Prior to the official start, John Dunne reviewed a book for us. The title is The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. This was made into a Netflix movie. We trust that John didn’t take the easy way out and just watch the movie. A Young adult novel, the book gives a brisk and clear depiction of modern-day Afro-American life, through the eyes of a 16-year-old black female. We will not give out any spoilers here. Instead we’ll rely on John’s promise that it is “an easy read and well worth the time”.
Opening Welcome
With a mighty swing of something Sandee rang the bell. President-elect PeterT. greeted all and started off on his initial sojourn into the deep recesses of leading a zoom meeting.
Dick Tucker gave us interesting figures dealing with numbers and distance as a game in Minister of Fun. It was disappointing to find out that the adult population of the U.S. holding hands will only wrap around the world two more times than the number of aspirin sold in one year will if laid side by side.
Sandee reported that last week between happy bucks and the tributes to Ruth Bader Ginsburg we raised over $800 for the club. Thank you so much for your support!!
Sandee is also reporting that our honorary member Ken Jernberg has lost his wife Joyce, September 19th at the age of 93. Our thoughts are with Ken!!!
Club Announcements
Peter Theisen, Chairman of the Service Fund Committee, announced that the committee is forming and looking for grant requests up to $1,000 each. We have $7,000 budgeted for this year. Click Here for Guidelines
Steve Hettick reported that the Football Pool committee is looking to kick-off October 17/18. A copy of the grid has gone to all of last year's participants and he will keep you posted if there are any available squares. The cost is $20 per square and participants are encouraged to mail their payment to Sandee at 2200 Vining St., Bellingham 98229; pay by Venmo and lastly pay by PayPal. If you pay by PayPal we ask that you add $1.00 to cover processing fees. Here is a copy of the grid if you can't remember if you are on it. Click Here Those on the grid will be contacted, if you are not on the grid and are interested in getting on a wait list contact Sandee.
URGENT: We are looking for Website/Tattler sponsors for the next Rotary year starting July 1st. It is a great opportunity to advertise your business and support Rotary. $350.00 for the year. Please check out the current sponsors on our website by going to www.bellinghamrotary.org on the home page. If you "click" on a sponsor it will take you to their website. It also shows up in the Tattler. Contact Sandee if interested. We have 2 spots remaining.
All Rotary meetings will be held Virtually on Zoom until at least January 1, 2021 due to Covid-19 social distancing. You can look for an email from Sandee each week prior to the Monday 12:30 meeting(you can start logging in at 12:15 for short socializing) with the link for that privacy protected meeting. If you have not 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 do not have 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.
RCOB has now set up a Venmo account for ease in payment of 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 Goggle "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 directly 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
Here is a tutorial on how to login for the first time. (Click here) In order to login you need to know your user name and password in your Clubrunner account. The user name is Yourfirstname.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 my 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:
Paul Grey introduced speaker Cinthia Santos from Honduras, Marty Pease and Peter Martin representing IPA and, respectively, LaConner and Anacortes Rotaries.
Shauna Naf introduced her husband, Ward Naf He will be inducted into the club next Monday!
Former member Dale Rings--great to see him!!
Doug Cole introduced Vinson Latimore, President of Gibraltar Business Group
Presentations:
Two members were each awarded a Paul Harris + 2. Lynda Hinton and John Moffat will receive their pins from Sandee at some undisclosed location and time. (kinda like spywork.)
Covid Update: President Gary said that from what he can glean from the State, we are treading water. There are no new hospital cases, but the county is still short on all but one of the guidelines to move to Stage 3. He is on vacation, and noted that there is a distinct difference between the counties east and west of the Cascades. The east side of WA and OR has significantly less use of masks, and correspondingly more cases…
Program:
Paul Grey then started off the program by acknowledging Peter Martin and Marty Pease, both high muckity-mucks in the IPA (International Project Alliance), a collection of PNW Rotary clubs who have banded together to accomplish international projects. The speaker of the day was Cinthia Damaris Santos Ochoa, the IPA manager in Copán Honduras.
She had a great PowerPoint presentation explaining how the IPA down there uses Rapid Development (RD) to identify, plan and complete projects in small villages near Copán. The theme of RD is to attack the drivers of poverty using the FXB model.
Cinthia identified six drivers and gave examples of what is being done to reduce poverty in the five villages.
Capital A major problem is the lack of access to capital. Addressing this problem IPA is using village savings/loan associations. These operate similarly to credit unions here, if I understood correctly. They teach villagers how to use capital to increase their businesses. Loans are typically in the $300 range, but can go up to $800.
Income Villagersare encouraged to start businesses like cabbage farming, egg production etc. They are given technical assistance in creating and sustaining these enterprises.
Health Basic health care is nearly non-existent in the area. Two volunteers per village are trained in emergency / primary care. This reduces the dependence on clinics or hospitals in the more developed areas, which are often very difficult to get to.
Food / Agriculture Villagers are trained in methods to increase crop yields – like irrigation, soil conservation etc. They are also given fertilizer / agriculture loans.
Education Here IPA in the PNW plays a big part. There are “Adopt a School” and “Adopt a Dream” programs that assist students and schools to obtain an education above a sixth-grade level (all the way to university). In addition, there is a health fund, a mobile library that circulates to the villages and sixth-grade supplying school furniture and funding school improvements.
Infrastructure the IPA assists villages and schools with gaining better access to power, water, sewer.
During the question period following, Peter Martin said that IPA has identified six new villages to take on in RD3. There were twenty villages that applied, and through the selection process, IPA arrived at six, with one additional village (in reserve). (Last week IPA was awarded a Rotary International Global Grant of nearly $100,000 to support this work in RD3 communities!!! Editor's Note: IPA has been very successful leveraging our local investments to get additional funds from RI, which appreciates IPA's comprehensive, data-driven approach to community-based projects and the success rate of those projects.)
Members of the IPA team visit Copán quarterly, to ensure that the projects are running as planned and schools are fulfilling their promises as outlined in their applications.
Felicity noted that our region's YES Program sends local students annually to do service projects to the Copán region. US students have a good learning experience there.
Program Recordings: We are now recording the speaker portion of our meetings:
Missed a meeting? Remember a great speaker but want to revisit the content? You can catch the recording on our Rotary Club of Bellingham YouTube page:
