July 22, 2022

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:
We have returned to hybrid meetings.
Please join us, either on-site or online!

For more information and for the meeting links, please visit the RCAS Website.


Humboldt County Economic Development Coordinator Dianna Rios

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

  • August 13-14  – RCAS Sunrise Summer Sale
  • September 11 – Out of the Darkness Community Walk – Meet at 10 am at the Arcata Plaza (and sign up for the RCAS Team)

For Openers …

After we welcomed our guests and Visiting Rotarians, Foundation Chair Terri Clark reminded us that our July 29th meeting will be the first Foundation Final Friday of President Vanessa’s year. She also provided a handout, showing when each of us is scheduled to provide a package to be auctioned off. Of course (as Terri often says about Paul Harris Fellowships), you don’t have to stop at one!

President Vanessa reminded us to put our notes of appreciation in the Thank You Recognition Box each week. Another reminder? To bring stuffed animals to help kids cope with spending time in court. Romi Hitchcock Tinseth talked a bit about the Sunrise Summer Sale, which will take place in her yard and Jessica McKnight’s yard. They live next door to one another on H Street, across from Wildberries. Please let someone from the team know if you are donating an item that could be of particular value (or something bulky) – we will offer such items on Facebook Marketplace. There’s a lot to be done. Before? Pricing of the items. During? Selling the goods. After? Hauling off the unsold stuff. Watch your inbox for the Sign Up Genius emails that will be flying your way soon.

Who is donating blood? Tom Tellez planned to following our meeting. John Gullam (our President-Elect, but also the Director of Donor Resources for the Northern California Community Blood Bank) said that the need for donors is still high. One of his organization’s goals is to “get folks thinking about donating throughout the year”.

President Vanessa expressed her appreciation to Howard Stauffer, who successfully shepherded our Clubs Matching Grant through to District approval. She also provided an update from the Board of Directors Meeting that took place three days prior. Our leadership approved the current year’s budget, authorized matching funds for Ukrainian support, made a donation to the Out of the Darkness Suicide and Mental Health Awareness Walk, and they discussed ways to deal with the attendance situation.

Meet Outbound Exchange Student Piper Bjorkstedt

Piper Bjorkstedt is the Arcata Noon Rotary’s Outbound Exchange Student for 2022-2023, and she was our guest at the July 22, 2022 RCAS Meeting.

Piper told us that she is 15 years old, and a student at Arcata High School. She enjoys swimming, Jiu Jitsu, music (Piper plays the violin), spending time at the river and the beach, being in nature, and traveling.

Piper will spend the 2022-2023 academic year in Campinas, Brazil – a suburb of São Paulo. She is in contact with her host family, and she is excited that she will have the opportunity to experience Brazilian culture, its natural beauty, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. She hopes to travel in Brazil, and she looks forward to learning Portuguese.

Piper said that she plans to join the Coast Guard as an adult, with an eye toward working abroad, providing humanitarian aid and possibly going into medicine. She expects her Exchange Year to help the process, as she learns to live on her own in a new country and culture, moves beyond her comfort zone, makes international connections, and learns a new language.

She thanked us for our support of the Rotary Exchange Program.

 

Dianna Rios on Economic Development Strategy

The Featured Speaker at the July 22, 2022 RCAS Meeting was Dianna Rios, who is the Economic Development Coordinator for Humboldt County, the leader of Project Soar, and a member of the Rotary Club of Fortuna. She spoke to us about preparing the economic development strategy for our County.

Every five years, the County is required to develop a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, or CEDS. Dianna and her team are preparing for the period from 2023 through 2027, and the theme for their effort is “Humboldt Rising”.

The CEDS is required by the US Economic Development Administration, and it provides an opportunity to bring business leaders together with community members and government officials for collaborative discussion. The resulting plan acts as the voice of our community and provides a roadmap for our future.

The values that will drive the development of the strategy include economic growth, balanced equity, and environmental sustainability. The plan includes doing SWOT analyses, which identify our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats over a spectrum of issues. For more information, visit the project website at humboldtrising.com.

In Closing

We closed out our meeting with a couple of Sunrisers providing heartfelt commentary. First up was Marty Lay, who shared his Rotarian Moment – when he first felt like a true Rotarian. Actually, he noted that there were many such moments, both before and after he became a Rotarian. Marty’s wife, Terri Clark (some of you may have heard of her), joined Rotary in 1992, and as she became more deeply involved with service projects and the like, Marty began to get involved as well. He helped a group that cleaned the home of a local senior, and the service bug bit Marty hard! But it was during a 1997 event – the Festival of Brotherhood in Guadalajara, Mexico – that he realized that his efforts and abilities could really make a difference.

He still loves International Service, and he is involved with the Youth Exchange program. And, he noted, you don’t just have one Rotarian Moment – you can have many!

Romi Hitchcock Tinseth followed that up by asking each of us to join this year’s RCAS team in the Out of the Darkness Walk, which raises awareness of suicide and mental health needs. Many of us have lost or nearly lost a loved one to suicide, and we need to talk about the issue rather than hiding it or hiding from it. The Out of the Darkness walk is one way to remind people that someone cares, that there is someone to talk with about the difficult issues they are facing. There is hope.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save