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“
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 RCAS World Community Service Committee will meet at 7:00 on Tuesday, November 6th at the Country Store on Giuntoli Lane.
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.
Rotarian of the Week: Brandon Kakitsuka!!
Paul Harris Fellows!!
Final Fridays are dedicated to the Rotary Foundation, and all of the amazing projects that it supports. And the reason that it can accomplish so much is through our donations. Our Club’s contributions allowed us to name our Rotary Exchange Student from Germany, Finn Grewe, as our latest Paul Harris Fellow (as seen with Foundation Chair Terri Clark in the photo above)!
And we also honored those making multiple Paul Harris levels, including Randy Mendosa, Dick Johnson, and Lisa Hemphill. Standing ovations greeted two additional members – the “Justice Of Your Club” (aka “JOYC“), who is a Major Donor, and Scott Heller, who is a Second Level Major Donor! Thanks to all of you for your generosity!!
Remembering Group Study Exchange
In 2007, long before he became a Sunriser, Andreas Krause was selected by the Weaverville Rotary Club to represent their community on a Group Study Exchange trip to Chile. Although GSE has morphed into a couple of other programs, it was an effort by Rotary to build relationships among countries. GSE teams were led by a Rotarian, but the other members of the team were professionals – usually young – who were not in a Club (yet).
In the video below, Andreas does a great job describing what it was like to participate in the GSE experience:
The Fabulous Final Friday Foundation Auction!
Final Friday wouldn’t be complete without an auction! And we had another really good one. Here are the prizes, the donors, and the winners!
- Lori Breyer brought a package containing wine, pasta, and other fixin’s for a great Italian dinner. Our winning bidder was Chris Hemphill, so Lisa – we’ll hope to hear from you about the quality!
- “Tina Pink” is the name of the Living Dead Doll that was part of a Halloween-themed basket donated by Karen Burgesser. The package also included a gift certificate, candy, other fun stuff, and a basket to hold it all. Dick Johnson took everything home.
- Rachel Damme thinks that pumpkins and cocktails go together well. Hey, why not? Apparently Lori Breyer thought so also, since she cast the winning bid!
- It’s a holiday tradition – Rebecca and Mary Crow offered large batches of holiday cookies to be delivered between Thanksgiving and New Year’s once again. The happy purchasers were the aforementioned JOYC and Julie Vaissade-Elcock!
- Our Club’s resident wine expert, Scott Heller, provided four bottles of a pretty special French wine from 1989! The winners were Tom Tellez, Ceva Courtemanche, Brandi Easter, and AJ Gonzales!
- A basket of tasty treats was donated by Carol Vander Meer, and John Gullam was surprised to have offered the winning bid!
- Rachel Damme contributed a second package to the mix, this being the ingredients for enough spaghetti and sauce to make up three meals! Brandon Kakitsuka took home that prize.
- The next item was a Lemontini basket, including pillows (in case you get tired). Bob Johnson donated it, and JOYC took it home!
- Tami Camper offered a wellness basket, which was cram-packed with stuff to make you feel better all over. The package went to Lori Breyer.
- Maggie Kraft brought a pairing of spiced cider and rum, which went to Jeff Stebbins.
- Our final package was a basket of cool stuff, including a sign warning guests to “Refrain From Unruly Behaviour”. I think that it was won by John Gullam, but my notes simply read, “Jo”. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Thanks to all who helped raise another bunch o’dough for the Rotary Foundation. My notes indicate that we raised $1,750, but I think it may have been more than that. Our next Final Friday Auction will take place in January. But donations to the Foundation are always appreciated. Click on the Foundation Logo to make an online contribution!
“Watch this episode of The Adventures of President Ray!“
(Click on President Ray’s photo to view the video of the full meeting.)