Northwind June 9, 2016
Posted by Julie Johansen
on Jun 11, 2016
Call to order: President Sharon Robinson led us in the pledge of allegiance and Jim Blaney’s daughter led the invocation. Jim’s daughter is a minister and significantly raised the bar on invocations!
Visiting Rotarians: Bob Moles from Bellingham Bay RC.
Guests of Rotarians: Jim Blaney introduced his daughter and son-in-law but I was not yet taking notes and did not get their names. They have visited before so maybe by the third visit I will remember. Julie introduced her grandson Dakota White and our 2016 RYLA participant George Howard, who gave the program today.
Returning Rotarians: Eric Battles returns from helping is daughter move from her job at Johns Hopkins (Baltimore) to her new job at Duke (NC) which, according to Eric, is a significant improvement in geographic location. He also stopped in California to visit his mother who is about to have surgery.
Birthdays: Jim Blaney ‘s birthday was today 6/9. Rollo has a birthday next week and someone else but I forget since I was not taking notes until happy bucks.
Announcements: Family Fun Fest is being held at the Boys and Girls club this Saturday and they need help from our club to set up games. So far there are no volunteers to help with this event. If your schedule changes, please consider going. It is a worthy event and requires little effort.
There was also something about a Rotary bike ride to raise funds to build a biking\walking trail near Vernon BC. I did not get the details..but if you are interested Sharon has them.
Sharon read thank you letters from Elizabeth Hand a YSA recipient, Pardada Pardadi for the 15K support of their education program and Carolyn Meub for the club’s $1,000 support of the Trojes Honduras water project.
Happy Bucks: Bill Grace was $20 happy for the work party at Star Park on Saturday and something about his Model A named Gladys that was related to picking strawberries and the wonderful June berries. Dale Holt was happy about the Star Park construction project and sorry he could not participate and sorry he cannot help out with the Fun Fest this coming Saturday. Rollo was $32 happy for his 32nd wedding anniversary but forgot about his birthday..will be happy next time we meet. Ken was happy to see visitors today and Stan was sad that the sale of his son’s house in Spokane fell through. It is back on the market and when it does sell, son plans to move back to Ferndale to be near Stan and Margaret. Eric was happy about his daughter’s job change and move to North Carolina..something about Baltimore that worried him. Laurie had happy bucks for Star Park work party, the great local strawberries and sad bucks for a trip to Vermont to attend a friend’s funeral who passed too early from cancer. Julie was happy for the Star Park work party (even though she did not last long-got great pictures of Tim, Rollo and Bill Grace working very hard) and for Dakota and George being our program today.
Fine Master: Ken filling in for Rocky who was fined $2 for giving such short notice of bailing on his duties today. $1 fines for everyone not wearing their Rotary pin. Marlene was fined $7 for several sins, but the gambling (raffle tickets) with borrowed funds was primary. Jim was fined for coming incognito (absent his yellow coat) so no one would recognize him. $2 fine to all members who did not show up for the Star Park work party (our tree house looks amazing!). Ken fined all members who are not in attendance today $2. There are now a pile of IOU’s in the fine box as only 10 of 22 members were in attendance.
Banners: Another brilliant display from Stan; King Kamehameha day is celebrated June 11th in Hawaii and D-day was June 6th and some other battle that I did not get. Ken remembers June 6th for another reason; he earned a purple heart that day 25 years ago in Viet Nam.
Program: RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) Dakota White was WCN RC’s sponsored participant last year (2015) and he was invited back to be a facilitator for the 2016 camp. He told us about the structure of the program over the four days and some of the mechanics of how the program changes lives. The training begins at the entrance gate to the camp- everyone must get out of their car (which makes them nervous because they do not know why) and are given a big hug (now they are more nervous, what did they get themselves into?). The hugging goes on for the next four days and by Sunday it is a natural greeting. The program has structured activities (Rylantics) that teach cooperation, patience and team work. The participants listen to motivational speakers (Rotarians) telling their stories and life lessons and the value of service above self. The work project for this camp was to build shelters for the campsite wood storage; they held a nightly bon fire with a need for dry wood. The participants work on a business project on the third day and must solve some challenging issue. This year it was the large influx of refugees into Canada and how to assimilate them into a new culture. They will need Rotarian volunteers next year to judge the team solutions, so keep it in mind.
George Howard our 2016 RYLA participant then told us about his experience. We can thank Norm Vigre for getting him there as he was highly skeptical of Dakota telling him about how “life changing” the RYLA program is. George is Dakota’s boss at Brambleberry. Norm “suggested” to George that he would not be working those days and would be going to RYLA. George was not excited about all the hugging and tried shaking hands but found that did not work out well. The first 48 hours was hard for George as this was far outside his comfort zone. By Sunday George was hugging everyone, made some lasting friendships and is now joining the Rotaract club. He said on day three, something changed (‘flipped a switch’) for him and he began absorbing the benefits of the team building and bonding experiences they were exposed to. George thanked us collectively and individually multiple times for sponsoring him to this program and he will encourage others to take advantage of the training next year. George is 24, has finished his education and was older than most of the participants but said that did not matter. He learned so much about leadership and team work. He said his previous management style was that of a driver (hammer) and now he wants to be a “team leader”; working with his team, not driving them. He is excited to use the skills learned and says he is treating his friends, work and family members differently as a result of this four day program. The experience helped him see that the fears and walls we build in our own minds are barriers we can let go, for a more fulfilling life experience. For George, the “life changing” buzz words turned out to be true. He absolutely believes that his life is forever changed as a result of this program. His energy was\is contagious and his gratitude is real.
The numbers: 46 participants attended this year (50 max allowed), 16 facilitators and 8 Rotarian leaders. There were 15 US participants and 31 Canadians which is improved over the prior year when only 5 US participants attended. It is hard for US students to participate because the timing conflicts with school (Dakota lost 5 days of classes to be a facilitator). Canada is on spring break the same week so the Canadian clubs do a better job of recruiting candidates.
Dakota and George offered to talk with any potential candidates about the experience if any of your children or grandchildren might be interested. Nick Caples (Bellingham Bells manager) also has volunteered to talk to potential candidates and had he not talked to Dakota a year ago, neither of these fine young men would have been standing in front of us today.
Raffle: Eric won the day prize (US Flag) and Bill drew the 50/50 raffle. He did not pick the ace of spades so the pot grows. Winners take next week is $879.50