Volume XII, Issue 45: June 20, 2014

Announcements and Calendar Items
Last Friday, Exchange Student Alex Rialet was off somewhere (with former Host Dad Angelo Bacigaluppi, I think). He'll have a lot to tell us at our next meeting - his parents visiting from France, his graduation, the Safe and Sober party, etc. etc. Looking forward to it!

The search continues for a third host family for next year's Inbound Exchange Student - a young woman from Brazil. She would be joining the family from April through July. If you're interested, please let President Jessica know.

The survey to determine the shape and future of our Fabulous Spring Fundraiser is underway! If you haven't yet been contacted, you will be soon. Please be sure to review Bob Johnson's email so you have a chance to think about the questions before they're asked!

This Sunday, June 29th, the North Bay Rotaract Club will host a social and membership event at Redwood Park. The get-together will take place from 2 to 4 pm, and it counts as a make-up. Plus, you'll be supporting a great group of young people, and you'll have a great time!

If you're a history buff, Lori Breyer suggests that you highlight Monday, July 14th. At 7 pm, the Humboldt Historical Society will host "Jack London - Battle at the Oberon". Over dinner and drinks at the Oberon Grill, you can hear about the epic fisticuffs between the famed author and Albert Stanwood Murphy of Pacific Lumber Company, on the site of the donnybrook.

Kyle Visser had welcome news - he will no longer be teaching his morning class for his church, so he will be attending our meetings much more regularly now!

President Jessica read a thank you note from the Family Resource Center at Arcata Elementary School. The note expressed appreciation for our support of the Backpacks for Kids program. Without our contributions, many more children would have a tougher time in school, due to an inadequate diet.

World Community Service Committee Update
Jim Maher shared some photos of the recently completed Swat Valley Water Filtration Plant in Pakistan. Our Club has been providing support for residents  in the Swat Valley for a few years now, and our latest effort has been supporting the construction of the plant in Shehbaz Village.

Jim said that the World Community Service Committee has three main criteria for projects it undertakes and/or supports: First, the project must address a community need. Second, it must be sustainable. And third, there must be ongoing management for the project. The Filtration Plant project addresses those issues. 

The goal in building the plant was to provide safe drinking water for the residents of the Swat Valley, reducing the incidence of waterborne diseases, such as hepatitis, and malaria. The plant serves 2,300 people in 280 households.

Jim noted that one of the remarkable things about this project is how quickly it was completed. The total cost of the project was 7,250 USD, $1,000 of which came directly from our Club. The photo above shows our Club's name prominently displayed on the wall of the plant.

Howard Stauffer added that the Committee is looking into the possibility of helping build additional plants in other villages in the valley.

Presidential Recognitions
It was the last meeting that President Jessica would be able to exert some control, so she wanted to recognize some Special Sunrisers. First, she had "Sponsor" pins for those who have brought in new members this year: Terri Clark, Ian Schatz, Lori Breyer, Romi Hitchcock Tinseth, and the "Reigning King of New Members", Angelo Bacigaluppi.

Jessica also recognized those who have had perfect attendance this year: Lori Breyer, Barbara Browning, Terri Clark, Gregg Foster, Joyce Hinrichs, Bob Johnson, Dick Johnson, Craig Newman and Jeff Stebbins. Each received a certificate and a "Perfect Attendance" Rotary pin.

Rotary Kids Moving On ...
President Jessica ceded the floor to Former President Bob Johnson for a special recognition. "This has always been the Club with kids in it," he said. "We have all brought our kids over the years." One reason we are comfortable bringing our kids is because for years, there was one Rotary Kid who was almost always there. "Arguably, Rotary Kid Number One," he noted, "and that is Brody Johnson."

Brody graduated from high school the previous week, so Bob asked him to come forward, to talk about his years in Rotary. Bob noted that Brody has had better attendance than many Sunrisers, at least until he started at Arcata High and had music classes during zero period. Bob said that he remembered Brody coming to meetings "in a baby bucket" early on. 

Brody's first memories of Rotary are from when his father (aka Your Editor) was Club President. The first Exchange Student that Brody remembered was Emilio Piriz, when his family served as a Host Family. 

The photos of Brody that were shown included a picture of him with his first teacher, Kathy Fraser, who was then head of the Mad River Montessori Preschool. We also saw Brody in a hat from the very first Spring Fundraiser - Brisket, Blarney, and Brew. The photo below shows a typical Friday morning pose: "At seven a.m.," he said, "That's as wide as my eyes could get." Bob reminded Brody that he used to ride to Rotary on the back of his dad's motorcycle. "I think you would be totally awake at that point!"
Brody at Seven AM?
The session closed with photos of Brody's Valentunes group performing at our Club meeting on Valentine's Day, and of Brody in his graduation garb with his mother, father, and girlfriend. When Bob asked about his plans for college, Brody said that he will attend College of the Redwoods for the next two years, then transfer to a four-year college to study Music Education, with an eye towards becoming a music teacher.

Brody's mom, Shelley Johnson, expressed her appreciation to the Sunrisers for guiding Brody over the years. "As parents," she said, "we want to find good role models and good people to share our childrens' lives, and you guys have been it."

Terri Clark contributed one last tidbit about Brody, recalling that he was "probably the youngest person who ever went on an international project", when he joined his parents at Mexico's Festival of Brotherhood as an infant.

There were several other Rotary Kids who achieved new educational and professional  heights this spring. Joyce Hinrichs' daughter Lacey graduated from UCSC on June 13th, and she will be working in the neurosciences. She will be moving home for a year as she prepares to become a physician's assistant. Her other daughter Kayla recently earned a promotion at ClearSlide, a high-tech sales engagement company, and she will be moving to Chicago to open a new office.

Cam Appleton let us know that his daughter Thea recently earned her Master's Degree from Portland State University. She teaches the visually impaired, and she hopes to work in Oregon. 

Karen Burgesser said that her daughter Stacie received her Master's Degree in Psychology a few years ago, and she works for an organization that has a 24-hour crisis hotline. During those years, she has been earning hours towards licensure, and on the previous Saturday, she passed her licensing exam. Stacie is a former Rotary Exchanger, who lived in Sweden during the 1997-1998 Rotary/school year.

Coach of the Year!
Former President Scott Heller introduced last Friday's Featured Speaker Robin Meiggs, the Head Rowing Coach at Humboldt State. In addition to her important title as Scott's Bride-to-Be, she was recently named the 2014 Division II Coach of the Year by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association ... for the third time in the past four years! Her team won this year's national championship by a single point this year, their second championship in three years. Robin is an HSU graduate, with a Bachelor's Degree in Communications and Journalism and a Master's Degree in Exercise Science Physiology. 

Robin said that Scott frequently reminds her that HSU didn't win its first national championship until they started dating; "He wanted me to recognize the crucial role that he has played." She also wanted to thank Terri Clark for opening Robin's eyes to the way that coaches are viewed. She said that as she grew up in North Carolina, she spent a lot of time "trying to be invisible". Terri, in helping Robin become a Paul Harris Fellow, talked about the great things that Robin does. "How does she know what I do?" Robin asked herself. But the recognition instilled a lot of pride in Robin about her abilities and her impact on her team members. 

When Robin arrived at HSU as an undergraduate, she felt it was a happy medium between her upbringing in rural North Carolina and the urban feel of San Jose, where she also lived for a time. Just before earning her undergraduate degree, she took a trip around the world, which taught her to view with skepticism what she learned from the media. She lived in Hawaii for a while, paddling outrigger canoes. She returned to HSU to take the one class she needed to receive her degree. Someone suggested that she check out the rowing program. Upon entering a rowing shell for the first time, "everything I ever knew about what I wanted to be when I grew up completely changed." She said, "I knew in that moment, that I wanted to be a coach." She knew that she wanted to coach a team that would compete at a high level. 

So she completed a year of prerequisites (all science classes) to get into the graduate program. Robin completed her graduate degree in 1991. Before she graduated, however, HSU hired her as the Associate Director of the Human Performance Lab. Upon earning her Master's, she taught 3/4 time, and learned a lot from many mentors. She was also asked to help coach the rowing team, which was then a club sport at HSU. Around 1995, the mandate for gender equity was finally being enforced, and women's rowing was elevated to intercollegiate status. 

Around this time, Robin was spending her summers coaching with Hartmut Buschbacher, who later coached the German Olympic Team (in 2012). Buschbacher became Robin's "coach mentor", and this led to her selection in 19959 as an assistant coach for the US Rowing Team that went to the National Championships, where they won for the first time since the 1980s. On the way home, Buschbacher offered her a paid position, but Robin had just signed her first real contract with HSU. Other offers have come her way over the years - Georgetown, Michigan State, and the University of Michigan have been among her suitors - and the offers (all from Division I schools) made her really think about what she wanted to accomplish. An athlete in her program is "not going to be a professional rower when you graduate." So for Robin, it's about mentoring the members of her team. She helps them grow during the years that they are in her program, "and the remarkable thing is the transformation" she observes over that time. A line she hears a lot is, "Coach - you've changed so much over the last four years." She just nods her head and agrees. 

Practices start at five in the morning, and the athletes work on rowing about 20 hours per week. Following practice, they head for their 8 o'clock classes. Many of the women work part-time jobs after school. Between these activities and others (including relationships), their commitment must be strong. Robin says that they also work hard academically - "they're making grades". She promotes a philosophy of "Life In Balance". She lets them know that balance is not easy - but she believes that she helps them determine and maintain their priorities.

"This was supposed to be a building year for us," Robin said. Some of the women had taken time off from working out, and their fastest woman left the team. So the group dedicated itself to working really hard. But when you aren't competing, it is hard to get a sense of how fast you really are, especially on a body of water that is moving. "You're either really fast or really slow," Robin told us, "but you don't really know ... until March."

In direct competition with Western Washington (their main rivals), with a star rower on the bench with bronchitis and another key athlete out of the boat, the team lost by five seconds. Robin said that she felt good about that race, since they were competitive despite the absence of two strong athletes. A subsequent victory over Western Washington put HSU in first place - where they had never been one month before the end of the season. Being in that position all but guaranteed HSU a slot in the Nationals.

That knowledge allowed the team to train in a different manner than it otherwise would have. The key was now to peak at the National Championships. The group took a charter to Indianapolis for the event, and they felt "like rock stars". However a key member of the team had suffered an elbow injury in a bicycling accident, and would be unable to compete. Robin felt that the team would be competitive in the 8-person race, but probably not in the 4-person race. 

The 4-member team took third, and they were disappointed. But Robin pointed out that being third in the nation is not such a bad thing. Then the 8-person team trailed during the first half of their race, but pulled out a win at the end. "It was a beautiful race to watch," Robin said. "It was flawless. It was all of those things that you hope and try to prepare for."

Still, Robin believed that Western Washington had won the championship. However, when the team was walking over to retrieve their boat, an assistant came flying up, "turning cartwheels", to tell them that they had won! Nova Southeastern had edged Western Washington, which meant that the HSU team had won by a single point. 


Robin told the women that winning the National Championship would not change their lives. "But it is going to prepare them for a lot of great things to come. It's a small part of the package. Rowing is really less about athletics and more about the real life scenario - how to get up early, how to work out hard, how to manage your time, how to prioritize the things you think are important."
Scott - Start Swimmin' !!!

Volume XII, Issue 44: June 13, 2014

Isabelle, Fabrice, and President Jessica
Reports & Announcements

Our Exchange Student from France, Alex Rialet, was not with us last Friday - he had attended the Safe and Sober Graduation Celebration until 4:00 that morning, so he was sleeping in. We hope to hear from him at our next meeting. We did have his parents with us - Isabelle Gaboriau and Fabrice Rialet. They were here to watch Alex graduate from Arcata High School. Alex is our first Exchange Student to earn a full diploma from AHS - congratulations!

President Jessica thanked our Sergeant-At-Arms Committee for working to set up the previous week's meeting. Preparing for more than twice the number of attendees was challenging, but they pulled it off without a hitch!

We are still looking for a third host family for our Inbound Exchange Student for next year. The family does not need to be part of our Club, or even a Rotarian's family. But they do need to be willing to open their homes and enrich their lives for a few months in 2015.

President Jessica also issued a "Last Call" for her tripartite President's Challenge:
  1. Keep your attendance up. If you weren't there last week, please be sure to come this Friday and next. (It may be habit-forming!)
  2. Reach out to a friend or co-worker and ask them to consider making Rotary a part of their life.
  3. Make a personal donation to the Rotary Foundation. "Every Rotarian, Every Year" means that each of us makes a contribution - even a small one - each year, to support the Foundation's mission, which is to "enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty". If you click anywhere on this part of Jessica's challenge, you will be taken to the Foundation's Donations Page. Click now - we'll wait.
All Sunrisers will be contacted soon to provide input about the Spring Fundraiser. Now that the Arcata Volunteer Fire Department has stepped out of the picture, we have the opportunity to reshape the event, and your thoughts are important to the process. Bob Johnson sent out an email to "prime the pump" before you receive the call. Please ponder the questions. It was pointed out after Friday's meeting that our important "Backpacks for Kids" program was inadvertently omitted from the list of programs supported by our fundraising efforts - there may be others as well, so please keep that in mind as well. 

On June 21st, the Friends of the Dunes will host their annual Sand Sculpture Contest in Manila. The North Bay Rotaract Club will be participating on our behalf, so please go out there and cheer them on.

The North Bay Rotaractors will also be holding a Social and Membership event from 2 to 4 pm on Sunday, June 29th in Redwood Park. The event will be pot luck, and it counts as a make up!

Scott Heller and Dustin Littlefield are designing and procuring RCAS-branded t-shirts. We'll let you know when these are available for purchase.

Cindy Sutcliffe told us about a project that our Foster Youth subcommittee took on this year. The group put together "Graduation Kits" for those leaving high school and the foster youth program. The kits included many essential items for those starting out on their own - kitchen items (including pots and pans), bath items, and many others. Cindy said that they also provided canning equipment.

Kathy Fraser told us that last Friday's meeting would probably be her last for the summer. She and her husband Bill are heading for a summer home to be near their grandchildren in Reno. She said that she looks forward to seeing us in September.

Welcome Chris and John!
We welcomed two new Sunrisers into our Club last week:

Chris Jelinek was proposed for membership by Lori Breyer, with a classification of Fire Services. Chris is a Battalion Chief for Humboldt Bay Fire, and he and his wife Kim have two daughters - 16-year old Emma and Alyssa, who is 14. Chris earned his BS in Nursing at Humboldt State University, and later took Executive Fire Officer Training at the National Fire Academy. He enjoys trail running, surfing, woodworking, and ferrying his daughters to swim practice and swim meets.

John Gullam's sponsor was Romi Hitchcock Tinseth, and his classification is Community Blood Banking. John has transferred his membership from the Rotary Club of Southwest Eureka, which he joined in 2006. He and his wife Denise Fitzgerald have three children - son Jack is 14 years old, his brother Sam is 13, and their sister Molly is 12. John earned his BA in Social Science and his MA in Education from Humboldt State, and he has worked at the Northern California Community Blood Bank since 2005. John enjoys family, photography, and travel. 

Romi, John, Chris, and Lori
Recognitions
Last week's Recognitions Session was hosted by Ceva Courtemanche. She turned to Kyle Visser, saying, "You have been in the news a little bit with Shred Tec." Kyle said that his company held a contest to come up with a new name, since the trademark for the original name was held by the Canadian company Shred Tech. Kyle said that the other company was gracious about the situation - the CEO called him personally, warning him that a "really aggressive letter from our attorneys" would soon arrive. Kyle said, "They treated us much nicer than they needed to, since they held all the cards and we held nothing." The new company name is "Shred Aware". He said that a lot of excellent names were submitted, but most were already taken and/or trademarked. Ceva then asked about his son, Damon. "He's awesome!" Kyle said in a hushed voice. "He's real timid sometimes, but other times he surprises you." Damon is walking now, and his first birthday was May 31st. His personality is coming out, and he's becoming stubborn, according to his dad. Finally, Kyle was interviewed recently on KHSU, as part of a panel on the new Humboldt Business Challenge, which which is the successor to Humboldt Fuel. Kyle is a past winner of the former competition, and he was asked what he liked and what he learned from it. 

About the Humboldt Area Foundation
Patrick Cleary was our Featured Speaker last Friday. Following careers in banking and broadcasting, Patrick was named as the Executive Director of the Humboldt Area Foundation in 2012, and he recently joined the Rotary Club of Eureka. Patrick was with us to talk about the history of that organization and about its programs. 
Patrick Cleary

Patrick said that most of us have some knowledge of the Humboldt Area Foundation, but it has so many funds and programs, that "it's relatively complicated to explain". So he started at the beginning. Vera Vietor and her husband Lynn owned Eureka Boiler Works, and the couple built a home near Indianola in the 1940s. They lived there until Lynn died in April 1972, with Vera passing away only 10 weeks later. After Lynn died, Vera changed her will. Since the couple had no children, she left some money to her living relatives, but she stipulated that the bulk of her estate - her beautiful house and $2.5 million - be used to fund a community foundation.

Patrick explained what a community foundation does. "To over-simplify it," he said, "basically, we take a sum of money, we invest it, and we pay out the earnings to good causes." He said that he likes to view HAF using a "tree model". He likened it to planting an apple tree and helping it grow, while harvesting the fruit periodically. 

The Vera P. Vietor Trust was the first trust managed by HAF, but it was soon joined by others, including the Hans Olsen Trust. Hans was an Arcata laborer who was well-respected in the community. Hans left $125,000 to the Foundation, a sum that has grown to over $500,000, and its proceeds are dedicated to programs that benefit young people in our community.

Patrick told us about the many types of funds that HAF administers according to the wishes of the donors. He said that designated funds benefit a specific organization or a specific purpose. He said that HAF administers the Vernon and Grace Brightman Memorial Fund, which supports the music program in the Bridgeville School District, and the William Foley DeBoice Memorial Fund, which provides resources for the visually challenged.

Donor advised funds are housed at HAF, but the distribution of funds is directed by an outside organization. Patrick used the example of the Cooperative Community Fund, which is controlled by the members of the North Coast Coop. 

"Every so often," Patrick said, "people just leave us money," asking the Foundation to use the money in a way that benefits the community. The William F. and Ruby Kennedy Fund is an example of such a fund, which is known as a flexible fund. Another example is the Orvamae Emmerson Endowment Fund.

Other funds mentioned include the Victor Thomas Jacoby Fund, which is committed to supporting arts and culture; the Marie Raleigh Memorial Fund, dedicated to companion animals; the Tracy Memorial Trust Fund, an education fund that supports the study of local history in a variety of fields, and the Humboldt Bay Recreation Enhancement & Water Quality Fund, which provides money to improve access to recreation and research, and to improve water quality. Many scholarship funds are housed and administered by HAF, and several nonprofit organizations use the Foundation's investment clout and expertise to leverage their capital. 

Over time, Patrick said, the Humboldt Area Foundation has "created a little bit of an orchard." The beauty of the foundation concept is that an individual does not need to have millions of dollars to make an impact - smaller donations can be put with one another to help a great many people.

The Humboldt Area Foundation's sphere of influence extends beyond the county lines. They used to cover Mendocino County, but in 1993, the Community Foundation of Mendocino County was formed to serve that area. However HAF still administers the Trinity Trust, the Mountain Valley Youth Fund, and the Gates Family Endowment Fund in Trinity County, and it administers the Del Norte Area Fund, the Rumiano Family Fund, and the Wild Rivers Community Foundation for Del Norte County and Oregon's Curry County


Other programs that HAF runs include the Cascadia Center for Leadership and the Northern California Association for Nonprofits (NorCAN). Its headquarters makes its meeting rooms available for public use, and the Rooney Resource Center is available for nonprofit managers to research available grants. They also provide help to those who are exploring planned giving options.

In response to a question, Patrick said that bequests continue to come in, despite the recent economic downturn. In fact these donations are on the rise. For more information, visit the Humboldt Area Foundation website.

Volume XII, Issue 43: June 6, 2014



Welcome
Last Friday, we welcomed the top 10 percent of Arcata High School’s Class of 2014 and their families. Those students included our current scholarship recipients, and we had past scholars in the crowd as well. President Jessica acknowledged the contributions of the parents of the graduates, helping their children reach this academic summit. She also reminded the students that “commencement” is a synonym for graduation; signifying that it is a beginning, not an ending.

Jessica shared some information with the students about Rotary International and our Club. She said that Rotary is “a service organization made up of business and professional men and women around the world.” We share a dedication to improving our communities and the world through service. She told them that the Rotary motto –  “Service Above Self” – manifests itself in international projects that include providing safe drinking water in developing areas, promoting education and literacy, and our long-standing goal of ridding the world of polio. She told the seniors that we are “this close” to achieving that goal.

In our own community, Jessica said that we have partnered for several years with the Arcata Volunteer Fire Department to provide Arcata and surrounding communities with up-to-date facilities to reduce the Department’s response times, allowing them to save more lives. We also support Food For People’s “Backpacks for Kids” program, helping to provide underprivileged children needed nourishment.  Each year, we also host a Rotary Exchange Student from another country, and sponsor a student’s Exchange to another country. This program works well to enhance mutual understanding and respect for diverse cultures. We also provide a dictionary to every third grader in the local school districts each year as part of our commitment to literacy. And we also sponsor “Every 15 Minutes”, a program staged at Arcata High on a four-year cycle that demonstrates the potential consequences of impaired driving.

President Jessica encouraged the graduates to check out the two Rotaract Clubs in our area – the Lost Coast Rotaract, which meets at 6:30 pm on the first and third Mondays  of each month at Los Bagels in Eureka and the North Bay Rotaract, which meets at 6 pm on the first and third Wednesdays at Robert Goodman Wines in Arcata. These Rotaract Clubs and others around the world share Rotary’s vision of service, and are designed for young men and women from 18 to 30 years of age. Most cities with universities have at least one Rotaract Club. Jessica also encouraged the parents in the audience to consider becoming Rotarians.

Reports and Announcements

  • We are looking for a third family to host next year’s Exchange Student – a girl from Brazil. We need someone to serve as hosts from April through July. If you are interested, please contact President Jessica or a member of the Youth Exchange Committee.
  • The Arcata High School Graduation will take place at 2:30 on Thursday, June 12, 2014. Exchange Student Alex Rialet and a few Rotary “Kids” will be picking up diplomas.


The Top 10 Percent
President Jessica introduced AHS Principal Dave Navarre, who expressed his admiration at our Club’s ability to get going early in the morning. He thanked us for our contributions to the community and especially to Arcata High. He singled out the “Every 15 Minutes” program as a wonderful program. He told us that they appreciated our involvement, noting that in addition to financing and planning the event, Sunrisers were there working. “We were getting ready for our assembly,” Dave said, “and it was just a few minutes away when somebody said, ‘We need more tissues.’ Scott [Heller] happened to walk right by at that moment.” Dave asked him if he could get a couple of boxes of tissues, and a few minutes later, Scott returned with a case of tissues from Murphy’s Market.

Top Ten Percent of the AHS Class of 2014
Dave then talked about the top ten percenters. “They are outstanding,” he said, “and it’s a pleasure and an honor to serve our students.” He told us that the graduates care a great deal about each other and about their school. And “they care about their planet,” he said, “they care about their community. They are really top-notch kids in every regard.” Here is the list, with the school each plans to attend in the fall:

  • Piper Bazard – Reed College, Oregon
  • Lauren Blake – Willamette University, Oregon
  • Kira Burnett – UC Davis
  • Alex Campbell – College of the Redwoods
  • Hannah Christen – Hood College, Maryland
  • Rachael Green – UC Berkeley
  • Stephanie Giori – UC Davis
  • Hannah Goldan – Hannah plans to travel for a year before pursuing pre-med studies
  • Jose Lopez – UC Santa Barbara
  • Lauren McCoy – Westmont College, California
  • Suzannah McFarland – Colorado State University
  • Hayden Parker – UC Davis
  • River Sween – UC Berkeley
  • Sophia Yamas – Columbia University, New York
  • Alex Yeoman – University of Southern California


We also heard from the recipients of this year’s Rotary Club of Arcata Sunrise Memorial Scholarships – Piper Bazard, Alixandrea Flint and Alex Yeoman each won $1,000 scholarships, and River Sween received a renewable scholarship worth a total of $6,000. In the photo from left to right are President Jessica, Scholarship Chair Julie Vaissade-Elcock, Piper, Alixandrea, Alex, and River. Congratulations to all four scholars!

Our featured speaker for the day was Rollin Richmond, who will soon retire as President of Humboldt State University. Click on the link below to hear his comments.


Volume XII, Issue 42: May 30, 2014

Alex's Week
Holi Moli! Alex with Kate Breyer!
On Friday, Exchange Student Alex Rialet told us that he returned to his first host family's home for the weekend. Angelo and Michelle Bacigaluppi and their kids welcomed him back for the brief visit (which I understand from Facebook, featured Ethopian collard greens and fried plantains). Then it was Spring Week at Arcata High, and Alex made the most of it. He said that on Tuesday, they held their version of the Holi Festival, and he asked President Jessica if she knew what it was. She didn't, and Alex didn't explain. But I learned that Holi is a festival of colors in India. It is celebrated in part by participants throwing colored powder at one another.

Alex was colorful on Wednesday, too, as he made a tie-dyed shirt. Sadly, it hadn't dried by Friday, so we weren't able to see the finished product. 

Finally, Alex was scheduled to serve as a member of the cheer team for the Powder Puff football game on Friday afternoon.

Announcements and Calendar
President Jessica issued a three-point challenge to all Sunrisers:
  1. Come to a Meeting/Keep Attendance UP! 
  2. Bring a guest to a meeting so they can "meet Rotary"
  3. Make a gift to The Rotary Foundation - we would like to be a Club that achieves the  "Every Rotarian, Every Year" goal.
Jessica also said that we are looking for a third host family for next year's Exchange Student from Brazil. The hosts will probably be housing the young woman next spring. Please contact a member of the Youth Exchange Committee if you are interested or if you know a family that would like to serve as hosts.

The top 10% of the AHS Class of 2014 will be visiting next Friday (June 6th). We will meet in the Plaza Grill, not the Plaza View Room. Sunrisers should enter via the entrance by the elevators, so the students and their families can use the main entrance. We will present checks to our scholarship recipients, and our featured speaker will be Rollin Richmond, who is retiring as President of Humboldt State University this spring.

On Sunday, June 8th, you have an opportunity to meet Alex's parents, who will be in town for their son's graduation. The festivities will take place at Lori Breyer's home in Eureka, starting at 3 pm. Please RSVP to Lori, and join us for "Bocce, Barbecue, and Beer".

And on Thursday, June 12th at 2:30 pm, Alex and the top 10% will be on display again (with several of their peers, including at least a couple of Rotary Kids) at the AHS Graduation at Redwood Bowl. 

We heard from the Arcata Noon Rotary Club last Friday. They are developing an International Project in Costa Rica for the coming Rotary Year. They will partner with the Rotary Club of San Jose in to help the "Forgotten People" in Cerro de la Madre, in the highlands. To help support the project, Rotarian Alberto Taylor and his son Ricardo turned their plan to scale Mt. Kiliimanjaro in Tanzania into a fundraiser. To learn more about the "Taylor Trek for Costa Rica" and about the project, please visit the website: Taylor Trek

In Appreciation ...
President Jessica also passed on several thank you messages that she has received recently:
  • Teddie Lyons, a member of the Board of Directors for the Senior Resource Center called to thank the Club for our support. 
  • She also read a portion of a thank you letter for our contribution to the "Childspree Funding Partnership", a program of the Boys and Girls Club. Childspree helps provide school clothing for needy children in Humboldt County.
  • Jacquelyn Opelach, who received a History Day scholarship from us, sent us a thank you card.
  • We also received a Mothers' Day card from the Nurse-Family Partnership. Last summer, we built and stocked portable bookcases (with the help of the woodshop class at McKinleyville School) that were provided to new mothers to promote reading to children.
  • In appreciation for or help in moving the HSU Natural History Museum to its new location, we were invited to participate in their Grand Opening over the weekend. That's over now,but the museum is now open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm, so be sure to drop by soon.
Jim Ritter is a long-time friend of our Club, and he is in charge of both the Humboldt LIVE! program and the AHS College and Career Center. Jim visited our Club last Friday to provide  updates. He reminded us that both programs are about helping junior high school and high school students plan for successful futures. Jim said that both our Club and the Arcata Noon Rotary are "incredibly supportive both of those programs". We provide financial support and we provide panelists for career workshops and speakers at career fairs. "I really wanted to thank you personally," he said, "for your support this year. The programs continue to grow and be well-received. Now I have students who are well out of college coming back and talking about how important the Humboldt LIVE! classes were. So we really appreciate your support." Jim said that, now that the programs are under the same leadership, he is finding ways to provide connections between high school students and their younger counterparts. He recently set up a "Grad Panel" at Jacoby Creek School - a group of AHS seniors spoke at an assembly at JCS, telling the junior high students what to expect in high school. President Jessica then provided Jim with a check from our Club, as part of our continuing support.
Jim Ritter and President Jessica

Recognitions
Ian with Jasmine
Tomas Chavez began last week's recognitions by calling upon Ian Schatz to discuss moving his daughter Jasmine home from her first year at UC Berkeley. He said that they brought back way more stuff than he remembered taking down. They had to pack carefully, because they then had to take six Exchange Students to the District Conference. Jasmine was a Rotary Exchange Student to Sicily during the 2011-2012 Rotary Year, and now she is a dual member of both the Cal Berkeley Rotaract and the Lost Coast Rotaract. Ian was also recognized for his firm being named as the top security company in the area by the Times-Standard. Advanced Security Systems achieved that distinction even though they were not listed on the ballot!

 
Alex vs. Canines
Alex was recognized for his battle (tug-o-war) with the dogs during his weekend at Angelo's home. When Tomas asked who won, Alex said, "I did." The doggies were not available for comment at press time.

Romi Hitchcock-Tinseth was featured on the Arcata Chamber of Commerce's Facebook page for her work (with her husband Glenn) helping move furniture donated by GHD to the Chamber offices at the Welcome Center. The furniture that was replaced was then donated to the Arcata House Partnership. Romi and Glenn were part of the swap 'til you drop extravaganza! Romi was also recognized for her recent trip. She said that her kids have always been great about the nature of their vacations - adding service aspects and/or cultural lessons to their travels. But her daughter asked her, "Once - before I'm officially an adult - I'd love to just stay on a beach." So that's what they did in Cancun. "It was beautiful, but not a place I'll go back to - it's not Mexico, actually."

Brandi Easter was recognized for a gigantic abalone that she recently took. She said that it an abalone of that size will feed four to six people. Your Editor initially heard that as forty-six people, but I checked the tape ...

On Bob Goodman's birthday, May 13th, he "had the pleasure of moving my daughter out of her dorm room. I think I then transported another daughter down to a dance competition. In between, I ate dinner." This all took place in the Bay Area. His daughter Delaney has been shadowing a doctor there once a month for a while now, and she is "torn between medicine and dance" for her career path. Delaney recently accompanied the doctor on an Operation Rainbow humanitarian trip to Nicaragua. Tomas asked whether we might see some of the photos from the trip, and Bob said that he would try. But, he said, "those don't come directly to me - I have to get my other daughters to send them to me."

Foundation Final Friday
Per our tradition, we held a Final Friday Auction, with all proceeds going directly to the Rotary Foundation. Here are the results:
  • Gregg Foster donated a painting that included an orange cat (not Garfield, though). Jeff Stebbins will proudly display that in his home or office.
  • Wine and a gift certificate for Larrupin's - that's a Sunriser Anniversary basket! It was provided by Kathy Fraser and purchased by Rebecca Crow.
  • President Jessica put in a batch of homemade cookies with the promise of a second batch to be delivered on demand. (Blackout periods and some exclusions do apply, void where prohibited by natural law, all other generic disclaimers also apply.) Randy Mendosa walked away with the goodies.
  • A piece of Rebecca Stauffer's art was provided by her husband, Howard. Joyce Hinrichs was the high bidder.
  • Romi Hitchcock-Tinseth donated a year's worth of flowers, delivered on a monthly basis. This package was snapped up by Susan Jansson.
  • Joyce Hinrichs offered a watercolor painting that was purchased by Susan Diehl-McCarthy of the Arcata Noon Rotary.
  • Jeff Stebbins put together a Barbecue Package, which contained a barbecue, apron, sauce, tools, the makin's for s'mores, and (the most important tool) beer. Terri Clark will be puttin' on the ribz.
Thanks to the generosity of our donors and bidders, we raised $925 for the Rotary Foundation!