Rotary Club of Niwot History

In January of 2008, an advertisement appeared in the Left Hand Valley Courier inviting all persons interested in forming a new Rotary Club in Niwot to meet with other interested parties at the Left Hand Grange #9.  These meetings continued while the group worked to learn the basics of being a Rotary Club and grow to a “charter-able” size. (Rotary International prefers a group of 25 or more to charter a new club).

In February the group had 12 or so interested individuals and 4 key individuals to provide us guidance. Jo Kirkenear was a long time Rotarian who had been President of the Rotary Club of Carlsbad , CA. He had recently move to Colorado and was looking for a club closer to IBM than Boulder or Longmont. He contacted the Boulder clubs and recruited three of their members to serve as advisors for the new club. They were: Norm Hershmeier (“Sparky”), John Olsen, and Marty Wehr.

In the first couple months the tentative club members discussed their visions, objectives and desires club meeting hours, activities and style, for the club service. 

Since Niwot is a community where many people have to go elsewhere for jobs and work or be at work in Niwot by 9 AM, the group opted to be morning or breakfast club meeting at 7:30 Am and ending promptly by 8:30 AM. (If it were a lunch club, members would have to return to Niwot for meetings at noon and only people working locally would do that. No one was interested in a dinner club & meetings.)

The suggestion (by John Olsen) to be a “Singing Club”, which would do a song or two as a routine thing was heartily and immediately defeated.

Through the year (2008), the club continued to slowly look for and recruit new potential members. The number plateaued around 21-22. However, the group persisted and wrote and approved By-Laws, set up banks accounts, and continued to meet at the grange. It started conducting service activities such as community clean-ups, community food pantry sorting, crutches for Africa, ShelterboxUSA support and it started identifying possible fundraising opportunities. The club purchased the requisite banners, badges, and equipment to function as a regular club.

With this dedication and continued activity, Rotary International eventually agreed to allow the club to charter as a regular club.

The club formally became a Rotary Club (the Rotary Club of Niwot (RCN)) and part of Rotary International, at a Charter Dinner on December 17, 2008, at the Boulder Country Club.