President John opened the meeting to a full room of members and guests. Our guests included speakers (see below) and others who came to hear the presentations.
Guests:
George Halsell introduced his wife Melanie, speaker Barb Demorest and her guest Laureen Furnas
John Moffat introduced Kat Chawkins and her friend Kevin
John Dunne introduced Connie Sparks and volunteer Michael with Road 2 Home
Members on Zoom: Loch Trimingham and Doug Cole
Club Events and Committee Announcements
Hands On Committee
Ward Naf announced upcoming projects with the Community Boating Center and the Ken Imus Clean Up in Fairhaven (4-11-2026). Details to follow. Our Club is looking into other groups joining us, including Rotaract.
We received areport on the Rotary Safe Water and Hygiene program in Bafusia, Uganda.
The District 5050 Conference will be held at Harrison Hot Springs May 1-3, 2026. Members were urged to consider attending. This link will take you to additional information:
2026 Meal Packing Event
Marty Haines reminded us of our 2026 meal-packing event, scheduled for March 14, 2026, at Assumption Gym from 8:45-12:00. Marty requested help with set-up at 7:30, contact him or Roland if you can help.
Over 140 people have signed up to volunteer to pack some 35,000 meals. We need to raise $12,400 to cover materials costs. We are currently $3,100 short. Please consider donating.
The meals packed will be sent to Sierra Leone, providing over 1,000 students with nutritious meals and a foundation for their physical and academic health.
We are still short of our fundraising goal for this year's major project, according to Doug Cole. He reminded us of the club's expectation that all members contribute annually to the major project and encouraged those who haven't done so to make their donations as soon as possible.
Project Purpose:
Skookum Kids is seeking $140,000 to assist with the purchase of three slightly used vans. RCOB would contribute approximately $85,000 of this total, with the remainder obtained from designated donors. While currently serving 200+ families each year, acquiring these vehicles will significantly improve Skookum Kids' ability to serve more children and families throughout Whatcom County and Northwest Washington for years to come.
Our donation will enable the organization to replace aging minivans used to transport children to and from appointments, sometimes across the state! Eighty percent of foster children have court-mandated visitations.
with Road2Home, who spoke about Volunteer Opportunities there. Her agency manages the Garden View Villa, a group of tiny homes, at the corner of Woburn and Lakeway. It is a place for unhoused people aged 55 years and older – many with health issues. They have three full time case managers and they are seeking volunteers who would be willing to cook meals, transport residents, work a three hour shift once a week supervising residents and teach life skills.
There are training videos to orient new volunteers to the program.
Kat Chawkins, representing the Bellingham Food Bank, then spoke about a current fundraiser, with a goal of raising $1,000 for the Food Bank. It is running from March 9th thru April 12th. They are also hoping to receive kid's clothing and shoes and various donation sites located around the city, still to be determined.
George Halsell introduced our featured speaker, Barb Demorest, founder of Knitted Knockers
Barb gave a compelling story and presentation about the organization she founded, Knitted Knockers. A Certified Public Accountant, Barb was considering retirement in 2010 when her life took an unexpected turn: She was diagnosed with breast cancer and ended up having a mastectomy. She was not alone. There are some 50,000 mastectomies done a year in the United States
Because of her own experience and those of friends, Barb was aware of the significant negative impact that having a mastectomy has on women. So Barb decided to do something about it. She started Knitted Knockers – a non-profit organization that recruits women who can knit and crochet, to knit breast prostheses out of yarn. The plastic breast protheses that were available were too heavy, uncomfortable, sticky, and irritating to the skin.
Barb started locally, recruiting acquaintances who enjoyed knitting, and they began producing many knitted knockers, which were then given free of charge to women in the area. The response from the breast cancer survivors was overwhelmingly positive.
She discussed her project with her doctor, Dr. Kaufman, who supported the idea. Barb, with other volunteers, began reaching out to other medical clinics in the United States. She then traveled to Uganda to set up a local program. While there, the media heard about it and she and the Knitted Knockers program ended up on national media. As a result, the program has spread to other African countries.
The knitted knockers program is now working with some 2,500 medical providers. There are over 7,500 different Knitted Knocker groups world-wide, all of them volunteers, producing soft, comfortable breast protheses for women all over the world, free of charge. As of now, Knitted Knockers has programs in some 76 countries around the world and have distributed over 1.1 million “knitted knockers”.
RCOB apparel, including polo shirts, dress shirts, vests and hats is now available. These are items that every Club member simply must have in his/her wardrobe! Besides looking great, Club members will be contributing to branding for the RCOB as well as supporting our Club's Foundation, which will receive part of the proceeds.
Click on the button below for the the clothing catalogue, with the Order Form on the last page. Fill out the order form, turn it into Vinson Latimore at a meeting or email a scanned copy to embroidery@choicesscrubs.com.
Presentations:
