President Chuck opened the meeting at 12:26. "God Bless America' was sung by Club members to the accompaniment of Don Anderson on the piano. Joe Coons gave an invocation with themes of inclusivity. There were no visiting Rotarians. Guests consisted of the parents and family members of the day’s Students of the Month.
President Chuck asked that we reflect on how each of us might become a better, more contributing Rotarian.
Announcements:
Stop Hunger Now - Lisa Saar It is this Saturday, February 27th
Lisa reminded us of the Stop Hunger Now event to be held on Saturday, February 27, 2016 at St. Luke’s Community Health Education Center beginning at 9:00 a.m. At the event, participants will package food for distribution to the world’s most vulnerable people on a world-wide basis. Members are directed to the website – stophungernow.org – where they can register for the event and/or donate to the program. Only $0.29 cents is needed for each meal we package. Members who attend are encouraged to bring family members, neighbors and friends to participate in the packing process. So far $12,375 has been raised and 130 volunteers will be on hand. Lisa asked for 10-15 volunteers to help set up this Friday from 4-5 PM.
Major Project Selection Committee - Peter Theisen and John Griggs
John Griggs announced that the Major Project committee is taking applications for next year’s major project. March 30 is the cutoff date. Application forms may be found on the Club’s website.
Youth In Service Conference - President Chuck
There will be a District 5050 “Youth in Service” conference on March 5th in Burlington. Recommendations for attendees are currently being solicited. Please contact President Chuck.
Guest of Rotarians:
Parents and Family of Students of the Month: Music
1. Jerry & Lizanne McGarity, parents of Glenna McGarity
2. Bonnie Southcott (Mom) and Ellen Harwick (Step parent), parents of Kyler Southcott
3. Reed & Lisa Richardson, parents of Nathaniel Gaines
Presentations:
Students of the Month:
Dale Kinsley introduced the Students of the Month presentations, the theme being music.
Glenna McGarity from Bellingham High School was introduced by Jim Vos. She performed on the flute.
Kyler Southcott from Sehome High School was introduced by Brad Burdick and sang a piece by Ralph Vaughn Williams.
Nathaniel Gaines from Squalicum High School was introduced by Megan Stanfield. He engaged the Club members with a couple gospel-style songs.
Minister of Fun:
A be-wigged Doug Cole, accompanied by strains of Hail to the Chief, regaled us with facts and questions dealing with George Washington, whose birthday was observed today. The “Father of his Country” actually sired no children. He did, however, marry Martha Curtis, a widow, who had two children. He was a planter, a surveyor and a military man. George had no higher education, no middle name, belonged to no party, was elected unanimously, served two terms, was 6’ 3” tall and weighed 200 pounds, and never lived in the White House (it hadn’t yet been built). There are 33 US counties, 7 mountains, 9 colleges and one state named after him. Rotarians must have really liked George Washington as they laid down lots of currency today with his portrait on it.
Program:
Mark Knittel, who recently returned from a month in Nairobi, Kenya, shared his experiences with ARES Education Solutions. ARES is the result of two organizations, Afretech and Tembo Trading, and their absolute commitment to improving the education and lives of children in Kenya. Mark found that two years after installing a rather extensive computer system, the entire setup had become completely inoperative. The power supply was erratic, thus burning out the equipment. There was also damage from dirt and dust, and spare parts and technical help were unavailable. Mark also noted that the Internet was not widely available, thus, even if computers were available, content would be marginal.
Mark then went to work designing two types of wireless servers, one with 64 GB of storage and the other with 500 GB. Designed with a robust battery-based internal power source, which could level out the fluctuations of the local power grid, these servers could become the content source for future schools. These stand-alone "boxes" will contain over 6,000 Wikipedia pages, the entire Khan Academy, 22,000 videos, 400 Great Books of the World, every TED Talk, over 100 textbooks, and much more. The plan is for these devices to be assembled in Kenya
Suitable portable devices for classrooms are now being researched. The goal of ARES is to create jobs and opportunity in Kenya. Manufacturing will start in January and the ARES system is scheduled to be available the first quarter of 2016.
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