IN THIS ISSUE:

This Reveille Home Page

Hunter the Winning Ticket (Patrol Sergeant Monica Hunter)

We Get Emails

District Conference — Last Chance for the Train to Portland

A Night at the Village Theater

Friday Potpourri

Annual Planning Retreat in La Conner

O’Brien Explains New Venture

Classification Talk: Rob LoBosco

Two Grants Awarded by Community Service

Rotary First Harvest - A Report from Kevin Jewell

Our Correspondent in the South Pacific (Colin Radford)

Web Fun

Our Correspondent in the South Pacific

(Each year, Colly and Manio Radford pack their bags and head for the islands. Colly keeps his attendance up by visiting several favorite clubs on Maui. There, he has a second batch of Rotarians he can call friends. Now, he describes his latest visit to the Big Island.)

Thank you, Karolyn and Bo Lundkuist, for making our recent visit to Hilo unforgettable for Manio and me. Thank you, Karolyn, for the stimulating lunch conversation about Rotary community service with our daughter Barbara and fundraising. Mahalo, even more for the tour of the special passions of your lives: your home, your aircraft information business and your glorious arboretum of palms. I wonder if the first Rotarians met with Paul Harris in Chicago to share such passions at work in their careers, what we now dryly call "classifications." The passions that create your successes far transcend that dusty term.

Barbara is fortunate indeed to serve as a committee chair under your upcoming presidency.

I took liberty and opportunity to share the story about you and Hilo Bay Rotary at Wednesday's Kihei Sunrise Club and suggested members here should visit the Hilo Bay Club for an injection of your infectious passionate organization during the next year. Of course, Sunriser Tom Reese, owner of Maui Banana Co, Ltd, had to let me know 600 varieties of palm are only a good beginning. He knew exactly how many varieties there are and named and described several ... with matching passion.

In response to your questions about fundraising, Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club (BBRC) raises about $100,000 per year and gives it almost entirely to local charities. We started with auctions, when there were about 40 of us, netted about $20,000, but found that too labor intensive. The items that made the most impact and net gain were personal: use of a vacation spot, a cute or useful animal, ethnic dinner for 6 or 8 prepared by a member, a day fishing with "the expert."

Next, because Bellevue has a big annual arts and crafts festival and the club had an exec from Foremost, we sold strawberry coolers and strawberry ice cream sandwiches during that weekend. Much less work, about same NOI.

Then we had a member owner of the local Acura dealership who made us a very good deal on "a little red Integra" to raffle. We contacted local grocery stores for permission to sell raffle tickets at their entrances (different store each week) with car all dolled up with promo and stuffed animals in Rotary shirts to help dramatize needs. More work, but dramatic increases in funds raised. After several years a golf tournament was added which now pays all costs of car, etc., and allows BBRC to give 100% of raffle proceeds.

Now we give to local community charities with a goal to create programs and infrastructure which will be self-sufficient or draw wider community support.

BBRC has been causative to creating or housing the Eastside YWCA Family village (housing and counseling); Eastside Adult Care Services; Eastside Hopelink (housing, food bank and housing; was King County Multi-Purpose Agency); Little Friends Riding Academy for cancer and handicapped children; ROTACARE volunteer medical clinic (with Overlake Hospital Medical Center); and are raising $50,000 for the Rotary Centennial Park at Crossroads (portion of a City of Bellevue park.

As a result BBRC members feel great about themselves. Success attracts new members and program presenters. BBRC members are or become community involved. One member attorney with three other members, plus others from our community, created a community leadership development program called Advance Bellevue. Significant members are not only involved on the boards of many charitable local institutions, but have served internationally. A group visited Ethiopia to give polio inoculations; others built classrooms and water cisterns for refugees in south Tijuana, Mexico; staffed dental clinics in Romania; collected, shipped for free and distributed bicycles to children of the dump in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The list goes on!

No one wants to miss a BBRC 07:00 AM meeting. Meetings are so energizing.

Your commitment to constructive passions will make the same true for Hilo Bay Rotary Club. I want to keep in touch with you to follow your great passions. — Colly Radford

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