Flag Salute & Invocation by John Purdie
Visiting Rotarians: Lynn Murphy (from PSE, and member Skagit RC), Graham Harris (from New Zealand)
Guests: Emilio V (from NWYS), Brett & Debbie Van Steenwyk (Paso Robles, CA)
Announcements
The Sunrise Rotary Club is sponsoring a volunteer work party on 9/28 in the morning at the NW Soccer fields baseball diamonds if anyone is interested.
Rotarian VIP tickets available now for our Wines by the Water fundraising event, October 19th at the Hotel Bellwether. These tickets are made available to our Rotarian membership for early entrance at 4 pm. General admission to the public at 5:30. The event runs until 8 pm. Your ticket includes entry into a door prize drawing which will be held at 5:30 before GA admission. We really are looking forward to this event. Each Rotarian is being asked by the board to purchase 2 tickets at $95 each to support our mission of service above self through charitable contributions in the community. Winery representatives from international and local cellars offer tastings and wine for purchase at special event pricing. Gourmet appetizers will be prepared by the Lighthouse Grill’s culinary Team.Proceeds from past events have benefited the Hospice House, Bellingham Food Bank, Northwest Youth Services, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Services (DVSAS), Lydia Place, and Blue Skies for Children, among others. See Christine Palmerton (cpalmerton@msn.com) for tickets, or via Eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/grape-and-gourmet-presents-wines-by-the-water-tickets-66490381521?aff=eac2).
Bellingham’s three Rotary clubs will be putting on a joint fellowship gathering on Thursday October 3rd, 4:30 - 6:30pm, at Twin Sisters Brewery, with catered food.
Wine tasting on Wednesday September 22nd at 5pm at Bryant Engebretson’s new house.
John Purdie read a letter from one of our Bellingham Technical College scholarship recipients (Ahavah Goldman) who gave their thanks and gratitude for the financial assistance.
Last Friday, several of our Rotarians attended the WWU Viking Night.
Business minute for BTC Foundation
- Michael Tilley is proud about the 5th anniversary of his owning “Minuteman Press”. He put in a plug for the business, and offered its many services to our member's printing needs https://www.bellingham.minutemanpress.com.
- John Purdie with Mount Baker Theatre, is excited to report that MBT has received an important WA state arts grant to mark the start of the theatre’s new capital campaign, “Continuing the Legacy: Save History - Fund the Future”. It is a $3.3M capital project, partly funded by grants and partly by private donations. Over the past decades, millions of dollars have been spent to modernize this important Bellingham landmark, but now the final upgrades need to be made to bring the building up to standard: Replacing the roof and gutters, and installing a state-of-the-art sound system. See here for details: https://www.mountbakertheatre.com/Online/default.asp
Bucks in the Bay
- Tim Krell fun biking on Sunday in Seattle to see Sounders game, this coming weekend he will attend 40th high school reunion in Nebraska, and a funny story about a guy in NZ;
- Lance wedding anniversary;
- Mimi for football games this weekend, Brooks Mfg has a scholarship at BTC and it is always very rewarding to hear how the recipients are bettering themselves;
- Aaron Lemperes for missed meetings, Whatcom Dream sent us a letter asking for $ for financial literacy education, and he is also looking for leads to identify and contact military veterans in need of dental care;
- Martin Mead still has his red ribbon, missed meetings, busy summer moving business into a new space, helped move his daughter to Montana State, and lastly his son now working at a company called Sage (manufacturer of high end fly fishing rods) on Bainbridge Island;
- Bill Geyer recognizes the freedoms associated with anniversary of the US Constitution today!
SAA by Lesa Ferguson
Fines for Bill Geyer, Mimi, Tim Krell, and football trivia.
Program
Lance introduced Lynn Murphy from Puget Sound Energy (PSE). Lynn joined PSE in 2008 and has worked in various positions there such as emergency services and is now a Sr. Government Affairs Representative. PSE’s goal is for a “better energy future for its customers, and to protect the environment for future generations.” The State of Washington passed the Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA). By 2045, the state’s retail load must be 100% clean energy, with several interim goals along the way. PSE’s portfolio assumes all its coal going away by 2025. PSE has numerous new products, programs and services to push renewables.
PSE is busy implementing “advanced metering infrastructure” through a secure wireless connection. Grid modernization. In Bellingham there are 1,200 solar systems, 6,400 customers in the Green Power and Solar Choice programs (3.6% of all city consumption), and 854 EV’s. Lynn talked about the recent “war on natural gas” by some local governments such as Seattle and Bellingham. They want to phase out all natural gas use in those cities. Lynn says natural gas is an emission contributor, but it’s also relatively clean and provides a valuable energy choice for customers.
Jim Johnson wins the raffle.
Respectfully submitted,
Stowe Talbot;