President Paul opened the meeting by commenting on the Mariners’ dramatic, come-from-behind victory over the Atlanta Braves yesterday with two home runs in the 9th inning.
Club and Committee Announcements:
WE ARE MOVING TO THE SYRE STUDENT CENTER - ROOM #107/108 AT WHATCOM COMMUNITY COLLEGE, EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 19TH. THIS IS NOT OUR PERMANATE LOCATION BUT GETTING CLOSER. HERE ARE THE DIRECTIONS.
The buildings address is 235 W Kellogg Rd. But this is not where you park. There is no parking off of Kellogg Road. You must enter parking off either Eliza Ave or Cordata Parkway. You are looking for the YELLOW lot (look on light poles for Y2 or Y3).
Enter from Eliza Ave: the driveway between Kellogg Rd and Westerly Rd has a driveway into the campus, follow that about 200 yards until it slopes down, park in the area between the three buildings.
Enter from Cordata Parkway: Just north of the WTA station and Cruisin Coffee before the round about is Orca Lane, take Orca Lane around the first two buildings until you find a large parking lot between three buildings.
Andy Day (on behalf of the Major Projects Committee) said that 7 of the 9 local organizations the club solicited for proposals submitted them. The Committee will be reviewing them later this week.
Monty McAllister said the Student Exchange Committee is gearing up again after a Covid hiatus. Shauna and Ward Naf are back to lead the committee. They need more members to help out to interview outbound students and prepare for inbound ones.
Mike Plenkovich, Football Pool Chairman announced Squares now cost $10, with a minimum purchase of four. Because of the reduced revenue, there will be no more winners for 1st and 3rd quarter scores, only half time and final scores. The first game is October 2. He invited members to sign up, and also encouraged interested folks to help out on the committee.
New Membership proposal for Mike Bradburn to fill the classification of “Storage & Fulfillment”. Proposed by Paul Grey and Peter Theisen was unanimously approved. He will be eligible for membership, unless a written objection is received, on or before September 25th by Sandra Lindhout at rcob@comcast.net.
Mark Knittel is replacing Lynda Hinton on the Board of Directors for 2 years
PAUL GREY - PRESIDENT
Fund Raising idea suggestions ie car raffle, Ribfest, Corks, Kegs & Coins, Whiskey/Bourbon Tasting by Nathan Twining and Beer Pub Crawl by Ward Naf. Mark Knittel also suggested relooking at refurbished items and selling on E-Bay – Tabled until 10/13 for further discussion
Member survey on meeting format improvements -
Minister of Fun – Add more FUN, change or drop MOF, It has run its course, return to Sergeant at Arms. President Paul will meet with chairman Ken Marzocco
Recap of resignation letters over past 12 months – We lost 22 members: Workload 5, COVID 4, Moved out of town 4, Retiring & Traveling 3, No Reason 3, Required proof of vaccination 2, Don’t have time to devote to Rotary 1.
DOUG COLE – PRESIDENT ELECT:
Service Grants – Doug reported that he has three applicants for grants so far.
Doug also reported that the piano and lectern stored in his secure property may need to be moved to a slightly less secure location in a couple weeks. It is looking like the electronic keyboard is a better option and the current location has lecterns for us to use.
Next Board meeting will be October 13, 2022
Writing Project
John Dunne said there has been an exciting expansion of the homelessness writing contest. The Salish Current wants to cosponsor the writing contest with us and is open for submissions from the general public. This requires an extension of the deadline for submission to September 19.Jack Westford is coordinating the submissions of RCOB members. To incentivize RCOB members Jack has devised some prizes and recognition for the winning entry. Jodi Borelli, John Dunne and Catherine Riordan will judge the submissions and forward three finalists to the editors of the Current for them to pick the winner. Here are the revised instructions:
INSTRUCTIONS
RCOB Writing Contest
The writing must involve homeless/homelessness as the subject.
The writing can focus on your concerns about homelessness, your impressions of the homeless, an encounter with a homeless person that was particularly touching or disturbing, your thoughts about how to reduce the likelihood that someone would become homeless or what is needed to help people escape from homelessness.
The form of the writing can take on any form: poetry, an essay, a letter to a fictional homeless person, an epitaph or a fictional letter to an editor, mayor or city council, etc.
Submissions should be no more than 2 typed pages in length; brevity is appreciated but not required.
The submissions must be received by email to John Dunne, jedunne@uw.edu, no later than Monday, September 19.
Submissions will be judged by a three-member panel on the basis of thoughtfulness, clarity and originality. Three finalists would be forwarded to the editor of the Salish Current to make the final selection.
The winner’s name will be announced at a Rotary meeting, the winning submission published in the Salish Current and the Rotary Tattler. The winner will also be introduced at a Rotary Club of Bellingham meeting.
You will still receive an email from Sandee each week prior to the Monday 12:30 meeting if you are unable to attend in person (you can start logging in at 12:00 for short socializing) with the link for that privacy-protected meeting. If you have n done so, please download the Zoom app on your computer (you need a camera and microphone on it), iPad or phone. There is no cost to you. If you cannot do either, you can also call in. On the invitation, there are US phone numbers you can call and enter the meeting ID number also indicated on the invitation.
Lunch will be $22 for a buffet meal. We must notify them by Monday at NOON the week prior to the Monday meeting as to the number of members attending. We are sending out meeting "Invites" weekly and members are asked to sign-up ASAP. You can also sign-up by going to the event section of our website at bellinghamrotary.org. If you sign up for a meal at the meeting, you will need to pay the $22 even if you don't wind up attending the meeting after the numbers are turned in. If you plan to attend but not eat, PLEASE indicate that on your sign-up so we don't overorder meals and still make sure there is enough seating.
The Club will collect payments prior to the meeting or at the door.
We urge members of the RCOB to set up a Venmo account for ease in payment of Meeting lunches, Happy Bucks, Minister of Fun, Dues or donations to the club. Our account is @RCOB- Bellingham. If you do not have a Venmo account you can set up an account with your computer then download the app. on your phone (just Google "Venmo" and you will find all the information you need) You then attach it to a debit or credit card (a fee on your end) or attach to your checking account at no cost. Payment will be sent di ctly to the RCOB checking account. When you use it for the first time it may ask you the last 4 digits of the RCOB phone number which is 0282. Give Sandee a call if you need help. 360-734-5532
Other payment options are to bring a check in the correct amount to the meeting made out to RCOB or cash in the exact amount to speed up the payment process. There is also the PayPal option as usual and we are set to take payments at the meeting. We have a QR Code that you scan and simply click to pay thru paypal also.
Website and Phone App instructions:
Here is a tutorial on how to login for the first time. (Click here) Go to belling mrotary.org first. In order to login you need t know your user name and password in your Clubrunner account. The user name is Your first name.Lastname.264 unless you have changed it. Example: Sandra.Lindhout.264 the password is initially set by Clubrunner at 264 unless you have changed it. Sandee can see your Username from her computer but not the password. She can also change your password for you from her computer at your request if you run into problems.
Once you have originally created your User Name and Password you can download the ClubRunner Mobile app on your phone:
Please contact Sandee at 360-734-5532 or rcob@comcast.net if you run into any trouble.
Guests
Paul Grey introduced Cheung Vong with Incorpmedia Digital Marketing
Andy Day introduced our speaker Ray Deck III
Members attending on Zoom: Steve Hager, Bob Morse, John Moffat and Fred Kaiser
Presentations:
President Paul presented Jennifer Dowd as a new member. Jennifer is Executive Director of Explorations Academy. She is a graduate of the Maize and Blue (U. of Michigan), and has a number of interesting hobbies, including building tiny homes. Former President Sandy McIntire gave the charge, emphasizing the significant service performed for over a century by Rotary International through promoting peace, fighting disease, supporting families and children, protecting the environment, and many other things. He told Jennifer our club was the biggest in northwest Washington. He encouraged her to get involved in various committees and activities, and to sit at different tables at lunch to meet as many members quickly as possible.
Program:
Andy Day introduced Ray Deck III, head of Skookum Kids, for an update presentation. Skookum Kids works to save mothers and children, one of Rotary’s goals. Ray aspires to reform the foster care system. He and his wife settled in Bellingham from North Carolina in 2014 and now have 3 young sons.
Ray said that in 2015, after meeting with a local woman in the foster care field informally, they started fundraising to start Skookum Kids. They now have 26 people working there. They have 3 goals:
First, they operate 2 emergency shelters for kids entering the foster care system for the first time. This frequently happens at inconvenient times, on nights or weekends. They usually know nothing about the child when he or she arrives, and a lot of what they think they know about them turns out to be wrong. Kids stay at the shelter for around a week. During this time, the kids see a doctor for a check-up, and a social worker does background research trying to find the best fit for a placement. Ray says taking this time for a placement has worked really well. He noted a case from a few years ago where they got four siblings in. Under the state’s system, the siblings would have been immediately broken up and placed in four different families, since multiple placements are difficult. However, after research, Skookum Kids found an aunt and uncle who took all four siblings and kept them together.
Second, they train, license and support those who want to be foster parents. Most people who might be interested in being foster parents have no idea how to do that, and they have trained staff to provide skills and knowledge to those folks.
Third, they assist by supervising Family Time, the court-ordered visits between the foster children and their families of origin, which promotes the goal of reuniting kids with their families of origin. Ray said that in Washington state, the average rate of re-unification of foster children with their families of origin is 51%. However, at Skookum Kids, the re-unification rate is 87%.
Ray noted three unique things about Skookum Kids. First, many agencies don’t have emergency shelters. In contrast, Skookum Kids spends a week getting to know the kids, which helps it make smart placement decisions rather than just placing a foster kid with the first available home. Second, Skookum Kids is primarily staffed by volunteers, some of whom work as few as one shift a month (though many work more). This makes their workers enthusiastic and ready to help. He said there was plenty of opportunity for others to get involved. Finally, Skookum Kids’ emphasis is on re-unification, not adoption. They don’t help people adopt foster kids. Rather, they work to re-unify foster kids with their families of origin. He said statistics show that re-unification is far more successful than adoption.
Ray said that one unique feature is Skookum Camp, where they invite back for a weekend of fun all the kids with their families with whom they have gotten reunified.
Ray noted that Skookum Kids’ costs are going up. It used to cost about $100 per night to house a child. It is now approaching $125 per night. They have five contracts with the State, but these contracts only provide about one-third of their budget. They are drastically underfunded.
Ray’s presentation was moving, and shows the difference one person can make in a community.
Closing:
President Paul thanked all those producing the meeting and rang the closing bell at 1:29.
