Rotary Club of Big Sky
$4,500 Macdonald-Burt Scholarship 

The Rotary Club of Big Sky is proud to announce its annual scholarship in the amount of $4,500 to be awarded to a Big Sky resident attending college or a vocational post-high school program. This scholarship is another community project that the Rotary Club of Big Sky is able to fund as a result of the community’s generous support of the annual Gold Raffle and Auction held each January. 

The criteria for the scholarship will be based on financial need, community service, and academic performance. A committee of three Rotarians will review each application, and a winner will be announced by May 31st, 2021. The deadline for the application is April 30th, 2021. All information provided to the review committee will be kept strictly confidential to the members of that committee. 

The scholarship will be awarded to the student and paid to the institution upon receipt of a tuition bill. Big Sky residents interested in applying for this scholarship should contact a Rotarian for an application or visit www.bigskyrotary.com for more information. A school transcript and detailed description of community service must be included. 

Please find the scholarship application in the menu bar at www.bigskyrotary.com

"As the recipient of last year's scholarship, I figured you guys would want an update on my educational status!  I am still enrolled in the Montana State University Honors College pursuing my degree in microbiology on the pre-veterinary medicine track.  My freshman year was a whirlwind of activity. I greatly enjoyed my classes pertaining to biology and animal science; I did not enjoy the chemistry and calculus quite as much, but they were character builders and I saw myself improve.  Besides my classwork, I was involved heavily in Korean Club (I achieved fluency in the Korean language in February) as well as in Intervarsity, a fantastic Christian organization that does amazing things on campus.  Thanks to your scholarship, I was able to spend more time on both my classes and my extracurricular activities and less time worrying about my financial status.  Thank you so much for your generosity; it means the world to me!

Hope you are all staying healthy and happy!

 

Thank you again for your support,"

Alexine Liddle

Big Sky Rotary has recently donated $2500 to The La Vega Water Project and $2500 to the Maya Pedal Project in Guatemala.  Our Big Sky Club members, Laura and Lee, along with three Lone Peak High School Seniors, are currently volunteering in Guatemala to help facilitate both projects.

http://www.mayapedal.org

Phase I: Water Global Grant 18-72020 in La Vega, Guatemala

Our Rotary project will impact over 1,300 lives in the community of La Vega, Guatemala by providing a safe and reliable drinking water source (Phase I) and sanitation services (Phase II). Phase I will involve drilling a well, constructing a water storage tank, and installing water distribution lines to homes. Phase I to provide potable water will cost $290,000. The second phase to improve sanitation will be constructed after Phase I is complete and operational.

Currently, residents of La Vega rely on individual shallow wells that are generally 30 feet (9.1 m) deep. Homes in the community use individual pit toilets. Therefore, most wells are contaminated by fecal coliform necessitating the need to boil water before drinking. In addition, the community is surrounded by sugar cane and rubber tree plantations and is located at the end of a large watershed. The proximity to production agricultural and location within the watershed introduces other pollutants to their drinking water. Water borne diseases are a constant presence in the community resulting in lost wages and poor health outcomes.

Phase I will solve the issue of contaminated water. To implement a successful project, our Rotary coalition has built strong partnerships with local and international organizations: Fundazucar, Rotary Club of Mazatenango, Engineers Without Borders, and a Guatemalan engineer. This project will be assisted through in-kind contributions from the communities in the form of local labor, local funding, and local leadership.

By providing clean and accessible water, this grant will give much-needed support to the existing community. With your support we can assist this community sustain and growth in a healthy environment.

We need you, your club, and district to help raise these funds to change lives. This project is led by Mitch McKinley with the Rotary Club of Kalispell, Montana in Rotary District 5390. We plan to submit this Global grant in June 2019. Help us transform the lives of people in Guatemala with this project, please! For more information please contact Mitch McKinley at (406) 314-8321 or via email at nwmtcoalition@gmail.com. The Rotary Club of Mazatenango is the host club in Guatemala.

 

Rotary International's new monthly theme for April is Maternal and Child Health!

Every day mothers risk their lives giving birth and millions of children die each year from treatable, preventable causes. At least 7 million children under the age of five die each year due to malnutrition, poor health care, and inadequate sanitation. To help reduce this rate, Rotary provides immunizations and antibiotics to babies, improves access to essential medical services, and supports trained health care providers for mothers and their children. Rotary’s projects ensure sustainability by empowering the local community to take ownership of health care training programs.

The District Govenor of Rotary, Roy Beekman, and Rotary of Big Sky members will attend a thank you dedication of the new Crail Ranch support structure on Wednesday, September 17, 2014 at 5:00 pm. The Rotary of Big Sky donated $12,000 toward the purchase of the support structure with funds raised from the 2014 Golf Auction.

Crail Ranch Support Building

The Historic Crail Ranch sits in the middle of Big Sky’s Meadow Village.  Originally the home of the Augustus Crail family that homestead this area from 1905 to 1950, long neglect had allowed the buildings to start to fall to ruin.  The Gallatin Valley Women’s Club started the preservation efforts in the 1990s, and these have been continued by the Historic Crail Ranch Committee, a part of the Big Sky Community Corporation.  These dedicated volunteers have done a wonderful job of restoring the cabins, gathering photographs and artifacts and preserving the history of Big Sky.  However, the little one room cabin that served as a home for the first several years of the homestead had to be used for storage of equipment, gardening, and material awaiting restoration.  In order to return this cabin to the ranch exhibit, it was necessary to erect a storage facility near the entrance to the property.

The building, designed and built by Frontier Rustic Designs of Norris, MT, was made to compliment the existing historic buildings on the site.  However, finding the $12,000 to purchase the structure was a problem for this volunteer committee.

The Rotary Club of Big Sky had worked with the B.S.C.C. on the Community Park Climbing Boulders and improvements to Kircher Park.  This extension was a natural fit, and the Homestead Museum project fit with our goal of community improvement.   We were able to pay for the building out of the 2014 Gold Raffle and Auction proceeds and donate it to the preservation committee.

Rotary of Big Sky Funds Community Information Signs

The Town Center and Meadow Village Information Signs provide a lot of useful information for visitors on the Big Sky area. Both signs are located adjacent to the bus stops.  These informational signs contain maps of Big Sky area trails, the layout of town center, meadow village, west fork meadows and mountain village.  It also has maps of the Biggest Skiing in America as well as a list of upcoming events.  

Climbing Boulders in Big Sky Community Park

The Big Sky Community Park has been under development for several years under the direction of the Big Sky Community Corporation.  One of the goals was to create a Climbing Boulder area for the children of this mountain community.

With money earned from two Gold Raffle and Auctions, as well as a hot tub raffle, we were able to raise $25,000 to pay for the first boulder in the summer of 2012.  This was so well received, and with the great success of the 2013 Auction and private donations, we were able to come up with another $45,000 to build two more boulders and complete the project that summer.

The Community Park now has three large concrete boulders.  One is small enough for little children, one intermediate in height, and a 12’ one for serious climbing.  Each boulder has specifically designed holds and routes from easier to more difficult.

The Rotary Club of Big Sky is proud to be able to fulfill our goal of community improvement and service to children with this project.

ClubRunner secures all your private information using the latest security technologies. Hosted in a world class data centre with redundant power, Internet backbones and 24/7 security and monitoring, you can rest assured that your club data is safe and protected. Your members' contact information is secured behind unique logins and passwords. Access to information is also restricted, for example, a member can only view the list of members, but can modify his or her own personal information.

Data on the server is protected by TCP/IP filtering, firewall and anti-virus software that protect against any unauthorized intrusion. Backups of data are made daily and stored off-site.
 

ClubRunner makes it easy to publish your weekly Club eBulletin, and send to all members and friends of the club, by incorporating home page stories and events with the push of a button.

Welcome to our Rotary Club!