A toast to our good friend and longtime Aspen and Carbondale Rotarian Jack Brendlinger who left us earlier this year, led by good friend and fellow Rotarian Mike Waski. Note the "Shot-Ski" for good measure! Farewell Jack!President
President Elect
Secretary
Treasurer
Youth Exchange Officer
Board Member - Membership
Board Member - Public Relations
Board Member - Community projects/grants
Board Member - International & R. I. Foundation
Immediate Past President
Welcome to our Club!
A toast to our good friend and longtime Aspen and Carbondale Rotarian Jack Brendlinger who left us earlier this year, led by good friend and fellow Rotarian Mike Waski. Note the "Shot-Ski" for good measure! Farewell Jack!Our Carbondale Rotary/Ace Hardware Fireball Drop 2022 was a success, raising over $27,000 to support our student scholarships, Rotary Youth Exchange, community and international projects and grants. Thank you to everyone who partcipated!
We're excited to announce the return of the Fireball Drop sponsored by Ace Hardware! 
Come join the fun as Carbondale Rotary and the Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District team up to drop up to 1,000 colored ping pong balls (or more) from a fire ladder truck at Sopris Park in downtown Carbondale on First Friday, May 6th at 5pm! Which ball will hit the center target and who will win the $5,000 grand prize?
Corporate sponsors include Alpine Bank, Sopris Liquor and Wine, Umbrella Roofing, Sotheby's International Realty River Valley Ranch Office, Wealth By Design, Glenwood Springs Post Independent and Mike Waski.
Balls can be purchased for $20/each online at paybee.io/@fireballdrop@1 or at City Market Carbondale (at select times starting in mid-March) or through our partners at YouthZone, Roaring Fork Soccer Club, Ascendigo and Roaring Fork Pickleball Association.
All proceeds after expenses go to local volunteer projects, scholarships, Rotary youth exchange and social programs.
Our club is involved in several community, district and global programs and projects. Contributions specifically to our club's student scholarships, community and international grants and service projects, and our Rotary Youth Exchange program are welcome and can be sent to the Rotary Club of Carbondale, P.O. Box 538, Carbondale, CO 81623.
202Fall 2021 Rio Grande Trail cleanup.Our club and the greater Rotary community lost longtime Carbondale and Aspen Rotarian Jack Brendlinger on Feb. 13, 2022.
Jack Brendlinger directs things from his ATV at the 2019 Carbondale Rotary Running of the Balls on Main Street.
If you can't join us in person, please consider joining virtually at 6:45 a.m. each Wednesday via Zoom for our weekly club meetings and to hear special guest speakers and presentations. To receive the meeting link, please contact John Stroud at jtstroud@comcast.net
We had our second Running of the Balls fundraiser on Sept. 6, 2019, as part of the Carbondale First Friday festivities downtown.
The evening began with our Running of the Kids race, where children ages 3-8 were invited to be chased by large rubber balls down Main Street in a just-for-fun event.
Then, ticket holders and other spectators lined the street to watch as members of the Roaring Fork Youth Soccer Club kick-shuffled the big, bouncy balls down the street to see which ones would enter the finish chute first to determine the winner.
Congratulations to Kevin Lundy of Carbondale, who held the winning ticket and won the $5,000 grand prize! This event raises needed funds for our student scholarships, community grants and support for global Rotary projects.
Carbondale Rotary’s first-ever Running of the Balls last Friday was even better than we imagined. Locals of all ages came out for First Friday and lined Main Street to watch. We had a kids fun run for ages 3-6, a great parade and lastly the main event when 89 of our big rubber balls got blown down the street by giant fans and leaf blowers.
Jack Brendlinger (on the ATV)
We had perfect weather and amazing, crews of volunteers to make it all happen. The vision of our hard-working event architect, planner and chairman Jack Brendlinger truly became a reality.
Carbondale Rotary 2019 Scholarship recipients
Carbondale Rotary Awards 2018 Scholarships
to Local High School Students
RFHS and BHS Seniors Receive $1,000 each for College
Jim Kenney (third from left) passes the mic to the 2018 Carbondale Rotary Scholarship recipients
The Carbondale Rotary Club proudly presented ten outstanding local high school seniors with $1,000 scholarships to put towards their college tuition at the weekly Club meeting this past Wednesday morning, May 14th at the Carbondale Fire Station. The students were chosen out of a field of 38 applicants based on their academic record, their demonstrated need and their commitment to Rotary’s Four Way Test and motto of Service Above Self. Seven recipients currently attend Basalt High School and three go to Roaring Fork High School.
Carbondale Rotary Club welcomed this year's Rotary Exchange Students at the Aspen Airport in late August. 
Both Stefan Platzer from Austria and Thunyakrit "Ou" Chutiphornphongchai from Thailand arrived to spend the year living with local families and attending High School through the Carbondale Rotary Mountain and Plains District 5470 Rotary Youth Exchange!
Stefan's Carbondale Rotary Greeting Committee at the Aspen Airport!
Thunyakrit "Ou" Chutiphornphongchai is welcomed to Aspen by his host family the Mitchells and Carbondale Rotary members!
Both students will be running cross-country for their respective schools. Ou has already visited the top of Aspen Mountain and Stefan spent his first weekend fly fishing. They're certainly wasting no time settling in to life in the valley!
Special thanks to our very own John Stroud for the countless hours organizing the Rotary Exchange program here and making these life-changing experiences possible!
On Wednesday, July 19th at noon the Carbondale Rotary Club proudly presents a free screening of "The Time Travelers" a documentary film by director Forest Woodward and Brendan Leonard.The event will be at the Carbondale Fire Station and includes a presentation by crew member Ian Anderson.
In January 2017, the USA Men’s Rafting Team set their sights on making history by attempting to break a legendary speed record down 277 miles of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Their goal was 34 hours. 34 hours…straight.
Throughout 2016, the filmmakers sporadically followed these scrappy, determined guys on their quest…training hard, designing their custom boat, and gaining perspective on what it means to attempt something extraordinary on one of the world’s most breathtaking stages.
In January 2017, the USA Men’s Rafting Team set their sights on making history by attempting to break a legendary speed record down 277 miles of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. Their goal was 34 hours. 34 hours…straight.
Throughout 2016, the filmmakers sporadically followed these scrappy, determined guys on their quest…training hard, designing their custom boat, and gaining perspective on what it means to attempt something extraordinary on one of the world’s most breathtaking stages.
We held a very special meeting two weeks ago as we welcomed our two new foreign exchange students, Sophie Hofmann from Germany and Nithin Prakash from India. We also heard from returning local student Megan Webber about her amazing experience in Argentina and met with outbound student Jaden Stryker who is headed to the Netherlands this fall! Sophie is attending Roaring Fork High School and just joined the cheerleading squad and Nithin attends Basalt High School and is on the golf team!
Jaden Stryker, Megan Webber, Sophie Hoffmann, Nithin Prakash
Megan Webber Details her Argentina Experience
Congratulations to our new Paul Harris Fellow Award Winners Duke Jones and Ed Queenan! Thank you for your outstanding service to Rotary!
Carbondale Rotary Club partners to Fund a Women’s Tree Nursery in Niger
The Rotary Club of Carbondale is helping to tackle poverty, hunger and malnutrition through its support of the Farmers of the Future program. The goal of Farmers of the Future is to help impoverished farmers of Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, escape the poverty trap of subsistence farming. It teaches modern agricultural practice to primary school children and creates profitable farming businesses for their mothers. The project, now in its pilot phase in three villages in Niger, is being implemented through the non-profit organization, Eliminate Poverty Now, which was founded by Carbondale Rotarians John and Judy Craig to promote economic opportunity in Africa, especially for women.
Fireball Drop, May 7, 2021
We had a successful first-ever Carbondale Rotary Fireball Drop fundraiser event on the First Friday in May. Congratulations to our top prize winner, Christy Maron, and to our secondary prize winners, Janet Colleran, Matthew Moore, Jan Schubert and Cindy and David Miller. We look forward to this becoming an annual event, so, until the First Friday in May, 2022! Check out some more photos below.
Rotarians sort ping-pong balls to get ready for the ball drop.
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Covid-19 Community Support Project honors frontline workers, first responders
When Rotary District 5470 offered up a Covid-19 Community Support challenge grant (2 rounds worth!), the Rotary Club of Carbondale was up to the challenge. Our club matched the $1,000 grant, and raised more than $4,500 in additional club member and outside donations to support the purchase of local restaurant gift cards.
Past President John Stroud (2019-20) makes a card purchase at The Landmark.
President-Elect Heather Hicks makes a card purchase at Allegria. These were then distributed to our frontline grocery and retail workers at City Market and Ace Hardware, as well as to our local postal workers and our community Police and Fire Department First Responders.
Each gift card was accompanied by a special greeting card from our friends at Tom's Door, an inter-faith nonprofit organization in the Roaring Fork Valley that assists those in need. Many thanks to all who made this project possible!
Tami Stroud and Heather Hicks prepare the gift and greeting cards.
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First woman takes office as president of Rotary International
First woman takes office as president of Rotary InternationalEVANSTON, Ill. (June 29, 2022) – Jennifer Jones, member of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland, Ontario, Canada, will be the first woman to take office as
Rotary awards its highest recognition to HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales
Rotary awards its highest recognition to HRH Prince Charles, Prince of WalesKIGALI, Rwanda (June 24, 2022) – Celebrate Community, a joint initiative of the four major volunteer service organizations, will launch this year
Melodies and memories
The nonprofit Music Mends Minds, launched by Rotary member Carol Rosenstein, provides people with memory loss an opportunity to reconnect through song.
Serve to Change Lives
Carbondale, CO 81623
United States of America