Board Meeting June 7, 2017 Briefs:
President Del thanked outgoing board members Chuck Snyder, Scott Hume and Dominique Zervas for their service to the RCOB and welcomed new Board members Cathy Buckley, Monty McAllister and Paula McCandlis joining the board July 1, 2017.
He also reported that we have received $3,500 for the Polio Plus RI Campaign thus far.
Jack Westford is suggesting a “Take a Vet to Lunch” campaign for the upcoming Rotary year. It would try to help a homeless veteran get a job and bring them to a meeting once a month. They would work with Bellingham Worksource (Paul Pelot) Vet Case Manager and receive resumes of qualified ready to work veterans. One new veteran will be selected each month. They would be introduced to the club.
The board liked the idea and suggested that we do a short program from Worksource prior to the inception.
Incoming President Teri Treat is continuing work on her committee’s and they should be completed early July. She is making headway on consolidating some of the committee’s. Her goal is to make sure everyone is on a committee and engaged.
Service Fund Grant request: Paul Grey submitted a request to support the Engedi Refuge Ministries in their efforts to see women restored from the abuses of sex trafficking. Engidi Refuge is one of the nation’s leading residential care facilities located in northern Whatcom County. Their holistic and restorative process for their residents is accomplished through (1) Safe housing (2) trauma focused curriculum and (3) a collaborative team of professionals and volunteers.
Co-Founders are Lea and Aaron Newcomb. Mr. Newcomb has personally converted older buildings into comfortable learning and counseling facilities. The housing is at an undisclosed location for security reasons. Since their founding in March 2013 they have served 38 ladies. They have been expanding their housing and learning center such that their current capacity allows for 10-15 ladies at a time. Financially, they have a solid balance sheet and continue to grow their donor base year over year. Engedi is a 501c3 organization.
Paul is requesting $1,000 to the Engedi Refuge Ministries to purchase chairs for their discussion room.
The Board approved this grant request and it will be forwarded onto the RCOB Foundation for approval.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Arlie NormanNew Generation/Youth (Mauri Ingram and Katherine Deets): They are scheduling a committee meeting for this month.
Student Exchange (Monty McAllister): Our inbound student’s documents are being gathered and host families being vetted in preparation for welcoming Ivanna.
Host families include Dan and Michelle Cybula, Jon and Stacey Medcalf, Felicity and Curtis Dye. Counsellor Jennifer Moehl. Next is to have a get together of hosts and counsellor for orientation and prep for arrival of Ivanna. Monty hopes to get outbound student, Isabelle Cybula to the club in the near future..
International Foundation (Lisa Saar): They are working on increasing the number of Paul Harris Fellows in our club. Letting folks who are really close know how much they would need to give.
International Service (Paul Grey and Bob Trunek):
The second water and sanitation project in Uganda has begun! This is a partnership between the Bweyogerere Namboole Rotary club and the Rotary Club of Bellingham. The village is the Naluhonjohe community that neighbors our past project.
The community members have literally suspended their daily gardening chores to concentrate on the trenching for the water supply line. On a daily basis, the locals are at the project as early as 7:00am, women and men, to do the trenching. The Project will provide three water reservoir points approximately 2-3 km apart within the areas of the Community that residents can easily access. The water-reservoir sites were selected with a focus on reducing distance traveled for the greatest number of residents--not only to reduce the amount of time spent to obtain clean water, but also to protect the young girls who are otherwise being intercepted by traffickers. It looks like it will take another 6 months to complete.
GENERAL DISCUSSION: The board continued the discussion of Arlie Norman’s survey results of the Board of Directors. President Del felt this will be very useful in our Visioning process. It is obvious we need to do better with new members and our mentoring. Teri is going to merge the Mentoring Committee into the New Breakfast Committee with Phil Gubbins. Phil wants to restart the breakfasts next year.
NEXT BOARD MEETING WILL BE HELD THURSDAY JULY 13, 2017 AT 4:30
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