President Del acknowledged that this past week has been a difficult one in our country and reminded the group of what a great club Rotary is to be a part of. President Del also thanked our Veterans recognizing that because of them we are able to be here today; the Club’s veterans stood for a round of applause.
Announcements:
The Stop Hunger Now meal-packaging project will occur this Saturday, November 19, 2016 at the St. Luke’s Community Education Center, 3333 Squalicum Parkway, Bellingham, beginning at 9:00. The goal is to pack 100,000 meals. Members may donate or volunteer by going to http://events.stophungernow.org/BellinghamNov2016. Please contact Lisa Saar with any questions at lisa.saar@lsaarlaw.com.
She is looking for a few volunteers for Friday night to help set up at 5:00 pm for about an hour. 50,000 meals will be packaged this year.
Reminder that there is no regular meeting Monday the 21st because of Rotation Day.You have been sent your assignments. Contact Lori or Sandee if you have any questions.
Mauri Ingram and Katherine Deets, Co-Chairman of the New Generations & Youth Committee is asking members to take the survey below. Your input will help us create opportunities that best fit Club members' preferences in supporting the children and youth in our community.
Chuck Snyder, Chairman of the Nominating Committee announced the following slate of officers for the 2017-2018 elections on December 12th.
President: Teri Treat
President-Elect: Sandy McIntire
Vice President/Program Chair: Cathy Buckley
Treasurer: John Holtzheimer
Board of Directors: (vote for 2) Monty McAllister
Paula McCandlis
John Moffat
Bob Trunek
New Membership Proposal
The Classification Committee and the Board of Directors has approved the membership application of Steve Hettick, COO of Ershig's, Inc. He is proposed by Teri Treat and Dominique Zervas under the classification "Metal and Composite Manufacturing" He will be eligible for membership December 5th unless a letter of objection is received by Exec. Sec. Sandra Lindhout, 2200 Vining St., Bellingham, Washington 98229 on or before November 27th.
For this year's Major Project, supporting Lydia Place, President Del reminded us all to get our pledges in. Currently, we have 66% of Club members committed to a donation.
Board Briefs November 10, 2016
A letter of resignation was received from Jerry Main and approved with great regret.
President Del requested that the club pay for a new microphone system at meetings that would not be so restrictive and the board approved up to $300. Brad Burdick has offered to look into the purchase.
Monty McAllister Chairman of the Student Exchange committee attended to update us that we will have our first outgoing student leaving in August for 10 ½ months, although they do not know where she will be going yet. Rogan Jones, Steve Ban and Bellingham Bay President-elect Curtis Dye and his wife have been most helpful. The committee is now starting to prepare for our incoming student.
Special Message from President Del:"The situation of making announcements and promoting Non-Rotary events and activities was discussed. It was agreed that these announcements are best presented during Happy Bucks rather than during the regular announcements. If you let the President know before the meeting, he or she will do their best to include mention of your cause. Also, if you have Non-Rotary hand outs that you want left on the tables, that can be done with prior permission of the President.
Not discussed at the Board meeting but a related reminder is that our club has a long history of neither promoting nor denigrating any political party, candidate, public official or cause. From the time our club was established, this has been our policy. It is often easy to forget that in these unsettled times, but it is good to remember that our cause is Service to Humanity and we can best do that without the outside interference and the accompanying discord that often results from political options given from the floor of our meetings.
Thank you all for your understanding."
Guests of Rotarians:
Paula McCandlis introduced David DeYoung with Northwestern Mutual
Al Archer introduced Hans Erchinger-Davis, new Exec. Dir. of Light House Mission
Roland Trenouth introduced Captain Bob Knablein, his wife, Joy Kenworth Knablein, Joy's daughter, Stacy Abshire and her husband Scott.
Monty McAllister brought former Skagit County Rotarian and Sehome High School Principal, Michelle Kuss Cybula. Her daughter has been selected to be our first outgoing exchange student in August.
Debbie Ahl introduced Craig Dunn - Wilder Distinguished Professor of Business & Sustainability and Jon Lussier - Owner & PC Technologies
Presentations:
JC Hickman walked the Club through the funding for the Arne Hanna Aquatic Center. Our Club supported the construction of the Aquatic Center by commencing fundraising in 1972. In order to raise funds, there was an auction known as BRAVO (Bellingham Rotary Auction VIP Occasion) and the goal was to raise at least $50,000 per year. The Aquatic Center was slated to cost $4.8 million, with ½ needing to be raised from public donations. The funding eventually reached a point short of what was needed and Pete Zuanich donated all of the paychecks he had saved from acting as a Port of Bellingham Commissioner to help with the final funding of the Aquatic Center. The Aquatic Center opened in 1995.
Jack Westford gave a Veterans Day presentation honoring Robert, Knablein a WWII veteran. Mr. Knablein flew B24 bombers during the war. The B24 bombers were difficult to fly as the slightest mechanical or human error could cause a crash. It took every ounce of strength a pilot had to fly the B24. We are fortunate to have men such as Mr. Knablein who made tremendous sacrifices during their service to our country in WWII.
Program:
Professor David Patrick from Western Washington University presented on the top of “Solar Windows for Powering Cities and Empowering the Next Generation of Innovators.” Professor Patrick opened his presentation by asking “Why Solar Energy?” Simply put, because that is where the resource is. Solar energy is hundreds of times larger than all other resources combined. That is why Professor Patrick and his team of Western Washington University students are focusing on the development of solar technology.
The challenges of using solar energy not only include cost but scalability. While the cost of solar energy has been falling rapidly, the cost is still too high to be competitive with fossil fuels. Moreover, the scalability of using solar power creates a big hurdle as the United States alone would require 5 million acres of panels or approximately 30 billion solar panels. Rather than focus on solar panels, Professor Patrick described to the group how solar windows are an alternative option. Glass already blocks 50% of sunlight and there is already a market for windows. For instance, the window area of the 25 tallest buildings in Seattle approximately equals the total area of all installed solar panels in Washington. There are three ways a window can be used as a solar window: (1) cover part of the window with solar cells, or (2) cover the whole window with a thin semi-transparent solar cell, or (3) make the inner pane a transparent plastic with dye to absorb the sunlight. Professor Patrick and his students have been researching and developing option 3. The biggest challenge with option 3 is finding the proper luminescent dye that can absorb UV and visible light, emit infrared light and not glow, and survive 30 years in the sun. The main innovation that the WWU team has worked on has been to introduce a new type of dye using quantum dots. There are various other applications of this technology, including use for consumer products, guided light delivery and damage tolerant solar power sources.
There are essentially 3 phases of developing the technology – conduct basic research on an idea, patent/develop the prototype, and commercialize. The WWU students are involved in the first two phases of developing the idea; students come from various departments including chemistry, math/physics, industrial design, electrical engineering, environment studies, and the MBA program. The students form collaborative teams to work on the project and have opportunities to connect to and work with professionals outside the university for help in legal, accounting, marketing, investing, and media, to name a few.
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