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RCOB PROJECTS OVERVIEW
The Rotary Club of Bellingham has been supporting community projects since its creation in 1917.          
There are four categories of projects undertaken by the Club and another supported by its Members: 
 1) Community Service Fund projects (financial support) that average around $1,000 each and $12,000-$15,000 each year in total. These projects are brought to the Club's attention by a Member Rotarian and approved by a committee assigned to this task throughout the year, supervised by the Club's President-Elect. Often a gift from this fund is to a smaller organization for some essential but otherwise unaffordable project, service or purchase.
 2) Our Major Projects, of which there usually is only one a year, but can be three or even four in a year (though these are less ambitious than when there is only one). Major Projects in which we were the leaders, or very significant, contributors include the creation of Bellingham's Boulevard Park; the City Swimming Pool; the Whatcom County Soccer Fields; the Bellingham Food Bank; the new Hospice House; the Bellingham Technical College Marine Studies Laboratory; the Pickford Film Center; a major addition to the Lighthouse Mission; remodeling of the Boys & Girls Club Kitchen; Bellingham YWCA and YMCA capital projects; the Bridgid Collins Family Services House renovation; the County Soccer Fields; the Lake Whatcom Rowing Center; Trailheads and parking at local trails; and recently, creation of a $291,000 scholarship endowment fund that supports annual student aid at all the local high schools and colleges mostly through the Whatcom Community Foundation Dollars for Scholars program. The Major Project for the 2014-2015 Rotary Year was The sun House Renovation Project where we raised over $105,000 with matching grants of $100,000 from Whatcom County and $30,000 from the Chuckanut Foundation.  In the past decade, Club contributions for these projects have totaled over $2,000,000!
***The Club's financial gifts in these first two categories are usually for capital improvements by these, and charitable organizations similar to those above. We virtually never make grants for routine operations.***
 3) The third category of Club charity is for hands-on work by Members on projects at various sites around the area.  Frequently spearheaded by our Environmental Committee, efforts have included park and public land cleanups and rehab and similar activities.  Each year, as well, our Members man kettles for the Salvation Army during the December holiday season (always, it seems, exceeding the funds taken in by other organizations); helping out at Community Meals for low-income families; and holding a special Blood Drive in league with the Puget Sound Blood Center.
 4) As a Member of Rotary International, our Club participates in International Projects.  We have bought and delivered wheelchairs, built water wells, lavoriums, and other sanitary facilities, assisted orphanages, installed computers in hospitals, and provided dental care in isolated villages. We have raised the money and often coordinated these efforts with other Rotary Clubs, both in the places where we were doing the work, and with near-and-far-neighboring Clubs to get the projects accomplished efficiently and in the most helpful manner, often with greater funds than our Club alone could provide.
 Of course, as Rotarians, we support the worldwide Rotary International Foundation. For this support by our individual Members, they are named individual Paul Harris Fellows (named after one of RI's founders) when a Member's gifts reach $1,000. Our Club has given over $400,000 to this wonderful RI program; in turn, most recently, RI has given over $1.5 Billion to to stamp out polio worldwide.
 Finally, it should be noted that our individual members include many of the area's most generous philanthropists aside from their contributions as part of the Club. They all embody our Club's motto, Service Above Self.
 
RCOB Major Projects -
100 Years of Giving
 
 
 
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