There will be a Board of Directors meeting today, Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 4:30 at the Dorothy Haggen Building, 3rd floor.
Rotary Leadership Institute: A Rotary Leadership Institute is schedule for January 21, 2017 at the Best Western Skagit Valley Inn and Conference Center in Mount Vernon. Members interested in attending may register by following the link in the Tattler. Rotary will pay your tuition. Simply register and notify Sandee for reimbursement. Click open to register.
Vegas Night:Nathan Twining reminded us of the Club’s Vegas Night event is scheduled for Saturday evening, February 11. Tickets are available at the Mt Baker Theatre box office. This event will fund our new International Student Exchange and contribute to the Service Fund. The event is described on the Club’s web site and the committee is meeting to finalize additional details which he will present soon. Save the date of February 11, 2017 to attend at the Mount Baker Theatre. You can now go to our website at bellinghamrotary.org home page to get more information. The committee distributed Sponsorship Forms for anyone interested in being a Sponsor. Click here to view.
This is a significant fundraising effort for the Club that promises to be a fun evening of entertainment, gaming and socializing. It is hoped that all Club members will participate. All Club members are expected to buy at least two tickets, either for themselves or guests. Tickets are $100 each, available at the Mt Baker Theater box office or at each of our next two club meetings. President Del reminded us that a featured attraction of the evening will be a performance by nationally recognized local magician John Walton, in which among other things he will open a special magic box that contains predictions for the future and will saw in half a prominent area attorney. Not surprisingly, and to laughter from the lunch audience, someone asked if John could be asked to work on more than one attorney.
President Del noted that member participation in fundraising for our major project, Lydia Place, has been excellent. At this time, 97% of Club members have donated, a higher level of participation than in previous years. Only four members have yet to donate and if that happens we could achieve the 100% level. There is two more weeks for donation or pledges to be made – the drawing for the project raffle will be January 23rd and will mark the end of this years major project fund drive.
Jeff Jenkins distributed winnings to the winners of the football pools for the Holiday, Peach, Fiesta, Cotton and Outback bowl games. Many folks won, but it seemed that a few were more richly blessed. (are you reading this Cooper Treat?)
Guests of Rotarians:
Jim Vos introduced Carl Angell, long time friend and neighbor
Pam Kiesner brought her husband Kenn and also Paul and Julie Leuthold
Presentations:
Not really a presentation but:
Steve Ban reflected on the life and accomplishments of long-time Club member Ron Millard who passed away several months ago. Ron had been an active member of our club, serving as president in 1977-78. Steve worked for 22 years in medical practice with Ron, so could reflect on the respect Ron enjoyed as a compassionate and thoughtful physician. Several years ago Ron and his wife lost a son in a high school football accident. After that they established the Millard Scholarship fund that supports three scholarships each year. Ron was a strong family man and a leader in our Club, the community and in his profession.
Program:
Program Chair, Sandy MeIntire introduced our speaker, David Huber, who spoke about the Mended Heart organization. David, a long-time Bellingham resident attended Western Washington University and is retired from the construction business.
Mended Heart is a national organization dedicated to providing support to community heart patients and family. The Bellingham organization consisting of 42 dedicated volunteers, was founded in 2012. Volunteers provided support to patients at all levels, including for example support conversations in the Sunrise room, hospital rooms and in the Intensive Care Unit. The volunteers do not dispense medical advice; rather they are there to offer encouragement to patients and families.
David related an incident in his life, the outcome of which was a major factor in his getting involved with Mended Heart. Several years ago his wife Sheila while at home went into cardiac arrest. She was revived by EMS personnel but later again went into cardiac arrest. She was transported to the hospital, where she was treated. However, as a result of heart stoppage, she suffered major irreversible brain damage. After several days, David had to make the very difficult decision to either maintain her in a vegetative state on life support or allow her to pass away in peace. He opted for the latter, a very difficult and emotionally wrenching decision. As a result of this experience and his observation that support for persons going through what he did was so important, he became involved with Mended Heart.
David noted that in the United States 27 million folks have been diagnosed with some form of heart disease. In a study done by Peace Health on students at a local high school, it was found that out of 122 candidates, 10 had some sort of heart issue. He emphasized the importance of each of us being aware of the risk factors and the potential for heart problems in ourselves and family. Since the problem of heart disease is large, one can ask if what any one person can do can make a significant difference? David argues that every person can help, and every person can make a difference. To make his point he related an interesting story of a boy on a beach in Mexico who was tossing beached starfishes back into the ocean. When asked, given the magnitude of the problem, if what he was doing made any difference he responded, “to the ones I toss back it makes a difference”.
David closed his remarks with some references that we might find of interest: (1) information about Heart Mender and its partnership with Peace Health can be found on the Peace Health web site, (2) Heart Mender sponsors a program on heart health, held on at 10 am on the first Saturday of each month at the St Lukes Education Center and (3) David has produced a U-tube video, “David Huber Goes Red”, that deals with his experience losing his wife to heard disease.
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