Friday, March 29, 2024
36.0°F

Community groups focus on friends, neighbors

by CAROLINE LOBSINGER
Staff Writer | March 31, 2021 1:00 AM

Community.

With civic and service groups covering everything from the very young to the more senior, if there's a need it's clear that the community's residents want to help their neighbors.

Below are snapshots of several of the community groups in Bonner County.

Sandpoint Lions

For more than 50 years, Sandpoint Lions Club members have dedicated themselves to the community. While the club is taking a break from hosting the Independence Day celebration this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, members have traditionally put on the annual celebration as well as the annual local Toys for Tots program. In 2015, the club provided toys or gift certificates to almost 1.000 children.

In addition, the club provided food for more than 1,500 needy individuals during the Christmas holidays.

The Sandpoint Lions also host an annual Easter Egg Hunt at Memorial Park. When the hunt starts, up to 500 kids collect over 3.000 eggs in a matter of seconds. The club has a Halloween celebration in cooperation with the Bonner County Museum. Hundreds of children and parents come through the Lions Den to collect treats.

The club has also brought in the Lions Foundation Health Screening Trailer for eye and hearing screening tests for almost every elementary and kindergarten student in School District 84. Over 1,600 students were tested in 2014. The Lions expect to repeat this service in 2017.

The club also pays for eyeglasses or hearing aids for local children or adults who cannot afford them. The Sandpoint Lions recycle and recondition used eyeglasses and hearing aids for re-use in third world countries.

The Sandpoint Lions award scholarships to local students to help pay for continuing education.

The Lions also make donations to local schools and other groups that work with children or disadvantaged adults.

Finally, the club puts out about 180 U.S. flags throughout our communities on eight flag flying holidays.

After a year when the Lions had to cancel their annual Easter egg hunt and Fourth of July celebration, and revamp how it did its Toys for Tots program due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, 2021 offers brighter news, Sandpoint Lions Club members said.

Members are busy planning their annual Easter celebration and "have been busy with several opportunities to help in diverse areas throughout our amazing community," member Janice Rader said.

Lions Club International is focusing on diabetes education worldwide and local Lions are bringing this awareness to the community, she said.

"We are excited for making 2021 an expanding and fun year," Rader said.

Anyone interested joining the Lions are welcome to join them on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 6 p.m. at 609 S. Ella St.

Sandpoint Kiwanis

What does Kiwanis mean? It means “we gather, we serve.” Our mission statement is “Serving the Youth of Bonner County.” And that is what the Sandpoint Kiwanis Club does.

Marty Behm, Kiwanis District 48 lieutenant governor, recently said, “Every Club has their own personality, but it makes up a perfect whole.”

There are countless projects and needs to choose from and you can’t do justice to all. Unable to be effective with a shotgun approach we target various projects with our fund-raising, works, and efforts to zero in to be effective in the selected venture, Sandpoint Kiwanis member Dick Vail said.

We sponsor Boy Scout Troop 111 and have since 1935. Several years back we began to scholarship two or three scouts, per year, to the NYLT (National Youth Leadership Training) course. It has paid off immensely, as all of those scouts have earned their Eagle Badge. Only 4% of Boy Scouts earn an Eagle Badge. Troop 111 has had 23 Eagle Scout under Scout Master Phil Voelz.

We provide scholarships for additional education. Vocation technical students we have provided scholarships have been able to find excellent employment skills in various fields. Providing shoes, boots, gloves, and bedding for children in need as well as volunteering various organizations within the community and ringing the Salvation Army bells all come to mind.

But the flagship project is Camp Stidwell, located at the southern end of Mirror Lake — 160 acres of timberland and 2,000 feet of lake front. The appeal being privacy, security, and large space between camp sites with no need to share space. Use of Camp Stidwell is by reservation only and is primarily used for youth groups. Other organization are welcomed to reserve the camp if the time has not been spoken for by youth. The camp has hosted weddings, family reunions, and various organizations that have enjoyed all the room and privacy, he said.

Local businessman acquired the land in 1947 for the above stated purpose. However, in 1964 the land was deeded to the Sandpoint Kiwanis Club, with the caveat that youth continue to be the main emphasis, Vail said.

"Imagine how far away 12 miles must have been in 1947 and now how this jewel seems so close to town for a wonderful rustic get away," he said.

Vail said Sandpoint Kiwanis' two camps were running at full capacity in 2018, serving over 4,000 user days. In 2019, with a grant from Burlington Northern Railway Foundation, the group added a new facility called Camp Wilderness. At the same time, it received a grant from the Community Assistance League and was able to extend and enlarge its dock at Camp Ouimet.

"The combination was a success we didn’t see coming," Vail said, adding that the club set a record last year with 5,441 user days.

Additional plans now are for a new dock at the Camp Wilderness Shooting Star camp site. In addition we want to add new trails to the other 100 acres of property. Putting in orientation courses, board walks where necessary, and additional hiking trails that will allow the total ecosystem to be explored.

"A tree located on the property, was recently dated, and is shown to be over 250 years old," Vail said. "That means it was growing at Camp Stidwell before David Thompson explored the area or before the United States became a nation. Totally unbelievable. What tales it could tell."

Today's youth are missing out on outdoor experiences such as conservation, appreciation of natural resources, wilderness understanding, survival techniques, hiking, camping and outdoor exercises, Vail said.

A great deal of thanks for the success of the site goes to superintendent and resident caretaker, Bill Ouimet. Now in his 44th year in residence at Camp Stidwell, Vail said Ouimet has met a large number of people over the years.

"One funny instance was when Bill was ringing the Salvation Army kettle bells and a gentlemen stepped up and said, 'Do you remember me? I was down at Camp Stidwell in 1985?,'” Vail relates. "As the stage play 'Gigi' says, 'Oh yes, I remember it well.'”

Ponderay Rotary

Small but mighty, the Rotary Club of Ponderay Centennial has been serving the community for 16 years, Kari Saccomanno, treasurer and president-elect, said.

Established in 2005, this small, energetic group of active leaders continually steps up to take on some of the toughest challenges in the community, Saccomanno said. Solving real problems takes real commitment and vision and Ponderay Rotary is dedicated to just that.

Through the fellowship of local business, professional, and community leaders, the club’s primary initiatives are promoting education, community health and well-being, and youth.

“I am a charter member of the Ponderay Rotary Club Centennial. I joined because of the support it gives to the local nonprofits and the numerous scholarships given to our local students. It’s a small club but gives much. I continued membership in this club after retirement because of all it does for our community,” says founding member, Marcella Nelson.

Tiffany Goodvin, club president added, “I joined the Rotary Club of Ponderay six years ago because I wanted to be more involved in the Sandpoint and Ponderay communities being that I was a new resident to this area. I particularly liked the smaller size of the Ponderay Club and how effective the club was.”

One of the club’s most passionate initiatives is supporting education. For the last 15 years, the Rotary Club of Ponderay Centennial has been committed to a scholarship program helping local graduates and residents to continue their educations. The club has given out over $125,000 to the community in educational aid over the years.

“We are dedicated to closing the gap between cost and the ability to get an education for local students. We want to ensure greater social mobility for future generations, and to encourage these students to do the same for others later,” said Saccomanno.

In benefit of the Bird Aviation Museum, the club has hosted a dinner recognizing the lives of its founders, Pam and Forrest Bird. In addition, the club supports its initiatives by hosting various speakers locally and nationally so that members can continue to learn and grow also, Saccomanno said.

Through its health and well-being initiative, Saccomanno said the club supports the Bonner Community Food Bank, the Caring Corner and Sharing Cupboard, Food for Our Children, Distinguished Young Women, and Interact’s Warming Hearts Project, and The Pack River Store’s COVID-19 lunch program. The club has also partnered with Bonner County EMS buying and placing automated external defibrillators in the community for the PulsePoint program and sponsoring CPR classes. Of course, the club is continually helping Rotary International’s goal to end polio once and for all, she said.

In partnership with Community Cancer Services, Ponderay Rotary has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars at the Night to Remember fundraiser helping locals affected by cancer. As well, the club assisted in building a handicap swing for McNearney Park, participated in the development of the Ponderay Dog Park, and helped furnish Kinderhaven when first opened.

“Our club has an affinity for supporting smaller, dynamic projects that have a dramatic affect for local individuals, families and the community,” said Saccomanno, “I joined Ponderay Rotary because of the club’s unhesitating support of these type of projects including my daughter’s quest to become Miss Teen Rodeo Idaho and her desire to become an international exchange student.”

With the club’s dedication to youth, Ponderay Rotary supports an International Youth Exchange with the goal of building peace one young person at a time. The club has sponsored two local youth, Christina McClelland and Sage Saccomanno to Taiwan and Italy respectively, plus hosted students from Chile and Thailand.

Additionally, the club along with Sandpoint Rotary, bring together young people to develop leadership skills and “Service Above Self” through Interact Clubs at both Sandpoint and Forrest Bird Charter high schools. This Rotary partnership also extends to the Mini Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, an intensive leadership experience where youth develop skills as a leader while having fun and making connections.

“I am proud to be a member of Ponderay Centennial Rotary not only for the scholarship program, or putting flag poles at the Ponderay Police building and the fairgrounds, or building bus stop shelters, or supporting exchange students, or the Rotary Youth Leadership program, or the high school Interact clubs, but especially because of the friendships among club members," Foundation chair and Interact mentor JP Carver said. "The food at the Christmas parties, when we have had them and when we will have them again, also stand out.”

The club is known for its annual Duck Derby event up at Schweitzer Mountain Resort. Unfortunately, COVID has canceled this critical fund raising event two years in a row. The club had to quickly punt and figure out alternatives to continue its long-standing community support. With that dawned the recent successful hanging flower basket sale and the current Scholarship Drive.

Other annual events sponsored by Ponderay Rotary include the downtown lawn mower races (Motor Madness), a chili cook-off at Jacey’s Race, the WaCanId International Bike Ride, and Duck Flocking with the mysterious appearance of hundreds of ducks at businesses and organizations.

“I enjoy our fundraising opportunities and our volunteer events where we lend a helping hand.  This year, we have volunteered at Jacey’s Race, Ponderay Days, the Mike Victorino benefit, the Bonner Community Food Bank, the Better Together Animal Alliance Thrift Store, and I look forward to more opportunities this spring.” notes Goodvin.

Also, Rotary is dedicated to helping nationally. Ponderay Rotary has shipped clothing to victims of the Paradise Fire in California and supported first responders after the Aurora, Colorado shootings among many others.

New members or visitors are welcome any time. Becoming a member enables you to meet extraordinary people and to make an impact here and around the world. The club’s schedule varies, so check its website at PonderayRotaryClub.com for updates and ways to help our initiatives. You can also email the club at PonderayRotaryClub@gmail.com for more information.

Sandpoint Rotary

Rotary members believe that we have a shared responsibility to take action on our world’s most persistent issues, said Sandpoint Rotary Club's Olivia Luther.

While things may have looked quiet – no CHAFE, no Gala - Sandpoint Rotary’s people of action have been busy over the past six months, making a difference in the lives of many in North Idaho and around the world, Luther said.

In the fall of 2020, the club donated $8,800 to help a hospital in Zihuantanejo, Mexico, purchase a much-needed audio public address system and specialty furniture.

This fall, not only did Rotarians volunteer with Firewood Rescue (a non-profit that provides firewood to seniors, disabled and veterans in our community) to deliver nine cords of wood those in need, the club donated $600 to aid in equipment repair, firewood delivery, and gas.

The club also contributed $500 to the Global Grant Water Project in Peru, Luther said. As COVID-19 spread throughout the world, many hospitals in Peru closed their doors, leaving people with the disease little hope. In the town of Penico, Luther said Rotary helped install a clean water system so that people would have clean drinking water and a way to wash their hands, helping them stay healthy and safe.

Passionate about literacy, the club chose to help sponsor the Guatemala Literacy Project, Luther said.. The goal of the project is to bring life-changing educational programs to over 7,000 students and teachers in Guatemala.

Locally, Sandpoint Rotary donated $50,000 to the Lake Pend Oreille School District in support of their literacy programs. These funds were raised through the CHAFE 150 bike ride — even though the ride was canceled generous sponsors still chose to donate their funds to literacy programs, Luther said.

One Rotarian in particular was busy raising funds for Rotary Youth Services, with Mel Dick completing his ‘Ride Across America”, pedaling over 5,000 miles from North Idaho to Key West, Florida, and raising over $13,000.

The Rotary board recently approved the following donations:

• $2,500 to the Pend Oreille Pedalers for the construction of a new trail that will extend from Dover up into the Pine Street Woods. The cost to build the initial 1.85-mile trail is expected to be approximately $13,000.

"Our board approved a $2,500 donation to assist in the construction, and our generous club members committed to additional donations, bringing the total gift to $7,800," Luther said.

• $2,500 to the LPOSD Resource Closet — a dedicated storage space at Farmin Stidwell Elementary used to provide basic necessities for students and families in need throughout the school district, Luther said. Items include coats, boots, shoes, eyeglasses, and hygiene products. The club and members committed to a $2,500 donation, which has been matched by Avenues of Hope, for a total gift to the Resource Closet of $5,000.

• $5,100 to Food For Our Children to fully fund their mid-morning snack program for the entire year at all schools served.

• $5,800 to The Village Green Book Trust to provide free books for all students in all kindergarten classes in our school district. 

• $5,000 to the Kaniksu Land Trust will assist in the construction of the Rotary Welcome Center at Pine Street Woods. This was selected as the "President's Project" for 2020-21 and will be a major focus of the Club to try and fully fund construction in 2021.

• $3,000 to the Better Together Animal Alliance to help fund the Animal Helpline, which prevents the unnecessary surrender of animals and supports pet owners with things like pet food or supplies, low cost or free spay/neuter services, or veterinary care for sick and injured pets.

$5,000 to the Sandpoint Area Seniors for their nutrition program which delivers 2,300 meals per month to Bonner county’s home-bound seniors.

Interested in being a part of the power and passion of Rotary? Contact David Keyes at davidkeyes09@gmail.com.

"Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change — across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves," Luther said.