President Doug Cole opened the meeting at 12:30 pm with a mighty swing of the mallet to the bell. The quote of the week: “Music can name the unnamed, communicate the unknown…” by our old friend Leonard Bernstein. There was a small hiccup with the recording of the Rotary Brass’s rendition of America the Beautiful, but we got through it.
Prexy Doug gave a commendation to Steve Ban (incoming prexy). Doug flew Steve down and back to Vancouver (A.D. not B.C.), where Steve gave a presentation to 350 middle school students about his mother and the Holocaust. Doug said that Steve held the audience rapt.
Members on Zoom: Loch Trimingham and Jack Westford
Visiting Rotarian: Bill Kirby from Carson City
Club Events and Committee Announcements
Fraud Prevention presentation by Crystal Greear & Daver Morse
Daver Morse and his CFO Crystal gave a short presentation about fraud. Crystal is a CPA and certified fraud examiner, a specialty that this reporter was unaware of. This was a talk about identity theft, phishing, cyber fraud and how to combat it. Turns out that the best defense is a good “human firewall”.
Some red flags for fraud are: unexpected requests for information, poor spelling and poor grammar, pressure tactics, and offers that seem to be “too good to be true”. And do not use leaky platforms (WhatsApp, PayPal, venom, etc.) Monitor your accounts. Silo your processes. Review your insurance coverage. The insurance companies have resources and specialists to assist.
To prevent fraud, the best defense is education and awareness. Often the hole in the dike is a mistake, clicking on an attachment that shouldn’t be touched. Make your passwords more secure: a 12-digit password would take over one month to break, compared to 26 seconds for an 8-digit password. The longer the password, the exponentially harder it is to break. And independently verify: don’t click on the link in the email. Return the phone call to a number that you know is good.
Rotary Club of Bellingham Board Briefs – June 13, 2024
This is the last Board meeting for Paul Grey and Mark Knittel, thank you for your service to the Rotary Club of Bellingham.
A thank you was received from Children of the Nations for our successful meal packing event. We just received notice that our 2023 meals were shipped March 15, 2024 and are sitting in customs in Freetown, Sierra Leone. They will then be driven 6 hours to their Banta campus
Whatcom Community College – limited food in food court thru summer
6/17, 7/8, 8/5 NO FOOD SERVICE
6/24, 7/1 Café opened with limited selection
8/12,19,26 & 9/9, 16 Catering only (café closed)
President Doug reported the following RCOB Foundation new terms effective July 1st:
Dennis Williams term ending 6/2027 – Treasurer
David Blair term ending 6/2027 – Secretary
Nathan Twining term ending 6/2025 Vice President replacing D. C.
Scott Wilson – term ending 6/2027 – Director
The remainder of the meeting was planning for the 2024-2025 Rotary year with Nathan Twining indicating a great slate of programs are coming.
2024-2025 Board Meetings will be held the 3rd Thursday of each Month at 4:30 on Zoom going forward
Please plan on attending the June 24th Changing of the Guard meeting with surprise Major Awards being presented to deserving members.
Past Prexy Larry Halgren gave the Will J. Griswald Award to Steve Gray. Larry expounded on the qualities that led to this award. Among the qualities; being tall, dark and handsome… Steve joined the club in 2014 and has been club treasurer since 2018 and has done a remarkable job. Sandee appreciates all of his help!! He helps with the set up and take down of the meetings. He is also a Paul Harris Fellow and is an all-around good guy. Congratulations, Steve!
Mystery Photo: Nathan Twining
Weekly Payment Reminder
VENMO:
@RCOB- Bellingham.
Give Sandee a call if you need help. 360-734-5532.
CASH / CHECK:
Yes, we still take these and saving on fees is appreciated.
John Moffat introduced the speaker for the day, Erika Block, Executive Director of the Bellingham Festival of Music. She showed us a nice slide show of the festival. This will be the initial season with Marcello Lehninger, artistic director and conductor. Marcello was selected from the five finalists who auditioned during last year's Festival by each conducting one of the five concerts. Two videos were shown, one an interview with Marcello, the other a peek at the one performance from last season he conducted, as well as short clips of rehearsals.
Erika gave an overview of the season which lasts from 30 June to 21 July. There is an open rehearsal on 6 July at 10:00 am, no charge, for anyone to see how the orchestra prepares for a concert. The Calidore String Quartet will have one evening, 9 July, to play four selections. The festival choral concert is on 17 July, singing the Great Mass in C minor, by Mozart.
This season, the Festival is launching a conducting institute. Erika just touched on this, but it sounds intriguing. Three not-yet-full conductors will be given the festival orchestra to rehearse and perform one selection of a given day’s performance.
The finale of the season is on 21 July with a Latin American theme. All the pieces are from south of the border. So, you get the chance to hear great music and see wonderful performers, especially the amazing guitarist, Pablo Saint-Villegas, the acclaimed successor to Andres Segovia. If you don’t believe me, just ask Marty Haines.
Closing:
Doug then thanked all who assisted with the meeting and adjourned the meeting at 1:30 pm with a pretty wimpy bang on the bell and we were all dismissed.
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.
Will J. Griswold Club Service Award Presentation
