November 4, 2016

2016-17 Rotary Theme

This Friday’s Program:
We meet on Veterans Day this year (Friday, November 11th), and we will honor our local veterans for their service!

RISE Calendar … “Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone
November 17A Taste of the Holidays! Our Fall Favorite Fundraiser returns to help kick off another festive holiday season!
November 18 – No meeting at the Jacoby Storehouse. (A Taste of the Holidays was our alternate meeting date/site.)
November 25 – We are dark (no meeting)
March 11, 2017 – The RCAS Spring Fundraiser! Put it on your calendar now (or as soon as you purchase a 2017 calendar)!!
May 12-14, 2017 – The District 5130 Conference at the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort in Incline Village, Nevada


Sunrise Moments

  • District Governor Wulff Reinhold is on tour! He and other Rotarians from Rotary Zones 25 and 26 are on the “Connecting For Good” tour of the West Coast. According to its webpage, the tour is “the largest goodwill tour on the West Coast of the US, and it will travel through six states and fourteen cities”. At each stop, the travelers participate in a community service event. To follow Wulff and his fellow Tourists, click on this link: Connecting For Good. While you’re on the site, check out all the other links available for Rotarians.
  • The Taste of the Holidays SignUpGenius is up and running. If you haven’t enrolled yourself for a slot, please do so soon. Please be sure to sell those tickets! TOTH PR Coordinator Emanuel Rose asked those of you on Facebook to share the event with local contacts. Here is the Facebook Event address.
  • President Susan told us that she visited with former Sunriser Kathy Fraser during a recent trip to Reno, and she did a makeup at Kathy’s new Rotary Club. She told us that she came back with some new fundraising ideas, saying, “They have a lot going on!”
  • Emanuel Rose was in Oregon recently, and he did two makeups, in Bend and Mt. Bachelor.
  • For our meeting on December 1st, President Susan has instituted the Fitness Challenge – we will see who can hold the longest 1-legged squat, and the longest plank. Practice, practice, practice!

Community Service Committee Report

Carol Vander Meer told us that the previous weekend’s Adopt-A-Highway event was a success. It was warm, and there was a nice turnout, between Sunrisers and Rotaractors. The group filled about 20 bags with trash, and the labor was followed by a round of Margaritas at Rita’s. Get out your calendar, because the next cleanup is scheduled for January 21st!

Carol also reported that we received a District Matching Grant for our project to work on the offices of Humboldt Domestic Violence Project Services. We will be upgrading and renovating their facility in Eureka. The work days will be scheduled for early 2017.

This Spring we will also be working on the Manila Community Resource Center, doing a more complete overhaul of one of the buildings. Work days for that project will be posted as soon as they are set. Carol also said that we will be helping Redwood Acres develop a new community gathering space soon. The Backpacks for Kids program continues, so please watch for signup information in your email.

The Financial Assistance Committee falls under the Community Service Avenue, headed by Randy Mendosa. “We’re the Committee that never meets,” Randy reminded us. He told us about some of the organizations and projects we have supported so far this year:

  • $400 to support summer workshops in computer programming for at-risk youth
  • $400 to the Arcata Playhouse for their summer theater workshops for young people
  • $1,000 to the Area 1 Agency on Aging to support its Volunteer Driver Program
  • $550 to support (and to be a recognized sponsor of) a mural to be painted on the side of the Arcata Bay Crossing building on Samoa Boulevard
  • $500 to the Rising Stars Foundation to help local Science Fair winners travel to Los Angeles for the state competition
  • $500 to the Arcata Family Resource Center to help support their program

World Community Service Committee

John Gullam told us that the World Community Service Committee meets on the first Wednesday of each month from 7:30 to 8:30 at the Golden Harvest Cafe, and we are all welcome to join them, either as a member or as a guest. He listed several projects that the Committee is considering for the current year:

  • Physical Accessibility to Libraries in Macedonia
  • Fluoride Dental Care in Mexico (in cooperation with Project Amigo)
  • Earthquake Relief in Nepal
  • Entrepreneurism Support and Mentoring in Costa Rica (part of our La Trinidad Project)
  • Handcrafts for Export in Botswana (former Rotary Exchange Student Logan White was on the ground in Botswana, and looking into this)

John said that our current projects “in progress” include a program in the Philippines that provides school supplies in backpacks for students in need. The committee is coordinating with Dr. Andrew Hooper to provide relief in Haiti, which was devastated recently by Hurricane Matthew as it continued to recover from the earthquakes of 2010 and 2016. We are continuing to fund clean water projects in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.

To highlight the power of Rotary in the world, John showed a video featuring Bono of U2 praising Rotary for its efforts to eradicate polio. (Click here to watch.) John reminded us that when we leverage our funds through District grants and Matching Grants from the Rotary Foundation, we can be very effective. And he noted that each project funded benefits from the participation of a local Rotary Club.

Special Daze

October 12th was Karen Burgesser’s “quiet” birthday. She said that her birthday present was awesome – plane tickets to Portland to see the grandkids. “I didn’t have to drive this time,” she said, “and I had a fantastic week.”

President Susan said that “November 8th is a big day, ’cause I was born then.” She said that she will be taking the night off, turning off her phone, and being out of touch. “So if HealthSport falls,” she warned, “you’ll know why.”

heeshdkSave

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save