Rotary Club of Bellingham Tattler - DECEMBER 18, 2023
Tattler Reporter Tom Grinstad
Tattler Editor Catherine Riordan
Photographer: Del VandeKerk
Exchange Student
Joao Vito Haas de Macedo
JV
Opening Welcome:
President-elect Steve Ban opened the meeting without a bang. At least this reporter from zoom distance did not hear the bell’s peal. He did however start with a sense of humor. He recounted a Rotary joke that went something like this. A doctor, a lawyer, and a Rotarian died and arrived at the pearly gates. St. Peter told them they could each have one thing to take with them to heaven. He asked the doc what he would like. The doctor answered one million dollars. This was given and he proceeded through the gates. The lawyer, not to be outdone, asked for two million dollars. Ditto. Then comes the Rotarian, who had just finished a fund-raising event for the Rotary Foundation. St. Pete asked what he would like. The Rotarian leaned in and politely asked “If it’s not too much trouble, can I have the names of those two people who just walked in ahead of me.”
Guests:
Felicity Dye introduced our speaker, Exchange Student JV and Debbie Kiene with Bellingham Bay
Aaron Booker introduced his son Augustis and wife Kelly
Scott Herman introduced his wife Jen
Members on Zoom: Steve Hager, Loch Trimingham, Rob Olson, Tom Grinstad and Doug Cole
Club Events and Committee Announcements
There will be no meeting the next two weeks, December 25th and January 1st. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Dave Blair reminded members to get their Major Project Pledge in soon for the Light House Mission Medical Clinic. Our goal is 100% member participation; currently, we are at 58%! Please get ahold of Dave Blair or Sandee Lindhout with your pledges. Click here for the form.
Rotary Moment by Dick Tucker
Dick chose the Mt. Baker Ski Patrol. Dick started in the patrol because his family did not want to ski with him any longer. So to have some reason to ski, he joined. Dick's most pressing question was, “Do you get to throw the bombs?” The answer was nope. Specially trained pyromaniacs get to do that. An underappreciated item of training is their first aid training. Usually, an EMT arrives on scene, stabilizes the patient and puts them in the ambulance for a quick trip to the hospital. On the mountain, however, the patient is stabilized on the hill, then put on a toboggan, transported down the hill, and further cared for until the ambulance arrives. Dick also briefly discussed how to accomplish evacuation of the chair lifts. (No easy feat). There is also avalanche training, and for fun, they get to re-stake the boundary lines every morning. The ski patrol gives Dick the feeling of doing good.
Board Briefs for December 14, 2023 Meeting
We have received resignations, and they were accepted with regret from Mike Tausen due to ill health and Jose Ledesma for personal family issues.
We sold our piano for $1,000 and the board approved a $100 commission fee to Dorothy Hopkins, who helped us immensely with the sale.
We set the April 1st 2024 regular noon meeting to honor our Past Presidents. Marty Haines is helping Doug with the planning.
Doug reported that he is working with Bellingham Bay to possibly have a social together in the spring.
The votes of the Service Fund Committee members are in and there is unanimous approval of four applications, each for $1,000; Each was subsequently approved by the board. A Grant request will be sent to the RCOB Foundation and Sandee will set up the check presentations. The projects to be funded are:
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, through United Way of Whatcom County, sponsored by Rick Kaiser
Camp Kirby mattress replacements, sponsored by Aaron Booker
Wild Bird Starfish Weekend Food Bag Program, sponsored by Del VandeKerk
Boy Scout Troop 19 Historic Cabin Preservation, sponsored by Brad Burdick, John Moffat
The book report by Marty Haines talked about “Think Black” by Clyde Ford. This book is a memoir of the life of an African-American who blossomed from a 20-year-old IBM systems engineer to a life up here in Bellingham. Along the way he got a degree in chiropractic. He’s written a number of books, many of which deal with boating. This is not one of those. Clyde graduated from college in three years, and got a job at IBM, like his father. This memoir documents the problems of a black man working in predominately white professions. The book won the Washington State Book Award in 2021 for creative non-fiction. Marty really endorses reading the book.
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.
Felicity Dye introduced our exchange student from Brazil, Joao Vitor Haas de Macedo. Her intro was so effusive that this reporter got lost in the words and couldn’t write them all down. But never mind, Joao (JV, to his friends) was the highlight. JV started off talking about life in Brazil. He had an expansive slide show – that didn’t show over the zoom app, so I can’t make any comments on what attendees could see.
JV is into sports, naturally, for he’s a teen-age male. Mostly it is soccer (football to the rest of the world) and basketball. He must have been crestfallen with the results of the 2022 World Cup, with Argentina winning. Aren’t they traditional rivals of Brazil? He stated that between the two of them, JV and his dad have 75 team jerseys. One of the activities he has enjoyed since arriving in WA is a Seattle Sounders game.
Anyway, his hobbies run to the musical. JV listed three instruments – drums, flute and guitar – but didn’t demonstrate any of them. Seems to me that with a little practice he could be a walking one-man band. He stated that his little brother, Arthur, writes poetry and music – emulating JV. This was just one of the facts that he revealed about his family. One other fact worth mentioning is that their dog Zoey is both lazy and energetic (how is this possible?).
JV explained a bit about the education system in Brazil, at least as it pertains to him. He has graduated. After middle school, there are three years of high school. The first two years of high school are in one school, the third year is in a separate school. This school, where JV lives, has a student body of over 5,000 students. Unfortunately, there was no time to explore this system any further.
JV then laid out some facts and figures of his home country. Since the slide show did not transmit over Zoom, I cannot recall most of it. What I can report is that Brazil is the largest country in South America. The language is Portuguese. Joao did confess however it is not pure Portuguese. He can barely understand what a Portuguese person is saying. So Brazilian is like a dialect of Portuguese. Sorta like Southern is a dialect of American. I know I have trouble understanding what someone with a heavy Southern accent is saying.
JV ended up saying a few words about the Rotary international student exchange program. He noted that he was hoping to be placed in Germany or the U.S. and lucky for him, he is here. He notes that some of his best friends are now in and of the program. He has met wonderful people because of the program. And he hopes to show off his medal-encrusted blazer to all of the district clubs.
Closing:
President-elect Steve nearly forgot the raffle, which was won by David. He did however remember to ring the bell to end the meeting. A fine job.
Remember - this is important - NO MEETING FOR 2 WEEKS!!!
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.
Book Review
