Tuesday, March 23, 2021

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

March 23, 2021

President Earl Crowe opened our Hybrid meeting at Pybus Public Market at 7:05 am as he allowed some extra time for everyone to greet each other in person. Next week we'll start on time and then have time to say "Howdy!"

We had 15 club members physically attend the meeting, and 5 via Zoom as well. It feels good to see each other again.

Robin led the club in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and Milt led the invocation/inspiration.

John McDarment introduced his wife Betsy as his caretaker and guest.

Rotary Moment

Kevin provided another Rotary moment in our club's history by reliving an article from April 28, 1984 in the Wenatchee World detailing our involvement in Centennial Park's picnic shelter and performance stage. We wanted to leave something lasting behind and it's nice to see it still there!

Announcements

Wayne encouraged people to buy a raffle ticket for the privilege of drawing a marble from the magic marble bag. A reminder: this is a progressive 50/50 pot. The week's raffle winner gets the opportunity to try and draw the silver marble to earn half the prize. Each week a marble is drawn that is a loser is not replaced so your odds go up each week. But don't wait, buy now and support the kids. Remember it's all about the children!

April 6th marks the return of many things such as Spring, Monarch butterflies, and the exciting return of food service at our meetings! Ruth will again be coordinating with Glaze bakery on breakfast sandwiches, doughnuts, and more. Thanks Ruth!

April 10th at 5pm will be our next large social. We'll be at Martin-Scott Winery in East Wenatchee. Grab some eats and your lawn chair, and head over to the East side where there is a stunning view looking out over the river. Bring the kids and some money for wine, but don't get those two things confused! Bring some dangerous lawn games like lawn darts or corn hole too!

Tailgate Spring Fling at Martin-Scott Winery: 3400 Tenth St SE, East Wenatchee.

Brags and Confessions


PJ bragged about a two and a half week ski trip in Montana, Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho. Even had the opportunity stop in and check in on former member Wendell Cayton and his wife Loretta.

Dan and Alan both bragged about something, or maybe confessed to something, who knows. It's a secret unless you attended in person because the audio cut out for the Zoomers. Too bad, because it was a REALLY great moment! (Birthdays for both!)

Robin bragged about getting cuts from pruning roses (NOT bed bug bites!) and picking up guys at the city compost pile. It's interesting what she says when the DG isn't around. 

Jim Huffman confessed he was going to brag about going four weeks into chemo without losing hair, but... now he's starting lose it. And the hair isn't doing much better.

Rebecca gave a public service announcement that there are many appointments available at the Town Toyota Center for a Pfizer vaccination, even short notice so if you're interested, go to https://prepmod.doh.wa.gov/clinic/search.
Bill added that veterans can get their Moderna shot at the VA clinic. 


Program


Kathleen introduced today's speaker, Jerrilea Crawford, Mayor of East Wenatchee. She doesn't have much on social media, but you can find her throwing an axe (bullseye) and that she has a January birthday. She has been the East Wenatchee Mayor since just last year, but was on the City Council for four years prior to that as well as the Chamber of Commerce Deputy Director for seven years.

Jerrilea offered to talk about anything we wanted to know about and we asked to hear about a new park, city growth, new zoning, and sewer expansion.

She walked into city hall with new ideas, being the first new mayor in 21 years. Then COVID happened and city hall has been closed ever since. Some plans were, of course, postponed due to COVID, but with phase 3 here, she's looking to start rolling out more ideas.

As for growth, they have a lot more available land than Wenatchee and since East Wenatchee doesn't provide many services, they look to partner with others for them. This includes partnering on the sewer expansion out to Obadashian bridge and the north end. State funding is also helping with this.

Jerrilea is a proponent of controlled growth; 2006 was the last city annexation. The next annexation is likely to be from 3rd Street SE at Costco expanding to Kentucky in the South and to the river. This is part of the urban growth boundary. Then up to the airport and north to Obadashian bridge and even eventually out toward Rock Island.

Since they offer no utilities or parks, they partner with other entities, such as the county and port district. They try to balance community so they partner with Eastmont Metropolitan Parks District. The parks district's latest park is designed for a local community and does not have any parking associated with it as it is intended to serve the locals who can walk to it.

One hire she has made has been Police Chief Rick Johnson who Jerrilea recommended for a future program! They are part of regional police officer training for the first time. She'd also like to see the city place a school resource officer into Eastmont High School.

Speaking of partnering, East Wenatchee has passed a 0.1% sales tax for a homeless shelter sleep center. It is a low barrier facility so can't refuse service to anyone, even if they have been disruptive in the past. The funding is conditional on Wenatchee also passing the same sales tax increase to fund the sleep center. Wenatchee will be voting on this on Thursday.

She'd also like to see improvements made to the city hall campus. They are still working out of the old bus garage which has dirt floors and non-potable water.

Jerrilea closed with some secrets that could not be shared on the Zoom call. And was then presented with the fabled story of a children's book in her honor. 

Raffle


Craig was the raffle winner, but it was not for all the marbles. And most importantly, it was not for the silver marble. No worries, one less available for next week!

Air Show


Prior to the air race (not sponsored by Red Bull, but twice as dangerous) the fliers were judged. While "fixed" wing aircraft these were not, the owners and their planes with their accoutrements were judged and the following esteemed craft were the winners:
  • Most Creative - Wayne
  • Most fun and a fan favorite - Robin
    • The syringes also won it the most likely to give a free vaccination award
  • Most Rotarian - Betsy
  • Least Likely to fly and most school spirit - Carol
While the voters thought Carol's plane was most likely to "Coug it", she showed them what it really meant to Coug it, as her plane flew the furthest. Earl, not to be outdone, tied Carol for distance.

Closing


Earl closed with an inspirational and heartening quote,
"Whatever you are, be a good one." While this is often attributed to Abe Lincoln and was first attributed to him 80 years after his death, it is perhaps more likely a quote by William MakePeace Thackeray. I don't know for sure, I wasn't there. Probably on my phone at the time.

This is William Thackeray, the 19th century English novelist, not next week's program...

Next week's program is Tom Tochterman, Lake Chelan Rotary President, to explain and promote Rotary Action Groups.

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

March 16, 2021

President Earl Crowe opened our Hybrid meeting at Pybus Public Market at 7:05 am as he allowed some extra time for everyone to greet each other in person. We had many club members physically attend the meeting, and another 7 attend via Zoom. It was good to see other members in person!!

Jim Adamson led the club in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and Carol led the invocation/inspiration.

Visitors included Karen Gallie (Learning Well owner and 2/23 presenter) and District Governor Richard DeRock. The gov'na opined that it was his 2nd club visit. Many wondered if we had a better connection whether we would have been his FIRST club visit.

Rotary Moment


Wayne provided the Rotary Moment and recalled some early moments in club history:
  • 1988 - First Apple Century bike ride
  • 1988-89 - Rotary provided early support of the Riverfront Railway.
    • The railway was given to the community from a local orchardist who had it set up on his property.
    • Before the track could be set up at the riverfront, the aluminum rails were stolen.
    • Rotary worked with other community members to identify a location that could build new rails, but two tons of aluminum were needed. Rotary worked with Alcoa and soon two tons of aluminum were on their way to be turned into rails.
    • $40,000 was further raised to help the railway project leave the station.
  • 1991 - The Challenge Scholarship began
He also highlighted some of our previous club presidents:

  • Jim Adamson 1994-1995
  • Jim Huffman 1995-1996, 2016-2017
  • Craig Reese 2001-2002
  • Milt Herman 2003-2004
  • Bill McDowell 2005-2006
  • Dave Freimuth 2008-2009
  • Carol Adamson 2014-2015
  • Wayne Massing 2015-2016
  • Erin McCool 2017-2018
  • Taro Masuda 2019-2020


Announcements


Wayne announced that instead of the normal raffle, we would have a running raffle. The winner each week will get to draw a marble out of a bag of 40 marbles. If the "winner" marble is drawn, the winner will get half of the running pot. If the drawer is a loser (don't feel bad, we still like you, loser), the marble will not be replaced; there will be one less loser marble in the bag the next week. So don't fret losers, you're odds go up each week!

Food service at our morning meetings will resume beginning April 6th. Sherry will be back with coffee service and Ruth will work with Glaze bakery and handle the ordering. We will follow all guidelines so that likely means individual packaging and/or being served, so don't be grabby if it's not individually packaged!

Kathleen discussed a fun competition contest for next week - a flyover planes contest. There were some planes left over from our Halloween giveaway. Send her a text if you weren't at the meeting and she will get you a plane before next week's meeting. There will be prizes from Kathleen's attic for decorating, longest distance flown, and more. Don't forget a nickel for your pilot. They don't fly for free! Don't worry, you can get your nickel back at the end so you can still afford a raffle ticket next week, unless the flight is so embarrassing the sergeant at arms fines you five cents for your "effort".

Carol let us know of an event the social committee has helped arranged for us on April 10th at 5pm-ish at Martin-Scott winery in East Wenatchee, near the airport. Bring your own food if you'd like and we'll sit around the fire pit and do what Rotarians do best, socialize. Martin-Scott Winery, 3400 10th St SE, East Wenatchee.


Brags and Confessions


Brags and confessions were postponed until next week to give our speaker more time.



Earl closed the meeting at 8 am with an Oscar Wilde quote, 
"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken!"

    Friday, March 12, 2021

    March 9, 2021 First Hybrid Meeting Notes

    President Earl Crowe opened our first Hybrid meeting at Pybus Public Market at 7 am. We had 17 club members physically attend the meeting, and another 6 attend via Zoom. It was good to see other members in person!!

    Carol lead the club in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

    Rotary Moment


    Wayne described the birth of our Wenatchee Sunrise Rotary Club. The Wenatchee Rotary Club had

    recommended the creation of a "breakfast club" to honor Dr. Ed Cadman, Wenatchee resident, who went on to be a Rotary International President. The club's first meeting was on Tuesday, January 7, 1986, and it was officially Chartered on February 17, 1986.  The Charter Ceremony was conducted on April 11, 1986, and there were 425 attendees. Dr. Ed Cadman was the primary speaker.

    Two Charter Member of our club, Mansour Ravassipour and Jim Huffman, are still active club members!



    Gordon Law was the first president of the club. His notes said the big money fundraiser was selling hot dogs and sodas at the Apple Blossom Festival. They only profited because the food was donated by the Cannon Gold Mine. No doubt that club member Mark Anderson, mining supervisor, had something to do with that. More history to follow in subsequent Rotary Moments.

    Announcements


    Rebecca with the Social/Fellowship Committee said our next social will probably be at Martin-Scott Winery in April. More details to follow.

    Robin shared an idea for a fun fundraiser: Mixology Classes. A person with some knowledge about liquors (mixologist) is needed, and club members will pay $50 to attend all the classes offered from 4-6 pm on planned evenings over 4-6 weeks. The mixologist sends out a list of ingredients early in the
    week for that week's drinks. The attendees have the rest of the week to buy the ingredients for that week's class. Sponsors and mixologist are needed. More information to follow.

    "Take Over Pybus Market" will start the 2nd Saturday of May and continue through the summer. Volunteers are needed. Contact Kathleen if interested.

    President Earl shared the Board Meeting notes:

    • Service Projects - Cleaning and painting the Service Clubs' sign board at the entrance to Wenatchee near the Wenatchee River bridge. Date later when weather warms.
    • Bike Ride - The Board of Directors voted to cancel the Apple Century Bike Ride for 2021 due to the restrictions from CoVid. Alan Walker, Chair of the Bike Ride Committee shared that other similar rides were also cancelling, and a ride scheduled later in the year would conflict with late pear and apple harvests and extra road traffic generated. Calculations about funds need to support our Challenge Scholarship Program would be self-sustaining at $300k. We now have about $282k. It was also suggested to contact previous riders and sponsors to solicit donations to our Challenge Scholarship Program.

    Brags and Confessions


    Robin bragged that she took her mentee to an Ax Throwing competition, then read a text she received from the mentee about Robin being the "coolest old person" the mentee knows!

    Jim Huffman said he is in his 3rd week of chemo treatment and still has all his hair!

    Jim and Carol Adamson's grandson played in his first tennis match in Oregon and had 5 wins!

    Eric's granddaughter just turned 2 years old. Also, on a recent trip to Coeur d'Alene, he ran into Craig's daughter. He also explained about sleep apnea and a device he is touting that can help with poor sleep. 

    Robin received a card from our Youth Exchange Student Adele from Switzerland. She missed us and
    says she is loosing her ability to speak English. Chocolates were sent to the club and Robin shared them with club members at Pybus. Sorry "Zoomers"!


    Earl paid off his car and someone T-boned it the next day. There's a lesson there....


    Club's Goals for 2020-2021


    Earl cited the following club goals and their status:
    • Club membership: (goal of 45, now at 39)
    • Service Projects: (goal of 10/yr, now at 9)
    • Service Project volunteers: (goal of 25 met)
    • Sponsoring new members: (goal of 2 met)
    • Leadership training: (goal of 5 met)
    • District Trainings: (goal of 4 met)
    • Annual fund contributions: (goal of $4500, now at $1650)
    • Polio Plus contributions: (goal $1500, met at $1625)
    • Bequeath society: (goal of 2, met) (Minimum of $10k in will to The Rotary Foundation)
    • Benefactor society: (goal of 4, now none) ($1000 gift to The Rotary Foundation in estate plan)
    • Strategic Planning: Schedule for May 2021)
    • Social events: (goal 8, met)
    • Media coverage: (goal 2, met).

    Shotgun Classification - Robin DeRock


    In 3 minutes, Carol Adamson asked Robin as many questions as she could, and Robin had to answer each. The following were some of those questions:
    • Where were you born? LA
    • What was your first job? Del Taco
    • What was your worst job? Del Taco
    • What did you want to be when you grew up? Teacher/cop/nurse
    • How long have you lived in Wenatchee? 18 years
    • What's the most fun Rotary Club in Wenatchee? (Robin's husband is in the Wenatchee Confluence Club.) The Wenatchee Sunrise Rotary Club
    • Why a morning club? The coffee!
    • What's your best vacation? Beach and mountains
    • Who's your hero? My Grandmother
    • What's your greatest accomplishment? Having and raising 2 good kids
    • What's one word to describe yourself? Shy (?)
    • What's your favorite song? "Born to Run'
    • Who's your favorite world leader? Nelson Mandela
    • Where did you go on your first date? Movies to see "Logan's Run"
    • Why did you choose Wenatchee to live? 4 seasons.
    Kathleen announced that next week's speaker is Amina Ahmed Al-Tarouti, a mother and her son who escaped from Saudi Arabia. She is a member of the Saudi American Justice League. She will be accompanied by Bethany Al-Haidari, a previous speaker at our club, and who is also affiliated with the SAJL.

    Earl asked for feedback from the first hybrid meeting. "Get a better microphone." "Some of the audio on the Zoom part was breaking up." Pybus Facilities Manager Johnathan said he would like to try a device called "Owl" to see if the audio and video improves. Overall, the club seemed to like the meeting format.

    Please note the need for greeters at Pybus. Check this blog for the greeter needed next week!

    Earl adjourned the meeting at 7:50 am.

    Thursday, March 4, 2021

    March 2, 2021 Meeting Notes

    Kathleen McNalty, President-Elect, started the meeting at 8:00 am with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Ruth Dagg lead the club with the Invocation.

    Announcements


    Kathleen announced to the club that a club hybrid meeting will take place at Pybus at 7:00 am on Tuesday, March 9, 2021. Club members who wished to meet in person at Pybus (social distanced and wearing masks) were welcome to attend at the Pybus "Local Tel Event Center". Others who wished to attend the meeting via Zoom will be given the Zoom meeting number before the Tues. meeting. No coffee or food can be served, but you are welcome to bring your own food and coffee. Multiple
    cameras/laptops will allow those on Zoom to see those in the Pybus meeting. The Zoom attendees will be visible to those at Pybus on the big screen at the front of the room! More on this later, but it looks like it might work very well for our meetings in the future. For this meeting, there will be no speaker! (Unfortunately, no Bluetooth service will be available for those with hearing aids.) See a separate email sent by Kathleen for more Hybrid Meeting info!

    Kathleen also reminded those attending the Pybus meeting to wear your Rotary pins (remember those?) as the Sgt. at Arms will be checking for them. Wayne nodded!


    Jackie Rector said she and husband Dan have a loving female cat, Evie, to put up for adoption to a good home. Their 2 male cats are not friendly to her. Evie is healthy, 8 years old and very loving. Contact Jackie if you want to adopt her. Meow! jackielrector@gmail.com or 206-965-5045

    Sgt. at Arms



    Sgt. at Arms Wayne said he had been seeing Alan and Kelly Walker a week ago on Facebook, enjoying the warmth of Arizona. They didn't brag about it to the club, so were fined $10! They said it was worth it!!

    Brags and Confessions


    Ruth bragged about her mentee Eveline attending West Side Academy.

    Wayne thanked Chris McDarment for composing the Blog two weeks ago, and thanked Rebecca Lyons adding a new section to the Blog called (for now) Rotary Corner! Visit the Blog to see it. (If you're reading this, you're there!)

    Wayne also donated $73 to the NCW Foundation, Salisbury Fund, for his birthday on the 1th of March!

    PJ was off for a skiing trip around the Western US.

    John Schapman bragged about his church raising $125k, but was increased by donation matching to $250k.

    Alan said that the Community Action Council had been nominated as Non-Profit of the Year! The Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce had made the nomination
    announcement.



    Program

    Pete Blanksma introduced our speaker, Jim Beeson, Wenatchee High School Athletic Director.

    Jim spoke about the CoVid-19 guidelines that they were required to follow, which left many of the high school's sporting events unattended by fans. The Wenatchee School District has recently changed the rules (following the Washington Dept. Of Health, and Governor's Guidelines) to allow the students to start using the locker rooms at the high school, but only 6 at a time. Fans would still not be able to attend the games because of the strict 200 person attendance at the Apple Bowl in Wenatchee only allows 200 attendees, which also includes both teams, staff and last, the fans.

    Student athletes still get their temperatures taken when getting on the bus headed to sporting events. Despite the CoVId rules, the student athletes are still very busy. Home games can still only be attended by home fans, not visiting fans.

    Some game where the sport field is inside a park, the coaches control the rules inside the fences and the park department controls the rules outside the fence.


    Some middle school sports started this Tuesday. Tennis and Cross-Country being two of them. Students will have split shifts, morning and afternoon, for these trainings. About 30% of the students are in good physical shape, but about 70% are not because of the CoVid restrictions and students not getting any exercise at home.

    Jim said there has been a documented increase in students' academic performance if they are involved in sports. It building leadership and working together for a common goal.

    Kathleen, President-Elect, thanked Jim for his speaking to the club, and said the club will donate a children's book in his name to the NCW Libraries.

    ROTARY CORNER (Contributed by Rebecca Lyons)

    Just what is “The Rotary Foundation”?   

    According to Rotary International, “The mission of the Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.”

    The foundation was founded more than 100 years ago to provide a vehicle for Rotarians to tackle problems and make lives better throughout our communities and around the world.  It demonstrates the power of  individual members to work together to achieve major progress in the areas of preventing disease, providing clean water, supporting education, growing local economics, saving mothers and children and promoting peace.  Since its beginning, the Foundation has spent more that $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects.


    One of the projects enabled Rotary members from Durango, CO to team with the Navajo Nation to bring solar lights to remote, off-the-grid homes on the USA’s largest Native American reservation.  Not only did this enable access to things many of us take for granted (such as light at night or refrigeration), but also helped alleviate many of the health problems associated with reliance on kerosene for heating, cooking and light.  Read more about the project in this link: https://www.rotary.org/en/rotarians-bring-light-navajo-checkerboard

    Wenatchee Sunrise Rotary asks that members each donate $100 to the Rotary Foundation every year to help the Foundation accomplish these and many other projects that align with the mission.  Is there a project you would like to see Foundation support for in our community or the world?

    Meeting ended at 8 am.


    April 23 Meeting Notes

      The meeting was opened by President Craig Reese, who introduced visiting Rotarian John Fishburn from Leavenworth.     John gave an announc...