May 6-8 - District 5130 Conference - Marriott Napa Valley Resort & Spa
May 14 - Help package incoming food for the Letter Carriers Food Drive - Noon to 2 pm at Trinity Baptist Church
May 29-June 1 - RI Conference in Seoul, South Korea
June 11 - RISE EVENT - Rotaract Color Run
June 18 - RISE EVENT - 26th Arcata Oyster Festival - providing beer to the thirsty
July 4 - RISE EVENT - Independence Day on the Plaza - volunteer at the RCAS Family Comfort Station
July 9 - RISE EVENT - Friends of the Dunes' Sand Sculpture Festival
RISE = Rotary Involvement Strengthens Everyone
- President Howard teased us with a photo to be explained later, when Ed Christians returns from his trip to Texas. We know it involves Jim Ritter and the Humboldt Live! program ...
- President Howard is also compiling photos of all the Sunrisers. "We used to have a catalog of photographs of all of our members," he said, and he noted that this helped new Sunrisers learn our names. He would like us to send him pictures that are ... er ... tasteful (and helpful).
- Carol Vander Meer told us that she would like to gather Rotarians from 12 to 2 on May 14 to help with the Annual Letter Carriers Food Drive
- Chuck Dominick of the Rotary Club of Arcata (Noon) provided a brief presentation on Rotary Youth Protection Awareness. If you were in the audience (and filled out the roster), you are now "vetted" to interact with those under the age of 18 on behalf of Rotary, so long as it is not a one-on-one situation. If there is a possibility that you will be in the latter position, please contact President Howard or a member of our Youth Exchange Committee for more information on being vetted at the next level.
Our Exchange Student from Sweden, Sophia Waern-Bugge, was excited last Friday - she was heading for the Prom at Fortuna High that weekend! She had her ears pierced (with permission from her parents), and the earrings go with her dress. This is the first of several Proms she will be attending this Social Season. Someone asked, "Will you get a new dress for each one?" Sophia replied, "I wish!"
History Day Awards
Several students who excelled at the local History Day competition in February received scholarships from our Club at our last meeting. Jeff Stebbins, who took a strong leadership role in the local event presented the awards, which will help support them as they attend the State History Day event this weekend. Here is a list of the winners, their competition categories, and their topics:
- Arcata High School's Garrett Kitchen was a co-champion (with Jackson Homen, who Garrett said "was not able to attend, due to a previous engagement") in the Senior Group Website category, and their topic was Howard Hughes.
- Yurou Hudson and Talia Mueller of Six Rivers Charter School were also co-champions in the same category. Their topic was titled "Angel of Death", which dealt with doctors at the Holocaust Camps during World War II.
- The 1960s effort to put a man on the moon was the topic of Greta Bishop's Senior Historical Paper. Greta attends Arcata High School.
- Another AHS student, Phoenix Spoor, whose exhibit showed the progression of rights for people with disabilities over time.
Vocational Moment
Ian Schatz is the Operations Manager for Advanced Security Systems. His company provides "electronic monitoring of things that change. It could be that a door opened when it wasn't supposed to, or it could be that there's smoke in a room, or water flowing through a pipe." All types of conditions can be monitored.
Ian said that his official job title should be "Multi-Purpose Glue". He hires (and occasionally fires) employees, mentors them, and assigns them to specific roles.
Final Friday Foundation Auction
Last week, we held our penultimate Final Friday Auction. As always, 100% of the proceeds were donated to the Rotary Foundation, with the Paul Harris Fellowship credit split evenly between each item's donor and its purchaser. Working the crowd with Foundation Chair last Friday was auctioneer John Gullam. Here are the items they sold:
- Brenda Bishop donated two packages featuring Baroni Jewelry with a special gift box. The winning bids were made by Karen Burgesser and Jeff Stebbins.
- A Martini Kit, complete with glasses and the makings and recipe for a Curly Lou Martini were provided by Carol Vander Meer. The Kit was purchased by Jessica McKnight.
- Brenda Bishop brought another package - a set of four vials of perfume from Victoria's Secret. Joyce Hinrichs was the top bidder.
- A handmade bag suitable for the Farmers Market, and filled with appropriate goodies was donated by Chris Jelinek, and promptly snapped up by Barbara Browning.
- Jeff Stebbins donated a pair of hand-crafted jar light sconces. John Gullam won the bidding on that package.
- Maggie Kraft offered two bottles of Iniquity Wine (made by Rotarians), along with a tasting certificate. One of our History Day guests (a parent) was the winning bidder!
- Finally, Steve McHaney donated a Luau Party Package, complete with glasses, rum, and a vintage blender. Lori Breyer was our winner.
Unsung Rotarians for April
President Howard named two Sunrisers as his Unsung Rotarians of the Month - Nick Torres and Tomas Chavez! As the leaders of the Membership Committee, they have helped bring in three new members (so far) this year, and they are very active in all aspects of our Club. Congratulations!
