September 14 Meeting Notes

The real President returned from her state visits just in time to restore order to the realm. No, really, check out the brags and confessions if you don't believe me. Of course, those could be made up too. Who knows, I haven't written that part yet. I know, I'm excited to see what I write too! I like to call that the "fan fiction" section.

Craig led us in the pledge of allegiance and Kathleen gave the invocation.

Great to see all of the Zoomers out there today!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Every journey starts with the first small step. The small steps we make with the Green Change Cups lead to a journey of change and making a difference. Thanks for the contributions!

Alan gave a Bike Ride update and reminded us of the bike ride meeting tonight at the Hilton Garden Inn next to Pybus. He went through the remaining needs (see a follow up blog post for more details). He also mentioned that in addition to Confluence Health, there have been many great sponsors and help so far. Recently, Dilly Deli has offered to provide sandwiches at half price, John M did a bunch of printing, and Erik offered to provide the sound system for the start/end of the ride. Thank you to all of our sponsors! We have about 130 riders signed up so far which is well below normal, but great to have as many as we do considering so many rides are canceling theirs this year. On another note, we've had significantly more in donations this year, up to $1400 now. That tells us the riders are doing it because they not only love the ride, but believe in the work of Rotary and the Challenge Scholarship. Alan also mentioned that he has received a number of complaints from the storage shed company that we aren't locking our unit so please lock our unit if you get into it.

The Membership Committee was meeting today after our normal meeting.

On Saturday, October 30th, we will be doing a pet costume Howl-o-ween event here at Pybus. That's 10:30am on 10/30 y'all! You can even dress up in a costume with your pet friend, we won't judge (except in the judging part)! Firehouse pets and Pethub are helping get the word out. We'll have a photo station and need volunteers. Sign up on the sheet at our regular weekly meeting or let Jackie know you'd like to be involved!

Social Committee has been busy planning events. The events are planned but not all the dates are set.
See a follow-up post for the events; dates to follow later. The one to be ready for is the after bike ride party at Rectors! It's a chance to unwind, debrief, take a deep breath and relax. Save the evening of the ride (9/25); start time probably around 4 or 5pm; we'll finalize the time at next week's regular meeting. Next month we have a special party planned at Kathleen's that we've creatively called...Oktoberfest! Didn't see that one coming did you! Well it doesn't matter because that's what we're calling it and it'll be great, see you there! We're trying to find a date that Kathleen will be there, but if we can't, well that might just make the party even bigger!

If you know someone interested in Rotary Youth Exchange (departing fall of 2022 for the 2022-2023 year), there is an informational meeting at Rotary Park tonight at 6:30pm. If they missed tonight, have them contact Joel B for more information.

ROTARIAN OF THE MONTH

Kevin was selected as Rotarian of the month! Did you know he is at Pybus early every week to set up everything?

Next time you see him, give him some "love" for all he does for our club. Thanks Kevin for all you do for our club and community!

BRAGS AND CONFESSIONS

Kathleen started it off by bragging to us about her recent travels to various states (now do you see the story arc?) to see Las Vegas, Bryce Canyon, and Zion on a hiking and cycling trek. It was really fun and beautiful! A must see if you have any excuse to go. Even if you don't have a lot of time, you can see a lot of Bryce just from the many designed pullouts along the Park road in just a couple of hours. However, if you have the time, hiking or cycling is definitely the way to go so you can really soak it in. And if you're really lucky, you'll get out of cell service range!

Chris confessed that he thought his alma mater had disbanded their football team, but no, they had not (yet)! He bragged they are 2-0 so feel free to get on the CMS band wagon (there's lots of room) if your team is already out of national title contention!

Erik bragged that Kristen just returned from visiting their youngest (Ben) in Prague. Ben is working in Israel but Kristen couldn't visit him without going through a 14-day quarantine and there were very limited options for them to get together otherwise. However, the Czech Republic was on the "ok" list to go and come back for both so they met there and had an amazing time together. He also confessed that his alma mater was 0-2, but that Montana was really good (for an FCS school...)

John S confessed that he is normally good at following protocols but sent his daughter to school with mild symptoms when he was supposed to keep her home. She was immediately sent to the nurse's office and they tried to call John and his wife but they didn't answer. All day. Dad of the year candidate?

ROTARY MOMENT

Kevin gave us the Rotary Moment. September is basic education and literacy month for Rotary. Rotary supports activities and training to improve education for children and literacy for children and adults. The Rotary Foundation enables Rotarians to ensure that all people have sustainable access to basic education and literacy by:

1. Involving the community to support programs that strengthen the capacity of communities to provide basic education and literacy to all;
2. Increasing adult literacy in communities;
3. Working to reduce gender disparity in education;
4. Supporting studies for carer-minded professionals related to basic education and literacy.

He closed with a few quotes:

• "Education is the most powerful weapon with which you can change the world." - Nelson Mandela
• "Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." Gandhi
• "You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation." - Brigham Young

PROGRAM

John S introduced the program, Joey Hunter, a Recovery Coach Network Coordinator with North Central Accountable Community of Health. He and his organization support Chelan, Douglas, Grant, and Okanogan counties.

Joey told us that his own struggles with drug and alcohol addiction has been helpful in bridging the gap to others struggling to break from their addiction. He was in and out of prison and came to Wenatchee and started going to meetings every day and has been sober since December 2016. He said it was a turning point when people went from looking at addiction as a choice and now look at it as a disease. That changed the community outlook. That led to the Central Washington Recovery Coalition.

One effort they work with is helping the community know that although there is a problem, it can be fixed. There are obstacles and barriers that aren't seen by people without addiction. Seeing their addiction through his "recovery lens" allows Joey to understand what they are going through, build trust with those hoping to break their addiction, and create change.

Their recovery coach training is nationally recognized. They train people to meet people where they are at in their recovery process; it is person-centered. They have 100 coaches in our region. Coaches meet with addicts in jail, in recovery centers, and in meetings whenever they need. Turning a negative into a positive gives people the passion to continue.

Joey started in his current role in September of 2020 which was a hard time to start, but was given trust and time to develop it into something bigger. Recovery coaches start with addicts when they are 90 days out from being released from jail and come up with a recovery plan.

Recovery coaches try to prevent a detour back to the old lifestyle once they are released. Coaches help make sure the addicts get to their appointments and wrap them with community resources as soon as they are released and are already seeing the benefits through a reduction in returning to jail.  Some are very severe cases and have never accepted any help in the past. Using a recovery lens has built trust and allowed a crack for coaches to get in, peer-to-peer. This pilot program has been up and running seven months now at the Chelan County Regional Jail and they are looking to expand it to the Grant County Jail.

Another project is addressing overdoses. During the pandemic, overdoses have skyrocketed from 60-70,000 per year to 83,000 during the pandemic. Sadly since he became sober on 12/26/16, he has buried 14 friends. During their recovery, they each fell through the cracks. They had big hearts but could never break away from their addiction. One thing that helps is Narcan (Naloxone), an emergency treatment for opiod overdose. They have been delivering Narcan doses to anyone who has someone they are worried about.

The Moses Lake job corps is a second chance for people, about 150-200 struggling men and women. They have about 80 staff who needed Narcan training. Joey and his team provided the training to their staff in two sessions.

A new idea is Narcan vending machines in hot spots specifically designed for people who are afraid to tell people they have a loved one struggling with addiction. These are coming the last week of September; Okanogan and Grant county will get them too.

WorkSource has a re-entry specialist that helps people with getting jobs and helps them learn to use computers which can be a barrier for someone who has been addicted to drugs for some time. Today, people don't think of people that may still not know how to use computers, but WorkSource helps break down this unseen barrier for people.

They work with people and help them on their path to recovery. Their organization and network are growing daily. They have a lot of people passionate about the program and are hoping surrounding counties will follow.

The club thanked Joey for his story and told him that we were donating a sun visor to our local library

that even has a story inside of it!

RAFFLE

The raffle was up to $197! 

Bill drew Craig's number. 

Unfortunately Craig was blinded by the light and no matter how much he tried to look into the bag, he couldn't find the right marble. Come on Craig, Kevin knows all of the tricks by now!

In the end Kevin had to arm wrestle Craig to get the marble back. See you next week when the pot will be over $200!!!

CLOSING

Kathleen closed with a joke about marriage, divorce, the pearly gates, and priests and lawyers. Sounds like a recipe for a number of jokes now that I think back on it!

Today's bonus blog quote comes to us from comedian and regular blog reader (but maybe not this blog)  Rita Rudner: "I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life."

ROTARY FOUNDATION MOMENT

What is a Rotary Direct?

Support Rotary’s Foundation year-round by making an automatic recurring gift with Rotary Direct. You choose how much and how often to give. It’s a simple and secure way to make a big impact.

Online credit card contributions can be made monthly, quarterly, or annually, with a US$10 transaction minimum. Donors can also enroll using the Rotary Direct enrollment form, The Rotary Foundation Contribution Form, by calling the Support Center at +1-866-9ROTARY, or by going online at my.rotary.org/rotary-direct.  

Donors can change or cancel their recurring giving online at any time through My Rotary. After you sign in, go to Account Settings by following the link in the upper right. Then choose the Donor Self Service tab.

Rotary Direct is safe, secure, and easy… Sign up today.  Thank you for your support!

Many thanks in advance for sharing with your club members.

Pete Erickson, PDG

District Foundation Committee Chair 2021-2024

perickson@nctv.com