April 20, 2021 Meeting Notes

 

April 20, 2021 Meeting Notes

President Earl Crowe opened the hybrid meeting at 7 am. Carol led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag; Milt gave the Invocation. Sherrie and Ruth provided a great breakfast and coffee set up once again!

Announcements

Carol Adamson reminded everyone of the Women in Rotary get-together on tonight at 5 pm at the Hilton Garden Hotel by Pybus. Men welcome too!

The Club Spring Training Event is 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 soon in an email to each club member, so you can register for the subject(s) you wish to attend. If you need help, Kathleen will help you sign up!

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!"

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. There will be a variety show featuring lots of entertainment and worthwhile speakers. Meet in the board room at Pybus to participate together  if you're up for it. Food will be provided including desserts from La Vie En bakery and drinks as well.

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. We'll be getting together in our normal meeting area in the Pybus Event Center, but both the Gala and Award Ceremony will be hybrid events (Zoom and Live at Pybus). Special bonus is a cash bar during the District 5060 awards ceremony.

District 5060 has decided there will not be a dues increase next fiscal year. Additionally, there was a $30,000 surplus that wasn't able to be spent on travel, etc. this year, so they are rolling that into grants for clubs.

A decision on our club's participation in the youth exchange program will need to be made. It's a commitment, but very rewarding for those involved.

There are also open positions at the District level for those interested. Email Marjolein Lloyd at marjolein.lloyd@icloud.com if interested.

We will be doing the Farmers' Market takeovers again this year, starting on May 15th and continuing through the summer on the 3rd Saturday of each month. There will also be non-profit tables this year where we'll have one for kids activities and brochures for the parents. Sign-ups will begin next week so check your calendars and come ready with your availability.

Rotary Moment

Wayne supplied the Rotary moment regarding Maternal and Child Health month.
Almost six million children under the age of five die each year because of malnutrition, inadequate health care, and poor sanitation - all of which can be prevented.

Women in the 20th and 21st centuries have achieved significant progress in the economically progressive areas of the world, but women and girls in non-developed countries have a much more difficult life and must accept an unjustly inferior social status and tend to fall into traditional roles.

In April, Rotary worldwide has recognized this all so important bond of maternal and child health as one of our seven areas of focus.

Wenatchee Sunrise Rotary Club has supported both in contributing to The Stove Team, a Nicaraguan enterprise for producing basic, fuel-efficient cooking stoves for third world countries. These stoves significantly reduce the amount of smoke in their homes. Multiple contributions from Northwest Rotary Clubs helped build factories to produce concrete stoves using local paid labor. Mothers using the stoves acted as saleswomen and were paid a small amount for each stove sold. Several factories were completed.

Brags and Confessions

Jim Adamson confessed that he has been sending our meeting reminder emails out for over a month not realizing the Wheelchairs for Nigeria continued to be sent out as an attachment each time. It's a great organization, but come on!

Robin survived three days with grandkids and she even found time to sell stuff on Facebook Marketplace, her grandma's stool. And it wasn't just a sample, either! Someone from East Wenatchee purchased it and when Robin dropped it off, the woman gave her a bunch of Rotary pins since she saw it on Robin's Facebook profile. Included in the memorabilia was Jim Wade's Paul Harris medallion!

Dan bragged that he and Jackie are flying out to Maui to celebrate five glorious years of marriage, eight total! Just kidding, I'm sure they've all been wonderful! Congratulations!

Program

The 2021 Apple Blossom Royal Court was in full attendance with chaperone Debbie Gurnard. The festival website has all of the event details for the week, which will be a little bit later this year, the week of June 3-13; Grand Parade on Saturday, the 12th.

Full bios are available on the Royal Court website, but they spoke about some of their accomplishments, their hopes for the future, and their love of the valley's Apple Blossom Festival. Oh and the food fair, my favorite!

They sang a wonderfully in-tune song that they made up to the tune of Mama Mia and also spoke to some things that weren't in their bios. Kamryn has been able to travel on mission work and hopes to be able to visit Belize after graduation to do more. She also has been active shining a light on the difficult time many kids have had during the past year with COVID restrictions. Her mental health research has made it all the way to Olympia. Some of the findings included that one third of high school kids are failing at least one class and dropout rates have risen due to a significant decrease in motivation. See her full report and student responses here. They all are excited to be around kids and meet people through Apple Blossom. Great ambassadors for the festival and our valley.

It was interesting that Queen Brooke is the youngest of three, Kody is the oldest of four, and Kamryn is an only child. That pretty much covers it folks!

Both Eastmont and Wenatchee graduate on June 4th and the all service luncheon will be June 9th.

This year's Apple Blossom art print is by Jan Cook Mack.

Carol presented thank you gifts and cards plus a promise of a children's book donation.

Progressive Marble Draw Raffle

Wayne showed everyone the silver marble to prove that it was in the bag and when John Schapman's ticket was drawn, he graciously removed a different marble to make it easier for the next person. Thanks John!

If you thought the stakes were high this week, wait until next week, when, that's right, they'll be EVEN HIGHER YET! Next week's winner could take home more than $50.

Closing

Earl closed the meeting with this quote from Will Rogers, "Don't let yesterday take up too much of today." A good reminder for all. 

See you at the social tonight or next week!