IN THIS ISSUE:

This Reveille Home Page

A Walk Down Memory Lane ­ A History of BBRC Retreats

Matching Gift Program Announced

President-Elect Reports

Event Hats/Visors on Sale

Man of LaMancha a Fellowship Event

Friday Potpourri

The La Conner Retreat ­ A Recap

Student Of The Month: Oriana Kness

Rotary Foundation Awards Members

Foundation Committee Performs Valuable Service

Steve Goodier: When You judge Yourself

Web Fun

The La Conner Retreat ­ A Recap

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Bright sunshine, tulip fields, and crowds of people swelling the population of quaint La Conner was a recipe for a good, productive time as the BBRC staged its 17th Annual Planning Retreat in the Skagit Valley. Norm Johnson’s retreat chaired by Sharon Edberg played host to 43 members and attended also by several spouses of members.

The La Conner Country Inn was the site of the meetings. Friday evening, after a reception at the Inn, the group walked the long block to the Seafood & Steak House for a sumptuous dinner. Afterwards, awards were given to golfers ­ top twosome was Cyril Faulkner and Will Einstein, followed by Norm Johnson and Brian Evison. Norm noted that three new members were in attendance: Fred Barkman, Chip Erickson and Tom Miller, as well as first-time attendee Evelyn Cogswell.

The Retail Therapy competition which has been going on for the past several years, features a group of dedicated shoppers who are graded on their ability to find what they’re looking for in the minimum amount of time, with the least amount of hassle. The players marveled at Lynne Gauthier’s single-minded focus on her “list.” So much so that Ms. Gauthier was crowned the new champion and received the traveling trophy, "The Eddy,” named after the first winner, Sharon Edberg. Sponsors of the event deplored the absence of Tom Miller who had earlier indicated he would break the gender barrier and participate. But a late start out of Bellevue and heavy traffic short circuited his plans. Maybe next year!

Before adjourning to the evening’s poker competition, a warm welcome was issued by members of the La Conner Rotary Club and by John Milnor, Assistant Governor of District 5050, the host district and club for the BBRC Retreat. In the past 11 years, the La Conner Rotary Club has raised over $95,000 for contributions to local, regional, national and international causes from the sale of tulips. The club staffs three sales and information stands in the La Conner vicinity. This is the club’s major fundraiser.

The Next Morning

The Planning portion of the Retreat began promptly at 7:45 with President-elect Johnson explaining the expectations and schedule. President Evison insisted on conducting a Kangaroo court, stemming mostly from the play of members at the Retreat Golf Outing.

With the Centennial theme in place -- “Celebrate Rotary” -- the planning session began with color-coded instructions on each name tag, provided by Secretary-elect Ernie Hayden. The codes instructed each member which breakout session to attend.

PE Johnson highlighted some of the goals and objectives of the coming year:

Don Chandler and Don Deasy will co-chair the club’s Rotary Foundation Annual Giving effort.

BBRC’s participation in an RI 3-year study of Membership Recruitment and Retention is headed by John Martinka. Statistics show that half of the people who become members leave during the first three years.

District Goals include building three houses for Habitat for Humanity as Centennial projects. Fundraising will include a special offering of Columbia Crest wine; half of the cost is deductible.

The Leadership for the new Rotary year led by new President Norm Johnson includes: President-elect (2005-2006) Steve Lingenbrink; Immediate Past President Brian Evison; Secretary Ernie Hayden; Treasurer Margie Burnett; Sergeant At Arms Jenny Andrews; Club Service I Director Will Einstein; Club Service II Director Peter Powell; Community Service Director Scott Sadler; Vocational Service Director Carlene Buty; International Service Director Brian Heimbigner; Foundation Service Director Phil Salvatori.

The Breakout Sessions

The first group tackled the issue of Prioritizing Giving. The session reviewed the quarterly dues structure, the raffle and Rotary Foundation gifts. Peter Powell, assisted by Kim Shrader handled this session.

Dues

On the subject of the club’s $270 per quarter dues, a proposal to reduce the dues of young (under 30), new members in their first year was met with an overwhelming negative response. Session goers had trouble deciding where to draw the line on this issue.

Rule of 85

A second issue regarding those members qualifying for the "rule of 85" who petition the board for waiving of attendance rules have a reduction in their quarterly dues? There were mixed views on this. Some said reduce and others said leave at $270. One idea which seemed to have merit was to allow a reduction in dues by the amount spent at other clubs while doing a make-up. If a member spent $50 doing make-ups at other clubs while traveling they could deduct that amount from their $270 bill. Some type of receipt would need to be shown. This would apply only to those members approved in advance by the board for the rule of 85.

Raffle

Should new members be expected to sell/contribute $800 for the raffle their first year? The general consensus was to "let them pick their own goal and don't expect $800," or to make it $400 or $500. An $800 goal creates anxiety for some of our new members. Every session said "pair off new members with a mentor/a buddy who could help them the first year." Steve Lingenbrink told the retreat audience that a mentor/buddy system is being prepared for the coming raffle. We also heard we need one training meeting as the raffle kicks off to coach people on how to sell, do letter writing campaign, sharing of ideas. This should be done every year.

Should the club allow people to offset their $800 raffle goal by doing work parties? Members said no.

Prioritizing

Priorities for club members:

a. Pay quarterly dues.

b. Contribute to the R. I. Foundation. R.I. recommends a minimum contribution of $100 per year to be a sustaining member. It was noted that we would like every member of the club to participate, even if it means giving $20.

c. Raffle.

In closing, a point was made that “when we donate money, maybe we should reverse the order of what we do. Rather than start with how much money we have to give away, instead identify the needs first.” (Report submitted by Kim Shrader)

Hands-On Commitments

Conducted by Kevin Jewell, assisted by Vicky Hunsicker Sanko, this session explored whether the hands-on activities schedule by the club were excessive or just right. Each session looked at the list of current activities of the club to assess whether our goals were either heavy or light. This group’s consensus revealed:

Enough events and variety of events were available for all to participate.

Members concluded that all events should be “family friendly.”

The groups believed that better public relations and marketing will help get more participation from each member. An idea to create a 12-month rolling web-based calendar was hatched.

Interface with the schools we partner with to give them (students) new and additional outlets for community service.

Publicize the process to introduce new projects and programs (That would be the four P’s)

Centennial Project

Bill Schultheis chaired, with assistance from Jenny Andrews, the session discussing the club’s Centennial Project. Schultheis told the members assembled, after conclusion of the breakout sessions, that “this is a very bold project. It will bring our club and committees together. Our club will become more viable in our community and beyond because of this project. It will be a great new facility to offer the people of Bellevue. It’s a big project, a huge challenge.”

The discussion from each breakout group recognized that a solid majority of the membership had voted to support this project. Those who had either opposed it or were lukewarm about adopting it were clear that they were prepared to support the club’s efforts. However, everyone clamored for more information about what the project is, what it will take to complete it and where it will all lead. A timeline of accomplishing the project was considered a must. All members wanted a “clear understanding” of what the projects contains, with the caveat that this project will not dilute other existing projects already supported by the club.

This was a good exercise in democratic principles of participation and sharing of ideas. Next is to nail down the Memorandum of Understanding between the BBRC and the City of Bellevue and get on with the project. Tom Purdy, who does this kind of work for a living, will be the club’s consultant as it moves forward on the Centennial Project.

It was pointed out that a special link already exists on the BBRC website that explains in detail the Centennial Project. It was agreed that this section shall continue to provide updated information and become almost a “journal” of the run-up as this project unfolds. It’s located on the right-hand side ­ Click here for information about the Centennial Project.

2004 Raffle

Steve Lingenbrink, President-Elect in the new administration, announced that Steven Goldfarb has agreed to chair the next year's raffle, and Dick Brown has already lined out the needs of the Golf Outing in early July. A red Volkswagen convertible will be the raffle car, and the raffle will depend heavily on the buddy system, pairing two members to support their individual fund raising efforts.

Retreat Adjourned!

Retreat Attendance: Andrews, Barkman, Barnes, Bell, Burnett, Buty, Cameron, Chandler, Cogswell, DeWater, Edberg, Einstein, Erickson, Evison, Faulkner, Gauthier, Gordon, Hayden, Heimbigner, Holert, Hunsicker Sanko, Jewell, H Johnson, N Johnson, Kabani, Kimbrough, Kopczynski, Ladlad, Lingenbrink, Martin, Martinka, McCaulley, McKorkle, Miller, Mix, Monger, O’Brien, Peterson, Peter Powell, Sayoko Powell, Salvatori, Schultheis, Shrader, Smith, Thorsen. (45)

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