April 13, 2021 Meeting Notes

President Earl Crowe opened the hybrid meeting at 7 am. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag; Carol Adamson gave the Invocation. Members at Pybus enjoyed the return of food and coffee service! Thank you, Sherrie, for setting it up and thank you, Ruth, for ordering it from Glaze Bakery.

Announcements

Jim Adamson reminded us of the Club Spring Training Event on Sat., May 1st. There will be 3 breakout sessions the morning of Sat., 1 May 2021 (9:00, 10:00 & 11:00 am), each with 11 different topics and each at a unique Zoom meeting. The Zoom links for each session/subject will be sent out next week in an email to each club member, so you can register for the subject(s) you wish to attend.

On Sat., May 1, sessions are 9:00 am - 9:50 am, 10:00 am to 10:50 am and 11:00 am to 11:50 am. Each session has the same subjects in the same order. Subjects are:

• Leadership
• Club Secretary
• Club Treasurer
• Membership
• Public Image and Marketing
• The Rotary Foundation and International Service
• Community Service
• Fundraising
• Youth Services
• Adapting to Grow Rotary
• Rotary 101.

Regarding CSTE, District 5060 says: "To be MOST effective, every club should participate with AT LEAST 10 CLUB MEMBERS attending at least 2 of the 3 breakout sessions. Following the morning sessions and a lunch break, it is expected that EVERY CLUB will hold a Club Planning Session at 1:00 pm on the afternoon of 1 May. Note that every member of the Club Board should participate in the training, but it is valuable for every interested Rotarian in your club. There is NO COST for participation, just your time!"

Carol Adamson announced a Women in Rotary get-together on Tues., April 20th at 5 pm at the Hilton Garden Hotel by Pybus. 

Wenatchee Confluence Rotary Club is organizing a Cinco de Mayo Blood Drive at Pybus Public Market on Wed., May 5th from 10 am to 3 pm. They thought it would be fun to challenge other area Rotary clubs to see which club can donate the most blood. They're also raffling off $50 Pybus bucks that will go to a random donor that day. Here's the link the local Red Cross to sign up to donate: http://rcblood.org/3lFy7wG. Click on the RED CROSS over Pybus, then More Dates to get donation scheduling information.

The Rotary Foundation will have an on-line fundraiser gala on Wed., May 12th from 5 pm to 6 pm. Cost is $110 to join and $100 of it is donated toward your next Paul Harris award. Afterwards, at 6:30 pm, will be the Rotary District 5060 Awards Ceremony. There is no cost to attend the District 5060 awards ceremony so if you can't attend the Foundation Gala, be sure to attend the District awards ceremony. Both the Gala and Award Ceremony will be hybrid events (Zoom and Live at Pybus) in the Local-Tel Event Center and the Board Room next door. More info to come.

Board Meeting Summary

Club Secretary John Schapman gave a summary of the Mon., April 12th Board of Directors Meeting:

• Service Projects (proposed):
• Service Clubs' sign board at Wenatchee River Bridge, cleaning and painting
• Goathead Warriors attacking the infamous Goatheads throughout the Wenatchee Valley
• Mixology event
• Pybus Hybrid Meetings
• Hybrid meeting will continue as long as there are club members who feel unsafe in a public venue. If anyone needs help in setting up Zoom, contact Earl or Robin.
• Board of Directors Retreat
• Sat., May 22nd at 2 pm.
• Half of the time with be Kathleen discussing her goals for the club
• The other half will be Strategic Planning for the club
• It was decided that a laptop computer to use at Pybus during Hybrid meeting was required and purchase was authorized.
• Erik suggested someone within the club donate a recent/decent laptop computer. Erik Holmberg said he might just be that member.

Brags and Confessions

Kevin beamed with joy and forked over $10 to brag about his youngest daughter's first born baby girl, Audrey Marie. She was born three weeks early weighing only 6 pounds and has been gaining weight. Congratulations, the Loves!

Robin went camping at Steamboat Rock State Park and went Geocaching. They about got blown away. A neighbor's tent became a cocoon around him in the high winds. Her Blackhawks are in the top 16 hockey teams! Woo--hoo! $5 please!

Alan said the Trivia Night that had been set up netted 6 teams! Check out this link on the Chelan-Douglas Literacy Council for more details: Lit Council Fundraiser. Come on out to have fun and support the Literacy Council fundraiser. It's only $2.

Jim Adamson bragged about the 10 hardy souls who braved the cold and wind to have a social at the Martin-Scott Winery on Sat., April 10. Those in attendance were Pete, Rebecca, Craig & Tracy, Jim & Carol, Kathleen & Steve, Ruth and Dan. Hopefully, more socials with warmer weather are forthcoming!

Rebecca confessed that her daughter and friend had contacted the Wenatchee Police Department to ask them if there was anything they could do for the community. The PD found some graffiti they could eliminate, and put the 2 girls to work painting over some. Rebecca was so proud of the girls!

Craig, our treasurer, reminded the club about the new Marble Bag Raffle. Today's winner would receive half of the raffle money collected from the 3 previous meeting ($53.50 for today winner. See later results in this blog.)

Program

Erik Holmberg introduced his travel partner, Lester Cooper from the Lake Chelan Rotary Club. Lester is part of a group called Brighter Future Project, doing work in Kenya. The Lake Chelan Rotary Club originally started the project.

The project is primarily within 3 Kenyan cities, Nkoilale, Kisiriri and Iltumaro. 

The project's focus was to renovate classrooms with desks, doors, windows, lighting, floors and walls.

Corrugated tin roofs painted with red lead paint had to be removed and replaced. The water from the roofs helped fill water tanks for drinking water.

Bright classrooms with electric lights, wooden floors, and glass in the windows helped make an environment for learning. Primitive desks were replaced with study, safe, functioning desks.

Separate toilets for girls and boys were a huge improvement over the open pits previously used. Separate showers were also provided.

Water tanks provided potable water for the schools and the support villagers. Ground water contained large amounts of mercury and fecal materials.

As a result of the project the following measurable results were achieved:

• National testing scores improved by 15 points
• Number of students attending school increased from 629 to 854
• Girls staying home during their periods has been reduced rom 90% to 5%.

Other accomplishments include:

• New Rotary Club was chartered
• Feeding program for the sick and elderly was started
• Student recognition program was established
• Primary school mentorship program began.

A welding program was started which helped construct desks for the students.

Other programs started were computer and sewing programs.

Sewing machines were used to make masks, which were sold to provide income for the students.

The project has these future goals: 

• Continue to support 3 students in secondary school
• Support the building of a 600,00 liter water tank for Nagaswani hospital
• Support the renovation of Iltanaro primary school.

The Lake Chelan Rotary Club will match your $60 donation for a desk with one of their own. Please send your donation(s) to: Lake Chelan Rotary Community and International Fund, PO Box 601, Chelan, WA 98816 USA. Make checks payable to "Lake Chelan Rotary Club", and put BFP on subject line.

President Earl presented Lester with a children's library book that will be donated in his name to our Regional Libraries.

Carol Adamson requested thoughts and prayers for Katie Blair, a founding member of the Wenatchee High School INTERACT club member in 2005 and a former Rotary Exchange Student to France in 2006-2007. Early in this COVID pandemic, Katie was stricken with COVID-19 while living in New York City. She documented life in her tiny apartment as she struggled with the disabling virus. She eventually partially recovered from it, but now must use a walker to get around, and she has had some major surgeries. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. (See the April 7, 2020 Wenatchee Sunrise Rotary Club blog for Katie's full story.)

Progressive Marble Draw Raffle

Had Craig stayed the entire meeting, he might have been the winner with his raffle ticket that was drawn. Sadly, he could not and someone else was allowed to draw on his behalf. Kevin was task to select the winning marble for Craig, but failed to do so. Next Tuesday's raffle money will be added to the $107 from this meeting for an even bigger pot to win. Where's that silver marble?!?!
Better luck next week when the stakes will be EVEN HIGHER!

Closing

Earl closed the meeting at 8 am with this quote from Chuck Norris (Jim Huffman, this one's for you as you recover!): "A lot of times, people look at the negative side of what they feel they can't do. I always look on the positive side of what I can do!"