Once again, we’ve partnered with the New Mexico Ramp project to build another ramp to help someone access their home.

This year we are using our Rotary District 5520 Rotary Foundation grant to build 6 ramps.
 
This one required some pre demolition of an existing ramp that the owner told us was causing her to fall. The new ramp is *much* better!
It’s amazing what a small army of Rotarians can do in an hour.

We were asked by Women To Be to help sort 10,000 socks donated by Bombas to help get them to their final destinations at Navajo reservations, homeless shelters and other deserving organizations.
 
We thought it would be a 4 hour project but our large and efficient crew got it done quickly.
Governor Yasser Murga came to visit and tell us all about some new initiatives including an international project where we are providing 600 wheelchairs to people who need them in Mexico. An exciting conference in El Paso with a reception at the new Chlldren's Museum.
 
Ted Schmidt. was honored with his Paul Harris. Shirley Anderson was recognized for bringing us Ted and for 22 years in our club! (We even sang to her). We also recognized David Simon for 11 years in the club.
 
Most exciting of all was our gift basket auction where we raised $850 by bidding on a very patriotic gift basket from the West El Paso Rotary Club. We provided a basket full of Albuquerque specialities to be auctioned off by Yasser on his travels.
 
I don't think anyone has more fun at 7 in the morning than Rotary Del Sol!. Want to get your Thursday off to a good start? Come join us one week 🙂
 
On Saturday, May 25, 2024, Christine Glidden, founder of 'Women To Be’, hosted a gathering for the assembly of hundreds of washable menstrual hygiene kits to be distributed to New Mexico Women’s shelters, medical clinics and Navajo Nation sites offering women’s health and wellness services. Rotary Del Sol members, Liz MontoyaMichele Mals and Sara Beltran were there to provide a helping hand in the creation of the completed kits
 

Each year our club awards the Don Chalmers grants to children's charities in New Mexico.  The grants, ranging from $3000 to $20,000 are funded from an endowment that the club created over 20 years ago.  The club added to the endowment each year through our governors ball fundraiser.
 
This year's recipients included:
- Christina Kent Early Childhood Development Center - $3000 - Founded in 1919 serves low income families early childhood. Children between 2 and 5 years old.  They serve 78 children.  The grant will be used to replace old shelving, add new furniture and build loft room  for toddlers
- NDI -$10,000  NDI is celebrating their 30 year anniversary.  Don and Diane Chalmers were involved with NDI.  They serve 2050 Elementary students annually.  Free program teaches dance and character building skills. 
- Global Give A Book -  $20,000 - Last year they provided 20,000 books to students.  They plan to use the grant money to expand distribution of books to children implement and establish reading and literacy workshops.
- Hero's Path Palliative Care - $10,000  Hero's Path Palliative care was founded in Sept 2019 to provide palliative care for children to get care they need.  
- R4 Creative - $10,000  R4 Creative is dedicated to breaking cycle of undereducated and underserved New Mexicans.  Serves all educators throughout the state.  Introduces children to stem through robot building competitions.
 
Tom Walker, District 5520 Rotary International Foundation chair presented several Del Sol members with recognitions for their financial contributions to the international foundation. The money raised goes to support Rotary projects around the world, including our recent projects supporting the New Mexico Ramp project and our project in Nepal with Women2Be.   Rotary is committed to eradicating Polio,  Last year, Rotary vaccinated 400 million children against Polio.

Our honorees were:
- Paul Harris Fellow: Cynde Tagg $1000
- Major Donor (up to $250,000) : Herman Haase
- Paul Harris, Major Donor and Bequest Society:  David Seely (Triple Crown Circle)
 
As part of our commitment to community service, several of our Club members (Robert Brown, Ed Robertson, Bruce Bortner, and Ron Hensley, shown here with President-Elect Meredith Eisenberg) received Bronze Level recognition from our wonderful partners at Meals on Wheels New Mexico for over 100 hours of delivering meals with a friendly smile to people who are homebound.  The chapter has supported Meals on Wheels for many years taking on one of the most needy routes in ABQ.  
Congratulations to our Four Way Test Essay winners from Annunciation Catholic School. We are SO proud of this 8th grade team and their teacher Mr. Wahler! The Top 3 were honored at their meeting. 1st place- Clare DiGregorio, 2nd Place - Chase Hollingshead, 3rd Place - Eliana Garcia.  Clare, the first place winner's essay also won 2nd place at the District competition.
A group of Rotarians from the Del Sol club delivered the clothes and blankets we collected in partnership with Citizen Church to The Rock at Noonday.  We helped feed lunch at the shelter and Elizabeth Montoya created and distributed lovely flowers for the tables.  Have blankets, towels or other items to donate?  Bring them to our chapter meeting.  We'll be collection through April. 
Congratulations to Jeff Weinrach was recently named District Governor Nominee Designate.  His term as District Governor will begin in July 2026. 
 
Jeff has been an invaluable member of the Rotary Del Sol over the years and we think he'll be an amazing District Governor.
A warm welcome to our newest members Bob and Michele Mals who were officially inducted at our club meeting this week.  Although they have just become "official" members, they've already had a huge impact on the club by spearheading a recurring donation drive for the homeless and Purseonalities Plus. Bob was part of the Daybreakers Club in Durango.  We are glad to have them both as members of our club.
February 14 was our club's 27th anniversary of our chartering.  We celebrated at our meeting with a birthday cake for Dan (who also had a birthday last week!)   Over the years, we've made a big impact on our community (raising over $1 million for an endowment for children's charities) and supporting countless projects.  And, we've all had a lot of fun and made some great friends along the way.  
The Rotary Del Sol Beans & Rice project was a success.  The club raised enough money to provide 9000 meals through the Road Runner Food Bank. Will Tapia, Corporate Engagement Officer from Road Runner came to the meeting to thank us for the donation and to update us the important work the Food Bank does in our community.  Since the pandemic, the need has grown as the number of donations have decreased.  

He also encouraged us to attend their major fundraiser - the Souper Bowl on February 3 starting at 11am at the RoadRunner Office.  Your event ticket includes samples from dozens of top restaurants. 
 
Our special presentation last Thursday was from our very own Christine Glidden reporting on our latest Rotary International Foundation Global Grant work in Nepal with our good friend from the host Rotary Club of Rudramati, Sudip Koirala! The focus of this project is to fabricate and distribute 2500 menstrual kits of reusable, washable menstrual supplies to allow girls to stay confidently in school. The kits are being sewn and fabricated at the Navanjyoti School for the Deaf, a boarding school on the outskirts of Sindhuli, Nepal. We are so happy to be working with Sudip and our other friends from Nepal on this important effort!
 
 
The New Mexico Ramps Project is recently received a significant grant to expand their ramp building program. 
 
Earlier in the week, President Brad Ekhoff and Ramps Coordinator Greg Hallstrom attended the San Juan County Rotary Club meeting to discuss upcoming Ramps projects in the Farmington/Shiprock area. We are thrilled to be working with the San Juan County Rotary Club and other Rotary Clubs in our District to build ramps for those who are disabled and who desperately need this service to improve their daily lives 
 
 
Once again our very own club band - the Rotary Wranglers played at the meeting and wished everyone a very Merry Christmas!   We also had a magical visit from Santa who shared his story and a special Christmas tune.
 
 
We are excited to have Jered Bousliman as our newest Rotary Del Sol member.  Sponsored by Cynde Tagg, Jered is a Nursing Unit Director at UNM Hospital.
There is a severe food crisis in New Mexico this year.  We are collecting beans and rice (or donations) to benefit the Roadrunner Food Bank through the end of the month. We are about halfway to our goal of collecting $3000 to feed the hungry this winter.  Contact Kit Turpin to donate.
 
We inducted our newest member, Lt Col. David Chavira, with the New Mexico Air National Guard at our last chapter meeting.  His sponsor Christine Glidden (who is currently in Nepal working on our Rotary International Grant project) took part in the meeting via zoom.   Welcome David!
 
At this past Thursday's Club meeting, Dr. Meghan Brett, UNM Hospital Epidemiologist, gave a thorough update on our global polio eradication efforts in conjunction with World Polio Day. We are very grateful to Dr. Brett for her unwavering commitment to infection prevention and informing us of the work that we and Rotarians around the world still need to do.
 
Dr. Brett received a B.S. degree in Biochemistry/Biophysics (1997) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She earned her Doctor of Medicine degree (2004) from University of Connecticut. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine and then Adult Infectious Disease Fellowship at UNM. She then completed public health training with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer (EIS) with the Division of Vector Borne Diseases in the Bacterial Diseases Branch. She returned to UNM in 2012 to serve as the Hospital Epidemiologist and Medical Director of Antimicrobial Stewardship.
 
Rotary Clubs from around the globe have been working tirelessly to eradicating polio from the earth, and we are THIS close!
 
 
 
Welcome to our newest member Cynde Tagg.   Cynde worked with Jeff Weinrach at UNM Hospitals where she recently retired from being Associate Chief Nursing Officer.  We've enjoyed getting to know her over the past few months and are excited to have her as the newest member of our club.
Christine is on her way to Nepal to help create a new sewing center in a school for the deaf in Nepal.  The center will help create reusable sanitary packs that are distributed to girls in Nepal who often have to miss school due to lack of feminine hygiene supplies. The center will teach sewing skills to the students so they can make money sewing on their own. This project is a funded through a Rotary International grant sponsored by Rotary Del Sol.  
 
Christine is the founder of Women to Be which supports and educates the reproductive health of girls and women in Nepal, Mexico, Zambia, and the Navajo Nation of New Mexico.
Rotary Del Sol has a new member - Abby Aguirre!  Abby is a business consultant with Farmer's Insurance.  We've enjoyed getting to know her over the past few months are are excited to finally have her as a member of our club.  Welcome Abby!
Welcome to our newest honorary member - Tulsa the Service Dog.

Tulsa has steadfastly attended our weekly meetings for the past 15 months with her trainer club member Mike McCaffrey and her sweet demeanor brought a smile to our members' faces. Mike says that Tulsa's attendance at meetings was the key to successfully completing the first part of her service dog training. She recently attended the Lavender Festival (with over 2000 attendees) and did great.
 
Now that she is all grown up and out of "puppy school", Tulsa will go to Oceanside, California for advanced training where she'll be aptitude tested and matched with someone in need like a vet with PTSD or a disabled person.

Congratulations Tulsa!   We wish you the best of luck in your future service career.
 
Congratulations to the 2023 Don Chalmers grant recipients.  The Rotary Del Sol Foundation awarded $74,000 to non-profits that serve children in New Mexico at a jam-packed meeting last week.  This year's recipients are:
 
Albuquerque Museum Foundation ($9000)
Beds4Kidz ($19,000)
Carrie Tingley Hospital Foundation ($9000)
Global Give-A-Book ($19,000)
New Mexico BioPark Society ($9000)
Talking Talons Youth Leadership ($9000)
 
We'll be hearing from each non-profit throughout the year about how they use the grants. 
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Meetings
We meet In Person
Thursdays at 7:00 AM
Jimmy's Cafe and ZOOM
7007 Jefferson St. NE
Albuquerque, NM 87109
United States of America
Every Thursday at 7:00 AM. Meetings are held in HYBRID Format. Guests are Welcome to attend in-person at Jimmy's Cafe, 7007 Jefferson St. NE, Albuquerque or via ZOOM. The ZOOM link can be obtained from any Del Sol Member or from the Event Calendar
 
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December 2024
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