On behalf of our MIA president Paul Grey, Steve Ban, program chair, called the meeting to order with the biggest clang we’ve heard in a while and enthusiastically welcomed the startled membership to the meeting. As a novice officer, he requested our understanding as we were about to work through a multi-faceted agenda.
Of course, members were ready to be magnanimous about his conduct, but we were questioning his choice of clothing. What happened to his usual blue Rotary shirt? Fortunately, Steve quickly allayed our concerns by explaining how the pink shirt he was wearing was a shout-out to his being second in line to the (Club's) presidency and therefore the Nancy Pelosi of our Club. Members were satisfied with that explanation, but it left us concerned that skirts and heels might be donned for future meetings.
Invocation: Acknowledging the state of our world today, Jodi Borrelli offered a prayer for peace.
Music: Once again, Rick Kaiser shared a seldom heard but much appreciated patriotic song performed by a military band. I love those percussionists!
We sang--yes, sang--Happy Birthday to RCOB members with birthdays in August:
Ken Marzocco
John Pedlow
Dave Blair
Lynda Hinton
Ken Culver
Susie Thomson
Cathy Buckley
Acting President Steve went through each of the August Rotary anniversaries, starting with the amazing Brian Griffin who has 62 years of service!!!!! Others recognized were Steve Hager for 34 years of service, Kelli Linville for 11 years of service, and Sara Maloney for 4 years of service.
Club and Committee Announcements:
Board of Directors Meeting on zoom this Thursday August 11th from 4:00 to 5:30 followed by the Community Boating Center BBQ. Contact Sandee if you would like the Zoom link.
Community Boating Center BBQ - August 11th 6-8pm
To celebrate the partnership between the RCOB and the Community Boating Center to help build their new building, the Center has invited club members and significant others to a potluck dinner on Thursday, August 11, between 6 and 8 p.m., at their Fairhaven venue (555 Harris Avenue). The Center will provide an offering of BBQ meats, sides, and cool, non-alcoholic drinks. You're welcome to bring your favorite beverage.
If you'd like to come, please help them with a simple RSVP so they can get a head count. Please reply by Monday, August 8. Below is the form to register.
BREAKING NEWS: WE HAVE MOVED TO OUR MEETING LOCATION TO WHATCOM COMMUNITY COLLEGE, PAVILION #201 EFFECTIVE AUGUST 1, 2022. HERE ARE THE NEW DIRECTIONS (ONES HANDED OUT LAST WEEK HAVE BEEN REPLACED) PRINTABLE DOCUMENT CLICK HERE
The buildings address is 241 W Kellogg Rd. But this is not where you park. There is no parking off of Kellogg Road. You must enter parking off either Eliza Ave or Cordata Parkway. You are looking for the YELLOW lot (look on light poles for Y2 or Y3).
Enter from Eliza Ave: the driveway between Kellogg Rd and Westerly Rd has a driveway into the campus, follow that about 200 yards until it slopes down, park in the area between the three buildings.
Enter from Cordata Parkway: Just north of the WTA station and Cruisin Coffee before the round about is Orca Lane, take Orca Lane around the first two buildings until you find a large parking lot between three buildings.
Nathan Twining announced the Rotary Golfun Tournament happening on 26 August in Lynden. There is a lunch included and a dinner afterward. Nathan said you don’t have to be a serious golfer to join in. Contact Nathan for details. $125 entry.
International Service Committee
Catherine Riordan reported on a successful Friends of the International Partnership Alliance event (think Honduras) at the Farmhouse Restaurant on Thursday. The event was to recognize individuals and clubs who have made significant gifts to the IPA.
You will still receive an email from Sandee each week prior to the Monday 12:30 meeting if you are unable to attend in person (you can start logging in at 12:00 for short socializing) with the link for that privacy-protected meeting. If you have n done so, please download the Zoom app on your computer (you need a camera and microphone on it), iPad or phone. There is no cost to you. If you cannot do either, you can also call in. On the invitation, there are US phone numbers you can call and enter the meeting ID number also indicated on the invitation.
Lunch will be $22 for a buffet meal. We must notify them by Monday at NOON the week prior to the Monday meeting as to the number of members attending. We are sending out meeting "Invites" weekly and members are asked to sign-up ASAP. You can also sign-up by going to the event section of our website at bellinghamrotary.org. If you sign up for a meal at the meeting, you will need to pay the $22 even if you don't wind up attending the meeting after the numbers are turned in. If you plan to attend but not eat, PLEASE indicate that on your sign-up so we don't overorder meals and still make sure there is enough seating.
Four Points also will not collect the payment weekly, so the Club will collect payments prior to the meeting or at the door.
We urge members of the RCOB to set up a Venmo account for ease in payment of Meeting lunches, Happy Bucks, Minister of Fun, Dues or donations to the club. Our account is @RCOB- Bellingham. If you do not have a Venmo account you can set up an account with your computer then download the app. on your phone (just Google "Venmo" and you will find all the information you need) You then attach it to a debit or credit card (a fee on your end) or attach to your checking account at no cost. Payment will be sent di ctly to the RCOB checking account. When you use it for the first time it may ask you the last 4 digits of the RCOB phone number which is 0282. Give Sandee a call if you need help. 360-734-5532
Other payment options are to bring a check in the correct amount to the meeting made out to RCOB or cash in the exact amount to speed up the payment process. There is also the PayPal option as usual and we are set to take payments at the meeting. We have a QR Code that you scan and simply click to pay thru paypal also.
Website and Phone App instructions:
Here is a tutorial on how to login for the first time. (Click here) Go to belling mrotary.org first. In order to login you need t know your user name and password in your Clubrunner account. The user name is Your first name.Lastname.264 unless you have changed it. Example: Sandra.Lindhout.264 the password is initially set by Clubrunner at 264 unless you have changed it. Sandee can see your Username from her computer but not the password. She can also change your password for you from her computer at your request if you run into problems.
Once you have originally created your User Name and Password you can download the ClubRunner Mobile app on your phone:
Please contact Sandee at 360-734-5532 or rcob@comcast.net if you run into any trouble.
Guests
Rick Kaiser introduced our Take a Vet to Lunch guest - Luke Flowers
Members attending on Zoom: Nancy Jordan, Fred Kaiser, John Moffat, Loch Trimingham, Jodi Borrelli and Scott Wallace
Presentations:
Take a Vet to Lunch
Rick Kaiser introduced Luke Flowers (Click here for bio) as part of our commitment to connect veterans with professionals who might be able to help them advance in their careers in Whatcom County. Luke had four deployments and has completed multiple educational programs in business and computers. Luke has worked locally as a skilled craftsman in the marine industry and is looking for a management position that would allow him to put his years of experience to work. His big, audacious, long-term goal is to start a business providing management and caretaking services to boat owners. He also is committed to creating sustainable work environments for those in the marine trades. He is especially interested in the challenges and logistics associated with small boats. He's happy to start small with services to small single vessels. Luke says he has been blessed with a few good mentors and he knows how to get things done. See above link for his resume.
Service Project Committee
Andy Day described the results of the committee's recent survey of RCOB members, which sought our interests in various service projects. The number of responses was 33. Members seem to be most interested in these three areas for projects:
Childcare and youth development
Affordable housing
Homelessness
The Service Committee will identify local organizations working in these areas, consider the relevance of their activities to RCOB objectives, and eventually invite them to seek RCOB funding.
Happy Bucks
A few members shared big deal events in their lives, including negative results on some cancer tests, a family reunion, a local golf tournament win using only 9.5 fingers, and error-free (so far) leading of today's meeting.
Minister of Fun
Dick Tucker, smartly attired in a navy-blue suit with matching shirt and tie, led a fun, complete-the-sentence game. Probably most members ended up with $5 contributions to the kitty and an appreciation for the clever game Dick led. We got off to a slow start, but a couple of folks seemed to get it by the end!
Program:
Speaker: Dennis Williams
Background: Dennis, a RCOB member, started off in the law but was underwhelmed with projects he was assigned as a new real estate lawyer. So, he retooled and spent the rest of his career as a CPA, preparing and reviewing tax returns, then as an estate planner. Dennis retired in 2016 and is occupied largely with hiking with his grandchildren, taking care of his impossible yard, and serving on multiple charitable boards. He is also the president of the RCOB Foundation, which is probably why Steve Ban asked him to prepare a program on the Rotary International Foundation.
Dennis knew we would all be interested in the RI Foundation, given our semi-yearly contributions to the Foundation as part of our Club dues (see MyRotary.org for a record of your contributions).
Knowing nothing more about the RI Foundation than the rest of us, Dennis got to work educating himself by studying some of the hundreds of articles sent to him by RI Foundation staff. (BTW, this presentation was proudly handcrafted by Dennis, not some canned speech and slide show provided and shared by RI.)
He deemed a focus on three topics would be of greatest interest to us:
History
Financial
Current topics
He led off with a few fun facts, like
The RI Foundation has been around since 1917
The RI Foundation Endowment is over $1 Billion
After decades of Rotary efforts, cases of wild polio are present in only two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where health care workers don’t have the leeway and trust they need to be successful.
The mission of the Rotary Foundation is to help Rotary members to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty. “Together we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change—across the globe, in our communities and in ourselves."
In terms of expenditures in FY 2021, they were as follows:
$153 million Polio Plus
$130 million Global Grants
$31 million District Grants
$10 million Other Grants
$3 million Disaster Grants
$4 million Rotary Peace Centers
There are many areas of focus, from the largest – Disease prevention and treatment- to the smallest - peacebuilding and conflict prevention.
The largest source of revenue in 2021 was, of course, contributions ($354,750,000), followed by a healthy net return on investments ($182,304,000).
Presently, the Rotary Foundation resources are investing heavily in the deepening humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. It also continues to fund its Peace Centers around the world, as well as an effort to arrest malaria in Zambia (a $6 million effort that began with the Rotary Club in Federal Way and with active partners now in the Gates Foundation and World Vision USA).
We all contribute to the Foundation as a portion of our semi-annual dues payments. If
you have an interest is making further contributions for the very worthwhile work of the Rotary Foundation (Ukraine, clean water, etc.), you can access your member account on MyRotary.org. Your donation can be unrestricted or directed to a specific project.
