President Chuck Snyder welcomed Club Members, visiting Rotarians and guests. President Chuck informed us that Dale Rings has had knee surgery and is doing well, but would probably love to hear from Club Members.
Announcements:
- 11/1/2015 Football Pool - Seahawks vs Cowboys Click Here
- Scott Hume reminded members that the fundraising for our major project is well underway (supporting the Bellingham Theatre Guild). The fundraising goals for this Rotary-year are: (1) Raise $100,000; (2) Have 100% member participation in the fundraising effort; and (3) Complete the fundraising by the end of 2015. Envelopes were on the tables and members were encouraged to take an envelope and make their donations promptly. As of Monday's meeting, 22% of Club Members have pledged or donated to this year's major project.
Guest of Rotarians:
Sandy McIntire brought John Inglis who has recently moved from Portland
Teri Treat introduced Speaker Mark King with Trayvax, his parents Mike & Martha King and Trayvax Executive Secretary
John Macpherson brought Trudy Shuravloff, Exec. Director and Cari Griffith, Board Member of The Whatcom Dream
Debbie Ahl introduced Bryce Seidel, President of the Rainer Club in Seattle and Past President of the Pacific Science Center.
Presentations:
- Phil Sharpe, former Bellingham Rotary Club Rotarian, associate and friend of Harold Heiner, presented a very compelling Memoriam for Harold. Harold joined our club in 1984 and was a "Honorary Member."
Dr. Heiner began his 40-year professional career as a teacher, counselor and administrator at Skagit Valley Community College. He was President of Whatcom Community College for 23 of his 30 years with the school until his retirement. He is credited with providing the leadership which transformed WCC from a "college without walls" to one of the most attractive and effective colleges in Washington State. The Board of Trustees named the college library/theater building the "Heiner Center" in his honor as well as conferring the title of President Emeritus on him at his retirement.
Dr. Heiner was blessed with a large family including 6 children, 45 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
A memorial service was held at the Heiner Center at Whatcom Community College at 2 PM on Tuesday, October 27th.
- As a result of sponsorship by John Macpherson and Tim Farris, a representive of Whatcom Dream made a presentation in which the impact and importance of support to Whatcom Dream was described. Whatcom Dream's mission is to end the cycle of poverty in our community. This is clearly a great cause to support and we should be pleased that our Rotary members are involved.
Program:
Program Chair Teri Treat introduced our program speaker, Mark King, the founder of Trayvax. King is a remarkable young inventor/entrepreneur who obtained his first patent before age 18, for a product used for testing the freshness of Nature Valley Granola bars. Mark’s talk was entitled the “The Story of Trayvax”.
Trayvax is a new Bellingham company that manufactures a variety of handcrafted metal security wallets. The company was founded in 2013 and has already grown to about 30 employees. The wallets are stylish, but also durable, ideally suited for rugged outdoor use.
Mark, who is now 25 years old, became interested in inventing new products at an early age, as a result of watching Batman and James Bond movies and marveling at the gadgets used by these heroes. At a very early age he learned basic electronics and how to weld, and with these skills built some novel devices and vehicles. By the time he was a senior in high school he had built an electric car that was road-worthy and that gathered lots of public attention.
Education beyond high school has, for Mark, been an interesting trip. In high school, he would rather doodle and design things than be involved in his classes. His interests in building and machining were so intense that he volunteered to work in a local machine shop where he learned important manufacturing skills and computer controlled machining. From there, he attended both Whatcom Community College and Bellingham Technical College, but his main interest was always in designing and building new products. During this period, he had an idea for a plastic bag carrier, a device that would allow for the recycling of normally disposable plastic grocery bags. It was this product, and work he did to refine it, that led him to designing wallets and to founding the Trayvax company.
From his efforts at trying to sell product ideas to companies, from which he received numerous rejections, Mark learned some important lessons. He learned that persistence pays and that one can always learn from setbacks and failures. As a result of having founded a successful company, and now managing its rapid growth, he has learned other important lessons: people, the employees, are the heart of a successful company; be willing to work outside your comfort zone – that is where you will grow and do new things; one cannot afford to rest on one’s laurels; it is important to manage stress and let stress be a source of learning; and finally, leadership is critically important - effective leadership requires a collaborative approach.
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