Welcome to the Sunrise Spirit –
the Weekly Newsletter of The Rotary Club of Arcata Sunrise
Our Next Meeting
Our thanks to all who participated in our “Phantom of the Opera” Fundraiser on March 11th.
Please consider attending our next regular meeting on Friday, March 24th in the Plaza View Room at Jacoby Storehouse – hope to see you there!
RISE Calendar …
“Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone“
March 25 – Rotary Reforestation Project in Middletown starting at 9 am
March 31 – April 1 – District 5130 Training Assembly – Friday night is the Celebration Dinner, and the training sessions will take place on Saturday at Mendocino College in Ukiah
March 25 – Rotary Reforestation Project in Middletown starting at 9 am
May 12-14 – The District 5130 Conference at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort in Incline Village, Nevada
Sunrise Moments
The Judy Report: Our Exchange Student from Taiwan, Yi Ting “Judy” Chen, told us what’s been happening in her life:
District Training Assembly: President-Elect Dustin Littlefield encouraged us all to attend the District Training Assembly, which will take place in Ukiah Friday, March 31st and Saturday, April 1st. He said that if you’re going to be serving on the Board of Directors or as a committee chair, it will be very beneficial to you. However, all Rotarians benefit from the breakout sessions and presentations. If you can’t make it for the Friday night dinner, please try to attend the Saturday sessions. You should have received an email from our incoming District Governor, Bob Rogers. (If you haven’t, please let Dustin know.)
Rotary Re-Forestation: The Lake Area Rotary Club Fire Relief Fund has organized a one day tree planting project at Middletown Trailside Park and is looking for volunteers to come help plant 3,000 trees!
Saturday, March 25th, 2017 ~ 9am
Middletown Trailside Park
21044 Dry Creek Cutoff ~ Middletown
https://www.larca5130.org/…/middletown-tree-planting-project
Swat Valley Update: Howard Stauffer gave us an update on the progress being made on school construction in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. Washrooms have been built at the new Gatto Sar School, in a village that soars above the Valley at an elevation of 7,000 feet. We are helping the Swat Relief Initiative fund the school’s construction. For more information, please click on the photo to visit the SRI website.
A Warm Donation: “For many, many years during our Foster Youth Event in December,” Ed Christians told us, “the Humboldt Senior Resource Center would always donate a couple of warming ovens for us.” Unfortunately, one of the two ovens was recently damaged, so in a win-win move, our Club replaced it. That means that we will once again (and again) be able to borrow the two ovens!
Welcoming a New Sunriser: Last Friday, Andreas Krause became the latest addition to our Club. Andreas is a Geomorphologist, which he says “is a fancy way of saying that I specialize in how rivers function”. He has worked for the Bureau of Reclamation, and now he is employed by the Yurok Tribe. He lives in Arcata with his wife Jen, who teaches at Coastal Grove Charter School. Andreas participated in a Group Study Exchange to Chile about 10 years ago, which introduced him to Rotary. Here is the video of his induction as a Sunriser:
Board Meeting Recap: The Board of Directors met last week, and they sent President Susan to check in with us, asking: (1) How are our Red Badgers doing? (2) Are you satisfied with your Rotary experience so far? (3) What is missing for anyone? (4) What does it mean to be a Rotarian? We heard from a few newly-minted Sunrisers, who said that they are working toward Blue-Badge status. President Susan encouraged the Red Badgers to ask questions of their sponsors, their mentors, and all of us about how the Club works and about Rotary. Once again, we discussed possible attendance/participation guidelines. There were many suggestions about encouraging engagement with those who are not attending regularly.
Pancakes! Jeff Stebbins thanked the Sunrisers who sponsored the recent Pancake Breakfast which raised funds for the Arcata High School Career and College Center. He also recognized those who helped at the event, and those who plunked down money for flapjacks. The event was held at the AHS Fine Arts Center for the first time, and it was great! The Sunrise Spirit would like Jeff to know how much the Club appreciates his willingness to take the lead on our participation in this event once again!
Phantom of the Opera Recap: President Susan thanked us all for our hard work in putting together and pulling off the previous weekend’s “Phantom of the Opera” Spring Fundraiser. “It was well-attended,” Susan said. There was a lot of energy and our guests were heard to say how much fun they had. We grossed over $50,000, although the totals are not final. We had great entertainment – the singing waiters were a big hit, and the auctioneer and his ringmasters did a great job with the Live Auction.
President Susan gave special thanks to the Event Committee:
- Decorations: Lisa Hemphill, Ceva Courtemanche, Karen Burgesser, and Tom Tellez
- Entertainment: Tami Camper and Ceva Courtemanche
- Ticket Sales: Craig Newman
- Cashier: Lori Breyer
- Entryway: Rebecca Crow
- Setup/Security: George Cavinta
- Bar: Dustin Littlefield, Jose Zapata, and Nick Torres
- Food/Table Service: Barbara Browning
- Raffle: Jeff Stebbins
- Silent Auction: Lisa Hemphill
- Live Auction: Charlie Jordan
- Marketing: Emanuel Rose
- Cleanup: Orrin Plocher and Howard Stauffer
Lisa reminded us to forward any information about people and firms that donated prizes or other things to the event, so we can send out thank you letters.
Locally Grown
Suzanne Simpson was last Friday’s Featured Speaker. She is a Renaissance Woman – she is an artist, she writes, and she creates films. And she is now retired from her “day job” – doing Public Relations for a firm in the Bay Area. She co-wrote two books on the local food revolution – “Locally Delicious: Recipes and Resources for Eating on the North Coast”, and “LunchBox Envy: An Adventure in Healthy Eating for Kids and Families”.
Suzanne is the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for Locally Delicious, Inc. The nonprofit seeks to educate consumers on how they can make healthy food choices, which will also benefit the health of their communities and the world. They also work to increase access to healthy, local, organic food to people at all income levels. They provide small grants to other community organizations to advance their goals, with all their efforts helping to build a sustainable local food system.
For more information, please visit the Locally Delicious Facebook Page and/or the Locally Delicious Website.
