Whatcom County North Rotary
Northwind
August 23, 2007
MEETING TO ORDER: President Greg called the meeting to order at 12:30 and Tony Cubellis gave the invocation.
VISITING ROTARIANS: Jeff Price and Ron Vekved from Mt. Baker Rotary; Larry Ziels from Bellingham Rotary and Shannon Terrell from Bellingham Bay Rotary.
GUESTS: Marlene Sexton introduced her daughter Audra and friend Jacob, from San Diego.
BIRTHDAYS: Our only birthday this month is Sharon Robinson. Happy Birthday Sharon!
RETURNING ROTARIANS: There were no returning Rotarians as it seems everyone, or at least Doug Thomas, is still off vacationing.
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Jim McKellar announced the "same old story" (his words, not mine) regarding the Metcalf fundraising effort. There are at least 50 more prospects waiting for us to contact, including many new ones from Ferndale. Bill Grace had several announcements: 1) he is circulating a card for Brad Peterson, 2) he has sold two more benches, bringing his fundraising total to $3,000 (You Rock, Bill!!!!), 3) the Roster has been sent to the typesetter, and 4) there is a car show at the Silver Reef Casino on 9/8. Past President Ken Richardson noted that the board would be making a decision on the Garage Sale project at the September board meeting and any input is welcome, so please talk to him or any board member with any thoughts.
HAPPY BUCKS: Randy Carr and Brian Finnegan carried on about fishing and some sort of ill conceived Husky trip to Syracuse. It was a good thing Parson's wasn't here to chime in, as one ugly purple shirt was more than enough. Lex was happy that even though Doug might be off vacationing, he was thoughtful enough to send Lex some business. Gary Snyder announced 43 years of marriage. Woo Hoo!!!! Bill Grace was happy about his bench sales, and also his family (sorry, Bill, missed the details on that one). Ken Richardson was happy for Golfun, in which Tim Carpenter's foursome apparently won an award for being the best of the worst, or was it the worst of the best? Anyway, much fun was had, isn't that the point. Rich Jacobson was also happy about this impending Syracuse football game. Bob Bowman was happy about having his family here, and about having a majority of Democrats at his table, for the first time he can remember. Marlene Sexton was also happy about her family visiting. Jim Bliss had something curmudgeonly to say toward Bob Bowman, possibly accusing him of being a curmudgeon. Paul Cooley was happy about the weather and to see Jeff Price. Apparently they both served on some high-profile jury once and let the Perp go free. Are we sure there are not more Democrats in this club? Phil Bratt was happy about his wife being in Wenatchee for some horse-event. Although I was right beside him I was unable to understand what this event was, exactly, but it had to do with western horse riding, and his wife did quite well in the competition.
FINEMASTER: Scott Wallace stepped in to act as Finemaster since the committee is in total disarray and no one knew who was supposed to be here today. Scott immediately put the Wallace rule into effect and proceeded to attempt to collect $5.00 from everyone present, including our honored guests. I guess we won't see them again too soon, eh, Scott? He then allowed anyone present to fine anyone else that they would like, but other than Phil Bratt and Brian Finnegan going at each other (I was sitting between them, Yikes!) there were no takers.
BANNERS: No Banners.
PROGRAM: Our speaker today was Erica Charbonneau from the United Way. The United Way of Whatcom County has been in existence for fifty years. Their mission is to provide for the most critical needs of children and families. She noted that as the population of our area grows, so does the need for services. The UW supports over 50 programs within 30 individual agencies. She noted that since the "dot com" bubble burst, corporate giving has declined, but is now rebuilding. Still, more of their funding comes from individuals than corporations: 34% comes from Leadership Givers ($1,000 or more), 39% comes from other individuals and 27% comes from corporations. In 2006, Whatcom County United Way surpassed $2 million in gifts, which was a 20% increase over the previous year. Erica said that the reason people feel comfortable giving to the UW is that they know the due diligence has already been done. UW screens all of the programs they support and is very careful to avoid overlap of services. The funded programs fall into four main areas: Children and Youth 23%, Food and Shelter 28%, Physical and Mental Health 19% and Safety and Violence prevention 30%. Contributions of time are needed as well as money. Volunteers are needed to read funding applications during the selection process in the spring. Erica ended by saying that of the 180,800 population in Whatcom County, the United Way has served over 45,000 individuals, over a quarter of the population. In response to questions, Erica noted that their overhead is approximately 14% of total revenue; a figure that she feels is very efficient. They have only three full time staff for over 9 months, growing by 7 during the fall giving season. Sometimes some of those 7 are volunteers.
DRAWING: No one drew the Ace of Spades.
Editor this week: Sharon Robinson