President Paul Grey Meal Packing Co-Chair Roland Trenouth & Marty Haines
Future Rotarians at Work!!
International Committee Co-Chairs
Catherine Riordan and Mark Knittel
Mark Knittel ARES
April 24, 2023
Opening Welcome:
President Paul called us to order as he noted a very full agenda. Rick Kaiser moved right in with a musical blast from the past: a video excerpt from a 1950s movie that included a full-throated endorsement of the first 50 years of Rotary: The Big Adventure. He suggested we watch the video at home, which we can do by clicking here or just going to YouTube and searching for The Great Adventure Rotary. Peter Theisen sprung up to give us a spring-themed invocation.
President Paul let us know his mom made it through hip surgery just fine and quickly returned to business:
Tulip Time Today: Marty Pease from the LaConner Rotary (and also Marketing Director for IPA) is selling tulips. $6 a bunch. Cash or credit card.
President Paul called on Shauna Naf to do an abbreviated version of a presentation she made to the Board about the various opportunities we have to get more involved in nurturing our organization and membership. She highlighted three opportunities identified by the membership committee, that illustrate the ways each of us could play a role in sustaining RCOB:
Following up with the guests and speakers after meetings with an eye to their interest in possible RCOB membership.
Student of the month schmoozer, promoting Rotary with both students and parents.
Recognizing current members by keeping an ear to the ground for activities of members that could be recognized formally or informally.
Which of these is in your wheel house? Contact Shauna if you’d like to get involved.
Shauna had a lot of other suggestions which I’m sure we’ll hear more about in the future. My favorite among them was a revival of the GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER event that has been so popular in years past.
Happy Bucks
Larry Halgren once again led us to think about local and club trivia and created opportunities for us to embarrass ourselves at the same time we demonstrated our generosity with Rotary. Dave Blair was called on to tax all of us for the good of the order, but he respectfully declined given that he doesn’t want to offend any current or future customers of Dunham Cellars’ delicious wines.
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.
Volunteering opportunities:
1. 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.
2. 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
3. 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.
4. 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: Steve Hager, John Moffat, John Pedlow, Mike Bradburn and Month McAllister
Also Arizona guest, Chuck Snyder
Program
Leaders of our International Service Committee stepped forward for a three-pronged presentation on the committee’s recent work.
Heading the lineup were Roland Trenouth and Marty Haynes who shared photos and stories of a very successful meal-packing event. Over 37,000 meals were bagged, boxed, and are now headed for schools in Sierra Leone, a country experiencing some of the world’s greatest rates of starvation and all that goes with that. Among the enthusiastic and highly efficient meal packers were a large team from People’s Bank, two other area Rotaries, and of course the families and friends of our RCOB members. Roland and Marty received congratulations on a successful event. They hinted they are already looking forward to a similar event next year, possibly
with the same packing and supplying partners.
Catherine Riordan stepped up to provide a summary of RCOB activities within the International Partnership Alliance (IPA), a group of 13 Rotary clubs in the Pacific Northwest. First, she showed a video that gives an overview of all of IPA’s work. Then she highlighted RCOB’s leadership on two district grants, which are now concluding: one for latrines and water stations, and one for desktop computers in four additional schools. She shared photos and stories about the village, Las Penas 2, with which RCOB has a special relationship under IPA’s Adopt a Village Program. As part of that program, we provide educational equipment and supplies for teachers and students, and commit to meeting modest infrastructure needs identified by the village. Students who go on to secondary schools and to universities also receive scholarships from us. This is a very small group, but one that is growing slowly each year across the villages that are part of this program. Five RCOB members (incl a former member) are providing these scholarships. For only $200 you too could be one of those people providing scholarships. Contact Paul, Mark, or Catherine for details.
The third prong of the International Service Committee’s work is with the ARES project, with today’s update provided by RCOB member and Co-founder of this NGO, Mark Knittel.
ARES is an acronym for the African Ruggedized Education System. Kenya has been the home for the project, which also includes a partnership among Rotary Clubs, including Delta. Staying close to the networks and computers as they are installed through trips to Kenya, Mark has been able to continually improve the systems so they serve the needs of these Kenyan schools, which have limited resources and other challenges like power surges, heat, theft, and dust. ARES uses a central server model, loaded with sophisticated educational software packages that are updated regularly and remotely (e.g., KHAN academy, Wikipedia educational library, STEM, Ted Talks). Interest in ARES is significantly expanding, including among Kenyan government officials, so the ARES team is now looking for partners that might support this expansion. This project has been a tremendous success, referred to as ‘the most successful Rotary project Sean Hogan has seen in his 30 years in Rotary. [Editor inserted this last statement as Mark fell short on on the shameless promotion end of the presentation.] For more information, you might watch this YouTube video
Closing:
Paul ended the meeting, stating his pleasure with all that we are doing here in Bellingham and in Honduras and Kenya.
