WCC President Kathi Hiyane-Brown Felicity Dye & Nora Gerstl - Music BHS
OPTIONS HIGH SCHOOL
John Dunne & Kimberly Burt - Music John Dunne & Dylan Schenkel
Most Inspirational/Community Svc
SEHOME HIGH SCHOOL
Tom Grinstad & Emma Joy Wilson - Music Tom Grinstad & Boston Jordan
Most Inspirational/Community Svc.
SQUALICUM HIGH SCHOOL
John Pedl0w & Logan Marshall - Music & the Snare Drum
John Pedlow & Svitlana Shashkina
Most Inspirational/Community Svc.
April 17, 2023
Opening Welcome:
With his bright smile and characteristic high energy, President Paul welcomed members, reminding us that Rotary is where we come to have fun and fellowship. Paul had a special welcome for the student guests and their parents, encouraging the students to consider returning or staying in Bellingham after they complete the next phase of their educational journeys. He and others during the meeting noted how youth are the lifeblood of the community and key to our futures.
Paul held a spontaneous auction for an airplane ride over the tulip fields in the next week. The pilot of course would be our own trusted safety geek and Mr. Adventure, Doug Cole. Thanks to the three Rotarians who will soon to be airborne and looking down on tulips! This auction raised $900 for the club!!!
Paul had a few other reminders:
IT IS TULIP TIME – the LaConner Rotary Club will be selling tulips next week, April 24th $6 for 10 tulips paid for by cash or credit card.
The local League of Women Voters’ program on plastics is to occur April 29. Registration is required and available on their website
District Conference – Paul reminded us of the opportunity to attend, meet other Rotarians, learn, dance and have fun, just over the border in Canada. Advance registration is also required. May 5-7.
We were reminded to consider nominating one of our own for RCOB service award. Send nominations to the Exec. Board: Paul Grey, Doug Cole, Steve Ban, Peter Theisen and Steve Gray or Sandee
Roland Trenouth needs 9 more packers for this Saturday, 9-noon. This is a fun family event that previous participants have found very meaningful. We’ll be packing 30K meals in 3 hours. Whoot! Whoot!
Shauna Naf reminded us about the Sunnyland Park cleanup and invited all our guests to join the cleanup. Helpers should register on the City’s website.
Club and Committee Announcements:
Executive Board/Major Awards
RCOB Annual Award Nominations are being accepted now thru April from any RCOB member. Information is on the tables and in the Tattler. Send nominations to the Exec. Board: Paul Grey, Doug Cole, Steve Ban, Peter Theisen and Steve Gray or Sandee
The Board will be voting soon so they ask that you get your nominations in asap.
Board Briefs for April 13, 2023
The Meal packing April 22nd donation and volunteer’s status has raised enough for over 30,000 meals and have 95 volunteers so far. A donation of $100 was approved for hosting the meal-packing event at no charge.
Major project (WCEL) payment status. We held a check presentation April 10th and paid them $75,000 of their $84,017 waiting for the remainder of pledges to come in.
Andy Day has submitted a resignation effective June 30, 2023 because he is moving to Leavenworth to be closer to his grandchild. After a lot of reluctance, the board approved the resignation with great regret.
Sage payment system processing fees – run about $15 even when not using so the board has approved putting the system on hold for 6 months.
President Paul reminded Board members to get in nominations for the Club Major Awards by the end of the month. They are presented at the Changing of the Guard June 26th.
Other fund raiser ideas – Nathan Twining & Vinson Latimore are still working on a Whiskey Tasting Event and selecting a date.
Rotary Budget 2023-2024: The budget was prepared by Sandra Lindhout, Steve Gray and Doug Cole and presented to the Board.
For the Club Funds, there were two options, Option 1 - to keep the budget as was for 2022-2023 or Option 2 - to increase dues by $50 annually ($25 every 6 months) to cover the cost of the Whatcom Community College meeting venue of $3,000 – disbursed by 2 - $1,500 Scholarships named Rotary Club of Bellingham Scholarship paid no later than August 31st annually. Currently we are trying to cover the cost by taking $2.00 out of our $17 lunch fee but due to the low number of lunches served we are not making that goal.
The Board approved OPTION 2 effective July 1, 2023 and the fee will be a separate line item on the billing indicating Venue Costs. The membership will be notified. The last dues increase was 7-1-2019.
The Board also approved a 5% salary increase for Sandee effective July 1, 2023 plus bonus’s if excess work is created by special events. Her last raise was 8 years ago.
For the Designated Dues Account held in the RCOB Foundation it was pointed out that for many years we have been spending down the account with more expenditures than income. The Board decided to cut back in many areas on the budget:
Scholarships & Awards
Cut RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards) to 1 student from 3– per Felicity it is very difficult to find participants and the program may be dropped. The age group is 18-33.
Cut YAIL (Youth Adventures in Leadership) to 2 students from 3.
Student Award Presentations. The entire committee is being revamped and we will discontinue giving the students the $100 stipend ($2,800 total for year)
Service Fund Committee – cut from $7,000 in grants to $4,000 in grants.
It was moved and seconded to approve all changes that were discussed in the Club Funds and the Designated Dues Account
COMMITTEE REPORTS: Andy Day, Mark Knittel, Shauna Naf and Felicity Dye
Shauna Naf: Shauna is working on plans for the 2023-2024 Rotary year for PR Plan/Recruiting/Member Retention and will make a PowerPoint presentation to the membership April 24th and May 8th
They are still working on a new Tattler format.
She needs more members on PR Plan/Recruiting/ Member Retention Committees
She is prepared to have table at the Sea to Ski event, May 28th and Felicity Dye has offered to help her and looking for others to help…
The Applebee’s photo opportunity has been set for May 15th after the regular meeting at WCC
Felicity Dye:
Next High School Student Recognition Program is April 17th. She wants to meet with her committee to determine reworking the event. Really tough getting ahold of students and schools do not get us selections in a timely manner. Funding of $100 each student has been removed from the budget.
Mark Knittel:
The board determined that we will no longer hold a blood drive but quarterly encourage members to contact NW Blood Works. It has become very difficult to organize the event.
The hands-on committee is doing great with many events coming up including the Sunnyland Memorial Cleanup coming up May 20th.
Next Board meeting is Thursday May 11, 2023, at 4:30.
Volunteering opportunities:
1.APRIL 22:RCOB meal packing event is this Saturday, April 22 from 8:30 to noon at the Assumption gym. We will pack 30,000+meals, each costing only 22 cents, which will be sent to Sierra Leone in West Africa. We have successfully raised $9,000 for the food. Organizers Roland Trenouth and Marty Haines need volunteers to set-up Friday April 21st. Contact Roland at 360-201-1090 if you can help. (Click Here to Register)
2. APRIL 29: April Brews Day is Bellingham's biggest beer festival, with over 65 regional breweries and thousands of attendees turning out to raise funds for Bellingham's Max Higbee Center. This year, April Brews Day will be held at the Downtown Waterfront on Saturday, April 29th, 2023. Volunteers make this event possible by helping with everything from admissions to pouring beer to assisting brewers and guests. There are also some perks to volunteering! Volunteers for the first, second and third shifts will receive free entry into April Brews Day, and volunteers for the fourth shift will receive free entry into the event and a growler of beer at the end of their shift.
You can read more and sign up to volunteer here or contact Ward Naf for more information.
3. MAY 20:Teri Treat announced that the annual Sunnyland Memorial Clean Up is coming up May 20, 2023. Contact Teri Treat at 360-739-6969 to sign up
4. MAY 27 and 28. The annual Memorial Day parade is on May 27 and RCOB will be both a sponsor and participant. Stay tuned for additional information. Shauna Naf needs help staffing the booth Sunday May 28th in Fairhaven.
5. JUNE 3:Ward Naf announced that volunteers are needed to help with the Whatcom Center for Early Learning Gala on Saturday, June 3 at the Four Points by Sheraton. WCEL was the recipient of our Major Project fund raiser this year. Contact Ward if you can help at 360-303-6671. He has shifts from 4:00-6:30pm for Greeters, Registration Helpers, Coat Check and administer Games (needs 20 volunteers) 6:30-9:00pm for Recorders for auction, runners for auction, Data Entry (needs 5 volunteers).
Gear Up
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. Here is the clothing catalogue, with the Order Form on the last page:(Click Here) Fill out the order form, turn it into Vinson Latimore at a meeting or email a scanned copy to embroidery@choicesscrubs.com.
WE MOVED TO THE SYRE STUDENT CENTER - SYRE THEATER AT WHATCOM COMMUNITY COLLEGE. 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.
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 is $17.00 for soup, salad and bread buffet. We must notify them by Wednesday 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 $17 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 by Venmo, check or cash.
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 directly 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 option to pay by PayPal. We have a QR Code that you scan and simply click to pay thru paypal.
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:
Mark Knittel introduced Scott Herman
Zoom attendee members: Fred Kaiser, Steve Hager, Peter Theisen, Catherine Riordan, Vinson Latimore andFriend of Rotary, Scott Wallace.
Students and their Guests:
Bellingham High School: Host Felicity Dye
Nora Gerstl and her parents Eric & Annie Gerstl - Music
Options High School: Host John Dunne
Kimberly Burt and her parents Christy Porter& Jeff Burt - Music
Dylan Schenkel with Mom Corina Schenkel and grandmother Char Poth -Most Inspirational/Community Service
Sehome High School: Host Tom Grinstad
Emma Joy Wilson and mother Cristy Wilson - Music
Boston Jordan and parents Jay Jordan and Megan Cooley - Most Inspirational/Community Service
Squalicum High School: Hosted by John Pedlow
Logan Marshal - Music
Svitlana Shashkina and Father Oleksandr Shashin - Most Inspirationa/Community Service
Presentation:
Kathi Hiyane Brown, chair of the scholarship committee, in her introductory remarks, continued on the theme of our future being in the hands of students like these. She reminded us RCOB has been giving these awards since 1990 and last year gave out $78K in awards. She thanked teachers and administrators who support students every day and the counselors at the high schools who helped identify these students and facilitate their being here today.
Program
Lead off (as has been the whole year) was Bellingham High. And the student of the month in music from Bellingham is Nora Gerstl. Nora, like so many of the students we honor, has fine academic credentials. Her instrument of choice is the piano. She is planning to study at WWU. She graciously accepted the award and thanked the Club for the award.
Next Came Options High. And the student of the month in music is Kim Burt, a senior. Kim has been studying guitar for only 1-1/2 years and already is mastering the instrument. She plans to pursue a career in music retail after graduation. None of the other members of her family are musically inclined, which makes her accomplishments all the more remarkable. Kim credits her progress to the ability to focus her mind on music, which has also played a role in increasing success in other aspects of her education.
Dylan Schenkel – his award is for inspirational/community service. This is his second Rotary student recognition award, the other being for theater. He has been learning about technology for 10 years, starting at age 8, wondering how the video game he was playing worked and how he could make it better. He has a desire to learn as much as he can about technology. He enjoys his teachers and using what he has learned to be helpful. He has many other interests as well: photography, cooking and engineering. He is undecided about his career path.
Representing Sehome High in music is Emma Wilson. She was born with a silver tongue in her mouth. Emma told me that she has been singing for as long as she can remember. Her Music teacher Lourdes Castaneda Aguilar says “Emma Wilson’s musical passion and dedication is outstanding, leaving audiences and peers entranced whenever she performs. Her unwavering commitment to musical excellence and openness to help others in class makes her an exceptional candidate for this award.”
But she’s not only a voice, but a well-rounded individual. She’s the choir president, for example. For “fun” Emma reads, draws, writes, you know the usual intellectual pursuits.
Emma has been accepted to the Wheaton Conservatory of Music, at Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Illinois, between Naperville and Chicago.
Boston Jordan is the Sehome most inspirational student. “Boston works so hard to be involved, be a leader, and represent Sehome High School in a variety of endeavors. Her resume is packed with examples of her commitment to her community and she inspires others to look out for each other, be involved, and listen.” Julie Hiett, Sehome teacher. This young lady is the co-president of the ASB. She seeks ways to be an asset to any organization she is connected with. Boston works to find ways to do community service.
And of course, she is a fantastic student. Boston is studying AP Literature, Financial Algebra, among other courses. She is in the leadership class. She is hoping to continue her education at the U of Oregon, go Ducks. At the moment she plans to study business – maybe administration, maybe direct business.
Squalicum High put forth Svitlana Shashkina, as the inspirational / community service award recipient. Svitlana is a native Russian speaker who came with her family to this country 13 years ago. She says that tons of folks helped her to transition in the move, and now she is interested in helping others. She is president of the sewing club, for instance. She is maintaining a 3.84 GPA and has settled on an in-state school with a major in mechanical engineering.
The music student from Squalicum is Logan Marshall, a percussionist. Logan is a member of the concert and jazz bands. She likes the concert band because of the variety of percussion instruments available. Logan is aiming to be a band director in the future. She put on a short demonstration on the snare drum, using a number of techniques and drumsticks. This reporter was not fast enough to catch the title of the work, however.
Closing:
President Paul thanked those who made the meeting possible and once again congratulated the students and their parents.
