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| Sunrisers In the (Play)House! |
Barbara took the opportunity to remind us to fill in the Participation Grid when we take part in qualifying Rotary events. These are Fellowship Events, Committee Meetings, Service Projects, and Rotaract Activities.
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| Alex and his Quilt |
Last Friday was the last regular meeting for our Exchange Student from Toulouse, France - Alex Rialet, who is scheduled to return home this week. "Are you ready to go home?" asked Barbara. Alex quickly replied, "No." Alex said that he really enjoyed his recent tour of the western states with his fellow Exchangers. "Everyone's so nice!" he noted. President Barbara said that Alex has done an amazing job of representing his country. "We've all really enjoyed having you here," she said, "and we're going to miss you." She gave Alex a going-away gift - an Arcata Sunrise branded polo shirt. Alex showed us another parting gift, from Lori Breyer. Lori made him a special quilt with panels depicting the Stars and Stripes and a label listing his host families. Alex closed by thanking us all for helping make it a wonderful year.
Craft Talk
Last Friday, Dustin Littlefield introduced himself to the Club by doing his Craft Talk. This is a short biographical presentation made by new Sunrisers to help us get to know them.
Dustin was born in Crescent City but raised in Humboldt County. He attended Pacific Union School from Kindergarten through 8th Grade, and he graduated from Arcata High School. After graduation, Dustin worked for a year, saving money for college. He attended school in Chico for a semester before moving back to the North Coast. He attended College of the Redwoods, taking all music classes, and working at Los Bagels.
He moved to Austin, formed a band, bought a van, and began touring. He said that it was fun for a while, but eventually he realized that it was not the right fit for him. A "terrifying drive over the Rockies" brought him back to Humboldt County for good.
He returned to school (HSU), and studied music for a while, but he eventually transitioned into Economics. It was a field that he had always held his interest, and he earned his bachelor's degree. Two days after receiving his degree, Dustin was asked to interview with Redwood Coast Financial for his current position as a Financial Advisor.
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| Dustin Turns Blue! |
By completing his Craft Talk, Dustin completed his final task as a Red Badger. So President Barbara presented him with his Blue Badge.
Committee Goals (continued)
At our July 11th meeting, we heard from the chairs of Club Service committees; last Friday, we began learning the goals of the committees from other Avenues of Service:
Community Service - Co-Chairs Scott Heller & Julie Schaefer: Scott told us that "This is the committee that gets its hands dirty - that inspires new members and gets PR for the Club."
The group is planning at least four projects this year, including a SWOT (Serving With Our Talents) project each quarter - even if one or two are smaller in scale than our big SWOT projects. In addition, the group plans to continue or begin:
- Backpacks for Kids (although changes in the relationship with Food For People may require us to modify the system)
- Adopt-A-Highway
- Boys & Girls Club - another visit on a smaller scale than our SWOT event
- Rotary Park renovation (fingers crossed)
- Bookshelf Project
- Manila Family Resource Center (fingers crossed again)
- Arcata Elementary School Resource Center
Special Daze
President Barbara took some time to catch up on birthdays and anniversaries last Friday. "It was my forty-ninth," said Gregg Foster of his birthday on June 13th. This was met with some skepticism, but he stood by his claim.
Praj White's 42nd birthday was on June 17th, and "like usual, it was kind of a continuation of Father's Day," he said, "so we celebrated with Father's Day and the family."
A week later, June 24th, was Carol Vander Meer's birthday. She told us that it was somewhat quiet. "I went to Redwood Creek with my hubby," she said. It's one of her favorite places.
Janice Newman had a BirthMonth® - a concept she invented - in June. On her natal day of June 27th, "Craig took me to Brick and Fire for dinner."
Bob Moore's birthday on June 29th was almost a Rotary Fellowship Event, with several Sunrisers in attendance for the festivities.
Both Kyle Visser and his wife Natalie both forgot their fifth anniversary on June 17th ... until one of Natalie's friends called to wish her a happy anniversary. Kyle took the next day off work as a surprise, and they spent the day working in their garden. "I'm not even close to making it up to her yet," he said.
"I did not read about it on Facebook," insisted John Gullam of his 16th anniversary on July 1st. "I remembered before somebody posted it." When he wished his wife Denise Fitzgerald happy anniversary, she said that he just saw it on the social media/Special Daze reminder site. John said that they celebrated by attending a Crabs game and having dinner with the kids.
As was the case with his birthday, Bob Moore's anniversary on July 7th was something of a Rotary event. He had a "really nice dinner with Ed [Stebbins] in Napa." He said that it was "very romantic", unfortunately Bob's wife Roxanne was unable to attend as it was a work event. We assume that when he returned to town, Bob made it up to Roxanne.
Ron Sharp's and Barbara Browning's anniversary was Thursday, July 10th, This was the day before Barbara's first meeting as Club President, so they were at the Plaza Grill, enjoying a romantic tutorial on how to run the A/V system. They did enjoy a Sunriser tradition, dining at Larrupin's on Friday night.
Bryan and Susan Reeser helped friends move for their 17th anniversary on July 12th. They then went to the river and had a nice walk.
Julie Vaissade-Elcock and her husband Stan have been married for 34 years as of July 12th. "We don't have time to do anything right now," she said. "We just exchange cards and we go up to the cabin. It was a nice day."
Romi Hitchcock Tinseth said that she her anniversary on July 16th with Rotary - at the Rotaract Re-Chartering Party. However her husband Glenn didn't attend. He asked Romi to stop celebrating with them by 7 pm so she could start celebrating with him. They had dinner at Folie Douce, which was followed by her anniversary present, which was "the car that broke down two years ago - he got it running!"
Humboldt Chamber Readers
In honor of Rotary's Literacy Month, last Friday we welcomed Gloria, Gavin, Scott, and Trudy - all members of the Chamber Readers of Humboldt County. The group has been a part of our community since 1976, "putting words into action" for children and adults alike. Their mission is to inspire and encourage young people to read.
The video below will introduce you to the Chamber Readers as they read and enact several stories, beginning with "The Garden" - one of Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad tales.
For more information about the Chamber Readers, visit their Facebook page.
Coming Distractions
- August 3 - Social Event with District Governor Kevin Eisenberg
- August 5 - Group Make-Up at the Ferndale Rotary meeting (5:30 pm)
- August 12 - Regular Board Meeting
- August 21 - Special Board Meeting with DG Kevin
- August 28 - Club Meeting with DG Kevin PLUS Club Photo Session!
