Flag Salute & Invocation by Brad Cornwell
Visiting Rotarians: None
Guests: Sean Cool (Geo Engineers)
Announcements
President Curtis with birthdays (Henry Lee’s in a few days). Incoming Pres. Tresha gave update on the committees - she has updated the Email “group lists” to reflect the committee memberships.
BBRC Board meeting will take place Thursday Dec. 14th 4:30pm at Tradewinds board room (2211 Rimland Drive, 4th floor).
New member induction: Past Pres. Bill Gorman introduced and inducted incoming member, Sean Cool. Sean works at Geo Engineers, his sponsor is Brad Cornwell, his classification will be engineer, and he is interested in serving on the BBRC community service committee. Tony Freeland will be his mentor. Congratulations, Sean!
Business Promo minute: John Purdie talked about the Mount Baker Theatre, this year is the 90th anniversary, and the recent “tower lighting ceremony”.
Bucks in the Bay
- Curtis Dye was up to Chilliwack to attend Rotary youth exchange meeting, and also attended a hockey game;
- Rod Bring went to a balmy Denver for Thanksgiving to see son;
- Tim Krell recently went up to BC to have lunch in Tsawwassen, and then popped over to Point Roberts for a spot of tea with some Irish clients;
- Brent Walker with plug to BBRC foundation donations (it’s a tax deduction!), we’re now at $416,000!
- Sven Gilkey talked about his kids, in particular his daughter who is excited to try Scouting next year (the local Mount Baker Council has been chosen to run one of the first trial co-ed scouting programs in the US).
- Bob Becker about ready to depart to the desert for a few months, also slowly moving in to a new Bellingham condo by the time he returns!
- Sean Cool with some bragging bucks for his neighborhood’s (in Ferndale) Turkey Trot fun run (which he and his wife organize) - this year the event raised $1000 for charity!
- Bob Moles, last week went up to Surrey to attend an organizational meeting for a proposed new club (to be called the “PNW Passport Club”) which is designed for those not able to attend meetings regularly in person; this club will meet only about 4 x year, meantime members can attend other clubs and participate in other clubs’ projects.
- Christine Palmerton proud that son Justin accepted job at FBI (he’s now training in Quantico), she will be traveling a lot next week with Kris;
- Mimi Ferlin with upcoming BIG birthday, to celebrate she’s taking grandkids to Aulani Disney Resort on Maui, also some real estate deal updates, and proud football bucks;
- Brad Cornwell with Sounders bucks, and kudos to our newest member Sean Cool, he and his firm Geo Engineers is the best in the business, Brad is also still soliciting new ideas for program speakers.
Sergeant at Arms by Mark Turner
Misc. fines related to WECU, sunny days, and Santa.
Program
Brad Cornwell welcomed Jennifer Kutcher, President and CEO of WECU, the local credit union / bank. Jennifer has worked at WECU for over 19 years. She came to Bellingham to attend WWU as an undergraduate. She said she has a special fondness for Rotary because she attended a Rotary exchange program to New Zealand in 2005; she said the experience was life-changing.
WECU’s was founded in 1936 as Bellingham Teachers Credit Union. Name changed to WECU in 1975. In 2002 WECU’s charter was expanded to include all community members, so membership expanded rapidly since then. Currently WECU has 92,000 members, with 350 employees, and assets of $1.4M(?)
Mission: “To make a meaningful difference in the lives of our members”.
The importance of being local: all decisions are made here, serves community members from all demographic groups, loan services remain at WECU, and WUCU supports and invests in the local community.
WECU tries to provide true value: safe, secure, strong with low fees and competitive rates.
WECU has $1.2B in deposits, all of which has been lent out. WECU has over $260M in business loans, and $1B in home loan servicing.
Tim K wins the raffle!
Respectfully submitted,
Stowe Talbot