This Friday’s Program:
We travel to Arcata High School to check out the new Fine Arts Center – Friday, August 19th – (Visiting Rotarians – click HERE for map!)
RISE Calendar … “Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone“
August 17 -Welcome Dinner at Redwood Park for Yi-Ting “Judy” Chen (our Exchange Student from Taiwan), and Isabela (the Arcata Noon Club’s Exchanger from Brazil). Setup starts at 5:30 pm.
August 19 – Field Trip Meeting at Arcata High School to check out its new Fine Arts Center!
August 27 – Kevin Ebbert Memorial Trail Run in the Arcata Community Forest starts at 9 am. Sign up at any HealthSport location or ONLINE.
September 2 – We will be dark (no Friday meeting) in honor of Labor Day Weekend
September 10 – District 5130 Membership Seminar, at the Eel River Multi-Generational Center in Fortuna – 8:00 to 11:30 am
September 10 – District 5130 Foundation Seminar at the Eel River Multi-Generational Center in Fortuna – 12:30 to 3:00 pm
September 11 -“Out of the Darkness” Suicide Awareness Walk – meet at the Arcata Plaza at 9 am
October 18-26 – Opportunity to travel to Nigeria to help fight polio and attend the West Africa Project Fair! Check your email for details, or contact Howard Tours in Oakland (800-475-2260).
President Susan’s Fitness Challenge
When Your Editor was unable to attend the August 5th meeting, the Sunrise Spirit missed hearing about President Susan’s “Rotary Fitness Challenge”. The goal is to rack up as many as 14 points each week, and here’s how you do it:
- Monday – 2 points for a two-mile walk or run
- Tuesday – 2 points for the following – a 30-second plank, 10 “good mornings”, 5 front lunges and 5 back lunges for each leg (20 total lunges, unless you have a non-standard number of legs)
- Wednesday – 2 points for pushups – 40 seconds on / 20 seconds off
- Thursday – 2 point for the following – 2 minutes of jumping jacks or skipping rope, 20 reps ceiling floor reaches, jog or march in place for 2 minutes
- Friday – 2 points for participating in the workout at our Friday meeting
- Saturday – 4 points for participating in fun activities (emphasis on the “active”) for at least 30 minutes each
Special Daze
Terri Clark’s birthday was Thursday, August 4th, and part of the fun included spending time at Steelhead Lodge. In the tradition of Janice Newman, it will be a birth-month celebration … Alyson Hunter started the celebration of her birth-month on Monday, August 8th. Actually, she started even earlier, spending time in the LA area … Wednesday, August 10th was Howard Stauffer’s 75th birthday. “The big, important part of the day,” he said, “was that both of my kids remembered and gave me a phone call.” … Tomas Chavez’s birthday was the day before last Friday’s meeting (August 11th). He and his wife Heidi had dinner in Eureka, at a restaurant with a great view of the folks dancing at that evening’s Summer Concert on the Boardwalk …
Welcome, Emanuel!
We welcomed the newest Sunriser last Friday, although he is certainly not new to our Club. Emanuel Rose, whose classification is Marketing and Advertising, is also President Susan’s partner! Emanuel is the owner of Strategic eMarketing, and he has also been a manager and coordinator for several Humboldt County businesses, including HealthSPORT, Tomas Jewelry, and the C. Crane Company. He is a member of the local Masonic Lodge, and he serves on the board of Camp Jack Hazard, a YMCA summer camp in the Sierras. Welcome, Emanuel! It’s great to have you as an official member of the Club!
New Paul Harris Recognitions
Governor Wulff reminded us that a Paul Harris Fellow is someone who has donated $1,000 or more to the Rotary Foundation, and he welcomed our most recent Paul Harris Fellow – Bob Moore. We also honored some Sunrisers who have been around that track more than once. Ceva Courtemanche became a “Plus One”, while Lisa Hemphill earned her third recognition, and Lori Breyer added a third PHF to her list of Rotary honors. Thank you all for your generosity in supporting one of the finest, most efficient foundations available!
A Visit From District Governor Wulff
The Reinholds are definitely a Rotary family. Wulff Sr. has been a Rotarian for over ten years. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Rohnert Park-Cotati, and his Club selected him as its Rotarian of the Year for 2008-2009, and he is serving as the Governor for our District 5130 this year. His wife Paula, also a Rohnert Park-Cotati Rotarian, is also serving our District as Lieutenant Governor this year, and Wulff Jr. is this year’s President of the Southern Sonoma County Rotaract Club! DG Wulff has also served our District as Assistant Governor, Abuse Prevention Coordinator, and he serves as a faculty member for the District’s Institute for Leadership. Wulff recently retired from a career in public administration, which included work in public safety, project management, and administration.
Wulff emphasized that he was visiting us as “another Rotarian, just like you”. He said that as District Governor, “I work for you”. He sees his role and the role of the District as supporting the Clubs and their members in their efforts to provide service to their communities, in the region, and throughout the world. “In our District,” he said, “that support primarily is in the form of training.” This encompasses training for Rotarians and Club leadership. The District also helps its Clubs administer grants and it provides other administrative functions. Wulff said that the three goals of his visit to us were “to educate, to motivate, and to inspire … so let’s see how I do”.
Wulff described our District, noting that Del Norte County has 2 Rotary Clubs, Humboldt County has 10 Rotary Clubs and 2 Rotaract Clubs. Lake County boasts 4 Rotary Clubs, Mendocino has 6 Rotary Clubs, Napa has 5 Rotary Clubs, and Sonoma County has 19 Rotary Clubs and 3 Rotaract Clubs. There are about 2,600 Rotarians served by the District. Wulff praised the Rotaract Clubs in the District, noting that Humboldt County has two very active Clubs that do a lot for our community.
Wulff pointed out that when we join Rotary, we join a Club, not Rotary International. Each Club is a member of Rotary International. However as District Governor, Wulff is an officer of Rotary International; he is the organization’s representative to the Clubs and the Rotarians in our District. An important part of that assignment is to bring information to us from the larger organization.
One of the messages he brought was about Rotary’s priorities for its Clubs. One of the biggest is the need for growth. Rotary’s membership has remained static at the international level, and has declined in North America over the past several years. Other service and fraternal organizations are also experiencing similar trends. Rotary International has been studying the reasons for this decline, and they discovered that a major factor is that many younger adults do not see value in joining organizations. The studies have found, however, that this demographic does value community service. These emerging professionals may be starting businesses and families, and Rotary may be seen as one more thing to take up their time. (Wulff noted that many older people who are returning to work and/or raising a second family – perhaps their grandchildren – are experiencing similar pressures.)
Wulff reminded us that our Club is dedicated to serving its community, “which means that you’re way ahead of the curve” in what we can offer these two groups of potential Rotarians. He encouraged us to keep it up, and to look for additional service oppportunities. He reminded us that we are all part of the RCAS “Membership Commitee”. We should all be watching for members of our community who would make great Sunrisers. Wulff suggested that, rather than invite a potential member to a breakfast meeting, we invite her or him to a service project. Then you ask them, “Would you like to do more of that? And by the way, we also meet on Friday mornings, and you’re welcome to join us.” The millennials tend to value the service piece of Rotary more than the social aspects.
Wulff also emphasized the importance of engaging both prospective members and existing ones. What we do as Rotarians must be relevant to each of us. “Find something for them to do,” he told us. And we must provide sufficient value for potential members (and existing members as well) to persuade them to spend their time with their fellow Rotarians. Wulff said that many potential Rotarians will find value in the ability to network with successful business professionals in their community. He suggested that we develop a program that allows emerging professionals to tap into the business resources – especially our knowledge – that our Club possesses. This will be another opportunity to grow our Club.
He recommended that we also examine and even question our traditions. We should consider altering or even scrapping traditions that are not providing relevance and value to us and to potential new members. Each Club should undergo this process in its own way – there are no guidelines or mandates to make this happen.
Wulff then discussed the branding of Rotary. As Rotarians, we recognize the Rotary Wheel at a glance. We understand that someone wearing the traditional lapel pin is (usually) a Rotarian. But studies by Rotary International have shown that this symbol is not widely recognized outside our organization. So for the past three years, an effort has been taking place to allow outsiders to easily understand when Rotary is involved with a project, or if someone they meet is a Rotarian. The new masterbrand contains the word “Rotary” followed by the Rotary Wheel. (For an example, see the logo at the top of each Sunrise Spirit.) The traditional “legacy” pin is fine for internal use, but out in the world, you are encouraged to wear one of the new pins. The logos for Rotaract and Interact Clubs sport similar looks, and the word “Rotary” is prominent in each.
Wulff reminded us that the Rotary Foundation will turn 100 years old in 2017, and we are celebrating for the entire Rotary Year. “100 Years of Doing Good in the World” describes the Foundation perfectly. It was begun in 1917 when RI President Arch Klumph suggested that the funds left over from that year’s Rotary International Convention be used to start a charitable foundation, based on the ideals of Rotary. What started with a donation of $26.50 has grown over the past century to $3 billion. And organizations that monitor the effectiveness of charities consistently rate the Rotary Foundation as one of the most efficient in existence. Current RI President, John Germ, is asking that we seek to increase the Foundation’s coffers by $300 million this year. He is asking us to dig deeper, but Wulff also suggested that we leverage that by seeking OPM – or “Other People’s Money”. This means that we need to communicate what is done with that money – supporting the good work that Rotarians do in our communities and around the world.
The Rotary Foundation will be celebrated at the Rotary International Convention in Atlanta, Georgia next June, which Wulff encourages us to attend. We will also celebrate the Foundation and all the great work we will have done locally at our District Conference. Wulff’s party will take place at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort in Incline Village from May 12-14, 2017.
Wulff then told us about one of his most important goals for the year – he would like each Club in the District to develop a Peace Project. He noted that he was a peace officer for much of his 35-year career, and he said, “I saw a lot of tragedy, I saw a lot of conflict, I saw a lot of suffering.” He reminded us that Rotary’s first area of focus is peace and conflict resolution. He would like to see the Clubs develop as many monuments of some sort in our communities that express and encourage peace. He wants each Club to form a Peace Committee, the chair of which would become a member of the District Peace Committee (which is currently the largest Committee in the District).
In closing, Wulff encouraged us to promote Rotary by sharing our stories, by engaging in Rotary, by serving others, and by having fun!