Moses Lake Rotarians recognize public service
Karl Reuther, the Rotary Club’s district manager for Central Washington and south-central British Columbia, speaks to members of the Rotary Club of Moses Lake at their regular weekly luncheon on Tuesday. The hat is part of an effort to encourage club members to plant flower gardens to aid pollinators like bees and butterflies. “Everybody can do that,” Reuther said. “A little dirt, a little water, a little love.”
CHARLES H. FEATHERSTONE/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Rotary Club honored a local firefighter, a police officer and a Samaritan physician with one of its highest awards at a regular luncheon on Tuesday.
“We took five months' worth of time to evaluate this,” Rotary Club of Moses Lake President Paul Hochstatter told club members at their regular weekly luncheon at the Pillar Rock Grill. “Thanks to all of you in the community for all that you do.”
Rotarians honored Moses Lake Firefighter Lynn Falconer, Moses Lake Police Officer Rudy Valdez and Samaritan Healthcare emergency physician Matthew Lockwood with the organization’s Paul Harris Fellowship for Community Service. The award, named after Rotary founder Paul Harris, was established in 1957 to recognize community service and is accompanied by a $1,000 donation to the Rotary Foundation in the name of the recipient.
Hochstatter said Falconer has received the award for the work she has done helping to start a fire science program as well as for her work at Camp Blaze — the state’s fire training summer camp for young women aged 16-19 — and work creating her own training camp, Camp Fireproof.
Valdez was honored with the award for his work as a training officer with the MLPD, while Lockwood was recognized for his years treating the sick and injured with Samaritan in Moses Lake, Hochstatter said.
District Governor Karl Reuther, who heads up the local Rotary Club region for Central Washington and South-Central British Columbia, told local club members the greatest threat the Rotary Club faces is finding new, young members. Inviting new members to come in is important so that the club will not fade like other organizations, he said.
“We must not allow Rotary to suffer the same fate as Kodak or Blockbuster,” Reuther said. “We want to be around the community for a lot of years.”
Reuther said club members need to take stock themselves of all things Rotarians have done in Moses Lake and then let the world know.
“People do not know what Rotary is or what Rotarians do. We’re people of action who get things done regardless of who notices,” he said.
Among the things the Moses Lake Rotary club does every year is the annual Coats for Kids Drive, which has collected gently used winter clothes for children every year since 1997 and gives them away for free. The club is currently taking donations, and this year’s distribution is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 5.
Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.