Into Cowboy Country

Howdy to y'all. We found this bison head mounted on the wall of a restaurant in Hudson. They sure like a lotta meat in cowboy country. From Hudson we were met by Greg from the Fort Morgan Rotary Club. The warmth of the welcome was as big as the prairie. We had lunch, a trip through the local museum and then a stroll down Main Street with a chance to shop. Wow the price of cowboy hats and boots is something else.

Rotary Club of Boulder

Here we are at the Boulder Rotary Club doing our presentation. The Boulder Club is large with around 300 members and is an active and busy club.
While we were there two Paul Harris Fellowships were awarded. For one the woman was told that her contribution had allowed the purchase of 14 sewing machines that would allow women in Guatemala to have their own micro businesses, for the other he was bringing clean water to Africa. I was impressed with the concern for poorer countries and the use of Paul Harris contributions to care for others less fortunate.

Boulder County Justice Centre and Boulder County Ageing

It was a full day with a visit to the Boulder County Justice Centre in the morning and Boulder County Ageing in the afternoon.
Discussion in the morning centred on the apprehension, sentencing and treatment of perpetrators. We were all taken with the systematic approach to treatment, the way they screen for risk factors, and the Victim Empathy programme. The latter programme is highly dependent upon having skilled therapists. Boulder is lucky to have a number of such therapists. We were a bit green!! (envy)

The afternoon centred around the needs of elderly, especially GLBT elderly.

Voices for Children, Blue Sky Bridge

Voices for Children supplies CASAs (Court Appointed Special Advocates) for children who have been removed from their families, often because of abuse. Theses advocates will befriend children and are required to look out for the best interests of the children. The photograph shows the team with staff of Voices for Children.
In the Afternoon we visited Blue Sky Bridge, an organisation that does evidential interviewing of children who are alleged to have suffered abuse, often sexual abuse. Their home like facility designed to put children at ease made us a little green.
The day finished with a lovely dinner at Frasier Meadows, a retirement community where Rotarian residents attended.

St. Vrain Family Centre

The afternoon was spent at the St. Vrain Family Centre where they specialise in supervised access and exchanges and parenting programmes. We were pretty interested in the ability of the court to order parenting programmes for divorcing couples. The other interesting programme was "Boot Camp for new dads" There was also a new programme for teen dads.

Leanin Tree Museum and Celestial Seasonings

First stop of the morning was at the Leanin Tree Museum where we saw great Western art. Paintings and sculptures inside and stunning brass sculpyures outside. Some great opportunities for group photos!

We moved on to Celestial Seasonings. We had a tour through the tea factory (over a billion cups of tea every year!) and an opportunity to try flavours we don't see in Aotearoa New Zealand. The smells were something else. Really strong, especially the peppermint room that sure cleared the sinuses.

Following a great lunch at Celestial Seasonings we went to our vocational visit and then on to a social event with the Longmont Rotarians. Buffalo wings!

Longmont Rotary Club

We were made welcome by the Rotary Club of Longmont at lunchtime; the club has a warm and friendly feel. The meeting was different from the usual New Zealand meeting which means I will come back to New Zealand with new ideas for Rotary. Our presentation went well. The photo is of the team doing a waiata at the end of our presentation.