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 (almost) every Friday at 7 am in the Plaza View Room
of Arcata’s historic Jacoby Storehouse,
Please note: Our meetings will take place online through the month of February 2022, and possibly beyond.
For more information and for the meeting links, please visit the RCAS Website.
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 RCAS Calendar
RISE: “Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone“
- February 12 – Fortuna Sunrise Rotary’s “Pork & Cork” – Cruise-Through dinner event (starts at 4:30 at Fortuna Volunteer Fire Department)
- February 13 – Super Bowl Fellowship Activity
- February 16 – Community Service Committee Meeting
- June 4-8 – The 2022 Rotary International Convention in Houston, Texas.
Click Here to access the current period’s sign up for Backpacks for Kids!
For Openers …
President Ian welcomed our guests and some members of the AHS Interact Club, then we discussed our “Help Wanted” ads. We still need two host families for the 2022-2023 school year (each stint is about three months). We also still need someone to manage the RCAS website, a Treasurer-Trainee, and a Sergeant At Arms. We are also looking for people who can translate our Club brochure into additional languages. (English and Spanish are covered.)
Ian also recapped our Adopt-A-Highway effort from the previous weekend, then Jeff Stebbins reported that Arcata High School’s Safe And Sober Committee is looking for donations of auction items for their Virtual Auction, which will take place from February 25th through March 5th. They are also seeking sponsorships for the event.
We have an opportunity for fellowship coming up – it’s a Super Bowl Online Progressive Party, scheduled to coincide with the Super Bowl on Sunday, February 13th. Please let Chris Hemphill or President Ian know if you can serve as a virtual host for part of the game. We’re also going to have a pool, with $10 as the cost of each square. There will be four winners – one at the end of each of the quarters, with the fourth quarter winner receiving the largest prize. You can send your entry via Venmo (unless all 100 squares are already taken …
We reviewed these proposals received for our alternative Spring Fundraiser:
- Chris Hemphill suggested that we do an “Under the Big Top” event at the new AHS track,
- AJ Gonzales and Ceva Courtemanche proposed a series of Spring Concerts on the Plaza, and
- Ashliegh Diehl and Dustin Littlefield are discussing a revival of the Golf Tournament.
- Angela Roberschotte discussed creating events that are tied to holidays, a la our Taste of the Holidays, for example creating baskets for Valentines Day.
All of these ideas are great, and there was some discussion of possibly combining two or more of the events into a single extravaganza!
We then turned our attention to the Rotary Foundation, with President Ian showing us three banners our Club earned during the last Rotary Year. The first was the 100% participation in donations to the Foundation, at an average of at least $100 per member. Foundation Chair Terri Clark noted that RCAS was one of only three Clubs in our District that earned that distinction in the 2020-2021 year. The next banner celebrated our status as the #2 Club in District 5130 in Foundation contributions. And Your Club was the only one in the District to earn the “Every Rotarian Every Year” distinction. We just keep on giving … as we should! Congratulations!!
Speaking of giving, we also learned that more of our members have achieved Paul Harris Fellow status – Holly Martel and Angela Roberschotte are our newest PHFs, while President-Elect Vanessa Griffin has taken another lap around the track, becoming a Paul Harris Fellow Plus One!
The Fabulous Foundation Final Friday Auction!
As always, we had some lovely prizes and generous bidding for our Final Friday Auction. Sunrisers (and sometimes others) donate items for the Auction, and 100% of the winning bid is donated to the Rotary Foundation, with the credit for the contribution split between the prize donor and the winning bidder. Here are the details:
- Ceva Courtemanche donated a Mini’Max Big Green Egg with Nest Package, including (in addition to the Big Green Egg) accessories that allow for cooking, baking, smoking, and roasting. There was also supply of charcoal, a Grid Gripper, and an ash tool. That got snapped up by Tami Camper.
- A selection of Valentine’s Day Cards was offered by Barbara Browning, who soon found her next two weeks completely filled. That’s because after the package was purchased by Terri Clark, others wondered if Barbara could make just “one or two more”. Among those who added to Barbara’s crafting workload were Ceva Courtemanche, Romi Hitchcock Tinseth, and Tom Tellez. There may have been more, but only Barbara knows for sure.
- Next on the auction block was a Beer Lover’s Basket from Ray Noggle. This included three vintage “John Barleycorns”, nine additional assorted brews, a wooden tote with opener, and two gift certificates – one to Redwood Curtain, and the other to the Bigfoot Taproom. Craig Newman was the big beer winner.
- Then it was Pie Time! First up was two $50 certificates for A Slice of Humboldt Pie, donated by Randy Mendosa. These were purchased by Lori Breyer. Then came Jennifer Coriell’s contribution of a pie (type to be selected by the winner) and six cans of cider. Stephanie Lane said, “Yum – that’s for me!” Maybe not in those exact words, but that’s the sentiment from the winning bidder.
- Barbara Browning decided that whatever free time she has left is no longer needed, because she offered three baskets of CBD salves and bath bombs, then we sold four!! These went to Dick Johnson, Maggie Kraft, Tom Tellez, and Ashliegh Diehl. Someone needs to tell Barbara’s husband, Ron Sharp, that she’ll be exhausted for Valentine’s Day.
- President Ian donated two trees from the Schatz Estate in Maple Creek. The Silver Maple was purchased by Jamie Anderson, while the Red Norway Maple went to Brandon Kakitsuka. I don’t discuss prices in these recaps, but it is worth noting that both trees garnered much higher prices that Ian anticipated.
- Romance was in the air, or at least on a PowerPoint slide. Tom Tellez offered three bottles of wine (which were good, but not quite “Scott Heller good”), along with a gift certificate to the Plaza Grill. The dinner & wine package went to Ashliegh Diehl.
- Our last package came from Jessica McKnight – an Al Fresco Pizza Party for up to 10 people. Jessica and her husband James will be toting their pizza oven and several bottle of wine to the home (or workplace) of Tom Tellez, the top bidder.
As always, thanks to those who donated prizes and to the winning bidders. These donations have helped our Club stay in the forefront of our District in donations to the Rotary Foundation. And just as important – those donations help our international organization continue to do some mighty wonderful things in the world.
President Ian’s Closing Haiku
Giving of yourself
Helping others in return
It really feels good