Announcements
Past President Scott Heller has returned from his long stint in Honduras. Scott may be "past" as our President, but he is current as a Dive Master, Rescue Diver, and a bunch of other titles. He said, "I worked every day" to earn his new status. He did acknowledge that his instructor gave the group an occasional day off, but most days included at least three dives, and lasted from 7:30 am to 6:00 pm. This left no time for Rotary makeups, but it did help him lose 20 pounds. Great to have you back, Scott!Our Exchange Student from Thailand, Fa Sillapajarn, celebrated Thanksgiving with Janice and Craig Newman. In addition to the usual feast, they also baked lots of cookies. Fa also took time over the break from school to take in the local fall colors and do some holiday decorating. She also moved in with her second host family - the Swensons. This is the family of our Outbound Exchange Student to Italy, Colin Swenson. Fa said that her new host sister is helping her with her pronunciation of American English.
President George provided some well-chosen words to express our sadness at the recent passing of Kevin Ebbert and three members of the Kuljian family.
Kevin, who served as a Navy Seal, was killed in action on November 24th in Afghanistan. Both his mother Charlie Jordan, and his mother-in-law Susan Jansson are Sunrisers. Our deepest condolences go out to them and their families.
Although there was no direct connection between our Club and the Kuljians, the family was well-known in the community. Howard Kuljian was an ecologist for Six Rivers National Forest, his wife Mary Scott was a survivor of breast cancer who worked with the Humboldt Community Breast Health Project, and their son Geddie was a junior at Arcata High School.
President George expressed his thanks to Taste of the Holidays Chair Ron Sharp. Ron, in turn, thanked his committee and everyone who volunteered. The final numbers aren't in yet, but the Sunrise Spirit will keep you posted. And ... if you haven't turned in your ticket money yet, please do so as soon as possible.
George also expressed his gratitude to the Fellowship Committee for putting together our recent Fifth Fellowship "Friday" - an evening of basketball and food at Humboldt State. Kahuna Kavinta singled out Bob Johnson, Rina Brodhag, and (of course) the host - Dan Collen.
 |
| Logan White, Exchanger-To-Be |
And the accolades continued as George thanked everyone who helped with the Foster Youth Dinner the previous evening. Sunrisers served about 350 guests a holiday dinner consisting of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, mac & cheese, salad, and rolls. We also provided gift cards for 30 young adults (and we passed the hat on Friday).
Finally, thanks also to those Sunrisers who helped out at the Jerry Paul Classic Arcata Invitational Basketball Tournament (AIBT). Although there were still two nights left in the tourney as we met, we have since heard that Arcata High took the crown.
We had special guests last Friday - Logan White and his parents. Logan is our newly-selected Outbound Exchange Student for next year, and I'm sure we will hear more from him in the weeks to come.
Special Days
Dawn Elsbree and her husband Andy recently celebrated their 23rd anniversary. The couple had a lovely dinner at Abruzzi's.
Dick and Shelley Johnson's anniversary was a few days before, but the celebration was put on hold when Dick was admitted to St. Joseph Hospital for abdominal surgery. No candlelight dinner when you're on a clear liquid diet.
Rob McBeth's birthday was November 14th, but who knows what he did? "We went to dinner somewhere," he said. I'm sure he had a great time, though. (If he didn't, please don't tell him.)
Four days later, it was Mark Bruce's birthday. He told us that he received a Franklin Delano Roosevelt action figure. Every home should have one!
As part of his birthday celebration, Don Rosebrook was on hand to see Stanford football team upset the number one Oregon Ducks in Eugene. The family also went to the museum (OMSI?). A few days later (on his actual birthday), Don had dinner with family and friends.
Mark and Cammy Burtchett share the same birthday (November 30th), which must make it easy to remember. They celebrated with a skiing trip to Bend, Oregon.
On December 5th, Jessica McKnight hit a milestone birthday - Number Forty! Her celebration included a continuing education class (Whoo-hoo!), but her co-workers did take her out the previous night. And ... she had a party planned for Saturday night at her Rio Dell home.
Expanding the Humboldt Live Program
Our Guest Speaker last week was Jim Ritter, of the Humboldt Live! program. Jim last visited in early June, telling us that the program planned to expand beyond Jacoby Creek School and Sunny Brae Middle School, and so it has. Humboldt Live! is now in place at Pacific Union, and will soon be "Live!" in Fortuna.The program helps middle school and high school students with the process of planning for their futures, and more importantly, it allows them to see how their academic goals can align with their career goals. Several Sunrisers have assisted in the program, discussing their jobs or providing job shadow opportunities for students.
Jim mentioned several ways that individuals can help:
- Host 1-3 Arcata High School/Six Rivers High School students for a 3-hour Job Shadow on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, 9 am to noon.
- Host 1-3 Jacoby Creek School 7th grade students at a shorter Job Shadow on Monday, April 22, 2013, 12:45 pm to 2:30 pm.
- Host a 40-minute junior high school class tour to share ideas and information about how and why your business is successful.
- Serve as a guest on a leadership or career exploration panel along with other professionals.
- Write a "Letter to Our Youth", sharing your insights and life lessons with students.
If you are interested in participating, please contact Jim at humboldtclublive@gmail.com, or call 707-839-5114.
 |
| Jim Ritter of Humboldt Live! with the Kahuna |
