Colonel Griffin 168th Air Refueling Wing

The 168th Air Refueling Wing (168 ARW) of the Alaska Air National Guard is the only Arctic region refueling unit for all of United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF), and maintains a substantial number of personnel on active duty and civilian technician status in order to meet its daily operational requirements. The 168th is 650 members strong and there are 2,300 Air Guard in Alaska. Crews from Eielson travelled all over the world last year from Guam, Thailand and Iraq. Besides their federally directed missions, as a unit of the Alaska National Guard, the 168 ARW is an asset of the Governor of Alaska and as such, the Governor can direct the unit to respond to emergencies declared or missions required within the State. It was a pleasure having Colonel speak at our Rotary today, Thank you so much!

Let's Join together and help the Santa's Senior Center

March 2007 North Pole Santa’s Senior Center

FUND RAISERS: For North Pole Santa’s Senior Center

March 31, Noon to 4 p.m.
MOOSE NUGGET CARNIVAL
North Pole Moose Family Center 306
300 S Santa Claus Lane
Information 488-2774
Join the fun with crafts, music, game booths, raffles, food and baked goods. Fun for the whole family.

Santa’s Senior Center Garage Sale for
Garage Sale Connoisseur
North Pole Santa’s Senior Center
501 E. 5 th Ave.
Information 488-4663 11 am - 3 pm

March 30 - Noon to 6 pm and March 31 - 9 am to 4 pm.
Tables $10 a day or $15 for two days. Lunch Bake Sale

HODGEPODGE BINGO
North Pole Santa’s Senior Center
501 E. 5 th Ave.
Information 488-4663

March 10 - Soup & Salad 6 pm $6. Early Bird BINGO 6:30 pm
BINGO 7:00 pm - $12.50

Easter Brunch
April 8, 2007
10 am - 2 pm
$8

North Pole Santa’s Senior Center
501 E. 5 th Ave.
Information 488-4663

Ice Alaska

Don Swarner the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, gave us a sneek peek at whats to come for this years World Ice Art Championship. The Event will be open Feb 27th through March 25th. We all commended the work well done from all the voluteers that get involved and have brought this so far from when it was on the bank of the Chena River down town.. There is a huge push for help from lending a hand to buying season pass to advertisement! Visit the website throughout the Event and ejoy thier beautiful site and webcam's from the comfort of home!
www.icealaska.com

Thank you Don for speaking before our club, good luck and we will see you at the park!

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA)

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) will be held at Elmendorf Air Force Base Thursday, March 29th to Sunday, April 1st. The North Pole Club is currently collecting applications from sophomores and juniors from the North Pole area. On February 21st the North Pole Club will be selecting the top two youth from the applications to attend RYLA. RYLA is a leadership event that promotes development and understanding of leadership principles. The RYLA program consists of a combination of experiential activities, group discussion, personal reflection, guest speakers/panels and group team building and problem solving activities. Participants learn about the qualities of leadership, what makes an effective team and apply what they learn in challenging activities. The North Pole Club covers the cost of RYLA including transportation. To learn more please visit the RYLA website at:
http://www.ryla5010.org/
If you have any questions please contact Tasmine Bennett.

Fish and Game Moose Management

Don Young a Fairbanks Area Biologist was our guest speaker Wednesday. The Moose Management Overview presented was very educational! We all left with a clear understanding of the need for reduction in our moose population in our immediate area. The rough figures of 100 moose related motor vehicle injury accidents in the interior just last year is a astounding. We all see the moose on the side of the road through our travels in the interior, the strong research proves there is a need for a reduction in our 2.0 moose per square mile to a more manageable 1.0 per square mile. Don did bring us the bad news of a possible burn this summer, burning is an effective way to prepare a seed bed and returning nutrients back into the soil (both beneficial in the long term). The purposed burn is a short distance away on the Tanana Flats, 75,000 acres, fire unfortunately is really the only practical/cost effective method to improve this large area back to rejuvenate the moose habitat. Thank you Don for your expertise and easy to understand statistics!

don_young@fishgame.state.ak.us

Yukon Quest

Julie Estey was our guest speaker this past Wednesday. She reminded us of how amazing the Yukon Quest really is.. This 1,000 mile journey that follows along the historic Gold Rush and mail delivery routes from the turn of the 20th Century. It is exhilarating and takes a large amount of volunteers to pull off! This years purse is $200,000 and sure to bring out the competition in all of the athletes. We all enjoyed the beautiful pictures that she was able to present to us all felt a part of the excitement. There are so many ways to get involved, I personally purchased the #14 bib so my hopes are high that we will see this number come through North Pole Number one some were around Feb. 21st! We are very lucky this year to have the race grace our special town of North Pole, to get involved visit the wonderful website:

http://www.yukonquest.org/servlet/viewnewslist

Thank you Julie for your wonderful presentation and enthusiasm!

Nominate a Community Volunteer!

Every Rotarian knows a volunteer; they are everyday people from all walks of life who seek to help others expecting nothing in return. Flint Hills Resource and United Way of the Tanana Valley invite you to nominate an outstanding individual or group who volunteers in our community for a Flint Hills Resources Golden Heart Award. A nomination form, with instruction and helpful tips is available online through the United Way website at http://www.unitedwaytv.com/pdfs/07GoldenHeart.pdf
Application deadline is March 10, 2007.