Northwind February 16, 2012
Whatcom County North Rotary
Northwind
February 16, 2012
President Gary Led Our Pledge of Allegiance.
Invocation by Rick Staeb
Four-Way Test Led by Winton Smith
Returning Rotarians: Rocky Richardson is returning from foot surgery.
VISITING ROTARIANS: Jeanne McGee – Mexico, and Bill Curly – Carson City, Nevada
GUESTS: Angela Molina from Whidbey Island Bank
BIRTHDAYS & ANNIVERSARIES: Greg Iwasaki on February 19th. Happy Birthday Greg!!
ANNOUNCMENTS: 1. Marlene and Julie displayed some jewelry that they are auctioning off. So for those who missed Valentine’s Day or are in need of some spousal/significant other repentance, this jewelry will be available again at the February 23 meeting for submitting your auction bid. 2. Bill Grace is updating the roster. If you have any changes please contact Bill. 3. Bill is also auctioning off a beautiful handmade bench the proceeds of which will go to Whatcom in Bloom. 4. Bill announced that his car club will have vehicles to admire at Boulevard Park over the Ski to Sea Weekend, and this might be the last such event for the club. So you’re invited to put this on your calendar to go take a look. 5. President Gary announced that March 24th is the club participation date for an NSEA project. The trash pickup day previously scheduled for March 24th will be rescheduled as this NSEA date has been calendared for quite some time. 6. On April 28th we’ll have a club opportunity to help paint at the Blaine Boys & Girls Club. More details to come. 7. There will be a board meeting on February 21 at 4 p.m. 8. From March 1 on, our Rotary District will match member contributions dollar for dollar. 8. The Rotary Success Seminar will be held on March 17th in Mt. Vernon. More information will be forthcoming about this event. It is apparently a very good seminar for board members. 9. If you have session speakers for the Career Fair, please get them to Dale as soon as possible.
HAPPY BUCKS: Brian gave $10, $5 of which was that he was sad that he needed to leave the meeting early, and $5 for Kaylee being able to attend a ski school at Whistler and for Jody’s return. Winton was $2 happy when he was walking his dog and saw some Pussy Willows starting to bloom, and for a new Seattle sports stadium that may be in the works. Tim V was mostly sad for Dan Parson’s wife’s Dachshund that kept nipping at him when he delivered wine to their house, and sad that his wife, Patty, was sick. Rollo was happy for the wine festival. Norm was $2 happy to be able to encourage each of us to make a Rotary contribution every year. Chuck Tull as $2 happy just cuz. Jake was $20 happy for a long winded story about encountering some health difficulties while skiing that all turned out for the best. But his story included an episode about spending some time in the hospital and he didn’t have any glasses with which to read. After several attempts at trying to persuade hospital staff to run an errand for him to buy some “cheater” glasses, he ultimately had to resort to making a bride to a female staff, something to the effect of “hey sweetie, do you want to make a quick $30” to get him some glasses. I don’t believe Jake ever got the cheaters. Bill Grace was glad that Ken put in some happy bucks last week for him. Ken was $1 happy that Bill was back. Dale was happy to see Angela Molina in attendance again today. Pete, Maureen and Alena were all happy to keep the string of giving going. Jeanne relayed to us that her sister had been in a car wreck, and was okay. Mel was glad to be sitting at another table “circulating.” Rick was glad for Mel circulating. Max, Greg I, Rocky and Marlene were all happy to keep the string of giving going. Sharon was very happy to be closing on her house purchase. Way to go Sharon in improving the national stats in this area. Nancy was glad to be back. Julie was glad to have Nancy back and for helping to join in sitting at the table that hadn’t been populated for awhile. Lori was happy to see Nancy and Rocky. Jim Blaney was happy that his daughters were coming to visit. President Gary announced that Dale will be chairing this year’s Career Fair. Way to go Dale!!! Bill Grace was happy again but didn’t catch is reason. Big haul today for Happy Bucks. Good spirit of giving and participation was in the room today.
Banners: Hearts & Flowers – Tuesday was Valentine’s Day. Thanks Stan.
FINEMASTER was Tim “show ‘em no mercy” Villhauer: Stan was tagged for not being happy about being over his recent medical procedure. All ladies were fined since none was at the rowdy table. $1 for everyone who has been sick during the last week. And $2 for those who weren’t. Tim called Nancy T who didn’t call him back. Nancy paid a fine for this and also answered the question he left her on the phone. President Gary was not fined but singled out for doing a fine job as President. Chuck T was fined for something about his brothers buying or not buying wine. Norm was tagged for booing the finemaster as he was approaching the podium. Dale was congratulated by Tim for taking on being the chair of the Career Fair. Lori was fined $2 for Tim having to deliver her wine twice. A $5 IOU was tossed into the box for Ray George for something. Max was fined for Tim seeing him at a BTC Friday lunch recently. Jim Blaney was fined for something having to do with Hungarian squirrels. Very confusing. Brian F was fined for having problems reading directions. Tim fined Mel for sitting at a new table and messing with Tim’s head. Greg Iwasaki threw in a thoughtful fine. Maureen paid $1 just for being so doggone nice that it’s hard to fine her. Ken was fined for the opposite for being so easy to fine. Rocky was fined for missing out on the last few weeks. Sharon was fined as she didn’t come into her office Thursday morning and Tim needed to ask her a question. Jim Sands was tagged with a $4 IOU for the club having great lunch speakers that others brought in. Jake was fined for giving such a great program while giving his happy bucks. Winton was fined for 2 trucks that almost smashed into him. Didn’t catch all the background on this one.
PROGRAM: Polio Plus Program – Today’s program was an update of where Rotary International is with respect to its participation in and the overall progress of the Polio Plus Program. Rotary committed to this program back in 1988 along with the World Health Organization to eradicate polio. To date some $1.2B has been used for this purpose. We watched an update video of Penny Gates of KIRO 7’s Evening Program give a keynote speech to Rotary. All but 1% of the world’s polio cases have been eradicated. There is a new commitment to keep pushing for 100% eradication. It will take as much money to wipe out the final 1% and it did to eliminate the first 99% of cases. Penny’s plea as well as that of others to keep going is this: “To whom much is given, much is expected.” Remaining cases exist in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. Her plea was for Rotary to continue its participation in this fight as keep a promise to the children of the world to eradicate polio.
Editor this week: Max Legg