thank you for your support.

Ideas! Ideas! Ideas! A Report from DGE Terry Gilbert at the Zone Institute

2009-10-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

District Governor Elect Terry Gilbert and his wife Carolyn are attending the Zone Institute in Oklahoma City this week. Zones are collections of Rotary Districts. Each zone produces an institute which is a training program for future district governors and District Foundation Committee Chairs. Idaho readers will recall we had the Institute in Idaho last fall.

I invited Terry to send us dispatches from Oklahoma. The following is his first posting.

How many ideas are packed into a Rotary International meeting for District Governor Elects from Zones 21B and 27?

Plenty!

Twenty-two future Rotary governors from far-flung Western and Mid-West states have been trading stories, swilling coffee (and stronger brew) and wrestling with issues about serving effectively during their Rotary year starting July 1, 2010.

Here is an accounting of some of the provocative ideas that emerged today, useful not only to District 5400 leaders but also club leaders.

Annual District Conference

Provide a financial break to those who attend the conference for the first time. That way, a District may encourage younger members to attend.

Hold a “Youth District Conference” in conjunction with the regular conference. Ask the youth to serve breakfast.

Governor’s Call Center
Create a phone tree so messages can go quickly from the governor to the leaders of clubs and then to membership. (E-mail is not always effective. Personal phone calls can be powerful.)

Strategic Plan for the District and the Clubs
Create a strategic plan that will guide the district for 3-5 years by tapping the wisdom of current and past leaders and non-Rotarian community members. Review the plan intermittently. (What’s your vision for District 5400? For your club?)

Identifying Future Leaders for Our District

District Leadership On-Line Seminars. Is your district always scrambling for future governors? Adopt a Rotary on-line seminar to train future leaders, an idea our district adopted years ago but dropped.

Ask for Applications. One district sent a request to a dozen potential governors encouraging them to apply. Several did so from which the district chose several top candidates.

Club Leadership Plan
RI does not mandate the new Club Leadership Plan but clubs are encouraged to make their organization more effective by doing so.

Increasing the Website and Newsletter Readership
One enterprising district embeds a reward statement in the later paragraphs of a newsletter promising that the alert reader can claim a cash prize.

Selecting the Right People
How important is it to select the right team of people in the right positions on the district (and club) level? In the book Good to Great the author recommends that we get the right people on the bus, get the right people in the right seats and get the wrong people off the bus. It’s an honor to be chosen by a district or club to be a part of the district leadership, including committee positions.

CLOSING WITH HUMOR
Said our attorney keynote speaker at breakfast, “There is only one lawyer joke. All the rest are true.”

Idaho Students on Rotary Exchanges to Other Countries

2009-09-26T12:21:00.000-07:00

I wrote earlier about our Youth Exchange program and our in bound students from other countries. We are now beginning to hear from our Idaho students about their early experiences in their new countries. Below is a sampling of their letters home. I've deliberately left the names off to protect their privacy.

We are now recruiting Idaho students who would like to spend next year studying in another country. Additional information is available on our web site.

From a young woman in Brazil: It’s taken some time to adapt to having a new family, home, and social network beyond the obvious language barrier. I grow more and more fond of my family here daily; my host father, Hermon, is a real jokester; Sabrina, minha mae, is energetic and kind. And, my host brother is adorable although he still speaks too quickly for us to talk much. The first week here in Teixeira I didn’t go school, but rather slept and got my bearings about me. My host father speaks a bit of English, but not enough for me to cheat and speak English at home (which is really a blessing in disguise; although the first week was a huge wake up call!!!) The first week I also focused on learning important words. Some came easier than others. For example, I quickly learned the word for knife (faca… haha), but learning the word for spoon (colher) took 3 days.

The second week, I started school. The schedule is as follows:

I get up every morning at 6 am and start school at 7 am! It’s an early day. I go to school via car with a girl who lives a few houses down; she lived in the US for 7 years so her English is really good and she is a true safety net for me here. School is a lot different than the US (Rotary: “It’s not better, it’s not worse, it’s just different”). I have 6 classes a day which rotate depending on the day...biology, chemistry, physics, geometry, English, Spanish, history, geography etc. This is only my second week of classes, but I already feel like I am starting to understand more things. It’s also nice that I’ve also already done everything we are learning so, despite the language barrier, I generally catch on. The Spanish I took at home is also helping me to understand vocabulary and grammatical concepts (although the pronunciation throws me off). I am enjoying chemistry and biology classes the most because the teachers are animated and the material itself is interesting. History is by far the most challenging... followed by Portuguese grammar. I find Spanish class here amusing because I think of it as a nice break from the constant Portuguese. That’s always a good sign when you consider a second language a “break.” As a matter of fact, I sent my Spanish teacher at home an email thanking her for making us do so much reading in Spanish class this past year. It’s helping a lot! (Gracias, Profe.)

School ends at 12:30 pm and I return home on foot to eat lunch with my family. After lunch I have the afternoon to myself which is REALLY nice. I generally take a nap, study Portuguese on Rosetta Stone (I spend a lot of time studying with this computer program and it is helping a lot), or I mess around on the Internet, which doesn’t always work. The other day was the first time I’d left the house to go be with friends....whom I am starting to make. Dandara is my best friend from school. She is very patient and speaks to me slowly in Portuguese. She also knows quite a bit of English so when I get really stuck she can generally help me to say the correct word. I admire her patience with me; and she’s always willing to look up a word we can’t figure out in my dictionary (Frances, I can’t believe I almost forgot a dictionary!) It’s hard to communicate with other classmates because they speak very rapidly and with a lot of slang.

From a student in Taiwan: Wow! A lot has happened in the last month, a lot! I feel like I'm learning more and more Chinese all the time but I don't know how accurate that is... There are some funny differences with the way things translate. "I'm sorry" is pronounced dway-bu-chi, which directly translates into "yes-no-up". Another funny thing about Taiwan is this country is where music comes to die. That is not a joke. I walk into any store or restaurant and I will here music (blasting at full volume) that I haven't heard since I was at a seventh grade dance or something. definitely hits from the late 1990's

I'm really starting to love it here, and I'm almost accustomed to the humidity now. My host family makes me feel like I fit right in. I'm really just another member of the family which is great!

For the Rotary Exchange Student Inbound Orientation I met kids from all over that are in my district. It was great finding out that the coolest German (Simon) and the coolest Brazilian (Andre) are attending the same school as me, Dong Fang Business and Engineering Vocational High School. Andre's English is so flawless that when I first talked to him I thought for sure he was from the USA. When we registered for school a few days later Andre and I laughed super hard when the vice principal told us that the girls here are aggressive. I don't know if I would agree with her on that, I think I have more guys groping me, it gets awkward. Once school had started I realized how lucky I was to grow up in the US, the public school system is amazing, anyone that went to Capital High School had no idea how good they had it there. I miss Capital. And here we have to wear uniforms, its no bueno (or bu hao) either one works for me. And there was a 4 day period where I had to wear a mask to school because of the H1-N1 scare, stupid swine flu.

At school I got the Taiwan version of sex ed, I wont go into detail but it was definitely more explicit than in the US and awkward...wow...

I'll post more excerpts from our outbound Youth Exchange experiences over the next few weeks. If you'd like to know about the Rotary Youth Exchange, information is available on our web site.

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

A Week Off from Rotary...sort of

2009-09-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

Every year at this time I go back to the Minneapolis St. Paul area for the annual conference of Rain Source Capital. In my spare time (ha!) I work with Rain Source Capital to try to provide risk capital for promising Idaho entrepreneurs. We currently provide this through the Boise Angel Fund in the Treasure Valley. Some day it's my professional goal that we'll have funds to support local high potential entrepreneurs all over our state.

I have a very close friend, John Frobenius, who lives in St. Cloud, about an hour and a half north of the Twin Cities. Folks in Jerome and Rupert will remember John accompanying me on my official visits to their clubs in July. Each year I try to go a day or two early and play golf with John. Then we drive together to the conference in the cities. So, I planned no District 5400 visits this week. I have plenty of makeups and thought the Rotary gods might forgive me if I skipped going to Rotary.

Not to be. John took me to his club, the St. Cloud Rotary Club, a club of about 100 members in this neat little city of about 75,000 on the banks of the Mississippi River. What an inspiration this club is. Those 100 members last year gave a bit more than $30,000 to the Rotary Foundation, around $300 per capita.

Here are a couple of tidbits I picked up. Like many of our Rotary clubs, they clean up a section of local highway. Then they give a prize for the most unique item "you can talk about" picked up during their clean up day. I gather they've turned this mundane task into quite a fun event. They welcomed a new member with a delightful little ceremony where the President gave a short talk (couple of minutes perhaps) on what Rotary means and why they are pleased to have another individual share their values. They also announced it was time to think about the 2012-13 presidency of their club and invited nominations of members including self nominations. And they had a pitch on the next International Convention in Montreal.

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

Boise Centennial Rotary Club

2009-09-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

The Boise Centennial Rotary Club was spun out of the Boise Sunrise Club in 2007. It was our first new club since Eagle/Garden City was formed in 1997. Since then we chartered Pocatello Portneuf last spring and are now working on getting Eagle Rock in Idaho Falls and Boise East chartered.

New clubs often attract younger members, and Boise Centennial is no exception. They are filled with young, enthusiastic members, led by Will Glasgow. They have a wonderful spirit and I loved being with them. I enjoyed speaking to this group of morning people at 7:00 am last Thursday, September 17.

When I met with the board the evening before, one thing they made very clear is that this club is going to have FUN no matter what they do. For example, they are going to raise money for their literacy work with their "Flush Away Illiteracy" project. Without giving it all away, the fund raiser will involve the strategic placement of toilets at various inappropriate places. You will be able insure against receiving one of these beauties for an appropriate contribution to their club.

They are searching for their signature project. Last year they gave dictionaries to one school. This year they will cover three as we work to blanket all of the Treasure Valley schools. As I left the meeting, they were discussing how they could be more involved with one of their schools. I look forward to watching what they do this year.

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

A New Paul Harris Fellow

2009-09-16T17:01:00.000-07:00

We Rotarians honor people by making them Paul Harris fellows. Paul Harris was the founder of Rotary and a Paul Harris Fellowship is recognition of giving to the Rotary Foundation, our charity which supports our international work.

My wife Amy Stahl belongs to the Boise Southwest Club where I made my official visit on September 16. It was my privilege and honor to present a Paul Harris Fellowship to Amy's son Quinn. Quinn is 12 years old, a sixth grader and a terrific young man. He led a fund raising effort last year to raise money for autism, a condition which afflicts his younger brother.

It's always a pleasure for me to visit this club. It was the second of five (soon to be six) Boise clubs and spun out of my club, the original Boise club. Naturally there is always good natured kidding and joking when I visit the club. They believe I belong to the Old Man's Club. Naturally I take exception to chacterization.

I admire this club. They are as active as any of our clubs in the district. They have adopted Whittier Elementary school which has a preponderance of low income students. They provide books for the library, provide transportation for swim lessons at the YMCA for the kids and put on a Christmas party for them.

Their signature project is providing Christmas food and gift baskets to low income families with a family member under treatment for cancer at MSTI, our local cancer treatment facility at St. Luke's Hospital. Eyes were wet as Vice President Terry Bowman told me about this activity at our board meeting the night before.

They have had a special relationship with children in Afghanistan through the military service of the son of member David Hawk.

They clean the Green Belt (and were busted for drinking beer as part of the clean up activity), help with the refugee garden, support the Food Bank, participate in the Dictionary Project, conduct mock interviews with Life's Kitchen students, gave beds to the Veteran's Home and are working on a program to help terminally ill orphans in Africa.

One of their members, Janet Worthington has made two Rotary trips to Thailand where she and her husband have taught English. This resulted in a team of Thai teachers making a visit to Boise.

They are in the top ten clubs in both per capita and total giving to our Foundation having raised last year in excess of $13,000. And they are one of our only clubs with more members today (113) than they had ten years ago (103).

What a pleasure to visit this inspiring club.

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

Pocatello Gate City Club

2009-09-13T14:47:00.000-07:00

I met Tuesday morning, September 8 with the board of the Pocatello-Gate City Club and made my official visit to the club that noon.

The picture is of the board including (beginning far right and going counter clockwise) Lisa Armijo, President; Rick Excell, Board Member; Matt Creamer, Past President; Jim Park, Vice President; Jerry Myers, President Elect; Dave Packer, International Committee Chair and Secretary/Treasurer Justine Buffaloe. I'm next to Justine. The picture was taken by Gate City member and Assistant Governor Alan Stanek.

The Gate City Club is one of our rare clubs that has increased its membership over the last decade. In 2003 they had 50 members. Today they have 62 with a goal of 69 by our June 30, 2010 year end. How do they do this? Simple. They have a culture of asking people to join their club. And they are a very active club that gets people involved quickly.

They are strong supporters of the Rotary Foundation. Here's their per capita giving for the last three years under the leadership of Rotary Foundation Chair Oli Devaud:

2007 $25.35
2008 $98.41
2009 $120.00

In addition they have supported our our campaign to eliminate polio with a gift of $1750 last year and a target of $2000 this year.

Man, are they busy. They put up and take down flags for local businesses for the major holidays. Businesses pay them a fee to do this. They run a casino night. They sell food at the Zoo Fair. They run a 50/50 drawing each week and of course assess the usual assortment of fines.

These fund raisers provide the resources for a variety of community and international projects. They support our literacy initiative by giving away 1200 dictionaries to local third graders. They give away scholarships to college bound high school graduates. They support the local book wagon which takes books out to kids in the parks. They read to kids.

They support our clean water initiative and have participated with other District 5400 clubs in water projects in Ecuador.

Taysom Rotary Park is their baby. At the moment they are saving money to purchase new playground equipment.

They received three District Simplified Grants last year. They received three because some of our clubs didn't submit applications. The Grants Committee therefore accepted additional applications from clubs that had already received grant.

They help the hungry by buying milk for the backpack program where children are sent home with backpacks filled with food for the weekend.

And they painted a home during the annual Paint Fest.

Whew! I know I missed some of what this hyper-active club does. Thanks Pocatello-Gate City for showing all of us what a quality Rotary Club can be.

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

Dinner by the Lake

2009-09-10T13:33:00.000-07:00

I hope I don't offend any of our other Rotarians, but the McCall Rotarians are blessed with the most incredible views in our district!

The McCall board led by President Jim Bates, Assistant Governor Nina Gammons (Western Treasure Valley) and I had dinner in the once private Shore Lodge. We had a delicious dinner overlooking Payette Lake as the sun set. The view, the light and the companionship were all terrific.

Wow! As a kid I visited Shore Lodge frequently with my family and like so many other folks from the western part of our district have very fond memories of the place. As you may know, it was converted to a private club for a while. Recently local investors bought it back and have opened it to the public. What a magnificent place.

The next day I made my official visit to the club. They meet at the McCall senior center. Volunteers fix the food. You're thinking tuna casserole--but you are wrong. Chicken cordon blue. It's a wonder the entire club hasn't gained 50 pounds a piece.

As many clubs do, McCall runs a 50/50 drawing. At the beginning of the drawing a card is selected from a deck of cards. You buy a ticket. If your ticket is picked then you get to draw a card from the deck. If you draw the requisite card, you win half the pot and the club keeps the other half. The total pot was up to about $3500. Rotarians were buying tickets like they were for a $250 million Power Ball jackpot. I was seriously in jeopardy of losing control of the group--who wants to listen to a District Governor when you might win $1750. I prevailed upon President Jim to delay the drawing until after my talk. No one left!

McCall is a tremendous supporter of education. They give a $250 book scholarship to every graduating senior who goes on to post high school education of some type. Last spring they also gave away $6500 in traditional scholarships. They have a career day for the students and they give dictionaries to the third graders in Cascade, McCall and New Meadows. This year they sponsored four (of our ten) outbound youth exchange students. They give the speaker a children's book to sign which is then given to the schools in the name of the speaker.

They have the benefit of a little event called the Winter Carnival. They sell Marti Gras beads and chorizos during the Winter Carnival. These sales provide the profits that enable them to support education so strongly.

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

Small Rotary Clubs are Incredible

2009-09-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

I think I have written about this before--small clubs usually are very service oriented. We don't have a service project per capita statistic, but if we did, Eagle/Garden City in the Treasure Valley would win it. They have 17 members, meet around one table each Thursday noon.

When I made my official visit week before last, President Gene DeLaveaga announced that they had just placed their order for about 750 dictionaries for all the third grade classes this little club intends to cover.

They have adopted a grade school where they read to and mentor kids. They buy presents for these students and hold a Christmas party for them. Rumor is that the illustrious Dr. Robin Dodson makes a dynamite Santa.

They work with the Eagle Academy, an Meridian School District alternative high school. Once a quarter they bring several Eagle Academy students to their meeting. They set up a head table, and put the kids at the head table while the Rotarians sit at the regular table. Then each teenager is invited to tell his or her story and is recognized by the Rotary Club. These are kids that don't often get singled out for praise and it's a powerful experience to be at their club when they do this.

They participate in international projects and support the Rotary Foundation. 12 of their 16 members are Paul Harris Fellows, including six who achieved that status last year and one more this August.

Under President Gene's leadership the club has committed to a 67% increase in their membership during this Rotary year. If you are interested in a small, but very active Rotary club in the Eagle/Garden City area, this is the club for you.

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

What the heck is a Paul Harris Fellow?

2009-09-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

We Rotarians have a foundation, called appropriately enough, the Rotary Foundation. Each year Rotarians all over the world support our foundation to the tune of about $100 million which we use to help with hunger, clean water, health and literacy.

We ask all Rotarians to contribute at least $25 a quarter, or $100 a year. When a Rotarian has contributed a total of $1000, we name her or him a Paul Harris Fellow. This recognition is named after the founder of Rotary.

I was really pleased to visit the Canyon Sunrise club last week and during my official visit present four Paul Harris fellowships to members of the club. President Bob Larson (one of the recipients) asked all of the Paul Harris Fellows in their club to wear their Paul Harris medallions. 19 of their 26 members are now Paul Harris fellows. The photo is of the 11 Paul Harris Fellows taken at that meeting on August 27.

Like most of our smaller clubs, Canyon Sunrise is very active in service. They built their own cook trailer complete with stove, gas and serving station. During Snake River Stampede Days in Nampa they cook breakfast as their own fund raiser. The rest of the year they haul their trailer to various locations, cook breakfast and give the proceeds to the school or charity where they are cooking.

Rotary is an international organization of more than 1.2 million members who believe in the concept of Service Above Self. We believe by working together on hunger, clean water, literacy and health, without regard to religious or political views, we can make the world a better place. You can learn more about Rotary worldwide at www.rotary.org and about Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon at www.rotary5400.org.

Quack Quack

2009-08-31T13:52:00.001-07:00

Those folks in the Wood River Valley know how to raise money. Two weeks I wrote about the Hailey club and its Road Apple Roulette. This week it is about the Ketchum/Sun Valley Rotary Club which meets ten miles futher up the Wood River from Hailey.

I made my official visit the Ketchum/Sun Valley Rotary club last week. They are in the midst of their preparation for their annual Duck Race. They sell chances on rubber (plastic?) duckies, dump up to thirty thousand of them into the Wood River at Rotary Park in Ketchum and see which ones make it to the finish line first. They too make around a $50,000 profit on this fund raiser, thanks to the generosity of those who buy the ducks as well as all the sponsors they recruit. They use the proceeds to fund college scholarships and a host of other activities. Learn more on their facebook page and at the separate web site they have set up. Help them out--sponsor a duck or even a Quack Pak of six ducks. They are worried that because of the economy, their sales will be down this year.

Ketchum/Sun Valley has a spring fund raiser that they are working on. Called the Baldy Balderdash, individuals buy chances on an opportunity to bring 100 of their friends to Bald Mountain for a private day on the mountain the day after the ski season closes. They cancelled this last year due to the economy but are wanting to revive it. They are considering offering participation in this fund raiser to other clubs, so if you think your club might be interested in this, get in touch with club president Ben Varner (his email and contact information are available to other Rotarians through the district web site).

Ketchum/Sun Valley is another of our very active Rotary clubs. They have often participated in international projects, but only recently discovered the magic of matching grants through the Rotary Foundation. With a matching grant, an individual club's contribution to an international project potentially can turn into 250% of the contribution through District and Rotary Foundation matches. (If this is news to you, then be sure to come to the District Membership and Foundation Seminars (Twin Falls on September 12, Meridian on September 19 and Pocatello on September 26--details on the district web site where you can learn more about our work with our Foundation). The club has just submitted their first matching grant application to help with a water project in Africa.

Our Ketchum/Sun Valley club has done an excellent job of appealing to younger Rotarians. I had dinner with the board the night before. The oldest member was around 45. The president and many of the other leaders are in their 20's and 30's. Who says Rotary is just for old people?These younger Rotarians are joined together by their common believe in Service Above Self and their desire to be of service to the Wood River Valley and beyond. By the way, we had a superb dinner at the Ketchum Grill, an award winning Ketchum restaurant owned by Rotarian Scott Mason and his wife Anne.

The Ketchum/Sun Valley Rotarians are heavily involved in Rotary's youth programs. They sponsor the Interact Club for high school students at the Wood River High School. They send and receive foreign exchange students and they send students to RYLA.

Three current members are involved in district level work, President Ben and immediate Past President and Assistant Governor Will Duke serve on the Public Relations Committee and Tom Keenan is a long time member of the Youth Exchange Committee. Will is also an advisor to me on how to use social media to promote Rotary (e.g. this blog).

12 Students, 9 countries

2009-08-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend (August 22) I had the privilege of meeting eleven really neat teenagers at Camp Sawtooth just inside the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. These eleven young adults are our inbound foreign exchange students who arrived in our district last week.

The come from Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Chile, Ecuador, Finland, Taiwan and three from Brazil. They'll be our guests throughout the school year. They'll live with Rotary families in Ketchum, Buhl, Meridian, Pocatello, Idaho Falls, Montpelier, St. Anthony and Boise and attend the local high schools.

This is one of Rotary's neatest programs. For every student we receive, we send one of our own out to that country. So, while these neat kids spend the year with us here in Idaho and Eastern Oregon, our kids will spend the next year with other families in these nine countries.

It's our hope as Rotarians that these young people will learn to appreciate customs, culture and language different than their own. We believe through these deep immersions in other cultures will come world understanding and peace.

Our program is different than other exchanges. This is not a profit making enterprise, but a humanitarian one. As Rotarians, the students start out as our guests and become our children. They will be housed in local families, both here and abroad, at no cost and in fact each student will receive a modest stipend from the receiving Rotary club to help them with his or her own local expenses. Families pay a fee for their outbound students. The fee, current $4250 covers the cost of transportation, insurance and the infrastructure we need to make sure all of these students, both here and abroad are safe and have a wonderful experience.

We have a terrific committee of dedicated Rotarians throughout Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon who work hard each year to set up our exchanges. They work with their counterparts throughout the world to assure every student will have a safe, quality experience.

Individual local students are sponsored by their local Rotary clubs to be outbound students. The committee then interviews, selects and prepares the outbound students for their foreign experience. The committee also receives, orients and works with the local clubs to house the inbound students.

We are very focused on safety. Each family that houses a student goes through a back ground check. Each student is assigned a counselor who is a member of the hosting Rotary Club. This counselor is an independent individual who is assigned the responsibility to inspect the homes where the student will live, work with the families to insure a great experience, and to provide an independent contact for the student.

Idaho and Eastern Oregon students who will be between 16 and 19 at the time they leave for their exchange are eligible to apply. They may be children of Rotarians, but need not be. Selections will be made this fall for the 2010-2011 academic year. Additional information is available from the Rotary District 5400 website. Both the inbound and outbound students maintain a Facebook group.

Rotary in a Bar, II

2009-08-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday evening, August 20 we held a meeting in Boise for those who think they might be interested in a new Rotary Club that will meet around 5 to 6 pm, likely in a room at a pizza joint or a brew pub. Organized by Past District Governor Ken Reglin, District Governor Elect Terry Gilbert and SW Rotary member Dennis Rompala, the meeting appeared to be a success. Around 30 folks showed up to learn about this possible new club.

This effort is modeled after the successful Pocatello Portneuf club which meets upstairs at the Portneuf Brew Pub at 5:15 pm. The club does not provide a meal, which means the meetings can be shorter and the dues are considerably lower than what a traditional club must charge. I blogged about Pocatello Portneuf earlier in August.

The new Boise club, tentatively named Boise East will meet some place in East Boise, perhaps on Park Center Blvd or in Bown's Crossing. The club is designed with younger members in mind who may find it easier to attend a meeting right after work and who will appreciate the low cost of the club. It may also provide an alternative club for existing or former Rotarians who struggle to make the traditional meeting times.

A steering committee was appointed to guide this fledgling effort. Current and former members of Rotary in the Boise area as well as those who would like to consider Rotary membership in this new form of Rotary club are invited to contact District Governor Elect Terry Gilbert at glennsson@msn.com.

Rotary is an international organization of 1.2 million individuals who believe in the concept of Service Above Self and who work to make the world a better place. Additional information on Rotary International, and on Rotary in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon is available through our respective web sites.

Road Apple Roulette and Rotary

2009-08-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

What exactly is a road apple and how do you play roulette with it? The Hailey Rotary Club members are experts and will be happy to share their expertise with your Rotary club.

A "road apple", also know as a "horse biscuit" or a "dropping", is the "output" from a horse. Horses seem to be especially fond of dropping them in parades, necessitating horse diapers or folks who follow the parade with scoop shovels and barrels cleaning up the messes.

The creative folks in the Hailey club have turned this job into a $50,000 per year fund raiser. They sell tickets in advance of the parade. Each $5 ticket entitles the owner to a chance on a horse placing a road apple within a four foot square marked virtually on the parade route. If your square hits, then your ticket is entered into a drawing for nice prizes. The Rotarians ham it up during the parade by blowing whistles and horns each time a horse lets go.

The Buhl and Burley Rotary clubs have adopted the program. Buhl made $5000 at their first attempt over last Fourth of July. Burley made $10,000 their second year. If your club would like to know more about how to run a Road Apple Roulette fund raiser, visit the official road apple website or the Hailey Rotary Club web site.

I met with the Hailey board the morning of August 20, followed by the club meeting that noon. The club has been very involved in the Wood River Valley. They give away about $40,000 of scholarships each year including one $5000 scholarship renewable by the recipient for four years. Because of the Hailey club there is the Blaine County Recreation District which grew out of the club's support of the first public indoor swimming pool in the valley. They created the Rotarun ski area just outside of town, and provide lots of one-on-one volunteer assistance to those who need a bit of help.

They've partnered with a Eugene (Oregon) Rotary club in providing simple stoves in the third world and participated in District 5400 water projects in Bajia de Caraquez, Ecuador. They send kids to RYLA and honor each speaker to the club with a gift of a children's book in the name of the speaker to local schools.

The Venetian Fishing Lodge

2009-08-20T06:37:00.000-07:00

I left Boise Tuesday afternoon, August 18 for Ashton. Ashton is a five hour drive from Boise on the freeway, about 350 miles. Standard stuff. Get on the freeway, try not to nod off, listen to public radio until the hill just west of Glenn's Ferry where the signal drops. Start listening to books on tape (Life of Pi). Come to American Falls. What the heck. I'm hungry and bored with the freeway.

So delicious chicken fajita pita at a local restaurant in downtown American Falls. Then I took State Highway 39 across the Snake River and continued on north and east through Aberdeen (where I visited their Rotary club a couple of weeks ago), Springfield, Pingree and Riverside to join the freeway again at Blackfoot. As a lifetime Idahoan, I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even know those towns existed. What fun! Farm after farm growing grains, potatoes and alfalfa. It was dusk and the light on the farms was terrific. The birds of prey were beginning their evening hunts. The combines were still working in the wheat and barley fields.

I connected with I15 at Blackfoot, took it to Idaho Falls, and then continued north on Highway 20 past Rexburg, Sugar City and St. Anthony to Ashton. Ashton is a beautiful and prosperous-looking little town of about 1200 folks in the middle of potato and barley country. The Tetons are clearly visible to the east.

I checked into my motel room at the Angler's Inn. It is an old motel recently refurbished. You know, about 20 rooms in a long line, office in the middle. They give you an actual key. You park right in front of the room. I open the door to my room and it's a combination of knotty pine and Venetian (as in Venice, Italy) furnishings. One would expect a picture of the Henry's Fork or Henry's Lake or Mesa Falls on the walls of the Angler's Inn in the middle of this famous fishing country. But right there is a classic print of medieval Venice. The bed had four or five elaborate decorative pillows and a deeply embroidered bedspread with heavy tassels. The walls were carefully paneled with knotty pine. I slept like a baby in my schizophrenic room.

Wednesday morning I walked across the street to the local restaurant. They had wifi so I set up shop while enjoying my coffee and oatmeal. I sat next to a table of 8 seats filled completely with local farmers. It was great fun to eavesdrop on their conversations which ranged from the cost of crop insurance (there had been a recent hail storm) to getting the local elk out of a grain field, to which of them would be able to kill the first wolf once the first season in many years opens next month.

The president of the Ashton Rotary Club, is James Allen. James is the manager of the Bank of Idaho office in Ashton. His employer requires that their managers belong to some type of civic club (thank you very much Park Price if this was your idea). James picked Rotary and we're lucky to have him. Like most small clubs, everyone has already been president two or three times, so James joined a year and a half ago and immediately found himself elected the next president.

He told me he went to PETS (our training for presidents-elect) in Twin last March and came back amazed at all the work Rotary does around the world. His club's contributions to our foundation that supports our good works around the world had been modest in the past. James learned that the Rotary Foundation was begun with an initial contribution of $29. So, he came back to his club and pitched the members on adding a total of $29 to each member's dues over the year to which they agreed.

I had lunch with about 15 of the club's 20 or so members. They are aggressively reaching out to the local community to recruit new, young members. Their signature project is the Junior Miss program, like the American Falls club. But they are now discussing other ways of being more involved in helping their community and beyond, including helping the local food bank. I look forward to watching this club grow both in membership and service under Jame's leadership.

Rotary and Youth Leadership Training

2009-08-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

Last week the Rotarians of Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon put on our annual youth leadership camp (known as RYLA for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards).

65 teenagers, affectionately known as Rylarians, met for four days at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls. These teenagers will generally be high school juniors or seniors this fall. Each was sponsored by a Rotary club from our area. And sponsoring Rotary clubs paid a fee of $300 per youth.

Along with the 65 Rylarians we had two senior counselors and eight junior counselors. The counselors have attended RYLA before and were selected for their leadership skills. They are responsible for delivering the content of the camp.

All were overseen by three caring Rotarians, Nancy Lemas and Dan Hunt of the Boise Downtown club and Debbie Kunz of the St. Anthony club. As Dan Hunt said, "We're just guiderails to be sure no one gets too far off track."

I was priviledged to visit the camp Thursday evening and Friday morning and to watch the interaction between the counselors and the participants. Since the counselors are close in age to the Rylarians, they have way more credibility than we adults. I listened as one young man, a junior counselor told his story as a high school athlete who believed leadership meant being above others, being the Big Man on Campus. Then he talked about how this camp last year had helped him understand that leadership is about acceptance, caring, guiding, inspiring.

The camp emphasizes acceptance of differences, the building of trust among people you barely know and accepting personal challenges. Two former HP executives put on a skit on confronting and accepting differences based upon their own experiences as diversity officers. The Rylarians are challenged to confront their fears and trust their fellow participants through the high ropes course. The highlight of the camp comes Saturday evening as the students participate in the cultural walk where they talk about their own differences from their peers.

Every year we hear the same stories from the youth. "I didn't want to go. My mother (or father, grandparent, etc) made me. I told them I would go, but I wouldn't participate and would come home early." These common feelings among teenagers are replaced with "I made such good friends. This was an amazing experience. I learned so much. I didn't want to leave on Sunday."

These 65 teenagers are now back home. Many of them will be invited back to their sponsoring Rotary club and asked to speak to the Rotarians about the experience. Of course, having to speak publically to a bunch of adults is also one more step in the leadership experience.

Thanks to Nancy, Dan and Debbie for the gift of their time and their hard behind the scenes work to put this camp together. And thanks also to all the Rotarians who identified kids who would benefit from the camp, recruited them and paid for the experience. Look for next year's camp in August of 2010.

101 Books for Children

2009-08-09T12:53:00.001-07:00

On Thursday August 6, I spoke to the Pocatello downtown club. This is one of the oldest and largest clubs in our district. Founded in April, 1918, it received charter number 381. There are more than 30,000 Rotary clubs today.

Its 160 members have their fingers in everything. There are 35 separate committees working on various service projects.

Their Rotary Rose Garden has approximately 2500 rose bushes. The club sponsors the annual Nutcracker ballet with the proceeds going to many cultural projects. The club graciously brings the Nutcracker to Blackfoot in conjunction with the Blackfoot Rotary Club. The club in involved with the Greenway project along the Portneuf River. It has been a major benefactor and contributor to ISU, Boy Scouts, American Legion Girls State, the Idaho Youth Ranch, and Bannock Boys Baseball to name just a few of its projects.

Wednesday evening I was feted with a dinner with the board members at the home of President Tom Clark and his wife Camille. Following dinner many of the committee chairs joined us for a general discussion on the patio about Rotary in general, our district and their club.

The highlight of the meeting on Thursday was when the club surprised me with more than 100 children's books to be given to local children in my name. Knowing of my interest in literacy, each member of the club who attended Thursday's meeting brought a children's book with them. Thanks, Pocatello Rotary, for your generosity and your thoughfulness. I know many children will benefit from your gift of books.

American Falls Rotary

2009-08-06T06:08:00.001-07:00

Assistant Governor Steve Love of Aberdeen and I had lunch with 12 of the 18 members of the American Falls Rotary Club on Wednesday, August 5, 2009. This club was formed in 1934 and has been going gangbusters every since. Hal Walker, our District Governor in the late 1980’s was a member of this club.

American Falls is an agricultural town of 4500 people about 20 miles west of Pocatello. It was the site of a power development on the Snake River early in the 20th century. In about 1925 the first American Falls dam was built, flooding the original town site. The town was moved to the plateau south of the river. An old grain elevator still stands in the lake.

The clubs enjoys a home cooked meal prepared especially for them each Wednesday. The food in our smaller clubs is a nice change from the caterer-prepared meals we enjoy in many of our larger clubs. Dentist Ron Miller is the president. I knew right away we would get along when I rsaw his email address -- “molar_mechanic.”

The club’s signature project is the Jr. Miss program, which they have been running for many years. Over the past ten years they have raised and given away more than $100,000 in post high school scholarships to the young women of the community. Last year the club members voted to add $25 per quarter to their dues statements for our Foundation. Consequently they are meeting our goal of $100 per year per Rotarian to the Foundation.

President Ron has a special passion for micro banking. I enjoyed telling them about a family in Bajia de Caraquez, Ecuador I met who received a small loan to purchase a cart from which they sell cheese each day. As a result of this micro loan provided through Rotarians, when I visited them in October, 2007 they had doubled their monthly income from $100 to $200. More importantly, they had hope for the first time in their life of escaping from absolute poverty.

The club tries to participate in an international project each year. Last year they joined other District 5400 Rotary Clubs in a potable water project in Ciudad de Dios, Ecuador.

Rotary in the back room of a bar

2009-08-05T14:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening, August 4, I met with the Pocatello Portneuf Rotary Club. Pocatello Portneuf is our newest Rotary club, having received their charter last spring.

The club meets from 5:15 to 6:15 pm each Tuesday afternoon, upstairs at the Portneuf Valley Brew Pub. Unlike every other Rotary club I've ever been to, they don't have a meal. Members who want to can grab a brew or a softdrink, or nothing at all. This skipping the traditional meal means the cost to belong is considerably less than most Rotary clubs. And the late afternoon meeting means that busy professionals who can't take time in the morning or at noon can still belong to a Rotary Club.

The club has targeted young professionals in Pocatello for their membership, and looking around the room, I'd say they've been successful. They have a few grey hairs like me, but many of their members are in their twenties and thirties--a constituency we frankly have had a hard time recruiting to Rotary.

There are only three members who have belonged to another Rotary club--so they are not constrained by tradition and history. And, boy, are they engaged in service while having fun. In a manner of a few minutes, they voted on a new member, fined each other, raised some money, gave a grant away, and of course many enjoyed a local brew. They agreed that David Allen, their president should accept the offer of a member with a radio station to present weekly a Rotary minute on the station.

They picked right up on our District Simplified Grants program and received a grant of $500 to support the food bank. While I was there they presented a check payable to a local milk supplier to the food bank to support the backpack program. That's a program where food bank sends kids home for the weekend with a backpack filled with food for the family. It's designed to provide nutrition for kids who might normally get it at school or a park during the week, but might go hungry over the weekend.

The club adopted the Every Rotarian Every Year (EVEY) program of the Rotary Foundation where every member of the club agrees to give a contribution to the Foundation every year. Very few of our existing clubs have made this commitment and I salute our new Rotary colleagues for this action.

If this new model for Rotary appeals to you, Dennis Rompala of the Boise Southwest Club, and Terry Gilbert and Ken Reglin of the Boise Sunrise Club are working to start a new evening club in Boise. A meeting of those who may be interested will be held at 5:00 pm on Thursday, August 20. Contact Terry for additional information (glennsson@msn.com).

Thanks Pocatello Portneuf for an inspiring evening. We all wish you success as you find your way as a new Rotary Club and stand ready to help you however we can.

Aberdeen, Idaho

2009-08-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

Aberdeen is a small farming community of about 1500 people in SE Idaho. It's about 15 miles north of American Falls which is about 20 miles west of Pocatello.

I left Boise at 7:00 am this morning for the 3.5 hour drive to Aberdeen. I met Assistant Governor Steve Love (who is a potato researcher at the University of Idaho research station at Aberdeen) and President Joel Wilson (who is superintendent of the Aberdeen School District) for a get acquainted chat at 10:30 followed by a meeting with their board at 11:00

This is our smallest Rotary club with ten members. As is often the case in small clubs where every member has already been president Joel as the newest member was elected president. He hasn't been able to attend our training sessions, so we first chatted about all the complexities of Rotary followed by a discussion about their service work.

The club meets at the Senior Citizen Center in the center of town. The Center serves lunch to area seniors two days a week. It also serves as the food bank for the area. The club pays a modest rent to the Center and eats a home made meal. The Rotarians enjoy the food and help support the Center at the same time. While the board and I were meeting, a pickup truck load of food arrived for the food bank, so we stopped our meeting and helped unload it.

This proud club is about 63 years old. The members are very engaged in the community. They created Rotary Park. They participate in the dictionary project. Every year they send in-coming student body leaders from the high school to our high school leadership training camp (RYLA) in Twin Falls (which incidentally takes place at the end of this week). They try to participate in one international project a year.

Like many service clubs, they are responsible for keeping a section of highway clean. But what I learned this morning is that the Aberdeen Rotary Club started the "adopt a highway" project in the State of Idaho. One of their members learned of such a program in another state, came back to Aberdeen, pursuaded the state highway department to allow them to clean a section of the state highway that goes through Aberdeen. Thus the tradition which has resulted in volunteers cleaning highways all over our state was born.

Working with the Union Pacific RR which owns a triangular piece of ground at the entrance to the city, and with the University of Idaho research station, the club has developed a beautiful rose garden at the entrance to the city. It regularly reaches 20 degrees below 0 in Aberdeen in the winter. So their garden is helping the researchers determine what rose bushes are hardy enough to survive Eastern Idaho winters.

Rotary, Youth and Gooding

2009-08-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

I made my official visit to the Gooding Rotary club on Friday, July 31. It's now August 2. I'm finding that sitting down to write a blog entry is time consuming and not always convenient. All week long I have been meaning to write about this club. This morning I received an email from Dr. Heather Williams, Superintendent of the Gooding School District and a member of the Gooding Rotary Club which reminded me to write this.

I never know when I visit a club what the outcome of my visit might be. I hold an "assembly" with the club leaders so they can educate me on their club and so that we can talk together about ways they might improve the Rotary experience for their members. This is followed by my making a brief speech to the entire club. Sometimes we hold both meetings the same day, sometimes the meeting is with the leadership the evening before with the speech the next day. I try to make my speech motivational and leave the members encouraged to continue their work, both locally and around the world.

The Gooding Rotary Club is a healthy club. Last year the club's giving to the Rotary Foundation reached $100.54 per member, up from $42 two years ago and $77 one year ago. It's always impressive when clubs can grow their financial support in spite of the tough economy. Like most small town clubs, the Gooding club is actively involved in the community.

Back to Heather's email. While I was there we had a discussion of what else might be done to help the children. Here's what Heather wrote me:

"Thank you for spending time with us in Gooding. I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion our Board of Directors had with you and your remarks to our club. You triggered several thoughts and the wheels are spinning in my mind of possibilities and connections for the youth of my school district and Rotary International. I am starting a new program in my school district this fall called a “Youth Advisory Council”. We are organizing a 15-20 member youth service learning council with the focus on taking students from functioning individuals to responsible citizens through service learning and action research. The YAC will work with a five member adult board which includes the mayor, a county commissioner, a school board member, a citizen at large, and myself to design, explore, and experience service projects to help meet real community needs. Students will work in a diverse cohort with other students ranging in age from 12-18 years old. The YAC will organize activities, demonstrate leadership skills, and gain educational enrichment in the community. Youth will interact with guest speakers who are experts and leaders in their field. The program will provide students with meaningful opportunities to make valuable contributions that improve the quality of people‛s lives. Would you be interested or available to speak to our group sometime this next school year? "

"For Gooding, whose population is less than 4,000 residents, a significant need exists to engage the youth of our community to both create awareness of current issues affecting their home, and their world, and to ignite the desire to become involved in positive ways. Interaction at the community level is a link toward developing the values that will distinguish our youth from those raised in less altruistic environments. I am very excited about the project and I am certain Rotary will be involved along the way. "

Thanks Heather. Your words and your work inspires us all.

Literacy

2009-07-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

One of Rotary's areas of emphasis is literacy. Around 800 million people in this world are functionally illiterate, 500 million woman and gifts. Even here in Idaho 12% of our adult population is functionally illiterate.

Literacy is one of the keys to escaping poverty. And as columnist Thoma Friedman wrote in his July 22 column in the Twin Falls Times-News, quoting Greg Mortenson, noted author of Three Cups of Tea, "When a girl gets educated and then becomes a mother, she will be much less likely to let her son become a militant or insurgent."

Because we know literacy is so important, Rotarians around the world are working to increase the rate of literacy. Right here in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon, Rotarians are working with schools as volunteer teachers, readers and mentors. Each fall we give dictionaries to third graders. For the first time this year, we believe we (or other service clubs) will see that every third grader in public school receives his or her own dictionary. The response from the children is amazing when we give them their dictionaries. For many it is their only book, for some the only book in their home. Through this simple act, we hope to inspire the children to become lifelong readers.

The Drift Inn, Rupert

2009-07-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

Assistant Governor Marianne Barker, and I met with Rupert Rotary Club President Kerry Saurey and his board Tuesday evening, July 21 at the Drift Inn in Rupert. What a neat place. Rupert has a grassy town square surrounded by historic buildings. The Drift Inn sits on the NW corner of the square in the old original bank building. They received a Preservation Idaho Orchid Award for the restoration. And the food was superb too. Across the street is the beautifully restored Wiltson Theater (more on that below).

I've lived in Idaho nearly my entire life and am continually kicking myself for not having gotten off the freeway sooner to visit these wonderful small towns. But Rotary is providing a great excuse to do so now.

Wednesday morning I was treated to golf at the combined Elks/Rupert Country Club course. As I understand it, the Elks Club owns the front nine and the club house. The Rupert Country club owns the back nine. They operate it together as a neat 18 hole course. The front nine is tight with 50 year old trees. The back is more open, but with water everywhere. As always, I played poorly and had lots of fun with new Rotary friends.

Most of you who follow this know of my propensity for casual attire. But the Rupert club takes first prize in this category. We went directly from the golf course to lunch with the club in the club house. Since it was President Kerry's day off (he's a family practice physician), he was in shorts and sandals. I was delighted to speak to the club in my golf shorts, shirt and sandals.

This club of a bit more than 30 members is active in its community like all small clubs. They have a Rotary bike path. They joined together with the Kiwanis club to purchase and install new windows in the restoration of Wiltson Theater. They run a burger booth and produce enough funds to give away three $1000 scholarships to local high school kids each year. They send kids to RYLA and are now in the planning phase for their next project which will be a picnic shelter in the nearby town of Paul. They've caught Rotary Foundation fever the last few years more than trebling their per capita giving to $73.48 in the year ending June 30, 2009. The club paid special tribute to Past President Rand Fagg who has really set the club on the direction of strongly supporting the Rotary Foundation

The highlight of my official visit to the club was the presentation of a Paul Harris Fellowship to beloved 92 year old Rotarian Dr. Art Dally. Art said "I birthed this club--and it was an illegitmate birth at that." It was also my honor to present club Secretary/Treasurer Paul Ashton with his second Paul Harris fellowship, signifying his gift of an additional $1000 to the annual programs fund of our foundation.

The Jerome Rotary Club

2009-07-22T06:11:00.000-07:00

On Monday this week I left Boise mid-afternoon and drove to Jerome, a town of about 7500 people just north and west of Twin Falls in the Magic Valley. I was joined on this trip by my old buddy, John Frobenius, a Rotarian from St. Cloud, MN. I invited John to spend a week with me visiting Idaho Rotary clubs and playing golf along the way.

We had dinner with the officers and board of the Jerome Rotary Club Monday evening and learned about all the wonderful work this club of 65 members does. They provide Christmas baskets to more than 250 families, including buying and individually wrapping more than 1000 presents for the children. The families are selected by the Jerome ministerial association. They help in the soup kitchen, paint a senior's home in Paint Magic and provide three $2000 scholarships to the College of Southern Idaho.

But they are most proud of their work with the local school system. The buy and give dictionaries to all the third graders. Weekly members go into a local grade school and read to and work with the children. This spring the Idaho Department of Education recognized them for their work in the schools with an award now proudly displayed on the wall of the restaurant were they meet for lunch each Tuesday.

Tuesday morning John and I were hosted for golf at the beautiful Jerome Country Club by members Bill Hall and Bob Whitchurch. The golf course, as usual beat me up, but the company was superb. We learned about Bill and Bob's passion for Rotary and for Jerome.

I spoke to the club at lunch on Tuesday. I was flattered by a very large turn out of members including old friend Al Stevenson, now administrator of St. Benedict's Hospital in Jerome and Tom Mahan, a CPA who befriended me as a young business man in 1971. Tom has belonged to the Jerome Rotary Club since 1952. One member even remembered licensing software from Learned Mahn when he was a banker in Twin Falls.

Like many Rotary Clubs, this club has focused primarily upon its own community. But what joins us together as Rotarians is our ability to work together on the world wide problems of health, hunger, literacy and clean water. That work is supported by all of us Rotarians through our contributions to the Rotary Foundation. Under Bob Hall's leadership and with the support of 2008-09 President Gretchen Clelland, the club exceeded its goal last year. And new president Linda Hadam and her 2009-2010 board are committed to doing even better this year.

Honey, don't let the dog in

2009-07-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

Civic clubs are struggling in some of our smaller towns. But the St. Anthony Rotary Club is thriving. They have two new members and five more in the pipeline.

The club of about 33 members is the heart and soul of St. Anthony, a town of about 3500 people on the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River about 40 miles north of Idaho Falls and 75 miles south of West Yellowstone. With a view of the Tetons, it’s situated in the midst of beautiful farms growing potatoes and grains.

Amy and I were graciously greeted in St. Anthony by club president Debbie Kuntz, the first woman president of their Rotary club. We met with the club leadership in a local restaurant to hear about their activities. This club is active! They have finished a major project of building a picnic shelter along with the Lions club in their beautiful riverside park. It was really cool to see both the Rotary and the Lions logo on the shelter. We Rotarians are happy to work with other groups. We just want to get the job done.

They send kids to RYLA (our summer leadership camp for high school juniors), will have an exchange student from Taiwan, sponsor the Jr. Miss program and send a competitor to the State Rodeo finals. They give out scholarships, support the food bank and provide a free breakfast to thousands before the opening day of fishing season. They have been active internationally joining in with other District 5400 clubs in sponsoring water projects in Ecuador.

Last night Debbie and her husband Shane hosted us at their beautiful home ten miles east of Rexburg in the midst of huge grain and potato fields. To add excitement to the evening, the family dog cornered a skunk and then promptly ran into the home (the dog that is). I’d actually never smelled a skunk so up close and personal. The dog was invited to spent the night in the garage awaiting his fate of a very special bath this morning.

About 80% of the club turned out for my talk—surely a record for any District Governor speech. One of their members had polio as a child so we talked about Rotary’s work to eradicate polio. We talked about literacy, hunger and clean water, all interests of this club.

Amy and I left St. Anthony again impressed by the work of Rotarians and grateful to make new friends in a part of our state we don’t know much about.

Is it moose or is it a stump?

2009-07-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

The really neat thing about visiting all of the Rotary clubs is the opportunity to explore local landscape. Amy and I are in the Island Park area preparatory to our meeting with the St. Anthony Rotary club tonight and tomorrow.

We got off the highway yesterday morning to drive through Rexburg and the BYU-Idaho campus. It's clear Rexburg is in the midst of a boom. The university is impressive with lots of on-going construction. The town was filled at 9:00 am with well scrubbed and dressed young people on their way to church.

Yesterday we drove the loop road to Mesa Falls. Being Idahoans, of course we always just drive by those "touristy" things. But we had plenty of time and decided to drive the 35 mile loop to see the falls. Really really beautiful. Henry's Fork of the Snake River pours 110 feet over a volcanic cliff. The sign says it's the last major falls in Idaho that hasn't been diverted for irrigation or hydro electric purposes. This is a park jointly managed by the Idaho Department of Parks and the National Park Service. We're glad we took the time to see this.

We then stopped in at Harriman State Park. This park was given to the State of Idaho by the Harriman Family. They had a working ranch here beginning in the 1930's and gave it to Idaho in the 1970's. It must be the jewel of Idaho parks. One mile of roads and twenty of trails. Ame and I had a great hike up a ridge with a view of the Tetons and Henry's Fork of the Snake below us.

Of course, we got lost two or three times as we explored. But that led to the unexpected pleasure of seeing a stump that looked like a moose. "It's a moose, " she says. "Naw, " I say. "It's just a stump." Except the stump's ears began to twitch. It was a moose. While we were talking about how cool that was, we stumbled upon a moose cow with her calf browsing right along our trail. That led to a sudden stop and five or ten minutes of waiting until mama moose and her calf wandered away.

Last evening at dusk we drove up the Big Springs Road to see the origin of the river. Big Springs is the source of Henry's Fork of the Snake. 120 million gallons of crystal water, 52 degrees year around bubble out of the ground. Highlight of the visit at 9:30 last night (other than the mosquitoes) was the sighting of three muskrats (or the same one three times -- hard to tell).

Today more hiking and then the visit to the St. Anthony Rotary Club.

Test post

2009-07-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

5bgn3mcexj

Test post

2009-07-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

Sorry friends, this is a post just to get a code so the blog can be "claimed" on technorti. 5bgn3mcexj

First Set of Rotary Visits

2009-07-09T12:35:00.001-07:00

It's Thursday afternoon, July 9. I have met with the boards and spoken to the members of the Blue Lakes/Twin Falls, Burley, Twin Falls and Buhl Rotary Clubs. Each club is, of course, unique, but all are joined together by our believe in our motto "Service above Self." We believe that we have an obligation to make the world a better place and one of the ways we chose to do this is by giving of ourselves, our time and our treasure, without regard to recompense, religion or politics.

I was delighted to see Governor John Evans at the Burley Rotary club and and old family friend, Jim Roper. The Burley club has four members who have belonged to Rotary for more than 60 years! What fun to visit with them.

The Twin Falls club has 140 members, more or less. A club of this size can take on large projects and raise a lot of money--and the Twin Falls club does. One of their signature projects is a walking trail through the College of Southern Idaho campus. They are now getting ready to extend this trail north a mile or so to the Snake River Canyon Rim. Every year they have their fund raiser "Death by Chocolate." Local purveyors compete with chocolate entries (e.g best cookie) , folks buy tickets to try the concoctions and the Rotary club makes money to support its work. Commedian Danny Marona has retired in Twin Falls and belongs to this club. He was my warm up man for my talk. Imagine Danny Marona warming up the audience for me! The club video tapes many of its programs and events and posts them on youtube. Search for "Twin Falls Rotary" on youtube to see them.

The Buhl Rotary club is the other extreme. Small and intimate, about 30 very dedicated members. This club is the heart and soul of Buhl, a town of about 4500 folks west of Twin Falls. Clear Lakes Trout Farm is here, and if you've eaten trout in a US restaurant, it was likely raised in Buhl, Idaho. The club annually puts on the Octogenerian Dinner where everyone 80 years or older is invited to be the guest of the club for a celebratory and complementary dinner. They just completed their first annual "Horse Biscuit Bingo" fund raiser. Participants purchased chances on squares on the 4th of July parade route. If a horse deposited a "biscuit" on your square during the parade, then you were entered into a chance to win some very nice prizes. They made $5000 to support their good works in the community.

The best part of visiting these clubs in the new friends I am making. Every club has been gracious and welcoming. And I'm getting to play new golf courses. Played Twin Falls municipal yesterday morning and the Clear Lakes Country Club course this morning. It was spectacular to be down in the Snake River Canyon at 7:30 this morning when we teed off.

I'm now on my way back to Boise to begin preparation for my first visit to Eastern Idaho next week.

A Visit to Twin Falls

2009-07-07T07:58:00.001-07:00

One of the responsibilities of being District Governor of Rotary is to visit every Rotary club. There are 40 of them in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon. My visits will take me to virtually every town in Southern Idaho of every size.

I stayed in Buhl last night at Marianne Barker's historic family home. I woke early this morning to pink skies across the beautiful farm land. As I drove into Twin Falls about 6:30 this morning, I thought how lucky I am to have all these friends throughout Idaho who can show me the beauty of their own areas. How many people from outside the Magic Valley have driven Pole Line Road through the country side from Buhl to Twin? It's a classic two lane country road through green farms and pastures.

I began my visits with the Blue Lakes/Twin Falls club at 7:00 am this morning. Wow! What an inspirational group of people. This small club of 29 members really makes a difference in Twin Falls, in Idaho and beyond. They just finished building picnic tables for the new Boy Scout camp at Lake Murtaugh. They hold a pancake breakfast each year and give the proceeds to the schools. They are considering adopting a new park that has few amenities.

They really shine in their support of the international work of Rotary. That work is financed primarily by the Rotary Foundation. Each year we Rotarians raise around $100 million to support our work to eliminate illiteracy around the world, improve health and nutrition and provide clean water. More than 5000 children each day die of water born illness and we'd like to work to reduce that.

The Blue Lakes/Twin Falls club is the number one club in Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon in terms of per capita giving. We suggest all Rotarians give at least $100 a year to the Foundation. Blue Lakes members gave $192 per member in the year ending June 30, 2009. And they have worked with Rotary clubs in Mexico and Ecuador to support schools in those countries. A Twin Falls school is a sister school with a school in Guadalajara, Mexico. This club helped to raise more than $15,000 to equip a computer lab at the Mexican school. They just worked with three other Rotary clubs in our area and a Rotary club in Quito, Ecuador to equip a computer lab at a special school for mentally handicapped students.

I leave my first club visit inspired by the work these 29 Rotarians do to make the world a better place. Thanks Blue Lakes for your hospitality and your leadership.

A Letter from Taiwan

2009-06-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

Each year we Rotarians send 12 – 15 of our high school students to live with Rotarians in other countries. And for every student we sent out, we get one from the same country back. About now Idaho students are completing exchanges in Finland, Sweden, France, Germany, Italy, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru and Taiwan. And we have had students from those countries living with Rotary families throughout Southern Idaho.

Rotarians work to take care of the logistics of the exchange. As all Youth Exchanges are carried out at the local level, the local Rotary organizations arrange school enrollment, tuition and other educational matters with the local secondary school. All program volunteers are devoted to the safety of the students, and the host club and district maintain policies and procedures to protect the students. Local Rotarians also introduce the student to the other club members and organize social and cultural functions for the student to attend.

Here’s a letter from Adam of Boise who is just finishing his exchange in Taiwan. Now fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Adam will return this month to Boise and will be a senior year in high school this fall.

May 28, 2009
Taipei, Taiwan

Rotarians:

It's already May 29th and when I arrived in Taiwan last fall I was praying this day would come as fast as possible. And now that it has arrived I’m wishing I didn't wish for time to go by so quickly.

During these past 9 months I have been making friends, going to school, loving Rotary, and creating life-long relationships. It’s weird to think that in one month I will be sleeping in my own bed, I will be once again living in my old surroundings and my past life. I’ve finally gotten used to living here and it’s going to be even harder to adjust to how I used to live.

I've grown so much with this experience and I wish I could share everything I feel, think, and learn everyday. I don't know if this was the most fun year of my life, but it has for sure been the most rewarding. Most of my time on my exchange was living day to day, trying to find things to do and taking advantage of every opportunity I had. Not every one of those opportunities was fun, but I learned so much from them. I'm really interested to see how I've changed and what customs I will take back to the United States with me.

During this year I’ve had the amazing opportunity to meet so many Rotary Exchange Students from around the world. I have friends all through Europe, South America, and North America. These friendships are so strong that we are already planning trips to visit each other.

I obviously learn SO much about the Taiwanese culture and their way of life and language, but I also learned so much from the other exchange students here. I've learned a little bit of their own culture and language. This is a wonderful opportunity because I don't know of anyplace where so many exchange students can come together from around the world

I do not like the Taiwanese School System and it really hard for me to accept their teaching methods. But that is part of this exchange, to learn how they live their life. It’s not good or bad, it’s just different. I've meet some people at school, but it’s really hard to make "good" friends in High School. My best friends are from the Universities or different clubs or groups I’ve associated with. I think it is because of the maturity level. High School students don't work well with others and it’s hard for them to talk to foreigners. All in all, school has taught me a lot and I learn so much everyday

I absolutely love my host families and Rotary club. I've created very very very VERY close relationships with all of them. They are already planning on coming to my wedding. My best friend is probably my 26 year old host brother. He is coming to live at my house in the US and study English at BSU. I'm really excited for this. My Rotary Club consists of 31 moms. 31 women who are all my moms. I have gotten so close with all of them and I love Rotary events because of this. All the other exchange students don't really like their Rotary clubs and they give me funny looks when I am planning to go to extra events with my Rotary. I've learned so much from them and they will always be a special place in my heart for them.

This is has been an amazing experience and recommend it to everyone. I guarantee you will hate it at one point and you will want to come home and the feeling could last the whole year, but you will learn so much about yourself and the world. The gains are astronomical! I look forward to coming home and seeing how much I’ve actually changed. Thank you so much for everything and I wouldn't been here if it wasn't for Idaho Rotarians’ help. Thanks again

The students, both local and foreign have set up their own Facebook page. If you know of a local student between the ages of 15-19 who would like to consider going abroad for the 2010-2011 school year, they can learn more about Youth Exchange from our web site. (Go to “Site Pages”, click on “District Committees” and then on “Youth Exchange.”)

Rotary and Polio

2009-05-30T16:28:00.001-07:00

People have asked me why I am involved with Rotary. I am going to begin blogging about my Rotary experiences and the incredible things Rotarians do throughout the world to make it a better place.

Our most ambitious undertaking began 25 years ago when we adopted a goal of eliminating polio from the world. When we began, there were 350,000 new cases of polio each year in 125 countries. Today there are only few thousand new cases each year and the virus exists in only four countries: Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

Over this quarter of a century, Rotarians throughout the world have raised more than $800 million to fight the disease. In January I was privileged to be at a meeting where Bill Gates met with us and contributed another $255 million from his foundation to our effort on top of the $100 million already contributed. Rotarians pledged to match $200 million of that from our own fund raising efforts.

In the early 1950's, I was a participant in the early trials for the vaccine here in the US. I can still remember the fear of being in an iron long. I remember my mother forbidding me from drinking from public water fountains for fear of contracting this dread and crippling disease. The vaccine worked and the United States has been free of polio for 50 years.

In 2005 I was in Northern Nigeria where I saw first hand the impact of the disease. I saw beggars on wheeled boards. I saw people who crawled everywhere on enormous calluses on their knees. I got to cry with the Nigeria Rotarians in a ceremony giving a college student a wheel chair so he would no longer have to crawl to his classes.

I participated in a national immunization day when the Rotarians, the World Health Organization and other partners attempted to vaccinate every child under the age of five in the country. We went from mud hut to mud hut in the villages offering the vaccine to children of some of the poorest and least well educated people in the world. As I put two drops into a young boy's mouth, I thought "I don't know life will hold for you, but I do know you won't have the crawling disease."

I realized that while this disease has been eradicated from the industrialized nations for many years, it is still alive and destroying lives among society's poorest members. As citizens of the world with the capability to stop this scourge, we owe it to those who cannot to do so.

If you would like to know more about Rotary or to join us in our efforts to eradicate polio as well as to work for literacy, clean water, good nutrition and education, especially for girl children throughout the world, visit the Rotary International site, www.rotary.org or our Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon site, www.rotary5400.org.

Test

2009-03-22T07:16:00.000-07:00

This is a test blog.