President Teri welcomed us to the Rotary Club of Bellingham! Thank you for joining us today! We will sing the Star Spangled Banner led by Don Anderson, followed by an invocation by Al Archer.
Announcements:
There will be a Board of Directors meeting this Thursday, March 8th at 4:30 at the Dorothy Haggen Building, 3rd floor.
As we gather today, President Teri was once again filled with gratitude and joy for another wonderful week of Rotary Events and Rotary generosity and thanked everyone who attended Vegas Night. A very big thank you to Sandee, Steve Hettick, Rick and Ann Kaiser, Dominique Zervas, Scott Hume & of course Nate Twining and the entire social committee! Vegas Night 2018 was bigger and better than last year! A special thanks to Brad Burdick, who shares the beautiful Mt. Baker Theatre with us for the event.
Last Tuesday, President Teri attended the very first Take a Vet to Lunch Veterans Employment Seminar. It was very well organized and the presenters were interesting and provided invaluable information to these veterans who are looking for full time employment. Our sincere thanks to the committee and everyone who worked hard to put on the program: Jack Westford, Roland Trenouth, John Huntley, Doug Cole, Debbie Ahl
There is an upcoming Rotary Youth Leadership Awards, RYLA, Leadership Camp, May 24-27 in Washington State. This is open to friends and family of Rotarians, who are between the ages of 18-30. Please go to the www.ryla.5050.org for more information. These leadership camps are life changing for many.
Committee Reports.
Report on Vegas Night – Nathan Twining reported that it was a great event and they had worked out a lot of the kinks from last year. Thank you for all who worked on this, family, friends and committed sponsors. The event has more room to grow next year and the committee is open to suggestions. A full report of the finances will come later.
Report on Veterans Seminar – Roland reported on the Veterans Employment Seminar. There were a total of 10 veterans there with 2 having really good chances of employment. Overall a successful event.
Report on Student Exchange – Monty reported that they had a successful outbound student orientation. We will be sending 2 students out this year – 1 to Spain and 1 to Japan. Felicity later reported that we are looking for 6 families to host incoming students – they families can be of any shape or size; it is a great opportunity for families to welcome a student into their home and learn more about that student’s culture.
Guests of Rotarians:
Marty Haines brought Gail Ridenour with the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra
Andy Day brought Garrett Jeffery with PeaceHealth
Presentations:
Service Fund Grant was given to Bellingham Threshold Singers which is a group of women whose purpose is to offer comfort with song to individuals who are struggling to live or struggling to die. Donna Inglis thanked the group for the grant and let us know the grant will be used to purchase new IPADs to keep the group better connected to the public.
Program:
Dr. Lee Harmon is a retired Navy Captain and was the owner of an eye clinic before his retirement. He is the current leader of the BlackJack Squadron, a flight group out of Arlington. A self-proclaimed “gear head”, Dr. Lee gave a wonderful presentation on his plan to participate in the 10,000 Mile Trek to End Polio with his friend Bill. The journey is a 10,000 mile trek in a 86 year old car (“Miss Vicky”) in 36 days from Beijing, China to Paris, France. The trek is through some of the harshest country and terrain and the goal is to earn funds toward ending polio and to show that difficult things can be accomplished, even ending polio.
Currently, we only know of 2 cases of polio worldwide, such cases being in Afghanistan. There were 350,000 cases worldwide when Rotary starting its mission to eradicate polio in 1984. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave a huge boost of resources when they joined forces with Rotary in the fight against polio. 2.2 children have been vaccinated with what once was an oral vaccination but is now an injection which ensure safety. Those fighting this fight are proactive as they actively look for polio throughout the world as well as find, immunize and then track the immunized children. To accomplish the full eradication of polio, there must be 3 years of no cases reported. The estimated cost of ending polio is $1.6 billion.
Dr. Lee and Bill are personally fully funding their trek to end polio; however, they are seeking to raise $1,000,000 with all funds raised going straight to Polio Plus. They are currently 6 weeks behind schedule getting Miss Vicky ready but are confident she will be ready to go in time. This is a true trip of endurance as it follows the tracks of 1907 pioneers with long days of driving and camping at night. Miss Vicky has been slightly updated, but a lot of her original equipment remains. Dr. Lee is asking us for our support as well as to get the word out for folks to pledge and help him and Bill reach their $1,000,000 goal. For more information, or to donate, go to www.finishpolio.com
Good luck to Dr. Lee, Bill and Miss Vicky! We will be rooting for you!
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