RCOB Board Briefs for July 17, 2025
We will not have catering for August 4th but will use Great Harvest again on August 11th and weeks going forward.
The August Board meeting will be on August 14th instead of August 21st.
Sandee presented the 2025-2026 Proposed RCOB Foundation budget for the club at the June 19th meeting but the International Service Committee discovered the omittance of the Adopt-A-Village support for $3,500 and it was added. The new budget has been approved by the RCOB Foundation and will be sent to the RCOB Foundation for approval.
John Dunne sent a request to form a Committee on Homelessness with 2 basic functions:
- To encourage Rotarians to “adopt” a homeless shelter (there are currently 6 in Bellingham) to volunteer at, and
- Members of the committee would attend various city and county meetings to advocate homeless issues.
The Board discussed the proposal at length. While some members expressed concerns about the committee’s structure and visibility, others supported the idea as a meaningful service project.
Steve Ban made a motion to “Establish a Homeless Committee of the RCOB,” seconded by Fred Kaiser. Bob Kuenzel moved to amend the proposal to make clear that the club would not take positions on policy matters, though individual members would be free to do so. Catherine Riordan seconded, and the amendment was approved. Catherine moved to amend the proposal to charge the new Committee with analyzing the best ways for members to have an impact in this area, and to request that the Committee report back to the Board in 6 months on its progress. Bob seconded, and the amendment was approved.
With these amendments, the Board approved the creation of a new Committee on Homelessness, with its primary initial functions being to analyze ways to impact homelessness, reporting back to the Board in 6 months, and to encourage Rotarians to volunteer at homeless shelters.
We discussed the formation of a committee to discuss coming up with a club policy for reduced dues for certain new members who would apply for a reduction based on need. Members on that committee will be Steve Ban, Bob Kuenzel, Shauna Naf and Sandee Lindhout.
The Board continued the discussion of Larry Halgren’s proposal for a joint meeting in November with the Bellingham Bay and Ferndale Clubs, regarding merging clubs, though concerns were raised about the feasibility of merging clubs due to existing identities and histories. John Moffat noted that Bellingham Bay is currently down to about 15 members attending meetings and are receptive to the idea. George Halsell mentioned that the Ferndale Club has already determined if they can’t get 10 new members this Rotary Year, they may terminate their charter. Larry is also planning on approaching Sunrise Rotary Club. The meeting will be at the Bellwether Hotel meeting room with no speaker. Lunch would be offered.
We continued discussion of future meetings and frequency of evening meetings with and without spouses. We would like to try to hold 1 evening meeting per month and 1 meeting per quarter to invite spouses, (although spouses are invited to any of the meetings)
July 31, 2025 meeting will be a regular meeting, held on a Thursday, at the Bellingham Golf & Country Club at noon. There will be a full buffet at a cost of $29.00. Please register for lunch on Clubrunner on the website by July 28th. You do not need to order lunch to attend.
August 18, 2025 Monday meeting will be held at the Light House Mission for a tour. We will order sandwiches from Great Harvest. Again, please register on Clubrunner if you want a meal. No speaker
August 25th Monday meeting will be an Evening picnic at Aaron and Kelly Booker’s home. Please register with Clubrunner to sign up for what you can bring. Start time is 5:30 with no speaker
The Monday September 15th meeting at WCC will be cancelled.
September 16th Tuesday President’s Picnic and Tim and Leslie Farris’s home. This will be a great opportunity to meet our Hungarian guests who arrive from BC that afternoon. We will have BBQ salmon and everyone is asked to will bring a potluck item. More details will follow.
September 29th Monday evening meeting at Holiday Inn at the Airport with speaker and spouses invited starting with cocktails at 5:30. Please register on Clubrunner
Program Chairman, George Halsell, is attempting to schedule a tour and lunch at Mt. Baker Theater in October, stay tuned.
October 22nd – New Member wine and cheese social at Catherine and Phil’s home. More details to come
October 27th – Monday meeting will be held in the Evening at Western Washington University at 5:00 to attend the Rotaract meeting to meet them and get to know them. Possibly act as mentors to answer questions about careers. There will not be a speaker, and we will bring food in.
November 22nd Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
November 24th Monday meeting will be an Evening meeting with more details to come.
December 15th Monday meeting will be an Evening meeting with more details to come.
Socials planned:
We have received an invitation from Whatcom Center for Early Learning to thank us for our previous support that has allowed the Blue House at 2001 H Street to be enhanced to better serve our families and children. They would like to invite our members to attend a garden party that will honor our support and show off the results of our gift on July 24th between 5:00pm and 7:00pm
This was our Major Project in 2022-2023 in which we raised $84,217 and have helped on a couple work parties.
Monday Evening - August 25th Potluck at Bookers', 2612 Park St., B'ham 98225 from 5:30-8:00. Aaron & Kelly will provide pulled pork from Aaron's smoker as well as grilled chicken. Everything else is potluck.
We are planning to have some live music from Bellingham High School Musicians and some BHS Show Stopper choir members.
Go to this page for details and sign-up
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.
