President Steve Ban nearly cracked the bell with the opening ring – certainly driving out any ear wax from this reporter’s noggin.
The Paul Harris quote of the week was “Our differences make us stronger, let’s celebrate diversity”. Pres Steve then expounded with a few thoughts on diversity. Who knew that there was diversity so long ago??
Announcements/Reports Presentations
The Pres then substituted for Dick Tucker and encouraged enlisting for the bell ringing on December 14th We are manning (personing?) the three Haggen store entries to extort money for the Salvation Army. C’mon do a good deed and help with the arm-twisting. See below...
Guests:
Del VandeKerk introduced John Bosche was joined the Rotary Brass
Members on Zoom: John Dunne and Ward Naf
Club Events and Committee Announcements
Our Rotary Brass, consisting of Doug Cole, John Bosche, GeorgeHalsell, Del VandeKerk and Pete Kirkman played "This is My Country"
Committee Announcements:
Holiday Bell Ringing
Dick Tucker announced that it is Bell Ringing time again. Bell ringing will be on Saturday, December 14 from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Barkley’s Haggen, Fairhaven Haggen and Meridian Haggen. Members can sign up either on forms at their tables or through the link in the Tattler. (Click Here)
Major Project 2024-2025 to the Lighthouse Mission Medical Center:
We havekicked off the second year of our Major Project Fundraising for the Light House Mission Medical Center. Dave Blair reminded us to Please get your pledges in soon.
For our newer members: In order to substantially increase capacity, LHM has been constructing a 75,000 square foot, purposefully built facility, created to be the hub for homeless services in our community.
In addition to shelter, it will offer a multi-service healthcare clinic and welcome community partners to provide medical and dental care. Notable partners include SeaMar Medical Clinic, Opportunity Council, UnityCare, PeaceHealth Hospital, City of Bellingham, and Whatcom County. Bringing these services to our guests onsite will create better healthcare outcomes. This healthcare clinic is the Major Project for last year and this Rotary year for a total goal of $165,000. We are half way there!
Nathan Twining introduced the speaker for today, Barbara Chase, executive director of the Whatcom Business Alliance (WBA) who has been with the WBA since 2019. The raison d’etre of the alliance is to preserve private enterprise here in the county. And give businesses and individuals a stronger voice in determining city and county policy that affects them.
She went through a quick review of the alliance’s history. They are a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy group with about 400 members. They represent every sector of the business community, from one-person shops to health care to transport. The goal is to bring together business owners, industry leaders, policy makers and the public to positively impact economic health and the quality of life here in Whatcom County.
Recognizing that time is limited, the WBA Policy Center was created to be the eyes, ears and voice for business and industry. It maintains a watch on laws and regs that affect business. They don’t want good policies to fail from a lack of support either…
Another area of focus is the Youth Engagement Initiative which aims to prepare young people to fill local jobs that do not require a college degree. There are many jobs locally that can pay upwards of a six-figure salary. But there is little information or recruiting for these family-wage careers. The YEI is trying to fill this void. Ms. Chase noted that the Meridian School District has a program to prepare young people for employment in the trades. Both BTC and WCC have programs to help as well. As one potential employer put it “If we can get someone to show up and pass a drug test, he can be making six figures in two years.”
The WBA is working with the city and county to retain the High Impact Industrial zoning near the Bennett and Marine Drive intersection. Access to the freeway and the port is important and the infrastructure has been upgraded to support this potential use.
The Business Pulse magazine is the instrument to communicate with the business community. The coming year is the 50th anniversary of the publication. They call it the people magazine for business here in the county. It’s the only business publication in the area now.
Ms. Chase noted the five public events held in 2024. And the one coming up in December, an economic forecast breakfast, with a slate of speakers that includes the Bellingham mayor, Kim Lund.
After the presentation, Shauna Naf shared the financial result of the film night. She revealed that the club netted nearly $6,800. Congratulations!
She showed a 15-minute film, a short trailer by Mountain Film. This included two documentaries, one about mountain biking in Mexico, the exact location this reporter didn’t get. The other short film was about the Covid break showing a 14-year-old Marlin, who made friends with an octopus. Similar to My Octopus Teacher it involved interactions by Marlin with a curious octopus.
Closing:
Prexy Steve then rang the closing bell after thanking all concerned.
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.
