May 4th Meeting Notes

We were pleased to welcome guest and speaker Carrie Monforte who is the Program Supervisor at the South Whidbey Parks and Recreation Department. As always we were glad to see guest Brad Shultz who is part of our Rotary family.

The happy thoughts were varied and amusing as always. Jane was thankful for another successful District Conference this past weekend. Traci was glad that five Rotarians showed up at her place to learn how to deliver Mother’s Day flowers. Alex survived a hair raising effort to shut down a hacking of the websites that he manages while being a baby daddy. Both Doug and Gordy were celebrating temporary bachelorhood while there spouses are out of town.  It sounds like there might be lots of junk food and midday beer involved.

Melissa Cates was officially honored and welcomed as our newest Club member.  Melissa is a familiar face and has been actively engaged in Club activities and meetings for some time and everyone was pleased to finally have her join us as a full member.

Jane presented a World Peace and Understanding pin of recognition to Clyde for all the work that he does with youth in our community.   Doug also received a pin and recognition for his overall participation and willingness to take on challenging roles within the Club. Both individuals are engaged in the work of Rotary.

Ed was the winner of the quarterly drawing which demonstrates that he wears his Rotary pins often.  As his reward, the Club will donate $50.00 on behalf of Ed to the Foundation. The money will be applied towards his Rotary International donations and a future Paul Harris.

Carrie Monforte did an excellent presentation about the activities and the programs that the South Whidbey Parks and Recreation Department provides in our community. Two of their larger activities include the annual 5K Chum Run and the Whidbey Island Triathlon. They also have sports programs that provide opportunities for everyone including adult softball, summer tennis, aquatics, youth basketball. They have an extensive summer youth camp program that includes options such as flag football, British soccer, basketball, learning to row, pro baseball, earth skills, sailing and the ever popular rocket camp. They hold special events including the well-attended annual Daddy and Daughter Ball and Concerts in the Park.  One of the important roles of the South Whidbey Parks and Recreation Department is to oversee the Healthy Island Youth Initiative.  This program is sponsored by various entities and is geared towards helping provide sports opportunities to the underserved youth on Whidbey Island.