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
Announcements
November 2nd through the 8th was World Interact Week, so Zoie Andre joined us. Zoie is the Vice-President of the Arcata High School Interact Club, and she told us about some of the work that group is doing. They participate in quite a few charity events, and they will be helping with Toys For Tots again this holiday season. They also helped Arcata Main Street with its recent Spooky Car Parade. Zoie said that they have made changes due to COVID-19. They are focusing on outdoor events, including plans for a big clean-up effort at Arcata High.
President Maggie presented a Virtual Blue Badge to Jamie Anderson, who completed his requirements the previous week by giving his Craft Talk. Maggie also recognized some “Backpacks Stars”, including Rebecca Crow, Ashliegh Diehl, Cam Appleton, and Lori Breyer.
Lucy Robson works for the County Office of Education as a Homeless Youth Case Worker. She spoke with us about the Purposity App (for the iPhone and Android). This app helps caring individuals help local disadvantaged youths. These young people may need school supplies or clothing, and Purposity allows you to easily make a difference in their lives. Lucy said that the needs are generally low ticket items, but they are needed. To learn more or to download the app, click here to visit the Purposity website.
District Governor Elect Dustin Littlefield told us that November 16-22 has been designated “Rotary Gratefulness Week”. We plan to honor essential workers, showing our appreciation for their willingness to continue to serve our communities. We hope to find many creative ways to let these folks know how much they mean to us.
Crystal Perez (aka Charli Murphy) talked about our Club’s work with Transitional Age Youth. We recently received a grant that will fund up to 7 paid internships for homeless youth. We are now looking for employers who are willing help prepare these young people for life in the workforce. Sequoia Personnel Services is donating their time to help prepare the documentation needed for the internships, so there is no cost to the employer!
Recycling – The Good and the Bad
Our Featured Speaker was Linda Wise, the General Manager for Recology, which is an employee-owned company that serves the waste management needs of about 140 communities in California, Oregon, and Washington. Locally, Recology employs about 130 people. The company focuses on resource recovery, although the market for recyclables has taken a huge hit in recent years.
Linda told us that as Recology’s sales of processed recyclables has diminished, expenses have not. One major problem is that many consumers are not rinsing their recycling before placing it in their bins. And worse, many people throw garbage away with their recyclables, which means that someone from Recology must either sort and clean the items, or relegate the entire load to the landfill stream.
To help educate the public, Recology created a website called whatbin.com. When you enter the name of your community (if it is served by Recology), you will be prompted to enter the type of waste you are disposing of, and it will tell you what bin it should go into.
Linda stressed that our efforts should target the goal of zero waste. She reminded us that the Three Rs of conservation are reduce, reuse, and recycle. And the most effective of these is reducing the amount of waste headed toward her company.
(Click here to view the video of the full meeting.)