Meeting Notes August 10, 2021

Id's were checked at the door to make sure everyone was of proper age and membership status.

President Kathleen then called the meeting to order at 7am and was gracious enough to share some of the work! Bill led the pledge and Ruth led the invocation wholly appropriate for the farmers market here at Pybus.

Induction duction, what’s your function? Or was that a conjunction junction? Either way, it rocks!

Induction

The meeting began with the always club warming induction of a new member, Zach Pauw today. Jim walked us through the life of Zach. Jim met Zach’s wife Allison at Erik’s dental practice while she was cleaning his teeth. They talked and she mentioned that Zach was interested in getting involved in a service club. Jim said, you don’t say; I’ve got just the thing for him! Allison is originally from Wenatchee and they were married at Chateau Faire le pont winery. Zach was a public accountant before moving to Big Fish games and becoming an account executive.

When COVID broke out last year, they sent people home and are now allowing remote work to continue which enabled them to move to Wenatchee. They have a daughter and he enjoys sports, especially baseball and playing softball. He also enjoys hiking. I’ll save the rest for his classification talk!

Having the District Governor present allowed us the rare pleasure of having the DG give the Rotary charge and pledge to Zach, followed by the traditional club welcoming.

Announcements

Please remember to bring your change for change and deposit it in our green cups. Earl will tally and make the combined donation. Speaking of Earl, he’s in Hawaii this week, at the international convention…of his family.

This Saturday (8/14) 6:30am to noon, we will be helping Confluence Health and Serve Wenatchee Valley with their back to school backpacks, clothes, and other essentials giveaway as part of the Clothes for the Classroom event at Town Toyota Center.

Bike ride – Confluence canceled their food truck roundup amidst the surge in COVID cases and something about taxes. They would like to partner with us next year whenever we have a ride, spring, summer, or fall. They really sound desperate don't they? They also asked if we know how to do taxes. Bike ride posters and sponsor pages are available, see Alan for yours today! Bike ride committee meetings will be next Tuesday (8/17) and again on 9/7. Both dates are 5pm at the Hilton Garden Inn next to Pybus. We’re getting down to the logistics and your input and participation is vital to make this successful!

Jackie hyped us up for our final Pybus Farmer's Market Takeover of the year, Saturday 8/21 from 8am-1pm. We’ll be doing a pet food drive for the Humane Society again as well. Confluence Rotary will be there to help as well. This is an opportunity to hype the bike ride AND show the community how proud we are of our club. Don't forget to ask people who show interest if they'd like to be on our mailing list!

Ruth told us about another volunteer opportunity on Saturday 8/21 starting at 7:30am with Habitat for Humanity. They set the date and it is unfortunately the same day as the Pybus takeover, so anyone that can help is greatly appreciated. We’ll be doing enough weeding that we can lay sod; PJ will be the lead. Bring a good pair of work gloves. Tools should be provided, but if you have your own for weeding/laying sod, it never hurts to be prepared and bring your own. Address of the house is 752 South Chelan.

Next week will be a Committee Roundup. That means that because we told you in advance, if you don't volunteer for a committee we can "rope" you into one! Kathleen will be out of town, but Jim & Carol will lead it. Committee chairs will be given 60 seconds to pitch their committee and then everyone will get to sign up for a committee(s) to participate on this year.

Program

Kathleen introduced a man who needs no introduction, Robin DeRock’s husband! (District Governor Richard DeRock.) The DG started with some background on his journey to today. He was born in Germany to a German mother and U.S. serviceman. His mother used to tell him that he didn’t speak any English until after he was four years old. So if he stumbles over a word give him a break, English is his second language!

He graduated from college with a geology degree, but unfortunately it was not a good time to be graduating with that degree and he was forced to pivot, a skill that would serve him well over the years and through his Rotary experiences. 

"We can catch more greenlights by simply identifying where the red lights are in our life, and then change course to hit fewer of them."

            -Matthew McConaughey, Greenlights

Richard got into transit and has had an opportunity to work on many projects. While he was in charge of a transit system in California, Robin came to him with a complaint and the rest is history, she’s been complaining ever since! Perhaps as a leader in transit Richard should have seen the yellow light… But he went to great lengths to appease the customer, even going so far as to marry her! Green light.

Over the course of his career he has been able to participate in some pretty cool initiatives. One that he is proud of is the work he was able to do with congress with ADA and facilitating some changes to law that led to a successful implementation with public transit. In California, he was
in charge of a public transit system that covered 105 cities and over 4,000 square miles of service territory, but he didn’t feel connected. He couldn’t even get to each city’s council meeting in a year because there were so many. That led him to a discussion with Robin and application for the General Manager position for Link Transit in 2002. Green light.

It was a bit of a transition for their daughter at the time, but he immediately looked to join a
service club and selected the Wenatchee Downtown Rotary club. That’s where he first got into Youth Exchange. His 13-year-old daughter thought bringing in a 16-year-old Brazilian boy would be a fine way to get things started in the Wenatchee Valley. A passion was formed and 17 youth exchange hostings later and a four year stint on the District YE committee later, he’s had tremendous memories. Green light.

Being a part of the YE program taught him a lot about Rotary along the way. He had many discussion with Rotarians throughout the District as well as giving him many opportunities to speak with Rotary District Governors and gave him a sense of what was involved in the job.

At the 2016 Rotary International Convention in Seoul, our DG at the time, Vern Nielsen came to Richard and proposed that he get in line to be DG. Richard politely refused and suggested that it would be five or six years before Richard would even be able to get in line to be club president (a pre-requisite for DG) much less even think about DG. However, if you knew Vern, or know Robin, they could be and can be quite persistent. Shortly after that, Carol as assistant DG, came to Richard and told him of a need for a president for the Wenatchee North club. Their president had health issues and they needed someone to step in to fulfill their duties. Green light. 

Richard had never thought about leaving his club, but considered it and then met with the Wenatchee North club to see if it would be a good fit. He then took over and found out why there might have been difficulty filling the position of president as their club hadn’t filed taxes in 12 years. The club had the man at the helm to navigate them through this and they shut down the club and a new one popped up in its place, the Wenatchee Confluence Rotary Club.  In a bit of foreshadowing, Richard served a second term as President of the now Wenatchee Confluence Rotary Club. Green light.

If you’re not real familiar with Rotary organization, the world is split into 34 zones (we’re Zone 28). Each zone is split into Districts (we’re 5060). Then these are further broken down into clubs (come on, you should know this one!) There are over 35,000 clubs worldwide. Our district is one of only 7 international districts that span countries. Every so often, Rotary contemplates realignment and getting rid of these international districts. Vern was passionate against that and knew with Richard’s YE experience that he would see the value in keeping them as they are. While there are challenges for these districts (two different insurances, currency exchange, etc. make them harder run), these small differences between the ends of our District are also what make it such a unique experience. These districts are also more fulfilling and serve one of the key cornerstones of Rotary – helping spread understanding and peace around the world.

Richard had wanted to wait until he was retired to be DG, but as Rotary looks to fulfill the international Presidency role, there are steps to take and positions to serve before reaching that pinnacle that take almost 30 years of service to fulfill. DGs being retirement age makes that hard to fulfill so Rotary International is looking for ways to make the DG position more attractive to younger individuals. RI has proposed that DGs do not need to visit every club, but our District believe it’s important and a lot is gained by keeping this tradition alive. With around 50 positions to fill at the District level (some two-year commitments but most just one-year), visiting clubs gives an opportunity to meet and identify individuals so that informed decisions can be made on selecting people who will be successful in their roles.

The governor’s council consists of the DG, past DG, DG elect, DG nominee, and DG designee. Our District has spread the DG duties amongst the entire council to make the job easier for the DG. They have a 1-hour Zoom meeting every Friday. Due to COVID, Jordana (DG elect) asked

Richard after one of these Zoom calls this spring if he’d be willing to stay on for a second term as DG since COVID took so many of the interactions away from Richard this past year and she knew how important those were to him and Robin. She also wanted more time to visit clubs so that she knew the Rotarians better in the District as she had planned to travel with him and Robin to many of these clubs, but all club visitations had been canceled due to COVID. The location of the conference for her year was also not going to be completed due to work stoppage due to COVID so she proposed that she give up her spot as DG elect and go back to DG designee so as not to disrupt the line of succession. This meant several more volunteer years for her at the governor’s council level. The offer was accepted by all. Richard would serve two terms as DG. Green light.

Our zone has 42 districts; District 5060 is an incredible district. Our district spans from Clearwater and Revelstoke in Northern BC to Grandview, WA in the south. Some of the notables for our district:

• 2^nd largest district in our zone
• One of the most stable memberships
• 2^nd most foundation giving
• Most international projects
• 2^nd or 3^rd in many other categories
• Broad support
• Only about one million people in our district vs. others with 12 million

Astounding what our district continues to accomplish. The district level exists to support the clubs and they want the clubs to be able to focus on the coming year. Richard had a number of things he was looking forward to this year.

First, to restart some things that have been shut down due to COVID and other reasons such as RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Awards), Interact – only four are active (primarily high school age students), Rotary training institute (coming this October), and the District Conference.

Since COVID shut down most all travel, the savings were repurposed for a public image campaign using a Rotarian owned company from Washington state. What was identified was that we don’t market who we are and what we do very well which leads to difficulty attracting younger members. We need to communicate whatwe do better which led to the centerpiece of the campaign, “People with Purpose”. Along with the campaign, comes a redesign of the district website for a more conducive experience on mobile platforms. The template is available for clubs to use with ClubRunner as well. Green light.

This year’s District Conference will celebrate getting back together and a significant milestone in the worldwide effort to eradicate polio. There has not been a single worldwide case of polio since January 2^nd of this year. It is possible that this year we will see the eradication of this disease. It’s amazing that this Rotary effort started here in Wenatchee 36 years ago! There is lots of good being done in our communities. If we can get that message out, young people want to be involved in that and make a difference. Green light.

With a year of practice, here’s to Richard having a successful year 2! Green light!

I hope you enjoyed the combination of Link Transit/Matthew McConaughey (a former Rotary YE to Australia himself and author of Greenlights) in the retelling of today's meeting!

Naturally, a children's book will be donated to the local library as a thank you for Richard coming to speak at our program today.

We also wanted to thank Richard for his efforts as DG and wish him well this year. As a token of our appreciation, we gave him and Robin a gift basket of things from our area.

Closing

Kathleen thanked Jim & Carol for greeting everyone this morning; John M and Kevin for setting up and helping break down the meeting space; and Sherrie for the coffee and breakfast service! Plus Jackie made her first trip to the storage shed; she’s in!

Dave had the lucky winner ticket drawn which gave him an opportunity to win a cool $145. He tried to do a Jedi mind trick on Kevin, but Kevin's not some young Padawan. Lots of strategies from former losers were shouted out!

Unfortunately they were losers for a reason and the incorrect marble was gathered. The look of disappointment and despair was soul crushing, but have heart, because next week will be an opportunity to have enough winnings to be a bike ride sponsor!

Kathleen closed with a reminder that next week will be the committee roundup and a shotgun classification talk with Erik!

Quote of the day was from Josh Billings, “Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing till it gets there.” Stick to it and we’ll see you next week!

Foundation Moment

What is “Every Rotarian, Every Year” All About?

This initiative by the Board of Trustees of The Rotary Foundation encourages “every Rotarian, every year” to:

1. Participate in a Foundation program that is making a difference in the world

2. Contribute to the Foundation’s Annual Fund at a sustainable amount

The Rotary Foundation even has banners for clubs where every member contributes at least US$25 to the Annual Fund with a US$100 per capita during the Rotary year. Today, around 1/3 of Rotarians participate in this initiative. In 2020-21, The Rotary Foundation was able to award 1,957 global grants for large scale sustainable projects due to the generosity of these Rotarians. Think about how much more Rotary could accomplish in the world if all of our 1.2 million worldwide members each gave at least US$25 to our Foundation’s Annual Fund.

If you are a part of the “Every Rotarian, Every Year” initiative – I personally thank you for your support of The Rotary Foundation and its work.

Thank you for supporting The Rotary Foundation and its work.

Pete Erickson, PDG

District Foundation Committee Chair 2021-2024