July 13, 2021 Meeting Notes

President Kathleen (PK) called the meeting to order at 7 AM. Erik led the the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, and Ruth gave the Invocation. The members said "Howdy!" and then waded through the announcements. There's a lot going on!

Announcements

Earl and Kaity became bequest society members and Dan presented certificates and PK presented pins. Way to go and sooo easy! Ask them how they did it!

Women in Rotary will meet tonight (Tuesday) at 5:30pm at the Hilton Garden Inn. Don't be fooled and go to the one by the airport, this is the one by Pybus.

Kevin asked for help with the flags at Rotary Park. When the state determines flags need to be lowered to half-mast, Kevin and Phil Rasmussen get an email telling them to lower the flags. They share duties but Kevin would like some backup help for when he is out of town. Erik volunteered to help, but let Kevin know if you would also like to learn what to do and when!

John S gave a board update from yesterday's meeting.

• Chris and Carol/Jim were welcomed as new board members. At a previous Tuesday meeting, club members offered to help sponsor a Sister Connection widow through the in3 program. Since club members donated $900, the board agreed to fill the remaining $600 to complete the 3-year donation.
• Snuggle Bunnies requested a $1500 donation and the board decided to table any further decisions on donations and support for any new requests until the next meeting. Between now and then, the club will decide on a vision and mission statement to help our club focus on direction. Be looking for this at a meeting soon!
• The process for background checks for club members in the mentor program is under review by Dave and Craig.
• Craig discussed financial goals including increased controls and auditing for the treasurer. Looking to add an assistant that can provide depth and separation in the process. 
• For committee reports:
• The fundraising committee is always looking for more help and new ideas. If you are familiar (or would like to become familiar) with state rules on gambling, we need you! The Road Apple Roulette could use some assistance in navigating past the obstacles to get approved.
• The Challenge Scholarship is getting ready to distribute the 2nd stipend round.
• Tomorrow night there is an unveiling of the "Connecting People with Purpose" slogan.
• Join us Wednesday at 5:30pm on Zoom - No masks required.
• ZOOM EVENT:
• WEDNESDAY 5:30pm 
• Join Zoom Meeting
• https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82774995325?pwd=SUlCd1RjeFc2anZBNjhzRUNqYzc1dz09
• Zach Pauw will have his orientation on 7/23.
• And finally, Fellowship will try to coordinate with service projects. Look for an opportunity following our next project - this month after goathead annihilation. Sorry, those goatheads really get my... uh, goat.

Jackie promoted our next Farmers Market takeover on July 17th which will once again include a pet food drive for the Humane Society. And if the Humane Society said they need help with, it's cats, cats, cats! They have a hundred and one cats and need help. And not the kind you make a movie about! They need cat food and dog treats. Pybus Takeover again on August 21st. 

We'll do a final pet parade and accept Humane Society donations on October 30th at 10:30am at Pybus.

Then on 7/24, at 7 am, we'll be helping Goathead Warriors at a location TBD. Fellowship afterward!

We'll also be helping with the backpack giveaway at CVCH again this year on August 7, from 8-11am.

Ruth read a Stage Kids 10-year old's response to the clubs' support and donations. Thank you Erik and Kristen for matching the club's donations and then some!

Next week's Tuesday club meeting will be in the board room at Pybus rather than in the main event center so that we can practice and get in the spirit of Snuggle Bunnies.

Dan read a Foundation Minute. The Rotary Foundation is the charitable arm of Rotary International and maintains non-profit status. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions from people who share its vision of a better world. Its sole mission is to support the efforts of Rotarians through Rotary's mission, and the achievement of world understanding and peace through local, national and international humanitarian and educational programs in our back yard and around the globe.

Alan gave a Apple Century Bike Ride update. The 34th edition is set for 9/25 and will start and end at Walla Walla Park. Thank you PUD! He complimented John M on the turn by turn directions and gave a few statistics for past rides:

• Average rider is over 50 years old
• 75% are male
• 75% ride the entire 100 miles

Sponsor level forms and pledge forms are available to all. Get out and help draw support for the ride!

The next meeting will be 7/20 at the original Bob's on the corner of 2nd and Wenatchee Ave in Wenatchee at 5pm.

Wayne encouraged members to fill those green change cups to the brim! With change! For a charity to be determined later in the year!

Wayne also mentioned Ron Griffith (honorary member) sold his house and has moved to Blossom Valley on Orchard Ave here in Wenatchee. Ron would welcome visitors. He's in room #112.

Program

Chris introduced Debbie Gallaher (Visitor Services Manager) and Bob Bauer (Public Educations) from the Rocky Reach Discovery/Visitor center, and Casey Hall project manager of the renovation.

Debbie started by thanking John M for all his help over the years with the Salmon Festival and poster contests. She has worked for the PUD over 42 years and will retire in December of this year. She knew when the time would come that it would be good, but she was intent in staying through the new Discovery Center and making sure it was something the valley and surrounding communities would be proud of. She has dreamt of this project for 16 of the 18 years she and Bob have worked together.

The new Discovery Center has generated a lot of interest from locals and people outside the region as well. Those familiar with the old visitor center will be surprised at the significant changes that have been made. The theater has been changed from one large theater to several smaller theaters (one on each floor) where the videos have been updated (and more will be generated going forward). Many more exhibits have been created for the new center as well.

Because access to the powerhouse will now be restricted to guided tours only, access to the new Discovery Center will no longer require going through security. Access will be available up top or you can park below and access from the fish viewing area once again. The fish viewing windows have been replaced and there is the opportunity to view fish from nearly the floor to the ceiling keeping toddlers and those with disabilities in mind. It will have a feel more like an aquarium.

Casey said construction has been going great in spite of a few surprises along the way. The PUD started looking at alternatives in 2015 and did a study in 2016, presented the results to the Board of Commissioners, and received the go ahead and design a new Discovery Center. By then it was 2018 and design took two years. Construction started in October 2020 after the visitor season. The project is about 95% complete with a month to go.

The original terrazzo floor remains and it is the same building footprint, but they've found ways to add some square footage to the approximately 42,000 square foot space. There is a new mezzanine level and free-to-use telescopes. They've gutted the building and really transformed it into a space that previous visitors won't recognize. The cost was $7.7 million and helps fulfill one of the missions of the PUD for education. Visitor counts are expected to double in its first year of operation compared to previous years.

While the Walter Graham mural did not fit into the new plans, and the PUD tried to find a home for it at the museum and other places, but there were no takers. When Chris heard that, he found room at the new service center to make it work as a center piece of the new PUD System Operations Center.

Bob put the Columbia River into perspective and asked us all to imagine being at the base of the Seattle Space Needle and looking up at its 605 foot height. Then stack a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Space needle on top of that. Then put another half of one on for good measure. That is how far each water molecule from Columbia Lake drops in elevation to reach the ocean. Since the Columbia River is 1243 miles long, that works out to about two and a quarter feet per mile compared to three inches per mile for the Mississippi.

All the water and snow on the mountains that eventually reach the Columbia River provides what we need to generate electricity. It's an incredible natural resource, providing:

• Drinking water
• Irrigation
• Food source (fish, etc.)
• Recreation
• Power.

There are eleven dams in the United States and three in Canada on the Columbia. The water from Columbia Lake goes through all of them, generating more power each time it pass through a project. The Discovery Center is where this natural resource meets the human resource.

The new facility has eight exhibit areas:

• Welcome - Introduction/mini-theater
• The People's Power - Evolution of the PUD and PUD hydro-projects
• Hydro Health - Clean, Renewable, Reliable, and Affordable energy
• Columbia River Hydro System - 14 projects/Hydro Know How
• The Living River - First People/Explorers/Transportation/People Today
• Maker Space - Learning while you have fun
• PUD/Hydro Industry Careers - The Natural & Human Resource
• Fish Tales - Everything is connected/Anatomy/Journey

The new facility will be focused on STEM interactions (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics.) For kids, it means getting them thinking about possible great careers where they can apply this knowledge. The PUD even runs a STEM academy for this in the summers that draws high school and recent graduates from all over to learn with immersive, hands-on projects to see what different careers look like. The PUD partners with FWEE and even get students out to Douglas and Grant PUD's projects.

They've gotten support from local schools and "trained" 160 teachers on accredited teaching methods while highlighting many of the incredible careers in the hydroelectric industry. It's another path to a great career that doesn't always require a large debt from college. Many of the jobs at the PUD have a three year apprenticeship focused on learning a craft. Even some people who went to college are hired for these jobs and still need to go through the apprenticeship. The best part is an apprenticeship is like being paid to go to school!

One of the exhibits that was popular before but wouldn't fit through the Discovery Center doors was the dugout canoe. That didn't stop the PUD as they knew they wanted to keep it as an exhibit. Where there is a will, there's a way. They built a special container to keep it safe and then devised a way to lower it through a skylight to its new home. While the canoe is in its resting place, it will be telling a story for years to come.

Other displays are new or updated to include STEM aspects. They've incorporated your senses into many of the exhibits with an attempt to make much of it interactive. You may remember the old sternwheeler photo and wheel where you could stand in front of the pilot wheel and imagine navigating the rapids. Well, now instead of a picture is a video and based on how you steer the wheel depends on whether you make it through the Rock Island rapids or end up on the bottom of the river like the Selkirk in 1906. 

Another exhibit goes through how energy consumption has changed based off of types of usage as well as energy conservation and efficiency gains. Another has a six foot by three foot salmon. Put your rods away as this has a cutaway for people to learn about the anatomy of the salmon. Part of the focus is on moving and seeing how processes works.

You can even use your smart phone or tablet to fly an augmented reality drone around the tailrace and explore the different elements of the Rocky Reach project. Using this same technology, you can see how a water molecule goes through the project or follow the salmon run.

The Discovery Center operates with a very small staff, primarily Debbie and Bob! They do have summer students help with tours. If you like talking to people from all over the world, you can be part of the ambassador program. Participants in this program get to decide when they'd like to volunteer.

With the remodel comes new hours, now open year-round! It will be open 9:30 am-5 pm 7 days a week until November 1st when it will drop back to just 5 days a week Tuesday through Saturday; same hours. The café will be back with new, amazing, upper level outdoor seating.

A small ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Discovery Center will be held the morning of 8/25 at 9 am, and at noon, there will be a soft opening to the public. The grand opening will be Saturday 8/28 starting at 8 am and will include many festivities.

For 8/28, the PUD will have:

• The Reptile Man
• Cowboy Buck and Elizabeth (Musicians)
• A local artist helping make salmon windsocks
• Dancers that you have to come see!

The people of the past dreamed and believed in this clean, renewable energy source. The PUD hopes you'll come see all the changes to the Discovery Center. You'll really need to go to see it all!

Look for more information on the PUD website chelanpud.org and their ad in Good Life magazine.

Raffle and Closing

Brags and Confessions were postponed until next week as we ran out of time.

Sam had Wayne draw the raffle ticket and Dave's number was drawn, but he didn't want to win. 

Dave just wanted to make your odds better next week! That's the spirt Dave!

A children's book was donated to the library in the speakers' name.

PK closed with a George Carlin quote, "Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things!" Great summer advice!