Rotary

Wenatchee Sunrise

What to know about Link Transit

The photo at left shows acting President Wayne Massing presenting a book that our club donates to Pinnacles Prep in honor of our speakers, Link Transit CEO Nick Covey and Outreach Specialist Salina Danko. The two told us all about the amazing Link Transit programs, mission, operations, economic impact and future plans.

Link services most of Chelan and Douglas Counties, with services which include para-transit, dial a ride, rideshare, fixed routes, and trip link (a volunteer driver program). The total population area has about 128,000 people. The great thing is that all these services are free to riders.

Link employs 201 people, a 20% increase since 2023. Buses travel over 2 million fixed route miles with 1.2 million boardings. They have 92,000 ADA/senior citizen/disabled riders. The link fleet consists of 23 electric buses with 14 more coming within the next two years, 12 diesel buses, 22 shorter buses, 24 para-transit vans, and 18 staff vehicles. They have 5 underground charging stations for the electric buses.

Link transit brings in $36 million in revenue from taxes, and federal and state grants. They have $28 million in expenses, and $22 million in capital investments. The capital investments will include a large bus garage for 60 buses, and some park and ride locations. Link also has a lot of community partnership projects like the Leavenworth roundabout, the Confluence Parkway, N Wenatchee Ave. design, TREAD pathways design study, and other highway studies. Link is all about meaningful services which include events in several communities and special event rides.

September 17 Meeting Notes

Acting President Wayne Massing opened the meeting, followed by the flag salute and invocation. We met in the Link Transit Board Room today.

Announcements

Friday, Sept. 20 is the WVC Food Truck Knight from 3:00–8:00. Rotarians will be working the food waste stations at the beer garden and around the food trucks to help promote zero waste. They still need help for a 2:30-5:30 slot (contact Jim A for details). We can get two or three people and split the shift.

Saturday, Sept. 28 and Oct. 5 we are all welcome to work in the pollinator garden prep site from 8-noon. Click the links below to see the details and sign up.
September 28th, pollinator garden site prep, 8am-noon
October 5th, pollinator garden planting, 8am - noon

Saturday, Sept. 28 is the Rotary Learning Institute in Wenatchee. Get details and register here - Wenatchee RLI

The Board endorsed Kathleen McNalty for District Governor in 2027-28. Kathleen has completed the application, and the club endorsement will be sent in. Kathleen will need to participate in an interview in October, along with any others in the district who have applied. This would be a great opportunity, and we fully support her.

Abby Prieto, our outbound student to Spain, attended their district orientation, and is settled in with her first host family. Abby is the one with the big smile.

Rotary will have a booth at Farmer's Market on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 8:00-1:00. We'll be taking "pennies for polio" and distributing information about polio and Rotary's eradication effort. We will have 2-hour shifts starting at 7:00 (set up), and need at least 2 per shift. Jim will pass around a sign-up sheet over the next few weeks. Public announcements will be featured on the radio stations, Wenatchee World, and Facebook.

Put this on your calendar - Hellbent Taproom Takeover, Thursday, Oct. 24 from 1:00-7:00. Raffles, silent auction items, polio donation cups, and a percentage of the proceeds of Hellbent sales all going to polio eradication. Come in for beer, food, and fellowship. Open to the public, so invite everyone. Let's have fun raising money for polio.

Brags & Confessions

Kelly completed nine days with 1 and 3 year-olds (and 2 dogs).
Mark was seen dancing on the Wenatchee Wild cam at a season ticket holder function. He also created a cool plastic QR code on his 3-D printer that will take people to our Rotary Sunrise website. Thanks, Mark.
Jim put in some dollars for the WSU win over the UW Huskies. Sweet!

Next week we are back at Pybus, and will have the Wenatchee School District Career and Technical Education team as our program. This will give us a chance to see how we can be involved in a Vocational Service activity.