Meeting Notes Dec. 15, 2020

 

Announcements

Earl reminded us of next week's meeting will be a night visit with Santa on Tuesday, Dec. 22nd, at 6 pm. Santa is scheduled to visit. The White Elephant exchange gifts have been collected and redistributed, thanks to Earl and his elves. Please refrain from opening your gift until the night of the social. 

Bill McDowell showed us his purple/green wig! Nice locks, Bill Who gets this wig next! Watch your doorstep!

John Schapman recapped the Board of Directors meeting notes from Monday, Dec. 14th meeting:

• Dues structure and discounts were discussed. The Membership Committee will look into the discounts
• Donor advised fund was discussed
• Club Runner was discussed. The Public Image Committee will offer input next year as to whether or not we migrate our website over to that base or not
• The board voted to contribute $1000 to the Friends of Emmanuel University-India
• The board decided to wait for any funding to The Sister Connection.
• The board decided to drop one member from the club roster due to lack a payment of dues and lack of participation in club service projects.

Shanley Crane, Assistant/Area Governor for Area 6, gave words of encouragement to members of Wenatchee Sunrise Rotary Club during these difficult times! She has been enjoying the visits to all the clubs in her area, Wenatchee, Wenatchee Sunrise, East Wenatchee, Wenatchee Confluence, Cashmere, Leavenworth and Chelan Rotary Clubs.

Ruth thanked the club for the "Widows Boxes" collected for the Sisters Connection in Burundi. The Wenatchee Sunrise and East Wenatchee Rotary Clubs participated.

Rotary Moment

Wayne discussed a Public Image grant that the Public Image Committee applied for. A new canopy will be purchased, and after submitting a photo of it and the receipts, District 5060 will reimburse us about $200.

Brags & Confessions

Robin has returned from Southern California after a visit with her aging mother, who might be moving to Wenatchee. Robin's Romba vacuum robot hit a "cat dropping", then tracked it throughout the house! The robot also spread it inside its inner, mechanical workings! What a mess!

Erik and his son are headed to Sea-Tac airport so his son can fly to Israel. He will be a construction manager there for a 3 year contract. Not bad for 24 years old!

Erik asked Tom about his wolf and deer conflict at his feeding station near his house. Tom said 4 wolves had chased off most of the deer he feeds. Tom said a 5-point buck deer was in his yard last night, however.

John Schapman was preparing for a school online auction for St. Joseph Catholic School. More details at www.stjoesauction.com The auction is Feb. 7th-13th. Check out the video (forthcoming, but check the website) showing the items to bid on.

Rebecca thanked the club for participating in the "Stuff-A-Sack", where clothing and personal care items are collected for high school students. She had several co-workers at the Washington Apple Commission help out as well.

Earl and his daughter were headed across the mountains to Covington to the Tahoma National Cemetery. A local Wenatchee veteran's ashes were not claimed, so Earl and his daughter were going to have them interred at this veterans' cemetery. While in the South Sound area, they will visit with their family and exchange gifts.

Kevin said the "gender reveal" of his daughter and son-in-law's newest grandbaby-to-be was postponed because the son-in-law was exposed to CoVid. He's in quarantine and after that, will be back to the gender reveal!

Program

Our program was supposed to be our former Youth Exchange student (2001) Paula Mota, but she wasn't on the ZOOM call. PDG Jim Adamson led a discussion about recent YE students, club members who have been YE students before, club members who have had their children go abroad as YE students, and club members who have been YE family hosts.

Joseph Bernard, a recent YE student from France, was on today's call. He is currently studying in Switzerland. He said it didn't seem like a year ago that he was here in Wenatchee. When he first arrived, he could not wait to get back home. He had 3 great host families that changed his mind about leaving America! He enjoyed our country's diversity, and its people. His time here really helped his English language skills, which he is using now in college.

Rebecca was a YE student back in 1979-1980, and went to West Germany for her year. She had hope to go to France, but the YE travel person thought her name sounded German and that she looked German! She confessed that the YE experience was the most dramatic event in her life. It benefited her getting an international sales job with the Washington Apple Commission.

Robin has a daughter who spent a year in Switzerland while she was 15 years old. One host family had a difficult time before and during her time there, and ultimately got a divorce! Her daughter came back with a better appreciation of chocolate and cheese. Robin's son went to Turkey after graduation and only had 1 host family during his entire stay there. He still wants to return to Turkey.

Joel Banken was a YE student in high school and went to Mexico. His learning to speak and read Spanish has helped him in his current job as a healthcare doctor at Stimelt Growers. He and his wife Julie have hosted YE students from France, Thailand, Italy, and Brazil. His two sons have been YE students to Thailand and India.

Chris' son went to Thailand without knowing any Thai language or reading skills. After about a month of immersion into the culture, he was very fluent. All host families in Thailand speak Thai only; no English! Chris and wife Holly had more free time with him being gone!

Many of our club member have been host families for inbound Youth Exchange students. Jim and Carol said you gain a child and become attached to them. They traveled to Europe and visited their YE student after 19 years.

Joseph Bernard said he has hosted 2 American YE girls since he has been back to France, and looks forward to hosting more!

Earl closed the meeting with a quote from Steve Jobs: "Work fills a major part of your life. Do what you believe is great work!"

Meeting adjourned at 8 a.m.