Northwind June 10, 2010

MEETING TO ORDER: President Chuck called the meeting to order at: 12:30. Tim Carpenter read the invocation for Sharon, who had lost her voice.

GUESTS: Marlene's guest was Jonathan Hutchins, although he had to buy his own lunch, Scott Wallace's guest was Melanie Mohammed of U.S.Bank.

VISITING ROTARIANS: Jon Moles from Bellingham Club, Bob Moles from Bellingham Bay, George Tsakumis visited from Vancouver, and Jeanne McGee from Melaque Mexico, Jerry Landcastle had his daughter Maureen visiting.

BIRTHDAYS: Lots of them! Jeanne: June 6, Leah: June 8, Mel: June 11, Jake: June 13, Gary Thomsic: June 14.

RETURNING ROTARIANS: Chuck returned from a trip that apparently crossed the continent multiple times, and included stops in Boston, Connecticut, Montana, San Francisco and many places in between.

FOUNDATION THOUGHT: Jim Bliss presented the Foundation Thought for the day, which was about the Rotary Foundation Alumni Coordinating Committee. Alumni from Group Study Exchanges, Ambassadorial Scholars, and Rotary Peace Fellowships are encouraged to become Rotarians. We can contribute to this effort via the EREY program. (Every Rotarian Every Year).

ANNOUNCEMENTS: (1) Induction Dinner will be held on Friday June 25th. There will be no meeting on Thursday, June 24th. Everyone is expected to attend. Please RSVP to Ken Richardson ASAP.

HAPPY BUCKS: Chuck was $100 happy for his trip the wedding, and all the family members he spent time with, including 7 out of 8 brothers. Mel gave 94 cents for the 94 years he's been around. Max was happy for a trip scuba diving in the Grand Canyon. Bill was happy about the addition on his house, Jerry was happy for his granddaughter's full scholarship to Syracuse. Go Orangepeople! Brian offered to match Mel's donation, which led Mel to double down. Sharon was happy that Tim stepped in to help with the invocation, Marlene was happy to be off the island, and sitting at Ken's table (there was a lot of sucking up going on at that table, to no avail). Tim paid to ask the question, "Who's Ken and why should I care?"

Rome was happy for his granddaughter winning a construction (??) competition. Tony clarified that his previous happy bucks were for his wife agreeing to marry him 43 years ago, not her age. Larry was happy that they took an umbrella to the Mt. Baker High School graduation event.

FINEMASTER: Ken took the podium to announce that he was not in fact this weeks' fine master, but he had so much good ammunition that Max agreed to share the spotlight. Ken gave Pete credit for the hard time he's had regarding the ferry, no fine. Bill and Marlene were fined for ferry whining. Mel was fined for referring to God as, "The Big Boy Upstairs." Everyone who RSVP'ed "No" to the Induction Dinner was fined $1. Jack was fined for USC's latest humiliation, and the fact that opening your beer with your wedding ring is referred to as "doing a Curnow." Paul and Tyler - blue shirts, white shirts, fined no matter who's wearing what.

For some reason, Stan was in trouble regarding Juneteenth, which commemorates the Emancipation Proclamation. George was fined because of the recent ruling that Canadians can avoid paying some sales tax in Whatcom County, the three tables with men only were fined, Jon Moles for not being at the striped shirt table, Brian for a Hawaiian shirt, and any Oklahoma and Texas fans.. I don't even know what sport we're talking about at this point! Maureen avoided being fined by knowing that the World Cup tournament is starting in South Africa today.

BANNERS: The banners were clearly regarding Hawaii, but only a few were able to guess that it was King Kamehameha Day.

PROGRAM: The program was presented by Bob Moles and Mike Hammes, of the Bellingham Bay Club. Bob first spoke about the importance of International Service in Rotary, and especially about projects involving education because education is the only way out of the cycle of poverty in many developing countries. Their club is working on a project in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Copan Ruinas, in Honduras, to build a new restroom facility for the elementary school there. The school serves over 850 children, who go to school in shifts, because the school isn't big enough for all of them.

Through previous projects including those with Pure Water for the World, and the Adelante Foundation several of the Bay Club members have formed relationships and friendships with the member of the Copan club, so they feel comfortable knowing that the money is being put to good use. Bob and Mike invited our club to participate in this project by helping with fundraising, contributing club funds, and making the trip to Honduras to work on the project. Sunday October 3rd there will be a fundraising brunch at the Bellewether Hotel, called Bucks for Banos. The project is anticipated to cost $38,000. A good part of this has already been raised (about $15,000). Bellingham Bay hopes to contribute $12 - $14,000. They hope to raise the remainder at the fundraiser, and/or with contributions from partner clubs.

DRAWING: No winner.