How does Niwot work? - Part 6

The Rotary Club of Niwot is currently the only nationally chartered service club meeting in Niwot. While the Niwot area has in the past had Optimists,Lions, Jaycees and Kiwanis clubs, the local rotary club now serves the community in a variety of ways, with a focus on education.

“We just celebrated our 12th anniversary,” Doug Montgomery said of the organization which was formed in 2008. “It’s alive, it’s active, it’s growing.”

Montgomery served as president of the Niwot club until July of 2020, and will become president of the affiliated charitable organization, Rotary Club of Niwot Foundation, Inc., in July 2021. Thom Lynch is the current rotary club president, with Kerrin Reichen (vice-president) slated to become president this summer. Clay Marsh serves as secretary, while Chris Wiorek is treasurer.

“It’s an amazing group of people,” Lynch said. “We’re very involved with the [Niwot] school system, with Eric [Rauschkolb, current principal] and Dennis [Daly, former principal.] who are members. Lynch said he used to be able to call Eli Buzas, longtime Niwot rotary member, who died of COVID-19 a few months ago, but now has to rely on others to provide information as to how the rotary club has done things in the past.

While the pandemic has changed the way the rotary club meets, from in- person breakfasts on Thursday mornings at 7:30 a.m. at the Left Hand Grange, to online meetings via zoom since April of 2020, the projects of the club have continued in full force. “Where we had 15-18 people show up for our breakfast meetings in the past, we now have 20-27 people on zoom,” Lynch said.

The club sponsors a Student of the Month award at Niwot High School, as well as a Student of the Year. Scholarships are also a big part of the rotary’s educational component, with two scholarships of $1,000 each awarded each year based on academic performance.

In addition, at the recommendation of current foundation president Ron Gunzweig, the club has expanded its scholarship donations. “One of the cool things we are doing is adding a vocational scholarship program,” Montgomery said. “We now give two $1,000 scholarships every year to students who are entering the trades.”

Even in a year in which in-person meetings have stopped, the club has continued to grow. Last July, the St. Vrain Rotary Club joined the Niwot club, bringing seven new members into the Niwot club. “It was a good fit,” Montgomery said. “And we’ve added two or three more members since then.”

Montgomery said club members are looking forward to finally meeting up in person on April 25 at 5 p.m. at Niwot Tavern for an evening social event, now that restrictions on gathering are easing somewhat.

Although club members pay dues, most of the group’s fundraising efforts center around their annual peach sale in early July, which is held in cooperation with Niwot Market. “We’ve made about $10,000 on our peach sales,” Montgomery said. Those funds pay for scholarships as well as other rotary club projects.

Weekly speakers are a highlight of the morning meetings, whether in person or by zoom. Former Niwot High principal Dennis Daly has been active in recruiting speakers, and without the recent expense of serving breakfasts, the club is using some of its funds to ramp up the technology at the Left Hand Grange in anticipation of continuing to offer remote attendance opportunities even after in-person meetings resume

The club has also sponsored events in the past, such as Oktoberfest, and a Wine, Cheese & Chocolate fundraiser, complete with silent auction. Other past rotary projects have included painting the caboose at Whistle Stop Park, assisting with the construction of Niwot Children’s Park, including a Little Free Library there constructed by Kirk Stewart.

In the larger community, the rotary club, through committee chairperson Sarah Levinson, has partnered with Colorado Friendship to serve the homeless population in Boulder County. “On May 9, we have a district-wide day of service where we partnered with two clubs in Longmont to collect personal needs items for the homeless,” Lynch said. “Bins will go out at Niwot Market and Niwot High School as well as several Longmont locations.”

More recently the rotary has instituted a Community Achievement Award, with the 2020 award presented to Kathy Koehler for her years of volunteer service to the Niwot community. The Rotary Club of Niwot is currently reviewing candidates for the 2021 award.

“We want to find more opportunities for service in our home town of Niwot,” Lynch said. “We want to do something that helps the community, and we’re always looking for new members.” Visit http://www.niwotrotary.org for more information.