Service above self: Liberty Lake Rotary

October 30, 2019
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  • Cheryl Woods of Liberty Lake Centennial Rotary on a 2017 trip to Honduras

In spring 2019, a group from the Liberty Lake Centennial Rotary Club headed to Honduras in partnership with Pure Water for the World. While there, these Rotarians installed water filtration systems, taught basic hygiene and delivered books, school supplies, new school uniforms, hygiene items and fun things for the kids. Everything was donated by the club’s local members, as well as the Post Falls Rotary Club, Columbia Bank, and many friends and community members.

This was the second trip to Honduras for club members Chris Choate and Cheryl Woods, who organized the trip and procured an international grant from Rotary which covered the cost of the water filtration systems. Across the country, more than 1 million people lack access to improved sanitation, 638,000 lack safe water and many of these are children who are missing school due to sickness from contaminated water.

This trip is just one of many projects the active club of approximately 30 members is involved in. The annual Memorial Day Breakfast at Pavillion Park resulted in the club being able to donate all proceeds to the local Inland Northwest Honor Flight to send seven local veterans to Washington D.C. to visit the memorials built in their honor. The club’s largest annual fundraiser, the RIM Ride held every September, was started by Rotary’s current President, Mandy Desgrosellier, and raises funds for local causes such as the HUB 360 program, college scholarships, Friends of Pavillion Park, Special Olympics Washington and a number of other local non-profits connected to Rotary’s mission.

State Farm agent Emily Osborne became the Liberty Lake Rotary president in June 2019 and is celebrating 20 years with State Farm this year.

“I moved to Liberty Lake to open a scratch Agency here almost 12 years ago and was so focused on starting this business that I ended up buying a condo in 20 minutes,” Osborne recalled. “That’s when I met Mary Duncan at Liberty Closing & Escrow, who invited me to a Rotary meeting. I had no idea what Rotary was but thought it would be a good distraction, a way of getting insurance off my mind for an hour a week, but it’s turned out to be so much more. Rotary is simply amazing! I wish more people knew all the good in the world they do — promoting peace, fighting disease, providing clean water, sanitation and hygiene, saving mothers and children, supporting education and helping to grow local economies. How can you not get behind that? I really do love what I do at State Farm and am so grateful for my customers and for a career that allows me to be a part of Rotary, and to give back to my community and the world. It’s a passion I am very proud to be a part of.”

NOTE: A version of this article first appeared in the 2019 Liberty Lake Yearbook.

Related Posts

Throw Down cancelled for 2020

August 7, 2020
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The second annual Liberty Lake Throw Down, a cornhole tournament that raises support for two of the community’s premier nonprofits, is the latest in a series of COVID event casualties. The event was set to return Aug. 29 to Orchard Park.

Note: The text below was written before the event’s cancellation but sheds light on the nature of and spirit of the Liberty Lake Throw Down. Well received in its inaugural year, organizers hope to see the event return. …

The Throw Down is put on by Friends of Pavillion Park and the HUB Sports Center to raise funds for those two organizations.

For Joe Frank, president and CEO of Greenstone Homes and president of the FOPP board, the tournament is a true celebration of how a community comes together. Since its founding in 1992, FOPP has helped build many Liberty Lake amenities and now focuses on “strengthening the sense of community in Liberty Lake by providing safe and affordable opportunities for recreation, education, entertainment and the arts.”

“When we build communities, our goal is to build a socially connected community, not just a collection of houses,” Frank said of Greenstone. “This social connection is the part of community that is ongoing, even after development is done. FOPP has taken on this role for Liberty Lake, and it is a big reason why Liberty Lake continues to be one of the most desired locations in the region.”

After featuring around 100 teams of two in its inaugural year, the 2020 Throw Down hopes to double to 200 teams this year, Frank said. Team registration is open and sponsorship information is available at pavillionpark.org. Divisions have been added this year to “better help us differentiate between competitive players and social players,” Frank said.

“The 2019 event came off better than I could have ever hoped for,” he said. “Starting a new event, you never know how it will be embraced, but we got a lot of great feedback after last year’s event and we hope to see attendance and support grow in 2020.”

Frank said his personal favorite memory from 2019 was the final from the Mini Bagger Division.

“The championship game was back and forth the whole game, and you had a lot of the adult teams make their way over to this court and cheer on the younger players,” he said. “It was awesome to see.”

NOTE: A version of this article first appeared in the 2020 Liberty Lake Yearbook.

Feature photo from 2019 event courtesy of Victory Media.

Fire safety for growing Liberty Lake

December 4, 2020
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By Chief Bryan Collins
Spokane Valley Fire Department

The Spokane Valley Fire Department proudly serves and protects the people who live, work and play in Liberty Lake. In 2019, the SVFD responded to approximately 900 incidents within the Liberty Lake area: 82% medical, 14% fire-related and 4% other emergencies, including vehicle accidents.

When an emergency happens, Liberty Lake residents are likely to receive a response from SVFD Fire Station 3, which provides 24/7 protection. Your firefighters and firefighter/paramedics are trained and equipped to handle nearly any emergency they might encounter. As you know, the city is rapidly growing, and the SVFD follows and tracks its responses closely to keep up with that growth and maintain our excellent response times.

One way we do this is by having multiple resources respond from different locations based on who will arrive fastest. For example, with a residential structure fire, a Liberty Lake resident would likely get resources from Station 3 in Liberty Lake, Station 4 in Otis Orchards, Station 10 in Greenacres, Station 5 near the Spokane Industrial Park, and Station 8 from Spokane Valley. In addition, a chief officer and a safety officer from the eastern side of our district would respond.

This multiple-unit response assures that you receive help quickly and provides the manpower to safely suppress a fire in a residential structure. Across the district in 2019, this weighted, rapid response to fire incidents allowed the SVFD to save approximately 90 percent of the value of buildings and their contents.

The SVFD is proud to partner with the City of Liberty Lake and Central Valley School District. This partnership will work to improve traffic circulation within our growing city. In the coming years, road infrastructure improvements along the I-90 corridor will keep traffic moving, which helps your fire and police departments arrive when you need us.

With increased residential and commercial development, the SVFD’s staff provides plan review — focusing on fire and life safety — for all new development projects. Our staff’s excellent relationship with planners and building officials within Liberty Lake assures that new development is safe, fire-resistant and efficient for our community.

I wish you all a safe year ahead. It truly is my privilege and an honor to be able to serve as fire chief of this wonderful community!

NOTE: A version of this article first appeared in the 2020 Liberty Lake Yearbook.

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