Rotary Club supports community
The Rotary Club of Kootenai Valley has a long reach. They’re involved with building potable water infrastructure in Guatemala and help support the Rotary Polio-Plus campaign to eradicate polio from areas around the world. Not only do they touch the lives of individuals across the globe, but through their student exchange program they also brought Ecuadorian student Walter Briones to Libby.
Worldwide, Rotarians number about 1.2 million strong in a group that was started in 1905. The Kootenai branch of the club was chartered in 1967 and currently has 35 active members.
The club’s involvement in and around Libby might not be life saving, but they keep active in several local projects and programs that benefit the community.
Currently the club is working on building a dock for the Libby Kids’ Fishing Pond under construction at the Kootenai River Development site. The dock was inspired by a similar dock in Troy and will allow people with disabilities, and others, to easily wet a line and catch fish in the 1.8-acre pond that will be stocked by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, if all goes according to plan.
Construction of the pond should be finished within a week or two and will be given a test-fill before the dock is installed. Local club president Tommy Cook said they have a local engineering and fabrication company working on the dock.
Growing up Cook didn’t know much about the Rotary Club. “I’ve always been aware of the Rotary, but I wasn’t sure what they did. I knew they were there and I remember in my community they had a pancake breakfast.” After moving to Libby from Tennessee, Cook was invited to a Rotary meeting in 2011 and found some of the projects and ethics of the group aligned with his personal vision and the work he does as an employee at CDM Smith. “It was something I could relate to and I wanted to get involved with,” said Cook.
Helping to grow the next generation of leaders guides several of the programs the Rotary Club supports. “We always keep our focus on youth. We’re trying to build leaders for the future,” said president-elect of the club George Gerard.
One way the club does that is through the Rotary-sponsored Interact program. Last year the Kootenai club sent eight students from ages 12 to 18 to a training in Livingston where they learned about leadership skills, how to connect with local and international community leaders and other opportunities offered by the Rotary club.
Gerard said the students that attend the Interact training return excited about what they’ve learned. The Rotary club then tries to funnel that enthusiasm into the local Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, which works with area high school students to further develop leadership skill to be shared with their peers.
Encouraging youth reading skills is another matter in which the Rotary club takes an active interest. “One of our large annual projects is providing free dictionaries to every third-grader in Lincoln County,” said Cook. “So not just Libby and Troy, but also Eureka; including private-, public- and home-schooled students.”
To promote reading at home, local Rotarians also annually build and donate bookcases and fill them with books for about 16 families with students in Head Start. It’s just another way the group gets kids involved with reading at an early age.
People of Libby may not be part of the programs the Rotary club promotes and supports, but several projects they’ve tackled offer benefits to people in the community.
The club helped fund and restore an amphitheater at Libby Elementary and provided financial support for a splash pool at Fireman’s Memorial Park.
One reason the Rotary club is capable of being involved in numerous projects that take considerable financing is because of the organization’s global reach. “Rotary is really unique in that it’s a worldwide organization,” said Gerard.
Rotarians provide time, talent and treasure to makes their wheels spin. Members pay dues to the club as well as raise funds through activities. Every year the club also provides scholarships to five graduating students in the area.
Kootenai Rotarians are part of two water projects in Guatemala. The group connected with an engineer in Guatemala they are working with to provide potable water to a community of 2,000 people and also a school of about 500 students.
The Rotary club meets on Mondays at noon at the Venture Inn. Interested individuals should attend, and find out the club does much more than just hold pancake breakfasts.