On their way to Juárez this weekend, the Wernickes stopped at Que Suave Coffee in Socorro. On the shop’s “Local Legends” board was a photo of our 2024 inbound youth exchange student, Joan Gurrera, alongside the New Mexico Tech rugby team. They had an outstanding season, finishing ranked #4 in the nation.
It’s remarkable that a student from Mallorca, Spain, would land in Los Alamos and continue pursuing his passion for rugby at a New Mexico college—an example of the lasting impact of the Rotary Youth Exchange program.
Speaking of Youth Exchange, we have a special joint meeting scheduled with the Rotary Club of Enkhuizen, who are currently hosting our outbound student, Silas Iverson. This is a great opportunity to meet and connect with fellow Rotarians from abroad.
If you can’t attend in person, you can join us via Google Meet.
They’ve also sent each member of our club a box of flower bulbs. Please plan to pick yours up at the meeting—any unclaimed boxes will be donated to the Los Alamos Garden Club.
New Meeting Format Reminder
As a reminder for 2026, we have transitioned to our new club meeting format to make participation more accessible. We now gather twice a month: second Tuesday at noon at United Church and fourth Thursday at 6pm rotating local venues. Please check the club calendar for the most up-to-date schedule.
A Bench For Caps (ABC) Promise Program Underway
Our application has been submitted for the ABC Promise Program, which transforms recycled plastic caps into benches and other community furniture while raising awareness about plastic use. We have already collected nearly 200 pounds of caps—almost enough for our first bench—but we would like to gather more to make the delivery trip worthwhile.
Please consider placing a collection container at your business or community gathering space and inviting others to participate. We are also seeking volunteers to help sort, clean, and store the caps as we continue building our total.
Here are some examples of acceptable and unacceptable caps.
A Bench For Caps
Register Now For District Conference
The 2026 District 5520 Conference and Celebration will be Thursday, April 9 to Sunday, April 12th at the Hilton Santa Fe Historic Plaza. This year’s event features world-class speakers, including best-selling authors Alan Mallory and Raj Sisodia, alongside engaging activities like Santa Fe tours, club luncheons, and an Awards Gala. With the venue limited to 200 Rotarians, members are encouraged to register as soon as possible to secure their spot for this fun, interesting, and impactful experience. Take advantage of the special hotel rate extension for longer stays.
2026 District Conference Venue
Submit Your Sonny Brown Award Candidates
Do you know any deserving recipients for the 2026 Sonny Brown Business of the Year Award? District 5520 invites you to nominate businesses (Non-Rotarian Small, Medium, Large, or At-Large Rotarian Owned) that demonstrate outstanding service, high ethical standards, and excellence in community involvement, employee relations, and product quality. Please submit any worthy local businesses for consideration to our club board immediately, as we must finalize our endorsed nominations and submit the required applications to the District Selection Committee no later than March 25, 2026.
RYLA 2026 Needs Mentors
We are currently seeking a dedicated member to chair our club’s committee for the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy (RYLA). RYLA is a premier development program organized by our district, offering young leaders the chance to enhance their skills and forge lasting friendships. Participation is a vital way for our club to support the next generation of leaders. If you are interested in leading this important initiative or learning more, please contact James Wernicke at our next meeting.
Help Support Local Families With Family Strengths Network
We recently heard from Jen Demas, Executive Director of the Family Strengths Network (FSN), regarding a critical funding gap. Due to recent changes, FSN is facing a $10,000 reduction in its United Way allocation, which directly impacts their ability to provide vital programming to families in Los Alamos. As an organization that has supported FSN in the past, including Jen’s presentation to our club in August, we have a chance to step up and help them continue their important work.
Lab employees can donate through the LANL Giving Tool to secure a 50% match, maximizing your contribution. Donations can also be made via FSN’s Givebutter account on their website or by mailing a check to their office (3540 Orange St).
We had a last-minute speaker cancellation so instead of meeting at the church today, let’s meet at Viola’s restaurant at noon.
The featured image is Trey Wernicke at the top of 12,000′ Hagerman Pass near Leadville, CO. We spent MLK weekend in 10th Mountain Division Skinner Hut skiing the backcountry with some friends. It’s been a low precipitation year, but we managed to find a few lines to ski down.
Trey will be spending next year abroad as a Rotary Youth Exchange student. He hopes to ski the Alps.
Club Needs 26-27 President-Elect
We’re still looking for somebody to step up to be president next year. For anyone that’s interested in the position, I’ll lend my full support to you. There are some upcoming leadership seminars to help as well: Pre-PELS Feb 21 & PELS Mar 13-14.
Looking for help organizing Crab Fest
As you may be aware, both the Columbian Hall and Cottonwood on the Greens are closed. That leaves us without a venue or a caterer. I’ve called a few places, but so far come up empty-handed, and I don’t have the time to organize it. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year so if anyone wants to step up to plan this event, it would be much appreciated.
A Bench For Caps
Bottle Caps
We have about 200 pounds of caps collected. That’s almost enough for some benches, but I’d like to get 1000 pounds to make the trip to Indiana more cost effective. I’m working to get some community environmental groups to help us spread the word and set up collection sites, but keep collecting those caps!
District Conference Needs Your Support
The District 5520 Conference is fast approaching April 9-12 in Santa Fe. It is looking to be a fun and interesting experience with fellowship from across the district and internationally recognized speakers. There are only 200 seats available so don’t wait too long to get your tickets.
To cover additional costs of this conference, each club is being asked to contribute funds in addition to their ticket price. Our club’s suggested contribution is $170. If you would like to help, please contact me ASAP.
Friendship Exchange from the Netherlands
In my last post, I mentioned receiving several boxes of flower bulbs. Well, I called the shipping company to find out the sender was a Rotarian from Holland who’s family runs an international flower business. It turns out Rotary Enkhuizen sent us the flowers as a gift in recognition of our exchange student Silas Iverson who is staying with them.
I’m trying to arrange a Zoom meeting with their club so stay tuned for that!
RYLA 2026 Seeks Participation
The Rotary Youth Leadership Academy is seeking students and mentors. It is July 12-18 for boys and July 18-24 for girls in the Manzano Mountains. If you are able to participate, please contact me ASAP.
New Zealand Friendship Exchange April 14
Some Rotarians from New Zealand will be visiting Los Alamos on April 14. This coincides with our club meeting that month so don’t miss this opportunity for fellowship. We may relocate to a place that serves lunch so stay tuned for details.
Have a great week and see you at Viola’s for lunch today.
2026 has hardly started and we’re already off to a roll! Last week, we hosted the Sheriff’s Posse Pancake Breakfast. We had a great turnout with hundreds of community members served.
Following that, we received an award from The Rotary Foundation for our contributions to the End Polio Campaign. Thanks to everyone who has helped with Purple Pinky and all of our polio awareness efforts over the years.
This Week’s Speakers
It’s time for our first lunch meeting of 2026. Our speakers are Jennifer Armstrong and Melanie Pena. They will be speaking about Discover Los Alamos and the Los Alamos Ambassador program which aims to create a knowledgeable welcoming group of ambassadors to effectively promote Los Alamos businesses and activities to tourists, visitors, and local residents.
If you can’t make it in person, you can join us on Google Meet or watch it later on YouTube.
We’re renewing our efforts on the ABC (A Bench For Caps) Promise with some help from local community members. Please continue collecting caps from water bottles and other plastic containers and invite your neighbors, coworkers, and community organizations to do the same. We have about 100 pounds collected already and the Rotary Passport Club of Santa Fe and Tierra Nueva Counseling Center have a few loads for us to add to our collection. We need at least 500 pounds before we can deliver them to Indiana and turn them into benches.
Crab Fest TBD
We’re still working out the logistics of Crab Fest this year. With the shutdown of Cottonwood on the Greens and demolition of the Columbian Hall, we’re trying to find a new venue and caterer. We’ll keep you posted as things unfold.
As we come to the close of 2025, let’s take a moment to reflect on where we’ve been as a club, what we’ve accomplished together, and where we are headed. Rotary’s guiding principle, Service Above Self, is something we say often, but this year the Rotary Club of Los Alamos truly lived it through action, collaboration, and measurable impact.
Throughout the year, the Rotary Club of Los Alamos hosted a wide range of speakers who enriched our meetings and broadened our understanding of the world around us. Programs featured local educators and youth leaders, tourism and economic development professionals, nonprofit and humanitarian experts, and innovators working at the intersection of technology and community service. From tales of outdoor adventures to conversations about global health, immigration, and humanitarian AI, these speakers reflected Rotary’s commitment to lifelong learning, informed dialogue, and meaningful community engagement. The diversity of perspectives shared at Rotary meetings strengthened connections across sectors and reinforced the club’s role as a forum for ideas, service, and collaboration.
Adam Smith talks about his book on New Mexico summits.
This past year, our club made a meaningful difference both locally and globally. One of the clearest examples was our Meals of Hope service project in November. Working alongside more than one hundred volunteers from across the community, we packed over 25,000 meals for families in northern New Mexico. It was a community effort that demonstrated what can happen when people come together with a shared purpose. We also had many generous community provide us with financial support for this project. Anyone who would like to help close our remaining funding gap or support future meal-packing events can donate through Los Alamos Gives at https://www.losalamosgives.org/story/mealsofhope.
Volunteers pour ingredients into bags at the 2025 Meals of Hope meal packing event.Volunteers seal meal bags at the 2025 Meals of Hope meal packing event.Volunteers pack boxes at the 2025 Meals of Hope event.A volunteer stacks boxes at the 2025 Meals of Hope event. Each box contains 216 meals.
This year also marked an important milestone in Rotary’s commitment to peacebuilding. In October, the Rotary Club of Los Alamos co-hosted the Pathways to Peace Conference in Santa Fe in partnership with neighboring Rotary clubs. The conference brought together community leaders, educators, artists, and Rotarians to explore the social and economic impacts of conflict, the role of dialogue in peacebuilding, and practical pathways toward greater understanding and cooperation. Hosting and participating in this conference reflected Rotary’s belief that peace is not an abstract ideal, but something that can be actively built through conversation, education, and collaboration at the local and regional level.
Rotary Club of Los Alamos President James Wernicke and Hiroshima Peace Guide Eria Matsumae pose at the Santa Fe Peace Pole unveiling in Thomas Macaione Park during the Pathway to Peace Conference.Art created by local youth is auctioned to benefit school art programs during the Pathway to Peace Conference.
Our commitment to global health continued through our Purple Pinky polio eradication campaign, which raised $1,229 this year at Los Alamos elementary schools. Those funds support Rotary International’s decades-long effort to eradicate polio and protect children worldwide from a preventable disease. You help support the effort by donating at https://www.losalamosgives.org/story/purplepinky.
LAHS Interact student Lance Metcalf administers purple dye to a student’s finger, representing a polio vaccination for another child.
We also continued to support Rotary Global Grants with our Global Grant Fund, where every dollar donated is matched multiple times over, dramatically increasing its impact. This year, the club is supporting a Global Grant for a mobile ophthalmology clinic in Saltillo, Mexico, which will provide essential vision care to people who otherwise lack access to medical services. Efforts like this reflect Rotary’s belief that service has no borders and that local action can have global reach. Members of the public can support our global humanitarian projects, including health and education initiatives, by donating at https://www.losalamosgives.org/story/globalgrants.
Clubs present their Global Grant Projects at the Tri-District Conference in El Paso.
Investing in youth and education remained a cornerstone of our work in 2025. Through scholarships and student recognition programs, Rotary continued to support young people in Los Alamos. These programs reinforce our belief that developing ethical leadership and opportunity for youth is one of the most powerful ways to strengthen our community for the future. Juniors and seniors can apply for our 2026 scholarships now through their high school counselor and middle school students will have the opportunity to participate in our Four-Way Test Essay Contest in February.
LAHS Senior Hailey Duran is presented a 2025 Distinguished Student of Service scholarship.
Rotary Youth Exchange remained a vital part of our work this year. By supporting international student exchanges, Rotary helps young people develop cultural understanding, leadership skills, and lifelong global connections. These exchanges foster mutual respect and goodwill by allowing students to experience life in another country while serving as ambassadors for their home communities, reflecting our long-standing commitment to peace, education, and cross-cultural understanding, and it continues to be one of the most impactful ways we invest in the next generation of global leaders.
Rotary Club of Los Alamos President James Wernicke and Youth Exchange Student Marlies Willems exchange banners between Los Alamos and Bunnik, Netherlands.
Another highlight of the past year was our District’s hosting of our Rotary Zone Institute in October, an event that brought Rotarians from across the western U.S. and Canada to New Mexico for learning, collaboration, and fellowship. Hosting the Zone Conference placed our state at the center of Rotary leadership and innovation and provided an opportunity to showcase the strength of New Mexico clubs and the impact of service projects throughout the Southwest. For local Rotarians, the conference offered valuable professional development, deeper connection to Rotary’s broader mission, and the chance to share best practices while highlighting New Mexico’s hospitality and commitment to service.
Rotarians from across the western U.S. and Canada descend on Albuquerque for the 2025 Rotary Zone Institute.
Rotary International 26-27 President Olayinka Hakeem Babalola delivers his keynote address at the Rotary Zone Institute.
The Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group meets to discuss a Rio Grande cleanup project.
Behind these visible accomplishments was a focus on strengthening the foundation of the club itself. The board worked to address membership engagement and recognized Linda Hull and Alison Pannell with honorary memberships. These efforts may not always be visible, but they are essential to keeping Rotary effective, transparent, and sustainable.
At the same time, it is important to acknowledge where we need support. Like many volunteer organizations, we face challenges related to membership growth, volunteer capacity, and fundraising sustainability. These challenges are also opportunities. Rotary is strongest when new people bring fresh energy, new ideas, and diverse perspectives, whether as members, volunteers, or community partners. You can find out more about membership at https://rotarylosalamos.org.
Looking ahead to 2026, we are excited about what’s coming. Beginning next year, the club will adopt a new meeting format, gathering twice a month—once during the day and once in the evening at rotating local venues—to make participation more accessible. Major events on the horizon include the Sheriff’s Posse Pancake Breakfast in January, Crab Fest in February, an Earth Day community cleanup in April, Noche Mexicana in May, and continued expansion of youth, service, and international projects. Volunteer opportunities for upcoming events, including fundraisers and service projects, are regularly posted through Volunteer Los Alamos at https://www.volunteerlosalamos.org. All events are posted at https://rotarylosalamos.org/calendar.
I want to close by extending an open invitation to the community. The Rotary Club of Los Alamos is not a closed circle, but a community service organization powered by participation. We invite residents to attend a meeting, volunteer at a service project, support a fundraiser, or simply learn more about what Rotary does. Information about meetings, events, donations, and volunteer opportunities can be found at https://www.rotarylosalamos.org. You can also follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter through the website to stay informed about upcoming special events and ways to get involved.
As we enter 2026, we do so with gratitude, optimism, and a renewed commitment to service. Thank you to our members, volunteers, partners, and the greater Los Alamos community for making this year of impact possible.
I wanted to share a message from fellow Rotarians attending the COP30 Conference in Brazil next week. Please consider supporting their efforts. If you want to pool resources to collectively support them as a club, please let me know ASAP.
I hope this message finds you in good health and high spirits.
Across the world, Rotarians have always stood where compassion meets action, bringing clean water for a village, providing polio vaccines for children, doing reforestation projects, building peace one friendship at a time. Now, we have the opportunity to carry that same spirit at one of the most significant global gatherings of our time:
The UN Climate Change Conference COP30, which will be held in Belém, Brazil, November 10-21, 2025.
Rotarians, with the support of their Rotary Clubs and ESRAG, have partnered with GLOTCHA, Global Challenges Foundation. Together we will have a Pavilion in the Blue Zone, a space where our stories of hope, innovation, and service can reach world leaders, young changemakers, and global organizations. This is more than an exhibition; it is our chance to show how Rotary turns concern into concrete action for people and the planet, as proven in every Rotary Club project that we as Rotarians do around the world.
To make this vision real, we are asking for your support, as individual Rotarians, as clubs or as districts who believe, as we do, that the future deserves our care today. Your support will help build a pavilion that speaks not just of Rotary’s achievements, but of our shared promise for generations to come.
We will acknowledge all sponsoring clubs and districts by adding their names to the sponsors list at the booth at COP30 and will be happy to showcase information about their environmental projects. Feel free to reach out to us for more information.
Below is the link to send individual, club and district sponsorships. If you need to use a different way to submit your donations and sponsorships, please let us know
Salvador Rico COP30 Committee Member TRF Cadre 2024-2027 District International Service Chair 2022-2028 Rotary Club of South Ukiah D5130 Salvador.rotary@gmail.com
Alberto J. Palombo COP30 Committee Chair ESRAG Board Member TRF Cadre 2022-2026 Founding member of the Rotary Club of Brasília International Rotary Club of Brasília International D4530 apalombo@esrag.org
Michael J. Terrelonge ESRAG – Chair (2025-26) Rotary Club of Portmore, District 7020, cop30@esrag.org
Our speaker this week is Los Alamos County Airport Manager Gary Stoddard. His career path began with a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology in 1998, after which he worked as an architectural designer and builder in Oakland, CA. In 2014, he earned a master’s degree in systems engineering from Iowa State University’s Industrial Engineering Department and joined Los Alamos National Laboratory as a building automation controls engineer. At the lab, he collaborated with both the Facilities Engineering and Sustainability Program teams, focusing on high-performance sustainable buildings with an emphasis on energy conservation, analysis, and optimized building control systems. For the past twenty years, he has also pursued his passion for hang gliding and piloting airplanes.
Next week, we’ll have geologist Tom McCrory followed by Megan Jackson from Big Brothers Big Sisters on October 21. You can view last week’s speaker Los Alamos Arts Council Brandi Engeman (and other past speakers) on our YouTube channel.
International Project Fair This Weekend
The International Project Fair (formerly known as the Tri-District Conference) will be held this weekend in El Paso, Texas. Come join us to see what Rotary clubs are doing to help their communities and beyond! If you’d like to support our club’s projects, visit our page on LosAlamosGives.org.
Just across the border in Juarez, our club president James Wernicke will be racing in one of the most extreme mountain bike races, the Chupacabras 100K!
Advancing Plant Forward Food Policy
Join the Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action Group (ESRAG) this Wednesday October 8 at 2:00 PM for a conversation on plant forward food policy. This presentation explores how cities, universities, and public institutions can begin shifting toward more plant-based food policies to reduce environmental impacts and support public health. It draws on Canadian case studies including six municipal wins and a national university initiative to highlight practical strategies and lessons learned.
At this week’s lunch meeting, we have Lance Metcalf and Luke Creel speaking about the experiences abroad in youth exchange.
We also have a busy weekend ahead and volunteers are much needed.
Wednesday @ 4:30 PM we’ll be carving and painting foam and decorating our homecoming float. Email info@rotarylosalamos.org or contact James Wernicke for directions.
Friday @ 1:30 PM we’ll meet at Canyon School for the homecoming parade. Please be there on time because the parade won’t wait.
Saturday @ 9:00 AM we have Clean Up Los Alamos Day at the LAHS Memorial Garden and @ 10:30 AM we’ll be switching over to the PEEC Treehouse. Contact After that, come up to Pajarito Mountain for Ullr Fest!
Sunday @ 5:30 PM we have a Rotary Friendship Dinner at Gabriel’s in Pojoaque. Clubs from Espanola and Santa Fe will be there.
It looks like Interact will be helping us with the table at Purple Mountains, so why not just show up and watch the movie to support us instead? Follow the link for tickets. Movie starts @ 1:00 PM.
Purple Mountains
Peace Conference Oct 3, Volunteers Needed
The Pathways to Peace Conference is quickly approaching. Get your tickets before they’re gone! We are urgently looking for an overnight host on September 30 for our Peace Conference guest. Please contact James Wernicke if you have a spare room.
August is almost over. The weather is starting to cool and the summer energy is waning, but there’s a great Latin band Severo y El Grupo Fuego playing at the summer concert this Friday Aug 29. Instead of just doing an outreach table, what if we break out the party tent and have a little club party? Let me know if you’re interested in joining because I don’t want to set up that huge tent by myself.
I had a great time attending the Rotary Club of Española’s breakfast meeting on Friday. Both our governor and vice-governor were in attendance as well. I learned about their upcoming blood drive on September 27, which coincides with our movie at SALA, Purple Mountains. We also talked about collaborating on future service projects and hosting a multi-club dinner at Gabriel’s sometime soon.
This Week’s Speaker
This week, we are pleased to welcome Jen Demas, representing the Los Alamos Family Strengths Network.
Family Strengths Network is a cornerstone in our community—providing education, support, and connection for families of all kinds. From parenting workshops and playgroups to teen programs and resource sharing, FSN helps strengthen the bonds that hold families and our community together.
Jen has been deeply involved in this important mission, working to ensure families in Los Alamos have the tools, networks, and encouragement they need to thrive. She brings not only professional expertise, but also a strong passion for supporting resilience, connection, and growth across all stages of family life.
Clean Up Los Alamos Day Sep 20
Don’t forget about our Clean Up Los Alamos Day projects. Starting at 9am, we’ll clean up LAHS Memorial Garden followed by the PEEC Treehouse at 10:30.
The Path to Peace Conference will take place on Friday, October 3, 2025, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe, NM. This full-day event invites participants to reflect, engage in dialogue, and take action as we explore the many ways peace is built—through history, reconciliation, and personal responsibility.
Featured speakers include Manuel Montoya, Ph.D., presenting an alternative perspective on economic diplomacy and nuclear nonproliferation; Eria Matsumae, sharing global lessons of peace and reconciliation from Hiroshima; and Denise Moore, LPCC, discussing how peace begins with each of us, even in times of conflict. Additional sessions will feature Rotary leaders, peacebuilders, and international partners.
The day will conclude with the unveiling of a Peace Pole at Thomas Macaione Park, led by Rotary District 5520 Governor Tom Simon. Registration is $50 per person (including lunch) or $25 for students (including lunch), with seating limited to 100 participants. Early registration is encouraged at this link. The conference is hosted by the Rotary Santa Fe Centro Passport Club and the Rotary Club of Los Alamos.
We have no speaker this week, but we do have some club matters to discuss. First, I attended the District Assembly last Saturday where I learned a few things about club management. I spent some time this weekend reviewing our bylaws and would like to discuss some proposed updates. I also want to remind members to please pay their dues in a timely manner. In my breakout session, I heard about a club that had to dissolve because nobody enforced dues and their cash reserves were quickly depleted. Only about half of our membership has paid dues, so if you haven’t already, please bring a check to Vince. The due date was July 1 for the first half and January 1 for the second half.
Another takeaway was to get creative in inviting members of the community to Rotary and don’t forget to listen to your existing members. To that end, I’d like to pursue Brian Newnam’s suggestion of bringing back lunches. If you would like to participate, please email or text me with your Ruby K’s order before 11 AM. Also, congrats to Chuck Tallman who is featured on this newsletter’s cover photo with his NINTH Paul Harris Fellow pin!
We also need to be more visible in the community if we want to recruit more members, which we can do through more service projects and community-oriented events like the summer concerts. Please consider wearing your Rotary t-shirt when you’re out and about. You never know who might ask you about it.
We don’t have much planned for events in August, but if you have any back-to-school ideas, please let me know. There’s a Peace Conference Kickoff at Second Street Brewery on Aug 10 4:30 PM. In September, we have two events: BBBQ at Bathtub Row on September 7 (time TBD) and an opportunity to partner with Citizens Climate Lobby to screen the documentary Purple Mountains at SALA on Sep 27 12-3 PM.
This week, the Los Alamos Local Business Coalition is hosting their fifth and final forum on local business this Thursday 5:30 PM at SALA. If you’re a local business owner or just want to be support local businesses, it would be a great event to attend.
On a somber note, former Rotarian Hal Davis passed away recently. A Celebration of Life will be held August 10 at 2:00pm at Fuller Lodge. All who knew Hal and his family are invited to come and share a story about him. Donations may be made to the Los Alamos Historical Society’s Oppenheimer House Preservation fund at https://losalamoshistory.networkforgood.com/projects/22122-everyday-giving.
Last but not least, last week’s speaker Adam White asked for donations to the non-profit Waves4All, which helps teach people with disabilities to surf, sail, and experience the ocean.
If you missed last week’s meeting, you can view Adam’s presentation on New Mexico summits on our YouTube channel.
On Saturday, Los Alamos hosted the annual Jemez Mountain Trail Run, an event that draws some of the world’s elite ultrarunners to run up to 50 miles from the Sheriff’s Posse Lodge to the top of Pajarito Mountain and back with a few scenic detours along the way. I was a volunteer at the Guaje Aid Station, 9 miles from the start. We had our first runner show up 1 hour 16 minutes into the race—an incredible pace. The event raises money for the Los Alamos cross country teams and other local organizations.
Once the first wave of runners had passed, I headed off to Tres Piedras for the Los Alamos Mountaineers Climbing School. I’m hoping to hone my skills well enough by next month to climb Es Pontas in Mallorca where my family will reconnect with our youth exchange student Joan Gurrera from last year. The day ended with the sold-out YIMBY Film Festival, an event to promote our natural world and community-driven projects to make Los Alamos an even better place to live. The event was organized by Kyle and Turin Dickman who lead Tuff Tykes events every Saturday.
We are looking for three people to serve as committee chairs for the 25-26 Rotary Year. This is a great way to be more involved in what I’m committed to making a productive year.
Membership Chair: Oversees member recruitment, retention, and engagement.
Service Chair: Coordinates community service and hands-on volunteer projects.
Foundation Chair: Promotes donations to The Rotary Foundation, Rotary 1312, and oversees global grant activity.
Tom McCrory (third from left) joins a panel of other industry leaders discussing geothermal development at New Mexico Tech in 2023.
Tom McCrory’s extensive career has been dedicated to addressing environmental challenges, particularly in the realm of groundwater and soil remediation. His expertise encompasses a broad spectrum of remedial technologies for site cleanup and environmental restoration. He is currently serving as a Senior Geologist at S&K Mission Support, LLC, contributing to projects that safeguard our environment and public health. Tom is also affiliated with DeltaT2V LLC applying his geological expertise to advance geothermal energy solutions. His work in this area underscores the intersection of environmental stewardship and sustainable energy development.
Can’t make it in person? Join us on Zoom every Tuesday 12:00 – 1:00 PM.
Help Pinon & Chamisa Teachers Pack Up Classrooms May 27-29
Pinon and Chamisa are ready to move to their new buildings. Teachers need to pack up their classroom materials. The school district will then move the boxes to the new buildings. Packing (not actual moving) help is needed at each school. Kiwanis, Rotary and the School Foundation Board will be helping. Volunteers are needed for:
Interact Club & Barranca Mesa Collect Items For Local Food Banks
LAHS Interact Club put up a donation box for The Food Depot and LA Cares at Barranca Mesa Elementary and the community answered by donating 243 items!
Mariannridge Math Tutoring Project Update
The project started in mid 2020 as a small pilot programme. The Rotary Club of Durban Umhlatuzana and the Umhlatuzana Education Fund NPC in collaboration with approximately 30 university students from UKZN (University of KwaZulu-Natal) deliver mathematics instruction on Saturday mornings during the school year, to learners at Mariannridge Senior Secondary School. Initially, the free tuition was provided to 12th graders preparing for the matric exam, and the pass rate increased from 66% in the previous year, to 87%.
Based on this success, it was decided to expand the programme, offering the free Saturday instruction to 8th grade learners. This has grown to serve over 200 students in grades 8 – 12. The result has been a 100% matric pass rate in Mathematics and Science for 2024 and 300 more learners registering at the Mariannridge Senior Secondary School in 2025 than the year before. Mariannridge is a peri-urban township outside of Durban, originally established in the 1970s for the Coloured population. Presently the vast majority of the students are Zulu. Over 97% of the beneficiaries of this project are Black South Africans as per the B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice.
This rewarding, cost effective project owes its success to the UKZN tutors who generously volunteer their time each Saturday. Refreshments and transportation to and from Mariannridge for the tutors is provided. Textbooks are provided for the learners. The members of the Durban Umhlatuzana Rotary Club (founded in 1978) donate their time to the management of this project and no Rotary Club member receive any remuneration. More project details can be found on the website (https://umhlatuzana-education-fund.org/)
The Umhlatuzana Education Fund, NPC is a registered South African Non-Profit Company (registration number 2022/383364/08). Donors are eligible for a Section 18a certificate for exemption from SARS (Tax reference number 9236978251 PBO reference number 930076439).
Your contribution will help to open up opportunities for these learners both in terms of accessing university and other post-high school career opportunities, as mathematics is the basis of modern science and technology, which is becoming increasingly central in all areas of society and economic life. For more information about the programme or more financial details, please contact us.
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