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

 

Meeting Notes August 3, 2021

President Kathleen took control of the meeting at 7 am in the Pybus Board Room and she didn't stop there. PK led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and she was so in the flow she went right on with the invocation!

Announcements

Kathleen confessed that last night was the first night since she became president that she was able to sleep through the night before a meeting. Congratulations, you're on the other side now!

Kathleen also announced the July Rotarian of the month, our own blogger, Chris! He has given advice, even when it wasn't asked for; participated in our July service projects, even when asked not to, and even made every July meeting in spite of the restraining order! Congratulations to his tenacity! Here he is showing off this summer's fashion!

Green cups are on the table. Don't forget to bring your change for the donation cups!

A big thank you went out to the Adamsons for being greeters today. Well, not exactly for greeting since they were conspicuously absent, but for getting great replacement greeters when they knew they wouldn't be here today. John and Dave did a great job!

Jackie reminded us that our final Farmer's Market Takeover is August 21st. East Wenatchee Rotary will get in on the act for the final two months this year. We'll also do a pet food drive for the Humane Society again as well. We'll plan to heavily promote our bike ride then too. This event helps our club be better known in our community so our cheerful attitude goes a long way toward explaining who we are!

Speaking of the Bike Ride, meeting tonight at the Hilton Garden Inn at 5pm. The peloton continues to grow, now almost 50. We're continuing to work on adding sponsors. Be ready for 9/25 because it's ready for you! I don't really even know what that means, but we're going to need everyone's help so put it on your calendar now!

Johnathan Thomas who helps us here at Pybus is looking for help with the Pacific Crest Church Summer Art Camp for kids age 4-17. Each table will have a different art experience, clay, water paint, etc. They need runners! I don't know what that has to do with art, but we're quick learners. This Thursday and Friday (8/5 & 8/6), 10-noon at Pybus. For questions or to volunteer, contact Johnathan at 670-8502.

Not this Saturday, but next, 8/14 will be the Clothes for the Classroom event at Town Toyota Center 6:30am to noon where we'll help give away backpacks and school clothes sponsored by CVCH and Serve Wenatchee Valley.

Dan gave a Rotary Foundation moment regarding the Annual Fund. Did you know that your $50 annual donation is matched by the club and that half of the donation goes to benefit projects right here in our District and the other half elsewhere? It's also one of the highest rated non-profits because of how it is structured. It is able to put every dollar donated to work on projects rather than being used to pay overhead.

Brags and Confessions

Robin bragged that she has a new Rotary shirt if people wanted to check it out and put an order together. Shirts are $24 and pretty styling. There is a discount if we put together a large enough order. She also had a water leak at her house last night and needs to meet with the adjuster today.

PJ had a home invader while he and Cookie were home who said he was looking for his 10-year-old son. Once PJ and Cookie got him out of their house and on his way, he noticed that the guy had driven around his house and it looked like he was casing his place. When PJ came into town, he stoped to talk to a couple of sheriff deputies who told him about the meeting last night that drew almost 2600 people to hear about the new Washington State laws that change how law enforcement are allowed to interact with the public. Under the new laws, they wouldn't be able to detain the home invader if they didn't catch him in the act, even if PJ identified him!

Joel showed off a flyer that Patrick had made on Youth Exchange. Get ready to gear up and support finding the right individual to represent our club abroad. Selection begins next month! They'll be outbound next summer and we'll support an inbound then too!

Ruth talked about her glamping experience that didn't turn out so well because they lost power! She put the camping back in glamping!

Robin came back up front to say that she forgot to mention the September 18 pridefest at Memorial Park from noon-6pm.

John S. bragged that he has been named executive director effective the start of next year. Way to go John!

Rebecca had a two week vacation in California and exchanged Rotary club flags with her Aunt from Fullerton!

Alan and Joel came early to help set up but Kevin got here earlier. You have to get up pretty early to beat Kevin. Especially when he has the somber task of lowering flags at Rotary park. This time due to the tragic line of duty death of Detective Jeremy Brown in Clark County.

Alan bragged that his grandson is 10-months old today! How time flies, it seems like just a year ago he was still in the womb. But you know how crazy COVID has been!

Kevin finished with the Rotary moment on why to join Rotary, with a list of 20 reasons and highlighted:

• #1 - Friendship = Fellowship
• #5 - Serve as a citizen in the community
• #9 - World Projects
• #20 - Opportunity to serve: Worldwide, our Area wide, and our local community.

Program

Trek store manager Mike Plank was in the Marine Corps from 2003-2008 and then went to college for natural resources. In 2010, he started working on Wildland fire crews and eventually worked his way up to engine captain. His last year of professionally fighting fires was in 2019. During COVID he took the opportunity to ride all over the West with his two sons ages 12 and 14. He also rode up to Mission Ridge this past week!

That was when he changed careers and started working at Trek where he quickly worked his way up to store manager. He says what attracted him was partly Trek's mission statement: they build only products they love, provide incredible hospitality to their customers, and change the world by getting more people on bikes.

He spoke passionately about partnering with other organizations such as the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, Goathead Warriors, and Rotary to make a difference in our community and the world. They help through donations of money and time. One day a week one of their employees is designated to go work on trail maintenance and is paid by the company for their time. For National Night Out, they've donated bikes to the cause.

They want cycling to be prominent in our community and are excited to help promote these opportunities like our Apple Century bike ride. They are excited to be a sponsor and to have a tent to provide support for riders before they take off and then to have an opportunity to ride as well.

There were many questions and not surprisingly the first one was about the popular e-bikes. Sales of e-bikes have tripled in the past three years. They sold their hundredth e-bike last year at Christmas. This year? They sold their 100th e-bike two weeks ago.

There are three different classes of e-bikes so if you decide to get one, do some research and talk to the folks at Trek first. For example, if you want to ride it on the loop trail, you can't get a class 3 as they are banned from the trail because they can go up to 28 miles an hour. Different municipalities have different regulations. A traditional bike weight can vary, but on average is 25-30 pounds whereas an e-bike can weigh up to 50 pounds!

• Class I - 20 mph and less pedal assist
• Class II - Have a throttle
• Class III - up to 28 mph

People have asked to upgrade their e-bikes to go faster, but for now Trek is passing on those opportunities and offering other help instead. Modifications can cause the computer to malfunction or other issues and can run afoul of municipal regulations.

They currently have a waitlist for e-bikes as their is a shortage of materials, but no shortage of demand. Demand is up 40%, but supply is down 40%. And it's not just e-bikes, that holds true for all bikes. And the latest Trek bike? Not available until 2023!

There is lots of new technology and improvements. If you're interested, come down to Trek and they will be happy out talking about all of the latest changes in material and design. Want to know more about hydroforming? They'll geek out about it with you as long as you have time to listen.

One question was about partnering with the Evergreen Mountains Bike Alliance and Mission Ridge to open up access at the top of Mission Ridge. Mike said that unfortunately the geology is not great for this activity up there, too much soft dirt, shale, and loose rocks. They are working with Snoqualmie Pass to open that up more as a bike park. PJ mentioned that Jackson Hole recently spent $2.3 million to build trails, but it has to be profitable to make that kind of investment.

Mike said that studies show a 60% return on investment for what riders spend when they travel to an area to ride. He praised the local velo club with their Tuesday and Saturday rides. Trek isn't looking to create new, they only want to support others.

Interrupted by COVID, they have plans to offer bike repair and other evening classes this winter. In the meantime, bring in your bike and their sales and service folks will go over your bike issues with you.

Bill also offered to let people learn to fix bikes by riding in his SAG wagon during the Apple Century Ride in September as there are always a number of riders that break down!

We thanked Mike for coming to speak with us today and presented him with a children's book that will be donated to the local library in his honor.

Closing

Kathleen reminded everyone that next week's program is the honorable Richard DeRock and First Lady Robin. Glad to hear Robin finally made Richard honorable!

Kelly's ticket was drawn and so was her fate when she held up a yellow marble. Sorry you missed out on a $137 jackpot! That's ok, we'll add more money next week to entice someone to draw the winner out of hiding!

And a big thank you to Kelly who agreed to stay late and help clean up after us!

PK closed with this quote from Emo Phillips, "When I was a kid, I used to pray every night for a bicycle. Then I realized that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me!"