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Vol. 19, No. 6, AUGUST 8, 2006 |
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| THE FRIDAY PROGRAM: Parity, Not Charity: The Haas Foundation (Bonnie Hilory) | Friday Potpourri | Ernie Hayden Reclassifies | The Foundation Fellows | Mix Heads for Idaho | Web Fun | ||||||||
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The Friday Program
Officially known as the Saul and Dayee G. Haas Foundation, support was given to 588 students in schools throughout Washington with over $279,000 in grants and $47,000 in matching funds. Saul Haas was the founder of KIRO Radio and TV. After he sold his interest, he founded his Foundation and it has grown to provide support to students in all 820 secondary schools in Washington. As Bonnie Hilory said, “It’s an equity fund that creates empowerment for the recipient.” One of the major goals of the Haas Foundation is to encourage students to stay in school, return to school or get involved with their learning community. READ MORE 
President Zidar welcomed an enthusiastic crowd. He called on John Mix to deliver the invocation and lead the pledge to the flag. Ron Black greeted visitors, asking them to think back to the early days of hydroplane racing and see what early racing teams they could identify. Bob Moloney, in his ever-advancing plan to completely retrofit his body, had a knee replaced and is at home, doing well. A year ago in April, Ernie Hayden joined the Port of Seattle as Information Security Officer. The workload increased exponentially, forcing Ernie to curb some of his extracurricular activities such as Rotary. He resigned in September last year, with the intention of returning as soon as possible. The rodent became a focal point in January, as Ernie was in his attic setting traps for some pesky rats who’d found a great place to live. Unfortunately, the ceiling couldn’t hold him and Ernie fell onto the steps below. A 911 call sent him to the hospital (Overlake) where they treated him for a broken ankle, beat-up ribs and 15-days in the hospital. Through this experience, Ernie found that “attitude is everything, and family and friends are everything.” His friends and family responded to his accident, “particularly my friends in Rotary. As I found out from the doctors, the weightlifting I’d been doing may have saved my life. My neck broke the fall, but because of my conditioning, I was very lucky not to have suffered any damage to my spine or neck.” During convalescence, Ernie found out that all these friends and family were vitally important to him and he contacted the BBRC with a plan to return on July 1, and that he did. The club is grateful that he came through this trauma in good shape. We’re also happy that he’s once again a dues-paying member in good health, and he looks absolutely great as he continues to recover from the January incident.
Don Chandler introduced new member Mitch Freedman, whose $1,000 donation made him an instant Paul Harris member. Mitch received his handsome framed Paul Harris certificate and pin. For continued ongoing support, Terry Baker received his second sapphire, an investment of $3,000 in the Foundation. Mary Bell earned her third sapphire, denoting a $4,000 contribution; Don Chandler, with four sapphires, or $5,000; and Cary Kopczynski, with his ruby award, denoting more than $7,000 donated to the Rotary Foundation. The BBRC, as a group, continues to establish a culture of giving, as last year’s campaign netted over $35,000 in contributions to the Rotary Foundation.
As good a group as you’d find came to roast the Vandal. Ginny Hayden, Donna Clarke, Katie Owen, and Jim Givan all made a special effort to come to the Goodbye Session. Ernie Hayden doctored up his sweatshirt with an “Idaho” decal for the occasion.
He returned one morning with an entourage dressed in hard hats and miner’s lights. The room was encased in total darkness ... and Ellis said, “There’ll be no electricity in this room until John Mix comes forward and pays a $20.00 Harassment Fine.” “Fine,” said Mix. And the lights came back on. What power! Next came Past President John DeWater, who does the best imitation of “Mr. Haney” of Greenacres. What a joy to be roasted by Mr. Haney! He pulled out a banner from the Ted and Ted’s Excellent Rotary (TATER) in Moscow — The Tater Rotary Club — done up in a potato sack, embellished with the slogan “The Best Durn Rotary Club in Southern Latah County!” Mix loved it. Lounge singers Erickson and Face moved to the piano to sing a home-made ditty, with words by Howard Johnson, to the tune of “Thanks for the Memories.” Not a dry eye in the house. CLICK HERE FOR LYRICS At great expense, Andrew presented John with a “Self-Adhesive Mustache and Beard Set” for moving in and around Red Square in Moscow.
Jim Givan came all the way over from Yakima to yell “Gimme an I,” and President Zidar produced the first T-shirt given to a departing Rotarian, retiring John’s Badge Box number. “He’s the first to have his badge retired ... slot 81 will remain empty for all time.” (That translates to 100% attendance!) The meeting ended with Zidar’s Thought for the Week. Something about there “being no more deadlines.” • • • Mix Arrives in Idaho (and no one noticed!)
Took awhile to get up-and-running when the computer wouldn’t cooperate, but after a week of attention by the computer doctors, everything’s fine. The final two weeks of the month of August will be spent getting projects completed for a hand-over to Sayoko on September 1. She’s raring to go and more power to her!
Thanks for all the notes, phone calls and emails. You know, you’re all ALWAYS welcome in Moscow (Moss-coe, rhymes with Idah-o) Idaho, but, please, not all at the same time! It’s the Huskies and Cougars in Pullman in November and the Vandals and the Cougars in just three weeks in Pullman. Best regards to the Best Darn Rotary Club in the World. I’ll visit my family in Snohomish/Monroe during the course of the year and will drop in to see if my slot in the badge box is truly retired! The Friday Program:
Officially known as the Saul and Dayee G. Haas Foundation, support was given to 588 students in schools throughout Washington with over $279,000 in grants and $47,000 in matching funds. Saul Haas was the founder of KIRO Radio and TV. After he sold his interest, he founded his Foundation and it has grown to provide support to students in all 820 secondary schools in Washington. As Bonnie Hilory said, “It’s an equity fund that creates empowerment for the recipient.” One of the major goals of the Haas Foundation is to encourage students to stay in school, return to school or get involved with their learning community. BBRC’s own Evelyn Cogswell, former principal of Sammamish High School, was called upon by Hilory to explain how the program works at the school level. First, Evelyn said that for many students, the Haas Foundation support “a leveled the playing field. There are many needs that are incidental to each student, but if they can’t afford it, it becomes a huge obstacle. The Haas Foundation funding helps in this important way.”
Some of the stories that tell what kind of a program this is was related by Hilory. “In Yakima, there were two brothers from a certain family. The school noted that one of the brothers had been absent for an extended length of time. When school officials went to their home, they found that the family had only one pair of shoes, and those went to the older son. The younger had no shoes and the parents decided he couldn’t attend. The Haas Foundation provided the means to acquire another pair of shoes.” Hilory commented about the "pay to play" culture that we live in today as a deterrent to participation by some students. “The issue of caps and gowns at graduation is a big one. Many families simply don’t have the funds for expense like that. School faculty has a very big job to do to help identify students who need assistance. The Foundation will prepay 800 grants in this month of August which are eligible for matching money as a means to help students as the new school year begins.”
More details about The Haas Foundation can be found on the web at www.haasfoundation.org. Hilory said that annually, $350,000 to $400,000 is made available from the earnings of the Foundation. Currently the endowment is $5 million and a near-term goal is to increase the endowment to $20 million, so the organization can funds all schools in Washington forever. For more details, you can visit the Foundation website or contact Bonnie Hilory
For her presentation, Bonnie, a member of Southcenter Rotary, was awarded a certificate by President Zidar indicating the BBRC has donated 1400 pounds of fresh produce in her name through Rotary First Harvest to needy families in Washington. A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years before. Because of their hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules. So, the husband left Minneapolis and flew to Florida on Friday, and his wife was flying down the following day. The husband checked into the hotel and, unlike years ago, there was a computer in his room, and he decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her email address, and without noticing his error, sent the email to the wrong address. Meanwhile ... somewhere in Houston ... a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a minister who was called home to glory after suffering a heart attack. The widow decided to check her email, expecting messages from relatives and friends. After reading the first message, she screamed and then fainted. The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, then glanced up and saw the computer screen which read:
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, 08/04
A little known organization with a big impact introduced itself to the BBRC Friday with a story of success of a private foundation partnering with schools to help students in need. The Seattle-based Haas Foundation’s Executive Director, Bonnie Hilory, came to spread the word. 
An interim report by the Two Dons, Brown and Kopczynski (the Foundation Fellows) added some more names to the list of members who have been honored by their participation in the Rotary Foundation. Founded in 1957 upon the death of Paul Harris, the Foundation has been the mainstay of providing hundreds of millions of dollars to projects throughout the world. 
Who thought you’d ever see a headline like this? Certainly, Mix never saw himself writing such a headline. But, it has happened, and Friday August 4th was John’s last day as Club Administrator and Reveille Editor of the BBRC. 
Dick Clarke reminisced about John’s year as Sergeant at Arms from 1987-1988. Dick was the club’s second president and he’d tapped John to do the SAA work. John Ellis, the only person to earn the Person of the Year Award from the BBRC, was a particular target when he visited the club. Somehow, the lights would always flicker and fade when Ellis walked into the room. As Chairman of Puget Power, Ellis had other ideas about how to get even. 
For his part, Mix produced a $20 bill to give to Face “for all the times I just wrote about the fines you Sergeants levied, but never paid.” He also awarded Jim Zidar four plaques presented by organizations thankful of BBRC action and support ... all from 1991. (Better late than never). And, Mix showed the club how proud he was of his retirement gift, a handsome Rolodex Watch. 
A 17-foot U-Haul brought Mix back to Moscow on August 4. With family members ably emptying the truck the next morning at the rental quarters (it took only two hours!), Mix has settled down in his new digs. 
If you’ve never visited the Palouse, this is one of the best times of the year. Harvest is in full swing, combines climbing all over the hills pulling in record bushels of wheat. The pea and lentil crops seem to have taken some hits after a wet spring gave the crop a good start, but an extremely hot June stunted the crop generally. Still, it’s an amazing sight to see the technology of farming steep hillsides and how important agriculture is to our country. 
A little known organization with a big impact introduced itself to the BBRC Friday with a story of success of a private foundation partnering with schools to help students in need. The Seattle-based Haas Foundation’s Executive Director, Bonnie Hilory, came to spread the word. 
Evelyn said that Sammamish has received assistance from Haas averaging about $12,000 a year. It’s a matching fund kind of program and the school matches the students with needs with the funds from the Foundation, plus matching monies to make the payment happen. An example would be supplies for specialized classes, such as art, or payments for yearbooks. Evelyn said that last year, 123 students received assistance, totaling $4,800.
The Haas Foundation program is mostly about awareness. Awareness to know which students need help. Schools are encouraged to be an advocate for these kids, knowing that the Foundation has these funds available for just such needs. The major objective of the Foundation is to encourage kids to stay in school. The Foundation served 17,109 students in 2005-2006. Its program cuts through red tape and makes funds almost immediately available. 
If you remember the Original Hollywood Squares and its comics, this may bring a tear to your eyes. These great questions and answers are from the days when "Hollywood Squares" game show responses were spontaneous and clever not scripted and (often) dull, as they are now. Peter Marshall was the host asking the questions, of course.