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It's East Bremerton Rotary's golf season, the number one time of year for some fellowship on and off the course. Check your calendar now to join either or both of these upcoming events.

First up is the annual Mini-golf Tournament, to be held on Friday, Aug. 17. We'll get started at 5:30 p.m. at the course next to the driving range on Waaga Way. No need to sign up early, just show up and compete for the green jacket shown above by 2015 champ Jim Stephens. See Dan DeMers if you need more info.

Then, we'll tee off for the annual EBR Golf Fellowship, which returns this year on Sunday, Sept. 9 at Rolling Hills. Tee times start at 11:46 a.m., and we'll gather at McCloud's for dinner (non-golfers are welcome to the dinner, cost is $16). Cost for golf is $60 w/o cart for golfers under age 60, and $50 for those 60 and over. There's a sign-up sheet going around, and Doug Fairbanks will make foursome pairings unless you have a special request for partners. Checks and cash should be given to Doug or Tom Brobst before Sept. 9 so we can plan for correct numbers and pay vendors. Contact Doug, Tom or Guy Stitt to request a tee time, ask questions or to donate prizes.

Summer projects...

It's August, it's hot ... but it's time to volunteer with East Bremerton Rotary in several ways! We've got a list of projects coming up, so look for something that grabs your interest as we find ways to serve our community.

Bachmann Park clean up: Lew Bruser is heading up an initiative to clean up the beach gazebo that bears our club's name, which we renovated several years ago. Lew's looking for some ladders, tarps and folks who would enjoy doing some scraping and painting on a Saturday morning. No date has been set yet, contact Lew if you'd like to help.

School supply drive: Betty Skinner is looking for donations of school supplies that our club will give to the YWCA for families who need help getting their children ready for school. There will be a sign-up sheet at the meeting, but you can also just bring a donation of a backpack (kindergarten to high school, boys and girls), 2-inch or 3-inch ring binders, highlighters, black pens, pencil pouches, crayons, markers, colored pencils, compass, protractors, scissors, erasers and pencil sharpeners, mechanical pencils, calculators (TI 84 for teenagers), thumb drives or just a cash contribution to help buy needed items.

Boys & Girls Club summer lunches: Next week we'll help serve lunches to kids at the B&G Club Teen Center's summer program. Each day we meet at 11:30 at the site to help distribute lunches and hang out with the kids. A sign-up sheet will be at Wednesday's meeting. Contact Sue Shipley with questions.

Illahee Preserve work party: Our next work day with cadets from the Washington Youth Academy is Friday, August 17. If you'd like to help or drop off a wheelbarrow for us to use, be at the Preserve's Almira parking lot by 8 a.m. We usually work until about 3 p.m. Contact Vic Ulsh or Jon Buesch with questions.

Roadside cleanup revival: Our "Gag 'n Bag" project has fallen by the wayside, but Betty Skinner will revive the relationship with state DOT if we have enough interest from club members. The commitment is to a few cleanups per year, generally held for 2-3 hours on a Saturday morning along Waaga Way / Highway 303 near the Brownsville Highway intersection. There will be a sign-up sheet at Wednesday's meeting or let Betty know you'd be interested in helping.

See something you like? Join in and help make our club known for its commitment to service above self!

This week in EBR history: Sam Anderson

"This week in East Bremerton Rotary history" is a new series for the newsletter, compiled and written by club historian Lew Bruser. Each week or so Lew is going to share a story from EBR's past to keep us familiar with the people and events that are part of our history. This week's submission is a tribute written by Denny Smith in 1983, after the passing of club member Sam Anderson, EBR's inaugural Rotarian of the Year.

Sam Anderson was a charter member of the Rotary Club of East Bremerton when it was formed in1976. For the past eight years his fellow Rotarians have enjoyed his friendship and benefited from his wisdom. Although about twice the average age of fellow club members, Sam’s young-at-heart mind and keen sense of humor enabled him to blend right into the club. The Rotary Club of East Bremerton in its infancy and growing years relied on Sam’s experience, know-how, and maturity as we developed into a real service club in every sense of the word. A group of young fellows soon learned from Sam that, in order to accomplish our goals, we not only needed to work hard but we also needed to work smart, and Sam always seemed to know how to work smart and shared his wisdom with us.

Sam wasn’t one to sit on the sidelines and be content to just watch the action. Sam was always there when it came to club activities. When it came time to name our first ‘Rotarian of the Year’, Sam was our club’s first recipient. Sam believed in leading by example. He led the pack of Rotary Foundation Walk-a-Thon participants on a four-mile hike before Thanksgiving to help raise money for international Rotary projects. Sam was always there. He enjoyed the district meetings of Rotary and the opportunities for fellowship and a round of golf with his Rotarian friends. He was faithful in attending the annual Christmas party that the club put on for senior citizen residents. He enjoyed bringing some ‘Holiday Cheer’ too those folks. Sam was a credit to Rotary.

To perpetuate Sam’s memory at the Rotary Club of East Bremerton, the annual ‘Rotarian of the Year Award’ will henceforth be known as ‘The Sam Anderson Memorial Award for the Rotarian of the Year’. Further, all members of the club, through memorial contributions, have made Sam a Rotary Foundation Paul Harris Fellow. Through the years Sam helped generate thousands of dollars for world service through the Foundation, and though he didn’t have time on this earth to reach the Paul Harris plateau, his fellow Rotarian friends honor Sam and have accomplished this for him.

Sam Anderson’s legacy to his fellow Rotarian’s will be different in our own individual hearts and minds, but to all he will be remembered as a Rotarian’s Rotarian.

A very special 'sayonara'

"Trying new things is the only way to improve myself," Maori Inagawa told our breakfast meeting last week on her last day in the U.S. as a Rotary exchange student. But she promised to return, because she loved learning English, seeing new places and experiencing friendship from our club. Her year began slowly, she said, but by this summer she was fully immersed in American culture and got to visit California (with her mother) and New York City (with a fellow Japanese exchange student). "These things will help me with my future," she told us, very grateful to have spent a year in Bremerton.

Maori also left us with gifts as well, distributing special Japanese Rotary pins and her homemade vegetarian sushi. How many of you tried it?

We also had a first last week -- Ken Hegvedt's first official meeting as club president! And the evidence below shows he was even smiling about it. Good start to the year for Ken, and his board's first meeting will be this Thursday, 5:30 p.m. at Ambrosia.

Scenes from the 2018 Installation Dinner

It was another night for the ages at McCloud's last Tuesday as we said thanks to President David and his board members and welcomed President Ken and the 2018-19 board. Donna Evans was named the Rotarian of the Year, Kitsap Sun reporter Josh Farley was caught by surprise as our Citizen of the Year and we saluted Sue Shipley for her three-year term as Assistant District Governor. The theme was M*A*S*H* and nearly the entire room was decked out, led by the duo of Jay and Barb Lovato channeling Hawkeye and Hot Lips Hoolihan (above with Bill Benson). A wonderful time was had by all, thanks to everyone who could attend.

Encouraged by RYLA

There wasn't a Rotarian in the room who wasn't impressed by last week's speakers, MacKenzie Puckette (left) and Dhjustine Cherrey. The juniors at Olympic High participated in this spring's Rotary Youth Leadership Awards weekend at Pacific Lutheran University, sponsored by our club and coordinated by Howard Julien. The two girls shared about their experience and how much it meant to them, and even expressed their interest in starting an Interact club at Olympic so they can find ways to get other students working in the community during their senior year. That would be in addition to their leadership positions in student government and sports, showing that these two already are great ambassadors for their school. Read below about Happy Bucks to see what kind of reaction their presentation drew.

This week we'll host 23rd District Rep. Drew Hansen, who's well beyond his school years but has focused on many issues in education during his years in Olympia. Drew is running unopposed this fall for his seat to represent part of East Bremerton, Silverdale, North Kitsap and Bainbridge Island.

Sweethearts and Valentines

The 2018 Sweetheart Auction is in the books, and a big thanks goes to everyone involved in setting up, donating, working through the event or cleaning up afterward. It was a team effort and we put on another wonderful event with Kitsap Cancer Services. It was a full house at the country club. Special thanks to Donna Evans and John Armstrong for their leadership. We'll announce the total amount raised when all the bills are tallied up.

More photos can be seen on our Facebook page, and if you post your own tag the club and we'll share them.

And don't forget that you can have another Rotary "sweetheart" date — wake your Valentine up early for tomorrow's club breakfast, it's February 14!

Christmas party fun

More than 80 Rotarians and spouses attend our annual Christmas party on Sunday, Dec. 17, held again at Gold Mountain Golf Club. Comedian Brad Upton was a hit and the dessert dash raised approximately $1,500 that will go to a good cause. Thanks to John and Sharon Armstrong, Gena Wales, Cris Larson, Eric Roberts, Ashley Armstrong and the others who played a role in putting on the event.

I Am a Rotarian --Five More Reasons Why

Posted on Dec 09, 2013

Past District Governor Ken Bose listed 17 reasons why he is a Rotarian. Here are few of them. More will be shared in future bulletins.