September 28 Meeting Notes

The meeting was held in the smaller Pybus Board room and Kathleen called the meeting to order with John S leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag followed by Jim A with the invocation.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Change is in the air, the calendar turned to fall and leaves on some trees are starting to change as well. Speaking of change, how about them Green Change Cups? Didn't see that one coming did you? Earl asked everyone to "pony up" as this quarter's beneficiary is the Alatheia Therapeutic Riding Center. They've come to our club in the past and their mission is "Changing Lives with the Healing Power of Horses". Great pick Earl!

Kelly reminded everyone to fill out the club member information sheet and get those turned in and also told us about the Membership Committee's recruitment enticement:

• Bring a prospective member as a guest - get a dozen cookies
• If they become a member - you get a pie!

Alan vouched for the baking quality and assured us that he will have Kelly practicing, practicing, and practicing. He also mentioned something about getting out his sweat pants. No one had any follow up questions for him.

Jackie reminded everyone of the Pet Costume Parade and contest at 10:30am on 10/30. There will also be a coordinated Humane Society pet food drive the same day.

Meeting Help: Kathleen reminded people to sign up for setup, clean up, and/or invocations. Your help is a help!

Craig told us about a former Challenge Scholar (Alex Rodriguez) who has completed his undergraduate degree and has been admitted to medical school! He had enough other scholarships that he did not use the Challenge Scholarship for his undergraduate degree and the club decided to allow him to roll it into his graduate degree expenses. A great story, good luck Alex!

Saturday October 2, A Night at the Museum from 6-9pm. Celebrate the museum and the juried opening of the NCW Juried Art Show. There will be live music, wine beer, cider, spirits, and food!

Fellowship Committee: Rebecca thanked Dan and Jackie for hosting the after-ride party on Saturday and also told us about a couple of events coming up. 

October 15th: Oktoberfest at Kathleen and Steve's house. Plan to start at 5:30pm; bratwurst and other food come in your best Woody Goomsba outfit. A small fee (less than $10) will be charged, just enough to cover most of the expenses.

January 29th is the Downtown Rotary Club's auction "For the Kids". We'd like to support their fundraiser by entering an auction item: Dessert of the Month. If you can help support this, please let Rebecca know.

On November 9th, our regular meeting will be at Rocky Reach Dam. We'll meet on site at Rocky Reach Dam (Chelan County side) and then get a tour through the new Discovery Center. Since we'll be there before regular hours, we'll need to submit an access request in advance with everyone's names. If you're interested in this follow up tour to their presentation earlier this summer, let Chris know and he'll take care of the rest; watch for a sign-up sheet at future meetings. The Discovery Center has also offered to open their café early so that we can have breakfast items!

If you have any good bike ride pictures, please email or otherwise send them to Chris and he will do a special blog recap.

Rotarians of the Month: Alan and PJ! Was there any doubt? The answer is NO! What an immense effort these two put out to make the bike ride a success on top of all the regular things they normally do for our club. Thank you both, great example to the rest of us!

Final tally for the Bike Ride was 234 riders. Although we've had over 1,000 riders, we've settled in between 500-600 riders pre-pandemic. Although the rider numbers were down, they were a plucky bunch who had a great time on the ride, some for the first time, some for the 34th time! Most of the riders were from Washington, but some from Los Angeles and Miami, too! No Canadian riders this year due to COVID and border restrictions.

It was a slightly different look and feel this year as riders had to wait a little longer to take off since sunrise was almost two hours later this time of year. The weather was perfect and we received lots of positive feedback.

Shanley Crane (EW Rotary Club) and Alice Meyer (Downtown Rotary Club) helped out with the day of ride and we have to thank all of our sponsors including Trek bike who did a lot of day of support starting with a crew of three technicians before daylight at the starting line and then moving their help up to the Leavenworth Pit Stop. That was a big help in ensuring the riders were well supported. A wrap-up bike ride meeting will be scheduled soon!

We also want to thank our many sponsors, including:

• Trek bikes whose financial and physical support through bike gear and technical expertise made the ride go smooth.
• Ballard Ambulance for providing first aid kits for the SAG wagons.
• Ridgeline Graphics for printing and signage for the SAG wagons.
• Dilly Deli provided below cost sandwiches for all of the riders.
• Century 21 Real Estate/Dan & Jackie Rector for both the Leavenworth Pit Stop and financial support.
• Tutor Doctor/Kathleen McNalty and Steve Wright
• Ogden, Murphy, & Wallace
• Eastman Insurance
• Cashmere Valley Bank
• Inside Design Carpet One
• Sangster Motors
• Addleman Chiropractic
• And for the many others, thank you all!

And also to all of our club members who without their efforts, we could not possibly put this ride together. Great work everyone!

PROGRAM

Taylor Sharp, Executive Director of the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society (WVHS). Taylor began working in a shelter when she was 14 years old. She saw how much harm a lack of progressive shelter leadership and policies could cause, and has used that as motivation for her career. Some notable achievements:

Recruited by Best Friends Animal Society - the nation's largest animal welfare organization focused on assisting shelters reach 90% save rate. 

Helped over 400 shelters with anything from board development to cleaning standard operating procedures.

Founded The Pet Alliance of Washington to bring shelters across the state together to reduce efficiencies and create new ways to save more animals.

Joined the executive team at Humane Society Silicon Valley in San Jose California.

Taylor had lived in Washington State before and although she is new to Wenatchee, she missed Washington state, and jumped at the opportunity to join the outstanding Wenatchee Valley Humane Society team! Welcome Taylor!

Taylor thanked WSRC's support of the WVHS, including the pet food drives and parades. She spoke about their 39 employees working in three operational areas: Humane Society - adoptions, etc.; a new state of the art Clinic; and Animal Care & Control.

The Humane Society that you may already be familiar with has a lot going on!

• Adoption
• Return to owner
• Community cat services
• Owner surrender
• Disaster assistance
• Pet food pantry
• Behavior modification program
• Humane education
• End of life services
• Foster program

The Pet Food Pantry supports 50-100 families with pet food, leashes, toys, and more. WVHS partners with Wenatchee Valley College for education. Our Humane Society's behavior modification program is the most respected in the state and covers social issues, anxiety, and reactivity. Animal control officers have the ability to scan pet microchips in the field, allowing them to return the pet to its owner without having to bring the pet back to the office.

They provide six enrichments per day for pets. This can take a variety of forms, but includes use of "Kongs" and spray scent and other smells on paper towel and toilet paper cardboard tubes. Now you have a place for those leftover tubes; don't throw them away, donate! They also have a working cat program where they pair outdoor cats with people who want to control mice or scare off skunks in their vineyards, orchards, or around barns.

They are very proud of their new state of the art clinic opened in February. This allows them to perform surgeries as needed on the animals they are housing or in emergencies as well as provide service to income-qualified clients.

Their Animal Care & Control program covers ten jurisdictions.

• Cashmere
• Chelan County
• City of Chelan
• Douglas County
• East Wenatchee
• Entiat
• Leavenworth
• Rock Island
• Waterville
• Wenatchee

Taylor is a downtown Rotary club member and she brought along Amber who just started yesterday! Amber is a potential member so be sure to say hi if you run into her at the Human Society or around town!

Some interesting numbers for the WVHS from just 2020:

Over 2,400 pet adoptions

Around 600 pets returned to their owners

Over 2,000 spay/neuter surgeries
Over 250 community cats returned to the field
96% of funds go directly to animal care & programs
About $450,000 spent on medical care
Average length of stay

Cats - 17.2 days

Dogs - 8.9 days

In the Q&A we learned that the WVHS currently has a pig! It's like a big dog and if you weren't
aware, the WVHS takes in many animals from iguanas and guinea pigs on up! They've even taken in pet snakes and arranged for large animal care too.

In closing it was revealed that Kathleen had donated a gratitude plaque in the WVHS memorial garden from the Sunrise Rotary Club. And as a thank you to Taylor, a children's book will be donated to the local library.

RAFFLE

The raffle was up to $239! 

Kelly drew John M's number, but he must have been

afraid of the silver marble because he drew yellow.

Don't be afraid; be sure to buy your raffle tickets next week!

CLOSING

Kathleen closed with a joke of the week regarding Windmills. She's taking joke offers; it's no laughing matter, help her help us and send her your good jokes!

Vincent Van Gogh once said, "Great things are done by a series of small things brought together." How appropriate for bike ride week as so many things had to come together for a great event. Thanks again to all!

ROTARY FOUNDATION MOMENT

What is a Rotary Foundation Bequest Society Member?

Those who have made commitments for future gifts of $10,000 or more to The Rotary Foundation are invited to join the Bequest Society. Donors may elect to receive various benefits and recognition pieces commemorating their commitment at each new recognition level, including pins, crystals, named funds, and special seating at the Rotary Interanational Convention. A bequest gift of at least $10,000 in your name to The Rotary Foundation creates a legacy of your generosity and compassion as you are helping many people live better lives around the world. Today there are over 18,000 Bequest Society Members worldwide.

Will you join them by leaving a gift to Rotary in your estate planning? Ask me to put you in contact with The Rotary Foundation's Planned Giving team.

Many thanks in advance for sharing with your club members.

Pete Erickson, PDG

District Foundation Committee Chair 2021-2024

perickson@nctv.com