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.
The Calendar …
RISE: “Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone“
Friday, October 12: Arts Arcata Ball Gown Walk! Slip into your finest duds, and strut around the Plaza with your fellow Sunrisers!
Saturday, October 13: The Walk to End Alzheimer’s – Starts at the Adorni Center in Eureka. Registration starts at 10 am, and the program begins at 11 am.
Thursday, October 18: Annual RCAS Cross Country Championships – Arcata Community Center – Contact Rebecca Crow for more information
Sunday, October 21: Foundation Celebration North – 2 pm at the Elks Lodge in Eureka
Friday, October 26: Join the Lost Coast Rotaract Club for its annual Spirits & Spirits Tour of Old Town Eureka. The RCAS group will be taking the 7 pm tour.
Thursday, November 15: Taste of the Holidays! Our annual Fall Fundraiser at the Arcata Community Center
Wednesday, December 5: The annual Foster & Kinship Holiday Dinner will take place at a new location – the Arcata Community Center! Setup will take place from 1:30 to 5:00 pm as needed, and we will serve dinner (and clean up) from 5:00 to 8:00 pm.
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.
On Thursday, October 18th, the Arcata Police Department and the Humboldt County Office of Education will begin an 11-week series of Parent Project classes that are free to parents of at-risk youth beginning at the McKinleyville High School Library.
Luau Night! – On Saturday, October 20th, the Rotary Club of Mad River will celebrate Hawaiian style at the McKinleyville Activity Center. The festivities begin at 5:30 pm.
District 5130 will hold a Membership Training Seminar on Saturday, October 20th from 1 to 4 pm at the Humboldt County Office of Education. The next day (Sunday, October 21st), the District will present a Foundation Training Seminar from 11 am to 2 pm. This will be held at the Elks Lodge, immediately prior to the Foundation Celebration at the same venue (see above). Check your email to register for either or both events.
Rotarian of the Week: Nick Torres!!
What Happened?
We had a few technical issues at our meeting. First, despite the valiant efforts of the above-referenced Rotarian of the Week, neither Nick nor President Ray could move the pictures from the laptop to the big screen. So the meeting proceeded … old school style.
That issue had little or nothing to do with Your Editor’s failure (yet again) to press the “RECORD” button on the camcorder. The only good news is that I caught the error before the meeting was totally gone. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to provide a video of Marty Coelho’s talk about homelessness and hunger among students at CR and HSU.
Student Homelessness and Food Insecurity
Marty Coelho visited our Club for the second week in a row! This time, he spoke in his role as the Executive Director of College Advancement for the College of the Redwoods. He told us that the CR Foundation has developed a new scholarship fund to help students who are experiencing homelessness and/or food insecurity. A recent study of students attending HSU or CR found that up to 17% had been homeless at some point since they started college.
The two colleges co-hosted the North Coast Homelessness & Housing Insecurity Summit in April, and they continue to work together to address this difficult issue.
The Legacy of Measure Z
Humboldt County Administrative Officer Amy Nilsen and Lieutenant Kevin Miller of the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Department were our Featured Speakers. They talked about the improvements in county services that were funded by the 1/2 cent local sales tax increase that was approved by Humboldt County voters in 2014, with a five-year lifespan.
In November, the electorate will vote on Measure O to decide whether to extend that sales tax increase beyond 2019.
“Watch this episode of The Adventures of President Ray!“
(Click on President Ray’s photo to view the video of the full meeting.)