July 18 Meeting Notes

 

July 18 Meeting Notes

The meeting was called to order at 7 am by President Elect Rebecca Lyons

Pledge of Allegiance- Dave Freimuth 

Invocation- Ruth Dagg 

Visiting Rotarians or Guests 

• Carly Sagerser - Returning exchange student (Denmark)
• John and Jessie Sagerser - Carly's Parents
• Pearl Spurell -  our Outgoing exchange student
• Debbie Davit - Guest
• Bailey Wood - Outgoing exchange student (Wenatchee Club)
• Francesca Gaglio- Our departing exchange student - Returning to Argentina

Announcements

Important Note: 

• Please order breakfast by Monday each week! 
• This will help Ruth and others get the order for Tuesday's meeting.

The last part of the Rotary Park project is nearly complete.  Phase on was the Peace Pole area, and phase two was adding two pickleball courts nearby, resurfacing the basketball court, and fencing the sports court area.  Looks like we're ready to play.  You can also see the newly installed tiles purchased by donations from our club members to help raise funds for the projects.  Go check out the park and look at all the plaques, tiles, and amenities.

Town Toyota Center - Mark Van Horne

• Wenatchee Sunrise Rotary is partnering with Wenatchee Confluence Rotary to work concession stands at Town Toyota Center for the 2023 - 2024 Wenatchee Wild season.
• Sunrise Rotary committed to Confluence Rotary to provide at least 2 people per game. 
• Sunrise Rotary anticipates generating at least $6800 in revenue With Wenatchee Wild moving up to a higher league, TTC and Wild expect most games to sell out. 
• TTC plans to open all 4 concession stands for each game.
• Volunteer Requirements
• Must be able to stand for up to 5 hours. 
• Must have food handler permit. No exceptions. 
• Must have THIS Food handlers permit https://www.foodworkercard.wa.gov/ 
• Cost is $10 and takes about 40 minutes. 
• This is the only on-line class that Washington State will accept. 
• Other on-line classes that say they're good in Washington are actually not acceptable.
• Must have MAST 12 permit. No exceptions. 
• https://rserving.com/web/pscc_state.php? siteid=251&flag=bartender%20license&statecode=WA&saletype=
• Cost is $8.95 and takes about 3 hours. 
• When you start the class, they have you answer 10 questions such as "what is your favorite sport" and "what was the model of the first car you owned".
• Take a screen shot of your answers; you'll need to use them when you go from one section of the course to the next. They do it to help ensure security of the class.
• Must take training from TTC to learn how to operate equipment in concession stands. popcorn, pretzel, hot dog, beer tap, cash register.
• IMPORTANT NOTE: When you complete both certifications, send me (Mark Van Horne) a screenshot or photo of your permit. I need to provide them to Confluence Rotary.

Club Service Assignments will be on July 25th (Next Tuesday)

• Craig Reese will be back for that meeting after his important trip to Africa.

Alan gave a brief report on the last Board meeting.  

• Our club provided $1000 for Rotary Park annual maintenance for 2022-23
• Approved the Town Toyota Center concession stand fundraiser.  Our club will provide at least two people for each shift of every home hockey game.
• There will be an initial meeting to explore the possibility of an international project in Burundi later in July.
• We will go back to meeting every Tuesday morning, but will continue to have a social the 2nd Tuesday of each month at the Taproom in Pybus.

While we were meeting this Tuesday, Stacy Speer was making up a meeting Florida.  Way to go Stacy.  If any of you visit other clubs, get a picture and we'll get it in the blog.  This is a fun way to meet Rotarians.

Brags and Confessions

Mark Van Horne 

• Guitar Training Trip Planned
• When he returns he will be having a knee and hip replacement - He expects to be out for about 3 weeks

Allie Schank

• The Apple Sox are one of the top 2 teams in the league
• Friday July 21st is Christmas in July at the game 6:35pm
• Allie also has tickets for the game next Wednesday (July 26th) - Ask about them next Tuesday or reach out before then.

Program - Student Exchange Program

Julie Banken - Leads Exchange Program

Julie Banken joined our club officially recently. She dove right into the deep end by taking over the Exchange Program.

Julie wanted to acknowledge the Youth Exchange Committee member. There are the Youth Exchange Officers, Counselors, Country Coordinators, and Educators who:

• Interview and select students to go out
• Organize weekend conferences including the rebound weekend, orientation, weekend in the snow, and the weekend in Merritt
• Train Outbound Students
• Stay in contact with hosting districts around the world
• Find homes for students coming in
• Visit Host Families
• Check in with students coming in

Julie then acknowledged the people who have hosted exchange students in the pas:

• Open their homes to strangers
• welcome someone who doesn't speak the language
• Feed Them
• Explain things to them
• Make sure they get where they need to be
• go out of their way to make them comfortable
• Introduce them to Wenatchee and the United States
• Share their homes
• Are there for the students
• Make them part of their families

Julie then shared the challenges facing the outbound students. They are:

• Willing to leave their comfortable homes, family, friends
• Go to a place where they don't speak the language
• Live with families they don't know
• Eat food they have never eaten
• Go to a school where they don't have any friends
• Totally reliant upon the generosity of others
• Willing to try new things, learn new customs
• Willing to go through the Visa process
• They are patient and flexible
• It takes a lot of courage to do this!

The students introduced themselves:

Outbound

Bailey Wood - Sponsored by the Downtown Club. Headed to Brazil.

Pearl - Sponsored by the Sunrise Rotary Club. Headed to Belgium.

Fran - Sponsored by the Sunrise Rotary Club. Returning home to Argentina.

Fran shared a number of slides with pictures of the time she spent here in Wenatchee. She went water skiing on the Columbia River, took a flight in a plane over the area, and attended a number of events with the other exchange students in our district.

Fran went to state with the swimming team, and she graduated while she was here.

FYI - I think Fran's smile was both sincere and a small comment on being glad that this was her last time standing up in front of the group. She was amazing and she will be remembered.

Carly Sagerser - Sponsored by the Sunrise Rotary Club. Returning home from Denmark.

Carly presented a number of slides with pictures of her experience in Denmark over the last year.

Carly was wearing a jacket with over 100 buttons and pins she acquired from other exchange students. Denmark is such a small country, that all of the students were able to meet. 

She shared that she stayed with 3 different families, each one unique, and each one took good care of her. 

Carly will be attending Chatham University in Pennsylvania.

Carly is quite an accomplished student.

• She received the Academic Excellence Award
• The Biology Department Scholarship
• The Heffer Family Scholarship - This recognizes a "strong woman prepared for the world". NOTE: She interviewed for this scholarship from Denmark on a 10pm Zoom call.

Carly also shared with me that she speaks English, Danish, and French. My guess is she will be adding more languages in the future.

This resume leaves me wondering if the world is ready for this "strong woman". We wish her the best in her future endeavors, and we will be able to say, "we knew her when".

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The raffle was $44. Glenn King did not draw the winning marble.