December 11, 2020

Welcome to the Sunrise Spirit –
the Weekly Newsletter of The Rotary Club of Arcata Sunrise


We hope that you will attend one of our lively Friday meetings,
whether or not you are interested in joining Rotary.
Usually, we meet on most Fridays at 7 am in the Plaza View Room
at Arcata’s historic Jacoby Storehouse,
however, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are meeting online.
Please visit the RCAS Website for the meeting links.

(Please note that we will not be meeting on December 25th nor January 1st.)


Rotary Vision:

Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change
across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.


The Calendar …

RISE: “Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone

  • December 19 – Musical Safari of the Limpopo Province of South Africa
  • January 13, 2021 – Sunrise Swednesday!
  • January 20 & 27 – RCAS Equity & Diversity Workshops

Opportunity Door #1: Craft Talk!

Craft Talks are a great way to learn more about our fellow Sunrisers, and it was Bryn Coriell’s turn last week. Bryn told us of his early years, living on a ranch in Trinity County. He said that he was raised to be an experiential learner – in other words, “You get dirty.” His family didn’t own a television until he was 13.

Bryn said that he loves to travel, and he told us about a peacekeeping trip he made to Siberia. He also said that his family moved to Pittsburgh for a while. He recounted several adventures around the United States, and he noted that he spent his summers in California.

He embodies the active lifestyle – enjoying rock climbing, sailing, and “downhill unicycling” [Editor’s Note: That’s what I heard. It may not be what Bryn said, but I’m sticking with it.] His education in and outside of school involved a few “corporate sponsors”, including American Hydroponics, the Mobile Medical Unit (as an EMT), and Holly Yashi.

He said that when he met his wife-to-be, Jennifer, he was “smitten”! They now have three children – Emily, Caden, and Collin – and a house!

Bryn earned a degree in education at Humboldt State, and eventually earned his real estate license and bought Coldwell Banker Sellers Realty. He enjoys volunteer work, which led him to join our Club. Welcome!!

Opportunity Door #2: Service

We discussed the Backpacks for Kids program, noting that we will be transitioning to a new group of Sunrisers in January.

Sarah James told us that the Transitional Age Youth program is seeking gift cards for young people aged 15 to 20. RCAS is donating $500 for gift cards to the effort, but we are all encouraged to help out if we can.

President Maggie modeled one of the new “Masks With A Message”. These masks are available for purchase, and the proceeds will be donated to organizations that provide education about equity, diversity, and inclusion in our community.

Lisa Hemphill thanked all of the members of the Taste of the Holidays at Home team for helping to make the event a great success. These included AJ Gonzales, Romi Hitchcock Tinseth, Ed Christians, Malinda Damme-Hinton, Sophie Saucedo, Nick Torres, Janice Newman, Craig Newman, and Vanessa Griffin. As a Club, we also want to thank Lisa for all of her hard work organizing the revamped event – hooray!!

We heard about an Arcata family that needs some holiday assistance. One of their children has cancer, and most of their income is going toward trips to see medical providers out of the area. If you can provide some help, please do.


Alanna Powell, the Executive Director of Humboldt Made, was on hand to talk about an effort to encourage holiday shoppers to “Choose Humboldt”. She noted that this is a critical time for local businesses, since most have been negatively impacted by the pandemic. Here is her presentation:

Opportunity Door #3: State Parks Interpreted!

Ryan Spencer is an Assistant Program Manager and Interpreter II for the California State Park system. He was also our Featured Speaker last week.

Ryan’s “beat” is the North Coast, which is a natural (pardon the pun) assignment for him. Ryan was born in Sonoma County, and he also spent time with relatives in Humboldt County when he was younger. Ryan noted that the mission of the State Park system is to “provide for the health, inspiration, and education of the people of California by helping to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most valued natural and cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation.

Interpreters like Ryan help the system to fulfill that mission. The program has seven core components: field interpretation, school field trips, PORTS (Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students), publications, social media, exhibits, and volunteer coordination. Ryan noted that because PORTS is an online program, its usage has greatly expanded during the pandemic.

 


(Click here to view the video of the full meeting.)

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