President John rang the meeting to order at 12:30pm
Rick Kaiser led us in a rousing rendition of God Bless America.
The Invocation was rendered by Steve Ban. He focused on September being a time of New Beginnings, such as the start of the new school year, welcoming our new exchange student, Janka Eszing, from Hungary, and the celebration of the Jewish New Year by the local Jewish community. He then read an inspiring poem by John O'Donoghue, an Irish poet and teacher, titled For a New Beginning.
Guests:
George Halsell introduced our speaker District Governor Elect, Kathleen Olson and her husband Rick from the Rotary Club of Arlington
John Moffat brought Brandon Tackett, new to the area and visitor John Costello from Nashville
Members on Zoom: Ward Naf
Club Events and Committee Announcements
Meeting Updates:
September 15, 2025 THERE IS NO MEETING IN LIEU OF THE PICNIC SEPTEMBER 16TH.
Tuesday Evening - September 16th President's Picnic and meet and greet with Hungarian Rotarians to be held at Tim and Leslie Farris's home on Lake Whatcom. Stay tuned for additional information but it will be a salmon BBQ and pot luck. We will not be holding a Monday, September 15th meeting. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER AND BE SURE IN "COMMENTS" TO SHOW WHAT YOU WILL BRING.
September 22, 2025 meeting is at WCC at noon as usual. Please sign up for meal for $16.00 from Great Harvest if interested. Program is "Can you Hear me now" by Whatcom Audiology.
September 29th meeting will be at 5:30pm at the Airport Holiday Inn. This meeting will be interesting and worthy of consideration for spouses, who are also warmly invited. For those that pre-reserve, there will be a buffet available for a fee of $30.00. The Guest Speaker is Ambassador Jeffrey Hovenier, former Ambassador to Republic of Kosovo. Hovenier is a diplomat who served for thirty-four years in the US Foreign Service.
Major Project Committee Co-Chair Monty McAllister presented the background on Major Project selections, including soliciting project applications. From this process, two dominate priorities were identified: Homelessness and Child Development. Of the four organizations appealing for support, these two were dominate: Skookum Kids and Homes Now. Skookum Kids was voted most worthy by committee members. Skookum Kids exists to ease childrens' transition to foster care by providing safe housing while the details of the Foster placement are worked out.
The major project is expected to raise over half (~ $85K) of the funding needed to purchase three slightly used vans in order to significantly improve Skookum Kids' ability to serve the needs of their child clients and their families.
New Member Induction:
Induction of Joseph Garcia, sponsored by George Halsell and John Moffat, was conducted by Past President Sandy McIntire. He welcomed Joseph to the largest Rotary club in NW Washington and encouraged him to get involved and do his homework about Rotary. Joseph is an educator who has worked for numerous colleges and community organizations. He holds a Ph.D. in education and specializes in early child development.
The Guest Speaker was Kathleen Olson – District 5050 Governor Elect. She began her presentation by calling our attention the origins of Rotary. Kathleen Olson is a community person, serving Skagit County in many ways. She calls us to emulate Rotary founder Paul Harris, who reminds us that “Success is not measured by wealth, but by the positive impact you have on others.” A key component of Rotary is the Rotary Foundation, a philanthropic arm of Rotary International established in 1917. From meager beginnings, today the Rotary Foundation has $4.4 billion in assets. The Rotary Foundation is rated highly by those agencies who rate charitable foundations. Our donations are used to benefit people in our community, across our huge country and around the world. Are you aware that you can designate where you would like your donations to be used?
Kathleen Olson spoke about how the Annual Fund works. The Rotary SHARE program shunts about half the donated funds back to the contributing District, the rest is retained for use in the World Fund. Rotarians are encouraged to contribute $100 to the ‘Every Rotarian Every Year’ (EREY) initiative. In Kathleen’s words, “Give what you can, when you can.” She also reported that she plans to eliminate the annual District Conference during her term as Governor. For a number of years now, the low attendance and lack of interest by district members has not justified the amount of money and effort expended by the District in planning and conducting the district conferences. She said that those funds will, instead, be returned to the various clubs in the district. Rotary International Foundation needs our support. Together we can have a positive impact on others.
Closing:
President John closed the meeting by thanking all those who contributed to the meeting and adjourned us at 1:30pm with a hearty ringing of the bell.
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.
