In lieu of President Doug Cole and President-Elect Steve Ban, who were peddling their a___s off in Europe (!!!), John Moffat, VP and Program Chair, showed off his stuff filling in. He made no glaring errors, substituting admirably. But he demurred from soloing on “Seattle”, allowing Perry Como to take the lead. John encouraged all to read the current issue of the Rotary magazine, which deals with mental health.
Guests:
George Halsell introduced future member Pete Kirkman
There were no committee announcements from the floor this week. Here's a bunch of opportunities for service and fellowship....
Jennifer Dowd, Head of Explorations Academy announced a Vintage Carnival at the Zuanich Park May 18th. Here is the link if interested in more details CLICK HERE
Memorial Park Cleanup
There will be an event on May 18 to clean up Memorial Park. There is urgent need for participants.
May 18th 9:00 am - 12:00 noon
Our Club has been instrumental in keeping Sunnyland Memorial Park looking sharp as we head into summer and the Memorial Day holiday. Memorial Park was established to honor those lost during World War I and has since become a place of remembrance, honoring those who have fallen in service to our country during war.
Please join us, City of Bellingham volunteers, and Sunnyland neighbors as we remove moss from remembrance stones, sweep away fallen leaves, pull some weeds, and help the park look its best.
You will first need to sign up for an account if they don’t have one, sign the waiver, then they can use that link to register for the event.
The city is listing us as a co-sponsor on their website, so we need to make sure we have a great turnout.
Let Ward Naf know if you can participate or have questions.
Memorial Day Parade
RCOB will be part of the downtown Memorial Day Parade on Saturday, May 25, from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m. Members are encouraged to sign up to walk in the parade on the website at: bellinghamrotary.org or https://portal.clubrunner.ca/264/Event/memorial-day-parade
Major Awards
The Executive Board is looking for nominations for the club’s Major Awards. People are encouraged to consider the criteria and send nominations to Executive Secretary Sandee Lindhout or the Executive Board: Doug Cole, Paul Grey, Steve Ban, John Moffat or Steve Gray. Nominations will be accepted through mid-May. Click Here for List of previous awardees
WWC Campus Food Pantry
Rotaract Club is doing a fundraiser for our WWC campus food pantry. Go to the following link https://www.vikingfunder.com/project/10149/do and if Rotarians put “Bellingham Rotaract” in the “Anything else we should know” box, we can track our impact! This website is the official WWU Foundation donor site, so it is tax-deductible and 100% of donations go to the project.
Paula McCandlis and Mark Knittel pitched an idea for a club fundraiser. Instead of the “biggest bear in Alaska”, how about a “Pet Pageant” online. Few other clubs in the world have come up with a similar idea. This would be totally online and we hope raise a nice sum of money. Mark did some online research and presented some touchpoints. He suggested describing one or more of our active projects, rather than just saying profits will support the club’s bottom line. There are some tools we could use to administer the contest. This seems doable. Some questions arose and were answered. So, is this something we should consider doing as a club? We need a committee to work through the concerns. Are there four folks to volunteer for a committee? Let Paula and/or Mark know if you are interested.
Mark again took the stage, this time as the program presenter, with an update on the ARES (African Regionalized Education Solution) project in Kenya. RCOB and other clubs in our region have been active in this project from its inception. ARES is a turn-key project for education in Africa. It is built with a stand-alone server, wireless network and about 20 tablets to get students acquainted with and using computers. Projectors make more efficient teaching, demonstrating to the entire class, not just an individual student. There are many obstacles, lack of dependable power, very low teacher/student ratios, extreme poverty etc. And the irony of the thing is that Kenya has mandated that students graduating from secondary school must have digital proficiency skills.
Education in Kenya is greatly valued. ARES is learning how to work around all the above problems and more. ARES is focused entirely on rural Africa, where the need is greatest. There is a great deal of inequity in the Kenyan society. The wealth gap is extreme. One third of the population is below the poverty line. There is a direct correlation between wealth and education. And females drop out of school at a much higher rate. The focus of ARES is on the school, not individuals. They feel this is the way to affect many more people. A school-wide system can help many more students than can one or two laptops.
This year one of the areas that received ARES is the Tsavo area in SE Kenya. This is an area with a number of conservancies. In the video, an instructor asked who has touched a computer? No hands were raised. The village was really poor, but the villagers managed to provide a room with power, lighting, adequate furniture and flooring. They spent 18 months funding and setting up the computer room. Getting local buy-in to the program is essential.
The program is supported by staff. It partners with communities to establish the schoolroom. The server is populated with Khan Academy materials, an encyclopedia and the Kenyan curriculum. Kenya mandates that a student passes an exam to matriculate to a higher grade. These tests show that students who had access to ARES, scored significantly higher than those who didn’t. This is a wonderful program in this reporter’s view and Mark should be commended.
What’s next you might ask. Well go ahead and ask. The answer is: in existing ARES schools – continue the program, focus on existing schools, as well as metrics and results. Add more to the good schools, reinforce staff and support, you get the idea. And of equal weight – expand the program into more schools in more areas. Seek support from local and national governments, and foundations.
Mark is trying to start an “Adopt a School” program for other Rotary clubs to help fund expansion of the effort to educate the rural populations. He showed a menu of support and what that would result in. And he finished off with a few words on the process of installing an ARES system in a school, from the decision to the implementation. A really good presentation. Thanks Mark.
Closing:
John ended the meeting thanking those involved and wished safe travels to all.
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.
