Meeting Notes for November 24, 2020

Announcements

Elections will be held December 8th.  Be at the meeting so you can see the ballot and vote.  The Board has approved to put Jim & Carol Adamson on the ballot as co-vice-presidents for next year.  Unless someone else has the desire to step in, they will continue to co-pres-elect, and co-president in 2022-23.

The Burundi Christmas boxes are doing well.  There is still time to donate $25 to supply a widow and children with a box of practical goodies for Christmas.  Contact Ruth Dagg if you'd like to participate.

The Tuesday, Dec. 22  meeting will be at 6:00 pm (no morning meeting) to celebrate Christmas with Santa Clause (virtual).  Same zoom link.  We are doing white elephant gift exchange.  If you'd like to participate, contact Earl Crowe.  He and his elves will pick up your wrapped gift and deliver one to you on Dec. 5.  This means you need to let him know soon, and get the gift ready for pickup.

Brags & Confessions

Wayne met with his Challenge Scholar mentee.  He also bought a new Toyota Highlander Hybrid, and some living room furniture.

Ruth has had three family weddings in the recent months, all impacted negatively by COVID.

Alan said Community Action Council has helped 432 families with  rental assistance to the tune of $875,000, and they just got an additional $225,000 to work with.  He and Kelly had to cancel another trip due to COVID.

Robin and Richard replaced the Rotary signs at the entrance to Weantchee.

PJ is going to Salt Lake to be with his son in Thanksgiving.

Earl had his identity stolen.  Fortunately, due to some past flags on his credit reports, the hackers were not able to get into anything.

Rotary Moment  

Kevin Love summarized a couple articles from the December Rotarian.  One was about lost leaders and how the failures of some of the world's leaders drove them to succeed. The other related the built in bonus of how stress levels can be lowered by helping others.

Program

Steve Crown, chief of the Wenatchee Police Department, gave updates on what has been happening since he last talked to us in August.

• expanded social media (added Instagram) that has helped solve some local crimes.
• online auctions are creating small police and firefighter parades for kids to the high bidders
• COVID has not affected the budget too much yet, and they hope to hire a couple more officers to bring the force back to the level it was in 2009.
• the new special services division is busy with gangs, drugs, homelessness, and mental health issues
  
• the new strategic plan created from public surveys and internal goals will come out in January

Steve answered questions related to gangs, COVID crimes and affects, and school involvement.  You can contact him at scrown@wenatcheewa.gov if you ever have questions.

Meeting Notes Nov. 17

Announcements

President Earl Crowe open the meeting at 7 a.m.

November is normally The Rotary Foundation month and our TRF chairman Craig Reese gives a presentation about it. Due to some family health issues, Craig is not available this month for that program. It will be given on Tues. Dec. 29th.

We have an opportunity to help widows and children in Burundi through the Sister Connection (https://sisterconnection.org/). Boxes of all kinds of useful goodies will be given to them, and for $25, you can sponsor a person's gift box. Email Ruth if you would like to donate (rldagg@gmail.com).

Dec. 8th is the date for club elections. We are still in need of a Vice President for the Rotary year starting July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. If you would like to step up to holding this prestigious office, contact Taro M. (taromasuda@hotmail.com).

President Earl presented Craig Reese with the Wenatchee Sunrise Rotary Club's October Rotarian of the Month award for all the work Craig has done with the Challenge Scholarship Program, and being Club Treasurer. Congratulations, Craig!!

Our morning meeting on Dec. 22 will be changed to an evening Zoom meeting with Santa Claus starting at 6 p.m. Santa, who lives in Earl's basement, will be there!

The Fellowship Committee announced that the Dinner-For-Six dinners in December is being put on hold due to the new CoVid virus restrictions. Watch this blog for more information when they start up again.

PJ Jones said the Alatheia Riding Center is having its annual fundraiser. Any donations are doubled within the next 30 days.

Road Apple Roulette - We need prizes - we all need to get a couple donations. Kathleen has a form for tracking donations. We can start selling tickets for squares after we have our gambling permit. Contact Kathleen if you have donations. 

Dinners-for-6 may start up again in January. More details later.

Brags and Confessions

Earl and his son-in-law are trying a new diet. Earl has lost 40 pounds and dropped 5 points in his blood pressure.

Wayne met with his new mentee.

Robin showed the club the updated sign that lists our meeting day, time and location. The new sign will be posted on the Service Club sign board near the Wenatchee River bridge.

Kevin bragged about baby sitting his grandson Marshall.

PJ made a trip to the Sheridan, Wyoming area to help former club member Wendall Cayton and his son-in-law build two ranch buildings. A good time was had by all.

Wayne bragged about Tom Utigard (birthday Nov. 18) and Mansour Ravassipour (headed to winter-over in Arizona).

Program

Laurel Turner, Executive Director of The Women's Resource Center of NCW, (http://wrc-ncw.org/index.html) was our program speaker. Laurel is a member of the Wenatchee Rotary Club.

The Women's Resource Center provides individuals and families experiencing poverty and homelessness with the housing and supportive services they need to be part of a healthy, diverse community. It has been part of the Wenatchee Valley since 1980. The agency currently runs the following programs:

• Permanent Supportive Housing at the 15 unit Parkside Apartments that houses individuals who were previously, chronically homeless, have a diagnosed mental illness and earn less than 30 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI)
• 
  Bruce Transitional Housing at the Bruce Hotel provides a home to families and individuals transitioning out of homelessness
  
• Homeless Street Outreach to provide approved meals, water, hygiene products, information and a listening ear
• Wenatchee Valley Landlord Tenant Liaison Program is part of the City of Wenatchee's Ten-Year Plan to end homelessness

The Severe Weather Program will kick off on December 1st and run through February 1st. It wasn't used during the early months of 2020 because of the CoVid pandemic.

In January each year, the homeless count is taken. In 2017, the Chelan-Douglas homeless count was #5 in the state behind King County. In 2018, we were #2 behind King County.

If you are in need of housing in the Wenatchee area, you can call the Community Housing Network at 509-888-9035, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They can help determine the best service provider for your situation. Laurel thanked Wenatchee Sunrise Rotary Club for their support in the past.

President Earl said that a children's library book would be donated to the NCW Libraries in the name of The Women's Resource Center of NCW.

Meeting adjourned at 7:45 a.m.

November 10 Meeting notes

                                                                                                      

Announcements

Board Highlights

• club elections Dec. 8 - we still need a VP for 2021-22                
• club will donate $2100 to the Nigeria Wheelchair project for    the donor advised fund
• hybrid meetings are on hold until after the new year
• approved quilting some of our club banners from member visits around the world
• Tuesday, Dec. 22 will be changed to an evening virtual meeting with Santa at 6 pm

Road Apple Roulette

we need prizes - we all need to get a couple donations

Kathleen has a form for donations to track who and what that she will get us

we can start selling tickets for squares after we have our gambling permit

Dinners-for-6 may start up again in December or January (or both).  More details later.

We have an opportunity to help widows and children in Burundi.  Boxes of all kinds of useful goodies will be given to them, and for $25 you can sponsor a person's gift box. Email Ruth if you would like to donate (rldagg@gmail.com).

Brags and Confessions

Robin is taking her challenge scholar mentee to Olive Garden

Ruth met with her new mentee

Jim & Carol met with their new mentee

Kathleen got to see their daughter on her birthday.  It has been a long time due to COVID, and right after they met they were all exposed (no positives).

John S's son had a birthday and finished off the string of birthdays for their 7, 4 and 1 year olds.

Jill talked with ex-member Alice Thompson and got a hug - Mitch is going through another round of cancer treatment.

Alan said that Community Action Council unveiled their new mobile food pantry.

Wayne gave a Rotary Moment discussing Foundation Month, and the adapting polio efforts during COVID.

Program

Chelsea Lenker, Founder and Coordinator of Stuff-a-Sackpack, explained how the program helps homeless and needy teenagers.  Citizens and businesses donate goods to stuff sackpacks with fun things, gift cards, and non-perishable foods for the holiday season.  The organization goes through school administrators to get names of kids, and the stuffed bags are delivered to the schools, who then get them to the kids.  With COVID, safety precautions are in place at every step.  There is more need during the pandemic with many students being isolated already.  There have been requests for 545 packs.  Warm clothes and shoes are also appreciated.

On December 4-5, a dozen volunteers will receive, process, and box all the donations.  People can help by partnering as a group, volunteering to help, donating to schools, donating to the non-profit directly, and/or writing cards or letters of encouragement to students to go in the packs.

Find more information, and instructions for donating on their website: stuffasackpack.com.

November 3rd Meeting Notes

President Earl Crowe was not available, so Kathleen McNalty, Club Vice President, brought the meeting to order. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag was completed, and Jim A. gave the Invocation.

Induction of New Members

Jackie and Dan Rector were introduced by Jim Adamson, and were inducted into the Wenatchee
Sunrise Rotary Club as the "newest Rotarians in the World!" Jackie is a WSU graduate (Go Cougs!), and has a BA in Communications. She started her realty career in Tampa, Florida, then became a property manager in Seattle. Dan is originally from Virginia, went to school at the University of Michigan (Go BLUE!) and earned a degree in Electrical Engineering. Jackie and

Dan married in 2018 at Lake Chelan, and are now both part of Century 21 Realty. They both like taking hikes, visiting national parks, and running 5K races. Dan's grandfather was a Past District Governor in an Eastern Canada Rotary District. Welcome Jackie and Dan as the newest members to the earliest Rotary Club in Wenatchee! Congratulations and welcome to the club!

Announcements

Kathleen announced that the Rotary Airplane folding was a success this past week at Ridgeline Graphics. Hundreds of airplanes were assembled for distribution at the Halloween Day "Candy Cruz" at Pybus Market. Those attending and assembling were: Kathleen, John McD., Chris McD., Wayne, Carol & Jim, Jackie and Dan, Sam, Milt, Kevin & Lynn, Robin, and Bill.

Speaking of the Halloween Day "Candy Cruz," club members turned out to hand out those

airplanes and candy to the kids as they cruised by with their parents. The weather held out and it was a lot of fun!

PJ Jones reminded the club of the Fund Raising Committee's meeting on Wed. Nov. 4th at Pybus at 5:30 pm. The Public Image Committee will talk about the different medias we can use to get information out about the Road Apple Roulette part of the Apple Blossom Parade 2021. 

Carol Adamson was the recipient of the purple/green, traveling unicorn wig. She was happy to be moving it along to the next club member, who has to keep it until they show up at a meeting wearing it!!

Wayne announced the meeting of the Public Image Committee tonight, Tues, Nov. 3rd, 5:30 pm via ZOOM. ClubRunner will be discussed as a possible support tool for our club's website. 

Jim Huffman met with the Manager of Pybus to discuss future hybrid meeting (part live, and part via ZOOM). We may use the smaller meeting room there because we will be limited by the number of people we can have together. As of today, we will not be able to have food at the meeting. More information to follow as we figure it out.

Kathleen asked the club if anyone had a Holiday project for the club. A family to "adopt" for the Holiday, or another project. Contact Taro.

Kathleen showed the club the Rotary ClubRunner application on her phone, and how to sign up, log in, and use the app to find other club member's phone numbers, addresses, etc. She will be giving more information about this at a later date.

Brags and Confessions

Chris and wife Holly enjoyed a road trip to Pendleton, Oregon, to buy a blanket for his brother. After some wine tasting along the way, they arrived home in Wenatchee to find they had left the blanket at the store in Pendleton! They decided to have another road trip down to Pendleton to retrieve the blanket. After getting home, they discovered the blanket was the wrong size (someone had put it in the wrong pile and they grabbed it). This time they contacted the Pendleton store and the owner offered to exchange it for them; no travel involved!

Wayne participated in a Washington State Department of Health survey regarding the public education, distribution and acceptance of the CoVid-19 vaccine, when it become available. He received a stipend for his work and donated 10% of it to the club.

John Schapman introduced his wide-eyed daughter Leona to the Zoom meeting crown. The 14 month old didn't have much to say!

New members Jackie and Dan Rector introduced their cat Pepper, one of two other cats in their home on Upper Sunny Slope.

Rotary Moment

Kevin read from the November 2020 issue of the Rotary Magazine regarding activities of Rotary Clubs in Athens, Ohio, and in Denver, Colorado. The Denver club was able to mobile many volunteers to help the local food bank distribute food.

Classification Talk

Alan Walker introduced his wife Kelly, who gave her classification talk. Both admitted to having "practice marriages" before they met and married!

Kelly was born in Spokane and lived in Chelan area before moving to Ellensburg in 2001.

There she met Alan through the Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce. Alan was the Executive Director of the Chamber, and Kelly was a Chamber Ambassador. The chemistry happened and in 2006, they were married and moved to Wenatchee. Each brought two children to the marriage, and they have two grandchildren, ages 10 and 14 years old, who live in Washington state.

Kelly worked for Cashmere Valley Bank in Ellensburg before moving to the Easy Street bank in Wenatchee. She's been at Cashmere Valley bank for 19 years, and is currently the Retail Operations Officer at the Maple Street branch. (Kelly was a dental assistant previously, but the seeing blood and fainting was a sure sign to find another calling!)

Hiking or walking outdoors, reading and travel are hobbies they both enjoy. Kelly was able to join Alan in his travels to Rotary International's Convention in Lisbon, Portugal, and travels on to France. They had planned a vacation to Tuscany this year, but that was postponed by the CoVid virus.

Welcome Kelly!

VP Kathleen closed the meeting with a reminder, on this Election Day, to please use the Four Way Test while being around others! Be kind!

    -Is it the Truth?

    -Is it fair to all concerned?

    -Will it build goodwill and better friendships?

    -Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Meeting adjourned at 8 am.