May 12 Meeting Notes

23 people attended the meeting today.  Tom Utigard was present for the first time, and Leonard Noss was here again.  It was good to see them both.

Announcements

District Governor Peter Schultz dropped in (zoom) to say hi.  He gave us an update on what Rotary International is doing.  All staff travel has been cancelled through December, International Convention in Hawaii is cancelled, International Assembly in January will probably be cancelled, youth exchange will be cancelled, shortened, or postponed for next year, and more.  Peter did say that the work of Rotary is going on, and our district has been a leader in meeting virtually.

Kelly Walker relayed a message from Alan of a possible collaboration between our club and the Chelan Rotary club.  They have two bike rides scheduled September 19, and have over 300 riders registered now. They may need help putting the events on.  This would be a great opportunity for fellowship, and a chance to bring some much needed income.  More to come.

Have ideas for guest speakers?  This may be a great time to get good speakers from far away, since we are virtual now.  If you have ideas, contact Jim Huffman, Kathleen McNalty.

Program

Blakely Browne, director of Upper Valley Mend gleaning, gave a program on the efforts to provide foo for needy families though that program.  Upper Valley Mend, based in Leavenworth, is made up of several entities such including Community Trust, clinics, Community Cupboard, and others.  They partner with several valley partners including Serve Wenatchee, Wenatchee River Institute, summer camps, Boy Scouts, Rotary Lions, etc.  The gleaning part was actually started by Rotary 1st Harvest in Seattle, which spread to Wenatchee and then Leavenworth.

The gleaning groups harvests excess and non-marketable crops in the valley. Some stats in 2019:
     27,000 pounds harvested
     $77,135 in value
     71 volunteers
     427 hours of volunteer help
These figures were about half of the previous year, so the goal is to double the 2019 numbers in 2020.

Food harvested goes to Community Action for storage and distribution to various food banks and shelters in the area.  Get more information at uvmend.org or email Blakely at gleaning@uvmend.org.