Flag Salute & Invocation by Mimi Ferlin
 
Visiting Rotarians: None
 
Guests: guest of Wade Stringfield from Waddell and Reed
 
BBRC board meeting will be next week Thursday Aug. 13th at 4:30 pm at at Barkley Company office.
 
New member application:  The BBRC board has approved the application of former member Allan Stockbridge.  Allan is a broker with Kulshan Commercial Investment Real Estate, and his sponsor is Stan Dyer.  Any comments or concerns can be addressed to Scotty or Bill Geyer.
 
Bucks in the Bay
  • Lance Calloway golfing with his 7-year old, then Seattle for SeaFair weekend;
  • Terry Myers missed meetings, she and Tonja took wonderful trip overseas with their mom;
  • Tim McEvoy went fishing in Sitka with his kids;
  • Harte Bressler climbed Mt. Rainer but threw his back out;
  • Pete Rittmueller will be joining the Medicare crowd next week, also went fishing up in Alaska but fishing was tough;
  • Tonja Myers missed meetings in Europe with Terry and mom and son went to England Ireland Scotland, next week taking son to Chicago to college, also granddaughter’s second birthday!
  • Christine turned 50 in Greece last week, also was in NYC, crazy but fun time with family too;
  • Steve Kimberly wedding anniversary, also an AK fishing trip, and brought his Dutch relatives to Brewers;
  • Jill Reid said sign-up deadlines for Boys&Girls Club sports programs will be coming soon;
  • Bryant E spent weekend in Seattle with son, also saw son’s rowing regatta in Greenlake;
  • Phil X was excited to practice his Dutch at Brewers!
Sergeant at Arms by Glen Groenig
Fines for Mimi, Lance, Tonja, Christine P, Seahawks trivia, etc.
 
Program
Curtis Dye introduced Ray Deck III, who works at Faithlife.  Ray is one of the founders of Skookum Kids, a nonprofit organization which provides temporarily housing (up to three days) for Whatcom County children entering the foster care system.  When children enter foster care for the first time, social workers have 72 hours before they appear before a judge with a plan for where the kids will live next.  Social workers then scramble to find a home (or sometimes motel) that can temporarily take the kids until that hearing before a judge.  Because there aren’t always enough families available, a child might be separated from siblings, or have to go to a foster care home in Whatcom County for a night, and then have to be back in the office with a social worker during the day.
 
Ray says “Our mission is to give foster kids a gentle landing when they enter the foster care system”.  Skookum is a Chinook word that means “strong and healthy”, and reflects the goal of the organization to help foster children have a chance at healthy and happy lives.
 
Ray and his wife are themselves foster parents, so they recognized the need for this kind of service here in Whatcom County, where there are usually about 250 kids in the foster system at any one time, but there are only 81 licensed homes, and only 25 of those are actually “answering the phone”.  Therefore, there is a real foster crisis here. 
 
Skookum Kids was established in September 2014.  Hillcrest Church gave the organization a three-bedroom house on South Hill rent-free.  But the real task was bringing the home into compliance, getting the State licenses, and also a team of volunteers.  Ray is systematically dealing with each of these issues.  In fact, on July 10th, Skookum received its WA State license, opened it doors, and has over 30 volunteers!   Eventually they want to be open and available on weekdays as well (to serve short term foster housing services).  But they will need more funding and volunteers. 
 
Besides housing, children at Skookum Kids receive food, new clothes and toys, as well as transportation to and from school and for medical screenings.  Incoming Whatcom County foster children can stay for up to 72 hours at the house, which is staffed by the trained volunteers.  The center helps fill a gap in service that exists in Whatcom County and other parts of the state.
 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
Stowe Talbot