President Nathan Twining rang the meeting to order at 12:30 PM and welcomed everyone. He gave this week's well-deserved service honor to Ward Naf, in recognition of his many, mostly behind the scenes, ongoing efforts to keep our meetings and our Club running smoothly.
Guests:
Aaron Booker introduced his son, Augustus and wife Kelli
Monty McAllister introduced our speaker, Sammy Jolly with Wild Whatcom
Jim Lemerond introduced new visitor Jessica Evans with Home 2 & Holiday Inn
George Halsell introduced old member Jon Sitkin
Zoom attendees: Bernard Bove and John Dunne
Club Events and Committee Announcements
Bellingham Bells August 4, 2026 Social event was a complete success with 53 Rotarians & Guests attended. Thanks, Aaron Booker, for organizing and the free tickets!!
President-elect George Halsell announced that, at the recent Rotary Hands Across the Border event at the Peace Arch, our Club was honored with the Club Excellence Award for the 2025-26 Rotary year, in recognition of our Club fulfilling most of the goals set by then president John Moffat.
Thanks to volunteering members, we will be able to continue to order lunch from Great Harvest while John Moffatis gone. Click here to sign-up for August 17 lunch before Friday August 14th.
Special Evening Meeting, August 31st at 5:30 at the Holiday Inn at the Airport we will have our own Greg Grant to be the speaker on his 50 years in RCOB. There will be alot of surprises, so please sign-up to attend by August 24th at noon. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
The Mountain Film FundRaiser will be November 7th 7:00 pm at Whatcom Community College - Syre Theater.
Tickets are $25 plus processing fee. www.MountainfilmOnTourBellingham.com
Films, Food & Beverage and Silent Auction
Chief organizer Shauna Naf announced that every member of the Club needs to help put on this event if it is going to be successful. She handed out a sheet listing the various necessary tasks and asked each of us to fill one out and return it to her. We already have four sponsors, but need more, as well as items for the Silent Auction. Finally, Shauna showed an amazing trailer of the movies to be shown at the event.
Monty McAllister announced that, as Co-chair of the Major Project Committee, he and Co-Chair Doug Cole would welcome ideas for this year's Major Project.
Monty McAllisterintroduced our program speaker, Sammy Jolly, Executive Director of Wild Whatcom. Sammy has been part of Wild Whatcom for 10 years and it's Executive Director for the last 3 years. Sammy reported that Whatcom County contains 22,000 acres of recreational public space. Therefore, her organization's Mission in Whatcom County is: “Fostering lifelong connections to nature”. It's Vision is: “A thriving community, where people are healthy, connected to nature, and raising generations of environmental stewards, who care for each other and the planet.”
Sammy listed some impressive statistics regarding Wild Whatcom's impact on our local community:
In 2024-25, over 4,000 people were served, 72 public school classrooms were provided free environmental education outings, 780 hours of stewardship work in local parks and trails, adding up to a total of more than 50,000 nature hours spent outdoors learning and exploring. In addition, they provided more than $84,000 in scholarships for low income students and families. Since Wild Whatcom's founding in 2004, the organization has served over 32,000 people and has provided over 500,000 hours of nature learning and exploring.
Sammy then described the three types of programs that Wild Whatcom provides:
Youth Programs, such as Nature Preschool, Explorers Club, Summer Camps, and Neighborhood Nature.. These are fee based, but scholarships based on need are available.
Adult/All Ages Programs, such as Ladies Night Out, Out and About for LGBTQ+, and Wonder Walks for adults with disabilities. These are on a “pay what you can” basis.
In School Programs of nature education outings, free to students.
Sammy then discussed the many reasons why outdoor programs like those provided by Wild Whatcom are important to children and adults alike. These include lower stress and anxiety, improved physical fitness, building community, longer attention span, and greater cognitive development. In addition, Sammy explained that spending time in Nature motivates participants to be better Stewards of their environment.
Sammy closed her presentation by describing Wild Whatcom's financials for this past year: they have a close to $1 million yearly budget. 70% of their income is earned through program fees and interest income, with the rest coming from grants and donations. On the expense side, 90% are spent on their many programs, with the remaining 10% used for development and administrative expenses.
Finally, Sammy urged us to get involved with Wild Whatcom by Donating, Volunteering, and Participating in their programs.
Closing:
President Nathan thanked those who assisted with the meeting and rang us to adjournment at 1:27PM.
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.
