Soundings (1/27/09)
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Visting Rotarians: Pete Kremen
Guests: None.
President Tim offered up his weekly chuckle
Students of the Month: Harold Scott introduced Terri White, a counselor at Squalicum High School. Terri, in turn, introduced our December and January Students of the Month: Twin sisters Anne and Andrea d'Aquino. Anne talked about some their many volunteering activities. She (and her sister) spent many weekends volunteering on Greenways projects improving parks and trails, weeding out invasive species such as blackberries in places like Maritime Heritage Park. She also volunteered for Bellingham Parks & Recreation, giving tennis lessons to 4-9th graders during the summer. Her sister Andrea talked about volunteering with the Bellingham Police Department's "Explorers" program, spending over 250 hours. They, together with many other teens, attended the "Explorer" academy, participated in "ride-alongs" with police officers and helped with several police community-outreach events. She is even considering a career in law enforcement. The sisters also volunteered feeding the homeless (70 people) and donated lunches to Lighthouse Mission. Scotty presented them their awards and $100 honoraria.
New members induction: Bill Unrein inducted Dannon C. Traxler, who was sponsored by Bob Tull. She is an attorney with the firm Langabeer & Tull P.S. Dannon is a native of Louisiana, attended Tulane Law School in New Orleans, moved to Bellingham in 2005, and joined the firm with a specialty in environmental law. Welcome, Dannon!
Bucks in the Bay
Tim thanked the Imhof's for a wonderful Rotario dinner;
Stephanie also thanked Imhof's;
Stan gave $100 to the Foundation, with some wise and humorous words about the federal stimulus package;
Mimi gave bucks with praise to Lynn Templeton for his work at Boys & Girls Club;
Brent Walker $20 for Foundation, thanked Imhof's, also recognized his brother Scott for his success with Walker's Carpet One;
Steve Spitzer $ for missed meetings, for finally closing his store "Play it Again Sports", for upcoming missed meetings due to travel, and for the upcoming birth of his grandson in March;
Jim Johnson commented on Lou Dobbs' remark that about 76,000 American workers would be let go this month - roughly equivalent to the entire population of Bellingham!;
Dick Stark talked about the joys of coaching kids;
Sarah Rothenbuhler gave $20 for a recent trip to the British Virgin Islands with her family!
Sergeant at Arms by Ron Hardesty
Fines for Brent and Stan for talking too long, Rotary Awareness Month trivia fines for new member Dannon Traxler and Bob Tull.
Program
Bill Gorman introduced District 5050 Public Relations Chair, Barrie Seaton. Barrie talked about ways to raise awareness of Rotary in our community. Rotary International, as you may have noticed, spends relatively little on advertising and PR, preferring instead to spend resources on actual projects. The onus, then, falls on the local clubs to get the word out on what we do, what our mission is, and why it matters.
In a recent survey, Rotarians cited the most important goals for Rotary: #1 eradicate polio, #2 do a better job get message out their about our mission!
Why do we need better awareness?
1) increase fundraising
2) increase public understanding and trust of Rotary, and
3) increase overall support and involvement from the community;
The Rotary International Website, despite being a little complicated to navigate, has a number of valuable resources to use in PR campaigns. For example the page "Public Relations" has a sample press release, tips on working with the media, how to use new media tools, tips on how to measure the success of your campaigns and links to many other resources.
The biggest challenge for Rotary today is the "Polio Plus Challenge", the $100 million matching grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. If successful, the campaign would eradicate polio from the face of the earth.
Respectfully submitted,
Stowe Talbot