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.
(We will not meet on December 21 or December 28.)

The Calendar …
RISE: “Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone“
Saturday, December 8: Humboldt Educare’s Ugly Holiday Sweater Run – On the Plaza starting at 10 am (but please get there early)
Friday, December 14: Annual RCAS Caroling Event at Arts Arcata! Meet at 6 am at The Griffin (937 10th Street)!!
Saturday, January 26: Pancake Breakfast to support Arcata High School’s College & Career Center. At the D Street Community Center in Arcata.
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.
Craft Talk – Brandon Kakitsuka
New Sunrisers are asked to give a “Craft Talk” soon after they join our Club. This is a short presentation, providing biographical information and the new member’s motivation for joining Rotary. And sometimes, they are about love – or in the case of Brandon Kakitsuka, many loves …
A Transition from Red to Blue, and a Paul Harris Fellow or two (or more)
We distributed some hardware last week.
Sunriser Jennifer Coriell received her Blue Badge from President-Elect AJ Gonzales and Jennifer’s sponsor, Terri Clark. This signifies that she has completed all of the tasks we require of a new member. That’s pretty cool … but wait!! She also became our newest Paul Harris Fellow!!
We also honored other Sunrisers who have also contributed to the Rotary Foundation, becoming multiple PHFs – Brandi Easter, John Gullam, and Bob Johnson!
Congratulations and our appreciation for the generosity of these four Rotarians!
Let’s Hear From Finn!
Finn Grewe, our Rotary Exchange Student from Germany, told us how he spent his Thanksgiving Break:
Saturday – Tennis
Sunday – Crabbing (out on the ocean; he wasn’t sitting around complaining)
Monday and Tuesday – More Tennis
Wednesday – Prepping for Thanksgiving
Thursday – An American Thanksgiving
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – I’m not sure, but it may have involved tennis again.
All too soon, it was back to school on Monday.
ONE Very Inspiring Individual
Matt Cendejas is an alumnus of Arcata High who founded the nonprofit organization InspireONE. He was also our Featured Speaker last week.
Matt founded the organization as a result of a 2013 trip to Uganda. While in the village of Buikwe, he realized that the local children had many basic needs that were not being met, and he grew determined to do something about it. Since that time, Matt has taken several groups of volunteers back to Buikwe, changing many lives for the better.
To visit the InspireONE website, click on the logo below. Click on the “HOW YOU CAN HELP” link in the top menu to make a donation.
“Watch this episode of The Adventures of President Ray!“
(Click on President Ray’s photo to view the video of the full meeting.)