Posted by G. Stowe Talbot on Aug 06, 2019
Flag Salute & Invocation by Jeff Hill
 
Visiting Rotarians: None
 
Guests: Wyatt Shipp (junior at Sehome)
 
Announcements
 
Rotario Dinner August 10th 2-8pm at Christine Palmerton’s, $35/ incl BBQ food, wine and beer!
 
Friday Aug 23rd District 5050 annual Golffun event at Homestead, if interested.
 
District 5050 grant applications are due end of this month.
 
Bob Moles awarded his 4th Paul Harris pin!
 
Two club service events:
  1. Sept 21-22 SeaFest volunteering at the event;
  2. Oct 5th small pairing renovation project at the VFW.
Fall Wine Event Oct 19th at Bellwether, $95/ticket, more details later.
 
Jim Johnson mentioned District 5050 will be hosting an opportunity to meet RI President Mark Maloney evening party meet and greet, Aug 17th at Kwantlen Polytechnic University Surrey Campus, Spruce Building 12666 72nd Avenue.  $25.00 per person.
 
Business Bucket (funding goes to WCC & Bellingham Technical College):  Bill Geyer with a plug for Wyatt Shipp’s (Sehome student) project called Books4Zimbabwe.org
Bucks in the Bay
  • Bill Geyerfootball bucks;
  • Carlye Gillespie with bucks for Docks;
  • Bob Moles was in New England, attended 25th anniversary of Water for the World in Burlington Vermont;
  • Mike Werner very excited that his company Builders Alliance was recently acquired, he and Joe still in charge;
  • Tim Krell attended his East Indian friends HUGE wedding in Surrey, lots of great memories;
  • Mark Turner says today is ELECTION DAY! 
  • Bill Geyer kudos to Mimi, and an anonymous $20K donor to Docks!
SAA by Mimi Ferlin
Fine for misc. misdeeds.
 
Program
Mike introduced Sandy Ward, President and CEO of the Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism (bellingham.org). Sandy is a 30+ year veteran of the travel, tourism and hospitality industry.  
She also currently serves on the Bellingham Regional Chamber Board, Bellingham Tourism Commission, Whatcom County Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, and on the Bellingham International Airport Advisory Committee. 
 
During her career in the travel and tourism industry, Sandy also has developed and delivered customer service training programs to thousands of front-line staff, volunteers and supervisors in the hospitality industry throughout Utah and Washington State. She is a certified hospitality and customer service master trainer.
 
Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism is a non-profit organization with over 300 members representing a variety of tourism and community-related businesses.  The mission is to make sure Bellingham / Whatcom County is a year-round travel destination.  Tourism in Whatcom County is a $705.7 million per year industry, which makes it an important part of the county’s economic development strategy (it’s has the fifth biggest spending of any county in the state). Tourism brings jobs and tax revenue.
 
BWCT has placed six service desks around Bellingham (such as the airport and the ferry terminal).  They have 9,000 walk-in visitors a year.  basecampbeiingham.org is the Website for outdoor & adventure races.  They try to stay active on social media accounts as well.  Number one requested item at the office is paper maps.  They are working on a countywide “way finding” project.  Outdoor adventure is a big theme for visitors.  Ski to Sea is the single biggest event.  The challenge is to get people to come here in the off seasons.  Financing for the BWCT comes mostly from hotel/motel taxes, and also from member dues.
 
Respectfully submitted,
Stowe Talbot