Jennny Andrews, Bob Holert, Norm Johnson, Tom Smith
In what was believed to be the first serious misstep on the part of Dick Brown, Retreat Day dawned dark, rainy, windy and generally awful. Undaunted, we knew the weather would clear by the end of the BBRC meeting but, alas, it was not to be! Rain and hail pounding our cars, we bravely made our way to Gig Harbor to golf or shop, quietly cursing Mr. Brown and plotting how to get a real weatherman in the club. As we lowered our windows to pay the toll on the Narrows Bridge, our sleeves were soaked by the driving rain! Oh, this was bad.
But wait! As we approached Gig Harbor the raindrops went from grapes to poppy seeds. What was that looming ahead? Blue skies? Yes indeed! Okay, it was cold and it was cloudy but it was not raining! Another quiet victory for the just-barely-vindicated Mr. Brown.
Shoppers, lead by Elena Howell, began by fortifying themselves with a long-awaited lunch at The Tides Tavern (Note to file: do not bring children to this establishment as they are not able to serve anyone born after 1987.)
Then we were off! Inspired by our intrepid, dedicated, magnificent shopping diva, Sharon Edberg, no shop was left unexplored, no merchandise unevaluated, no credit card unused. Despite serious and repeated attempts to get Bob McKorkle to believe that Fran purchased something large and sparkly from an expensive jewelry store (he didn’t take the bait), the “Eddy Award for Excellence in Retail Therapy” went to none other than your humble correspondent, Jenny Andrews. (See, I told you begging and whining are effective ways to get what you want!)
Retreat Golf!
The day had an auspicious start when we showed up at Glendale and the golfers blamed Dick Brown for the torrential rains. His response was, “Hey, I didn’t promise the weather would be good here; my forecast was for the weather at the destination.” We all foolishly concluded that it was an easy claim to make, since he wasn’t planning to travel to the destination, so there would be no accountability once we arrived.
We were wrong. The moment we pulled up in the parking lot, the rain ceased. It also happened to start again five hours later as we got into our cars to leave. Dick, how do you manage to always pull that off?
The intrepid eleven attacked the golf course with determined ferocity. The champions were Norm Johnson, Cyril Faulkner, Doug Cameron, and Robin Callan. Cyril “Tiger” Faulkner also walked away with the longest drive award — what a surprise! Bob Bowen won the men’s closest to the pin.
In the lady’s competition, Diane Gamache won. You may notice I said “lady” — singular. That wasn’t a typo. While the rest of her sisters were out shopping, Diane was swinging away, saving her three guys from certain disaster on the majority of drives and the KTP competition. She didn’t win the longest drive, we gave the “lady” award away to Manfred, in a story that can wait for another time.
As always, we had a blast — good weather on a nice course, but priceless camaraderie.
Evening Festivities
Dinner at the Inn at Gig Harbor was a delicious buffet that warmed the hearts (and fingers and toes) of golfers and shoppers alike. Following dinner, those of us who had drunk enough danced the night away to the excellent music of the Variety Pack Band. They truly were excellent! Of particular note were three dancing teams of exceptional talent.
First, for those of you who have never seen Margie Burnett lead the group in The Chicken Dance, I would like to suggest that we include that in her presidential inauguration ceremonies. She did us proud again at this retreat!
Second, who knew that our resident photographer Jim Kindsvater and our resident fix-up guy Ron Healey are professional quality ballroom dancers? No, they did not dance together! They brought their beautiful wives with them and the four of them taught the rest of us what dancing is supposed to look like.
Saturday Morning
The general session of the retreat started Saturday morning at 8:00 with President-elect Jenny Andrews thanking Norm Johnson and Retreat Boy Ernie Hayden for their hard work and dedication to making the retreat successful. Norm and Ernie did an outstanding job!
Jenny went through a PowerPoint presentation in which she encouraged every BBRC member to find at least one thing about Rotary that they feel passionate about and to focus on that passion throughout the coming year. “The beautiful thing about the BBRC,” she said, “is that one person’s passion is often contagious, pulling the entire club together as a team to achieve uncommon results.” Jenny asked us all to identify our Rotary passions and keep them in mind as we work together in the coming year to put service above self.
In short order, club members moved into their breakout sessions led by Margie Burnett, Bob Bowen and HuskyBob Holert.
Break out Session: Pros and Cons of Long Term Projects
This session led by President-Nominee-Elect Margie Burnett and ably assisted by Past-President Norm Johnson, focused on the how the members felt about undertaking long term projects versus projects that can be completed in one Rotary year.
Example of a long term project would include almost any International Project, since it often takes several years to plan, arrange financing prior to the actual implementation of the project.
A distinction was made between “Long Term Projects” and “Long Term Relationships”. A Long Term Project was described as an effort untaken by the BBRC that obligates the time, resources and energy of the BBRC over a period of two to three years. They can be a one-time event such as the recently completed Spray Play Centennial Project, which has taken five years. A Long Term Relationship implies that we may be funding the same organization, or project, over a multi-year period, but on a year-by-year basis. Examples cited were the Choices Program and the Long term scholarship program with students of Sammamish High School where we have been supporting them over their college career.
Long term efforts can be classified as:
1. Long Term Relationships requiring member’s time and energy over a multiyear period. (Choices Program)
2. Long term financial commitments requiring payments to an organization over a multi year period. (Hopelink)
3. A Capital Campaign to raise funds from private and public sources. (Spray Play Park)
The Cons:
1. Long Term Projects commit the time, resources and energy of the BBRC over a multi-year time span.
2. Strong Leadership is required at the Committee Level to insure continuity of project management.
3. If BBRC membership is not supportive of the project, the pool of candidates willing to assume leadership positions may be compromised.
The Pros:
1. The projects are enduring and longer lasting.
2. BBRC funding can be leveraged to a greater degree.
3. The BBRC receives greater PR and community recognition.
4. The BBRC earns credibility in the community with successful projects.
5. The probability of success is greater since there is greater scrutiny and accountability.
6. The BBRC gains experience and the confidence that major projects can be under taken successfully.
Margie concluded each session by posing the question: “If you could undertake a Long Term Project, what would it be?”
The following responses were received:
1. Focus on youth. Energy and resources spent in the formative years pay dividends in the adult years.
2. Organize a Rotoract Club followed by an Interact Club.
3. Solicit community input for long term projects as we do for the one year grants.
4. An Eastside shelter for homeless youth with skill building and mentoring.
5. Adopt an “At Risk” elementary school and provide mentoring.
6. The BBRC Retirement Home. (A place for those aging BBRC members as they spend their Golden Years working on Long Term Projects.)
Breakout Session: Programs
Programs are the life-blood of Bellevue Breakfast Rotary for a variety of reasons. First, they are half the time of each meeting, and usually the more interesting half. Second, a variety of speakers help us grow personally and professionally and impress prospective members. Third they help keep us all attending Friday morning meetings and wake us up!. The Program Chair for the 2008-09 Rotary Year (Chris Monger) and his Committee will only be as good as their efforts, as well as those of other BBRC members in helping suggest and recruit top speakers.
In the breakout sessions it was discussed how it would be great if everyone gave their input as to excellent speakers they were aware of or subjects they feel would interest the majority of the membership. Discussed were a variety of potential topics and individual speakers as a target list for next year. Last year there were a lot of Committee members who were a great help to the Program Committee and they need to be acknowledged, especially Ernie Hayden, Rourke O'Brien, John Martinka and Jim Powell.
Steve Goldfarb and Bob Holert, as Co Chairs of the Program Committee, would like to thank everyone who helped to provide an exciting and diverse array of programs to our membership. We look forward to having another great year of informative and invigorating programs, hopefully so invigorating and informative that the scooters will think twice about leaving early!
Breakout Session: BBRC Community & International Service Teams Beat with One Heart
Bob Bowen shared the importance of the BBRC Mission/Vision/Values statements and how the two committees, lead by Juan Hernandez and Bob, will continue to use "Filters" from the Mission/Vision/Values to determine how the BBRC becomes involved in projects and "asks for financial involvement" from the BBRC. There was discussion about the two circles of influence, both Local Community and International Global, and how, when you combine the two circles together, there will be physical "overlap" and Commonality, most of all synergy, by using the filters to help guide our decision making as committees.
The breakout session brought out many new ideas for local and international projects, but most of all the focus was on sustainability and stewardship, to continue to do great work with Rotary established programs, and create natural partners locally in areas that relate to children/youth in need.
This coming "turn," Jenny Andrews has called for all of the BBRC to become "passionate" about all that we do. Bob and Juan have vowed to do their best to represent the BBRC’s Mission/Vision/Values through using the filters on programs and projects, and to sustain passion for meeting the needs of children, youth, women and men in our scope of influence and reach.
Finally a vote was taken and it was unanimously agreed that any club members not in attendance at the retreat would be required to dress up in Disney costumes at the upcoming walkathon for the entertainment value of the children in attendance (not to mention the club members who did attend said retreat). Think Lingenbrink as Cinderella, Wendi as Pinocchio, HoJo as Winnie the Pooh.
Over and out.