Whatcom County North Rotary
Northwind
November 9, 2006
MEETING TO ORDER: Ken Richardson called the meeting to order at 12:35 and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Tim Carpenter gave the invocation.
VISITING ROTARIANS: Bradley Clure was visiting from Bellingham Bay Rotary; Mark Larson was visiting from Bellingham Rotary and George Tsakumis was visiting from Vancouver Rotary.
GUESTS: None
BIRTHDAYS: Jim LaRose is celebrating a birthday this month. Happy Birthday Jim!
RETURNING ROTARIANS: None
ANNOUNCMENTS:
1. President Ken announced THERE WILL BE NO REGULAR LUNCH MEETING ON THURSDAY NOVEMBER 16th. In lieu of the regular lunch meeting everyone is asked to attend the Whatcom North Rotary Foundation dinner Thursday evening November 16th at the Northwood Hall. Spouses are invited to attend. We do need a head count so please sign-up on the pass around sheet or email david.engels@peoplesbank-wa.com with the number attending. The cost is $25.00 per person, including tax and tip and the dinner will be a buffet. There is also a No-Host bar. District Governor Rod Thomson is scheduled to speak.
2. Dick Donahue announced that a program called "Challenge Day" is being featured today at 4 p.m. on The Oprah Show and again at 9 p.m. on Kong TV 6. If you can watch the program and think it may have some appeal for support from Whatcom County North Rotary please let Sharon Robinson, Mary Kanikeberg or myself know.
3. President Ken announced that the Board has approved a pledge of $1,500 from our club to match the Bellingham Bay Rotary Club's donation to the Honduras Water Filtration Program. Bob Moles heads up the fundraising effort, which has raised $105,000 to date.
HAPPY BUCKS: Winton Smith was happy for the recent wind storm and all the work it created for him. Bill Grace was happy the election is finally over and the campaign ads will be gone and he wanted to correct my statement in last weeks Northwind about the 1939 MG; Bill was happy for the life of a long time friend, Bob Earl, who recently passed away. Bob was a fellow church member and had a beautiful 1939 MGB. Bob Bowman was $5 happy that Nancy Pelosi will be the new Speaker of the House and all democrats should be gracious. Also, Bob is leaving on the 16th for California to celebrate Thanksgiving with his son and Marlene has agreed to take care of his dogs. Lex Ludtke had two vanity bucks for his wife's business and a couple more for having the opportunity to listen to a good speaker (Dan Miller) at this morning's Boy's and Girl's Club Breakfast.
FINEMASTER: Our Finemaster today was Dr. Lehnert. He started off by fining Lex Ludtke $5 for not announcing his happiness about spending last weekend with his daughter at WSU and for their BIG win. Winton Smith was fined $2 for the cheap shot at our recent wind storm. All Navy veterans were asked to stand and tell us what kind of ship the USS Intrepid is. None knew it is an Aircraft Carrier. Roger then asked if any of them knew what had recently happened to it. Someone said something about it being mothballed but the correct answer is that it hit a sandbar. All of the Navy veterans were fined a buck for not keeping up with what's happening in the Navy. Everyone who lives in Bellingham was fined a buck because of their selfishness in not wanting Wal-Mart to expand at their present location. This will benefit Ferndale because Wal-Mart is now looking there and Ferndale would be happy to have them. Phil Bratt was fined a buck because he didn't know how many Oscars Alfred Hitchcock has won (none was the answer). All of the women were asked to stand and then were fined a buck for not being happy. Randy Carr was fined a buck for mouthing off. Then he was fined another buck for not knowing that Vatican City is the smallest country in the world. Jim Bliss was fined a buck for not knowing how many dots were on a pair of dice (42). Tim Carpenter escaped a fine because he knew a spider has eight legs. Rich Jacobson initially escaped a fine because he knew that a Rainbow has seven colors but then he was fined for telling an Election Day joke.
Banners: The banner's today reflect on Veteran's Day and it was correctly guessed by Bill Grace. Congratulations to Bill for guessing correctly.
PROGRAM: Greg Thulin introduced Bradley Clure who in turn introduced our program speaker Sarah O'Brien who runs the Dunga Orphanage Project in Kenya, Africa. In 2003, Sarah traveled to Dunga, a remote village in Kenya, Africa as a volunteer at a school for orphans. The majority of the children in the village had lost their parents to AIDS and most are without food, shelter, clothing, safe drinking water, parental guidance or medical care. The goal of the Dunga Project is to provide the basic human needs for these children empowering them to become the generation that breaks the cycle of poverty and contributes to the future. Sarah is on a "mission of love". The village has a population of 4,000 with 1,600 orphaned children. With a generous donation from John L. Scott Real Estate in Anacortes, Sarah was able to expand her home to welcome in 20 more orphaned children bringing her total family to 30. If you would like to contribute to this worthy cause you can make donations to the Dunga Orphanage Project at any of the Wells Fargo Bank offices. You can also check out their website www.DungaProject.org.
DRAWING: Jim Zervas had the lucky ticket but drew the Queen of Diamonds.
Editor this week: David Engels