New Members - February 23, 2016 Meeting

Meet our two newest members, Annie LaCroix and Jenny Napier.

Annie LaCroix at left and Jenny Napier center.
Jim Adamson channeling Paul Harris
presents the new members with pins.

Annie LaCroix is a Massage Therapy Educator and owner of Columbia River Institute of Massage Therapy (since 2011).  She is the current President of the Washington Massage Therapy Association which has over 5000 members.  Annie graduated from University of Puget Sound with a BA in Conflict Management.  She moved to Portland to go to culinary school, then moved back to Seattle where she was a Pastry chef.  She ended up in Leavenworth where she became co-owner of a construction and excavation company.  She is passionate about leadership on all levels and loves mentoring anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit.  She loves public speaking.  In addition to work and online education, Annie can be found reading a book or watching a cooking show.  For vacations, Jim and Annie head to the Oregon coast whenever possible.

Annie's family consists of husband Jim (who lives in Moses Lake because of work), three grown step kids (Jim's kids) who show up when they need dinner or advice, and two indoor cats.  She also has other family spread throughout the Northwest.

Husband Jim Cook is the store manager for the Moses Lake Home Depot.  He is also the behind the scenes, make it happen, fix-it man for Columbia River Institute. 

He has his own business for years designing houses. He designed and helped build fuel stations and owned a fuel station for a few years. He is also an amazing self-taught photographer. If he gets free time, he likes to spend it outside with a single malt scotch and a cigar.

Jenny Napier grew up in Vancouver/Portland Metro, went to WSU (Go Cougs), started a career in retail management at Target in Wenatchee, and then felt called to work in non-profit.  After a time as marketing director for Pybus Market, she took on the Director position for GWATA, and was just recognized in the Wenatchee World for her great work with that organization. 

Jenny spent 6 weeks backpacking Italy by herself. She showed up in Rome with a map, a backpack, and a sense of adventure.  She’s been to Egypt and seen the Pyramids of Giza.  Apple Blossom - main parade day, is her favorite day of the year. 

Jenny met fiancé Top Rojanasthien after moving to Wenatchee, and they are getting married in Thailand in August.  She considers her two cats, Kudos and Harley as her family.  Top spent most of his childhood in Wenatchee and graduated from UW.  He moved back to Wenatchee and took over the family business (The Thai Restaurant) when his parents retired and moved back to Thailand. 

Announcements, Brags & Confessions February 23, 2016

Youth Exchange Student, Mateo, attended the youth exchange event in Revelstoke Mountain Resort in Canada.  He enjoyed curling and hockey and getting to know other YE students.

This was the first training event for this year's newly chosen Outbound Students and the first time that all the Inbound and Outbound Students got together.  While there was training involved, there was a lot of fun for the students, but not much sleep.   Typically, the drive up (more than 10 hours for those from Yakima) is very noisy as students get to know each other.  The drive home is very quiet with everyone asleep!

Taro and Reagan joined Mateo for the weekend, although not the bus ride. They were able to ski Revelstoke and Apex.  Youth Exchange participation is fun for the entire family!

Senior Dinner-- Jill Courtney reported that, with the help of Stacy Speer, we have acquired the use of Bonaventure for our senior dinner.  Mark April 17th on your calendar.  More information to follow.  Thanks Stacy!

Erik Peterson's son, Gunnar, wont the Eastmont basketball tournament.

Carol Adamson has been appointed Assistant Governor, starting in July, for six clubs in the Wenatchee Valley.  Congratulations Carol and thanks for your hard work.

Club members can earn rewards and savings through Rotary's Explore Rewards program.  Log in to your Rotary account and register at https://www.rotary.org/myrotary/en/member-center/rotary-global-rewards/offers#/offers

Happy Birthday Rotary!

Rotary celebrated its 111th birthday on February 23.

Club member Jim Adamson channelled Rotary founder Paul Harris at our February 23 Club meeting to celebrate Rotary's birthday.  He shared fun facts -

• Paul Harris had a sketchy youth, being thrown out of several schools
• 1907 was the first service project, the construction of the first public restrooms in Chicago.
• The 4th Rotary Club was in Seattle and #8 in Tacoma.
• Rotary became international in 1911 with addition of Canada Club.
• Original motto was "He profits most who serves best," later changed to "Service above self."
• The four was test was adopted in 1945.

A little more history....The world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, was formed on February 23, 1905, by Paul P. Harris, an attorney who wished to capture in a professional club the same friendly spirit he had felt in the small towns of his youth. The Rotary name derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members' offices.

Rotary's popularity spread, and within a decade, clubs were chartered from San Francisco to New York to Winnipeg, Canada. By 1921, Rotary clubs had been formed on six continents. The organization adopted the Rotary International name a year later. As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving club members’ professional and social interests. Rotarians began pooling their resources and contributing their talents to help serve communities in need. The organization's dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its motto: Service Above Self.

By 1925, Rotary had grown to 200 clubs with more than 20,000 members. The organization's distinguished reputation attracted presidents, prime ministers, and a host of other luminaries to its ranks — among them author Thomas Mann, diplomat Carlos P. Romulo, humanitarian Albert Schweitzer, and composer Jean Sibelius. Rotary continued to grow and now has 1.2 million members.

Learn more at https://www.rotary.org/myrotary/en/learning-reference/about-rotary/rotarys-founder

Rotarian of the Month for February -- Jim Adamson

Jim Adamson was named Rotarian of the Month for February by Club President Wayne Massing.

Jim wears all the hats in our Rotary Club.  He is a former Club President and District Governor.  He serves on the Board of Directors, is a Paul Harris Fellow, and chairs our membership committee.  Jim is the District 5060 trainer. He was the primary blog author and now helps out as needed (for which I am very grateful).

Jim recently implemented a membership competition which is bringing in prospective members and creating fun competition among the Club.  Most importantly, he is famously known as Carol Adamson's husband.

We are very fortunate to have Jim's leadership and energy in our Club.  Congratulations Jim!

Sister Connection

Craig Reese, former Sunrise Rotarian and now Chief Operating Officer of the Burundi-based non-profit, Sister Connection, provided an overview of the organization which assists widows in Burundi.

Thousands of women were widowed as a result of a decade of civil war, experiencing intense trauma along the way.  An entire generation of fathers and husbands lost their lives in a society that does not value widows.  Sister Connection changes the lives of the widows through emotional healing, providing homes and shelter, and micro finance.


Craig focused on the vocational training facility Mt. Hope, a 10 acre area given to Sister Connection by the local Burundi governor.  There is a dormitory, underground spring and solar energy production.

A recent project dramatically improved the water supply by creating a a system to pump water to the top of the mountain where it is stored and then available for use.  The women helped build the trenches needed for the water pipes that move water from the underground spring to the holding tanks at the top of the hill.

More information is available at http://sisterconnection.org/

DISTRICT GOVERNOR NOMINEE DESIGNATE

FOR 2018-2019 - SHERRY CHAMBERLAIN

The District is pleased to welcome Sherry Chamberlain as our new District Governor Nominee Designate, or “DGND”. Ms. Chamberlain was appointed after an interview process at the District Training weekend in Osoyoos on October 31, 2015.
Sherry has been a member of the Kamloops West Rotary Club since 1999, is a Past President, and was Assistant District Governor from 2009-2011. Sherry has also been awarded Club Rotarian of the Year, twice.

Announcements

Congratulations to our outbound exchange student, Sammy Everhart, who was selected as one of the three 2016 Apple Blossom Royalty at the pageant Saturday, February 13.
She was also received the Congeniality Award, voted on by all 10 contestants.  Sammy will be going to Italy next fall.

The Apple Blossom Royalty will be joining us on April 4.

Our inbound exchange student, Mateo, and our YE Chair, Taro, participated in the District Youth Exchange weekend in Revelstoke, BC.








Below, Mateo takes in a show, "Finest Hour", with the Adamson's.  Looks like they rented the whole theater just for him.

February Birthdays:  Joe Grimes, Alice Thompson, Bryan Noyd, Tana Benedict, Richard Kitos, Kevin Love, & Norm Sturm
February Anniversaries:  Bill McDowell (Pat), Jay Higgins (Heidi), & Tom Utigard (Sheri)

Brags & Confessions:
Jim & Carol's daughter completed 22 runs/races this year as a goal before she turned 41, and their granddaughter was selected to a Washington DC forensic science camp.

Tana Benedict's granddaughter won an art contest.
Erik Peterson's son did well in recent ski races.
Kevin Love is back from a 15 day ski tour to 7 ski areas around BC in their camper.
Norm Sturm is recovering from his foot surgery and wants to run in the Senior Olympics.

Special Education Prom March 30, 2016

Sonja Meek and Phil Coffman shared the success of their program, the Special Education Prom, held each year for the last 10 years for Eastmont and Wenatchee High School special ed students.

The Prom was started more than ten years ago when two teachers from Wenatchee and Eastmont decided to work together to expand the dance curriculum for students into a shared social experience.  The Prom has now grown to 14 school districts attending last year!

Prom partiers get to experience a DJ, pictures, decoration, limo rides and lunch.  The teachers have collected dresses and formal wear for students. Student volunteers decorate the gym.  Several businesses contribute their services.

What a wonderful experience for a deserving group of students.  Let's open our checkbooks and make donations. Make checks payable to Eastmont Special Education Prom.  Kathleen will deliver her check to Eastmont High School and is happy to take yours.

SuperBetter, $3 Alice, Home Show Winner

SuperBetter.  Our program was a TED Talk by game designer, Jane McGonigal who found herself bedridden and suicidal following a severe concussion and had a fascinating idea for how to get better.  She created a healing game, SuperBetter.  In the TED Talk, McGonigal explains how a game can boost resilience and add 7.5 minutes to ones life.

She describes four kinds of resilience that can help one not only recover from trauma but be stronger from it: physical, mental, emotional and social.  McGonigal believes if we actively practice resilience (she would advocate practicing through gaming) we can be stronger.  Check out the talk at this link  https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_10_extra_years_of_life?language=en

Pot Draw Winner.  Alice Thompson won the pot draw for the first time.  She walked away $3 richer, only a hair's breadth away from the BIG winning of $30.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner (Really).  New Rotarian Heidi Black drew the winner of the Lulu's $75 gift certificate from the cards submitted during the home show last weekend at Town Toyota Center.  The winners are Ron and Vivian Pfiefte.  Heidi will notify them and invite them to our next meeting to collect the certificate.

Thanks to the PR committee and all who helped staff the Sunrise Rotary booth at the home show.

World Understanding Month

February is Rotary World Understanding Month.  What does that mean?  That it is a time to focus on Rotary programs that emphasize peace and understanding around the world - programs like youth exchange, vocational exchange teams, ambassadorial scholarships, and world peace fellowships. February's Rotarian magazine features several peace scholars, and the work they are doing is truly inspiring.  What can we do to promote world peace and understanding through our club?