Visitors included Evan Bishop, a 2017 long-term exchange student, Abby Peterson from the Good Neighbor Center, Bill Monahan’s daughter, Zo, emeritus member, Jan Richardson, and future member, Melody Stone.
Rob reminded everyone of the upcoming raffle for Paul Harris Fellow points. 500 PH points will be raffled off two times (1000 points total) before the end of this fiscal year.
Birol recognized Cheron Calder as a new Paul Harris Fellow. Rob and Mary Alice Musante were recognized as Major Donors.
Cheron and Steve made donations in honor of recent birthdays.
Gina took the club’s pulse on a list of possible social events to be held this winter and spring:
Winery tour (May 6, 30 spots)
Race car rides with Rob
IFly (a group of 18+ is needed)
Happy Hour at FlyBoy Brewing (Feb 24)
Bowling
Listening to Tom Anderson’s band.
Team building exercise at the Escape Room (suggested by Cheron).
Evan Bishop was chosen as our club’s alternate long-term exchange student and was recently chosen by the District to fill one of the available alternate spots. Evan is interested in going to Taiwan, Japan, or Korea. Our other exchange student is Ethan Vo.
Ken and Carol VanDomelen are leaving on their annual trip to Guatemala to work with Rotarians in Guatemala City and beyond. Ken announced he and Carol will donate Paul Harris points for every dollar given to the ONIL Stove fundraising effort. For every $50 donated, match money from the District and a Rotary Global Grant will turn it into $150; the cost of one ONIL stove. In Ken’s absence, Julie will collect money for the project.
In Ken’s words: “With all of our club donations along with several other clubs including our partner: the Del Este Club of Guatemala City, the total global grant will surpass $175,000! Each stove we install helps [improve] the lives of 7 people . . . the average size of the family household in Guatemala. Our work will transform the lives of nearly 7,500 people. Not bad for a little club of 50 people connecting with another slightly smaller [Rotary] club.
“One of the reasons we decided to partner with this club [Del Este] was their ability to oversee Global Grants. They have done this by partnering with NGO’s like Helps International. The [Lake Atitlan] area where we are installing the stoves is a 2+ hour drive from Guatemala City. Helps International looks at the poverty cycle holistically and the Helps center in San Lucas Toliman not only [installs] cook stoves but [also] gets people into composting toilets, clean water filters, and replanting the vegetation with crop products to feed the family and provide another source of income. “
Ken is passionate about Rotary’s work in Guatemala. “When you see what Rotary does in other countries it shifts your mind.”
Sergeant Conrad, in his role as club fund raiser, led us in another engaging exercise in an effort to be exempted from the weekly $2 toll. The winning table can thank Gina, whose extemporaneous demonstration of her experience with the recent snow storm bested the considerable competition that included a trip to the hospital (Jake) and a $1100 repair bill (Jeff Y).