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.
Usually, we meet on most Fridays at 7 am in the Plaza View Room
at Arcata’s historic Jacoby Storehouse,
however, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are meeting online.
Please visit the RCAS Website for the meeting links.
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 Calendar …
RISE: “Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone“
- November 11th – Veterans Day Ceremony on the Plaza – 4 pm
- January 20 & 27 – RCAS Equity & Diversity Workshops
Worldwide Rotary: Opportunity Door #1
Even on Friday the 13th, Rotary Opens Opportunities – we enjoyed a return visit from Aleksander Erceg, who visited our Club back in 1999. Then, Alex was a member of a Group Study Exchange (GSE) team visiting from Croatia. He joined us to talk about the evolution of Rotary in his home country.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the first Rotary Clubs were chartered in Croatia (then part of Yugoslavia). Alex told us that in 1931, District 77 consisted of 11 Rotary Clubs and there were about 250 Rotarians. However, World War II and the subsequent Cold War took their toll on Rotary. Still, Rotary was “reborn in Croatia” at the end of the 1980s, and the Rotary Club of Zagreb was rechartered in 1991. Rotary District 1910 soon grew to 63 Clubs with about 1,800 Rotarians, and it was not long before Croatia had its own District 1913.
Alex’s Club – the Rotary Club of Osijek – was chartered on December 13, 2008, and it has one of the youngest memberships in the country. The average age of its members is 33 years. The Club currently has 14 members, and their main projects involve children and the younger generation. Alex shared photos of his Club’s recent Run 4 Fun event. The family run was a fundraiser for Rotary’s End Polio Now campaign, and it raised about 10,000 Kuna (over 1,500 USD).
Alex also shared a video about his home with us titled “Osijek – Slow City”.
Service & Recognitions: Opportunity Door #2
President Maggie said that the Veterans Day Flag Raising Ceremony on the Arcata Plaza was a success. Mike Pazeian spearheaded our work on this project, and he thanked the participating Sunrisers and local Troop 124 (the Redwood Rangers) for their assistance in making the event a success.
It’s time for Taste of the Holidays, but since we are still in the midst of the pandemic, our organizers – Lisa Hemphill and Vanessa Griffin – have worked hard to adjust the event for the times. The result is Taste of the Holidays at Home! We will be offering a take-home version of the famous TOTH goodies, including an assortment of goodies from local food vendors. (A bottle of wine will be in there, of course!) We are limiting the number of baskets to 150, and the price is $60 per package until November 27th. At that point, the cost goes up to $75. The packages will be available for pickup at the Griffin on Saturday, December 5th.
Barbara Browning reminded us that we will be celebrating the “Week of Gratefulness” during Thanksgiving week. We plan to “shine the light” of gratitude on the essential workers who have helped us all during the pandemic.
President Maggie then recognized “His Awesomeness” – Ed Christians! Ed took on the daunting task of maintaining the RCAS website not long ago, and he’s doing a great job! He pointed out some of the features of the site, including the Members Only section, which contains important information for Sunrisers. He and Maggie encouraged us to submit items for the “Who Are Arcata Sunrise Rotarians?” section.
Rotarian of the Month & More: Opportunity Door #3
Tom Tellez was President Maggie’s Rotarian of the Month for November, and he presented a video of his COVID-19 test. The Rotarian of the Month for December will be Terri Clark.
We celebrated some of our members’ November birthdays, including Amanda Nelson’s, on November 2nd. She said that she celebrated with dinner “from down the street”, along with a birthday cake. John Gullam’s birthday hadn’t happened yet (it was on November 16th), but he said that he didn’t have plans because “the world is spinning too fast”.
Before she closed the show for the day, President Maggie asked Dustin Littlefield about his District Governor “Final Exam”. (Dustin will serve as our DG for the 2021-2022 Rotary Year.)
(Click here to view the video of the full meeting.)