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.
We meet most Fridays at 7 am in the Plaza View Room at Arcata’s historic Jacoby Storehouse.
Katie Uemura and Friend
The Calendar …
RISE: “Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone“
Saturday, February 9: It’s our birthday! (Well, almost.) The RCAS Charter Celebration starts at 2 pm at the Griffin in Arcata!
Saturday, March 9: Judges needed for the annual Humboldt History Day competition at Humboldt State. See Jeff Stebbins to volunteer.
Saturday, March 16: Join the Rotary Club of Arcata (Noon) and the North Bay Rotaract Club as they present the 11th Annual Humboldt Wine Festival. Starts at 5:30 pm in HSU’s Kate Buchanan Room.
Additional Important Stuff
The Arcata High School Interact Club meets every Friday at 12:20 pm.
The North Bay Rotaract Club meets in the Plaza View Room at Jacoby’s Storehouse at 6 pm on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month.
Remembering Katie …
We opened our meeting with a remembrance of Katie Uemura, a member of the North Bay Rotaract Club, and a good friend to our Club. Katie passed away on January 30, 2019 from complications resulting from a congenital heart defect. But her true heart was without defect – she gave of herself freely, as when she participated in a Rotaplast mission to Bangladesh in 2017. Katie will be greatly missed and long remembered.
Rotarian (?) of the Week!
As President Ray points out, his selection for Rotarian of the Week is not technically a Rotarian. But Sophie Saucedo is a Past President ot the North Bay Rotaract Club, and she has better attendance at RCAS meetings than most Sunrisers!
President Ray (and all of us) appreciated her stepping in and spearheading our Dictionaries for Third Graders program earlier in the week. Thank you very much, Sophie!!
Jocelyn & Raja Tell Us About Camp RYLA
Jocelyn Blevin and Rairaja Cohen were on hand for last week’s meeting, and they told us about their experience at last summer’s Camp RYLA. RYLA stands for “Rotary Youth Leadership Awards”, and our Club has supported the week-long program for many years. Jocelyn and Raja told us that the experience was life-changing and “eyeopening”. Before they sat down, Interact/Rotaract Committee Co-chair Nick Torres told us that there is a movement afoot in our District to scale down the program, but he does not agree.
Wrapped in a Honey-Spun Chocolate Cocoon!
Our Featured Speaker was Elissa Verdillo, the founder and co-owner of Cacao Cocoon. She and her husband Zach Funk started making their “silky, honey spun chocolate” locally since 2011, and the entire family participates. Elissa’s daughter Solstice was even on hand to help her mother with the presentation!
“Watch this episode of The Adventures of President Ray!“
(Click on President Ray’s photo to view the video of the full meeting.)