This Friday’s Program:
Please join us this Friday, December 16th, as the Arcata High School Madrigal Choir regales us with music of the season during their annual holiday visit!
RISE Calendar … “Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone“
January 21 – Adopt-A-Highway cleanup. Meet at the Coastal Nature Center at 9:30 am.
February 18 – Charter Night at Baywood! Our annual RCAS birthday party!!
March 11 – The RCAS Spring Fundraiser! Put it on your calendar now (or as soon as you purchase a 2017 calendar)!!
May 12-14 – The District 5130 Conference at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort in Incline Village, Nevada
Sunrise Moments, Including the Rotary Fitness Challenge!
- President Susan mentioned that the Board is working to update our bylaws, which were last changed in 2002.
- Susan also said that she and Kyle Visser recently participated in a Humboldt Live! event, speaking at Arcata High School about entrepreneurship. John Dalby of Redwood Capital Bank was also on the panel, and he explained that starting a business is a risky proposition, now Susan is “afraid to go back to work”. She said that the students are excited at the prospect of starting a business, so it is good for them to hear that they also need to accept the risk and prepare for some hard work.
- Last Thursday, our Club hosted about 250 members of the foster family community – children, young adults, foster parents, and the staff and volunteers who work with them – for our annual Foster Family Holiday Dinner. Ed Christians led our group in cooking and serving another delicious dinner for these deserving folks. He noted that we provided “a great level of service as well as some great food”. Jeff “The Masher” Stebbins spent four hours preparing the potatoes for the feast! Thanks to all the volunteers who helped out – it was another wonderful success.
- We’ll hear more about it at our next meeting, but Dustin Littlefield organized our Club’s involvement in the AIBT (Arcata Invitational Basketball Tournament) this year. As of last Friday’s meeting, there were still two nights to go, including the Coaches’ Dinner and the Championship Game. (Although Arcata High played for championship, they lost to Montgomery High.)
President Susan and the Sunrise Plankers - The first Rotary Fitness Challenge was a great success – at least for the observers! President Susan noted that the winners – the Sunriser who could plank the longest, and the one who could hold a one-legged squat longer than the others – would set Rotary International records! “No one has ever done this before,” she asserted. Several people vied in the Planking Competition, but there could only be one winner … Bob “The Board” Johnson held position the longest!
Romi Hitchcock Tinseth, Rebecca Crow, and Mary Crow And the Queen of the Squatters was Romi “The Stork” Hitchcock Tinseth, who earlier placed second in the Planking Competition! Both received our congratulations and each earned a $500 addition to their Paul Harris Sustaining Fellow accounts!
The Judy Report
We passed the coffee pot to take up a collection as the holiday gift for Judy, our Exchange Student from Taiwan. While that was happening, Judy told us that she had helped at the dinner for Foster Families that our Club had put on the night before. “After the dinner, I went to a basketball game.” She watched a victory for the home team at the Arcata Invitational Basketball Tournament (AIBT). She told us that she recently moved in with her new host family – Steve and Patty McHaney and their family. She likes that she now lives just around the corner from the high school. She said that sometimes she and her friends go home for lunch. Judy also said that the previous weekend, she went to a Christmas show at the Arcata Playhouse.
Club Assembly
In lieu of our usual program, we held a Club Assembly to discuss some aspects of our Club’s future (and past).
- President Susan announced that nominations are now open for the President-Elect Designate, who will serve as Club President for the Rotary Year 2018-2019, taking up the gavel after Dustin Littlefield’s term. If you would like to nominate someone (including yourself), please let President Susan or a board member know.
- Susan also said that the year’s one accomplishment that she keeps hearing about is … the cleaning and organization of our Club’s storage unit! It came up again last week during preparations for the Foster Family Dinner; Ed Christians reported that finding supplies was a relative breeze this year!
- There are still a few items that will have minor impacts on the income statement, but it looks like this year’s edition of A Taste of the Holidays earned over 1/4 more than the 2015 edition. Our net income last year was $15,471, while this year, we netted $19,508! Part of the reason for the gain resulted from the ticket price increase (from $25 to $30), but we also saw increases in raffle sales and the sale of wine and beer. Thanks again to Ray Noggle and Lisa Hemphill for their leadership.
- President Susan thanked Ian Schatz for his work at the District level, where he serves on the Youth Exchange Committee. “Who wants a job?” Ian asked. The District Youth Exchange Committee has three lead positions, he told us. “One is the District Chair, which changed last year. Renee Hyde vacated the spot for Carlton Nielsen, who is in the Eureka Noon Club. Carlton and Nancy Dean, who is also in the Eureka Noon Club, and myself run the District Youth Exchange program.” They work with their counterparts in other countries, which requires a good sense of logistics and diplomacy. Ian said that when he got involved at the District level, Sunrisers Craig Newman and Cam Appleton were running the program along with Glenda Sales of the Rotary Club of Windsor. Ian concluded, “If you or anybody you know is interested in a very fulfilling role working with youth from all over the world, working with and partnering with adults from all over the world, and furthering diplomacy throughout the world, come and talk.”
- Susan presented a new fundraising idea called, “Humboldt Dinner Out”. The concept came to us via the Petaluma Rotary Club, and it is quite simple. We offer 100 people the opportunity to purchase a chance to win a series of 12 to 14 dinners for two at the best restaurants in Humboldt County. The idea is that the winner gets a dinner out each month for a year (with a couple of extras thrown in, perhaps). Each ticket would cost the purchaser $100, so our total proceeds would be $10,000. Even if our Club were to contribute some of the cost of the dinners, we would still net a tidy amount. With the limited competition, the tickets are a relatively easy sell. A few concerns were raised, including the idea of timing (the original idea was to sell the tickets in time to announce the winner at our Spring Fundraiser on March 11th). Although the logistics need to be worked out, the concept seems sound.
- We also discussed the Spring Fundraiser, looking at how we can reduce the effort while maximizing the fun. Susan said that she has considered focusing on the dining experience – the food (“a nice, elegant meal”), the service, and the entertainment – and making that the draw. The number of live auction items would be reduced, and we could potentially raise the ticket prices. The proposal stimulated a great deal of discussion.