Do you know a young adult age 19-28 who holds a leadership position and an interest in expanding their leadership qualities?

If so, the Rotary Club of Three Creeks is seeking scholarship applicants for the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program, July 13-19, 2019.

The purpose of RYLA is to recognize young leaders and provide them with an opportunity to expand their perceptions and ideals. Participants gain knowledge about themselves and learn to work with others in order to become a better person and a future leader. Participants are selected through an essay and application process through their local Rotary Club. Once selected to receive the award, young adults are invited to attend a weeklong seminar aimed at further developing their interpersonal and leadership skills.

All RYLA participants are selected and sponsored by a local Rotary club. RYLA is also unique in that it is one of the rare Rotary programs that includes current Rotarians and their families.

More information about RYLA is available by clicking here.

Rotary Club of Three Creeks sites first “little library” to promote literacy in neighborhoods
 
RIDGEFIELD, Wash. – With a mission to promote literacy in neighborhoods around the west side of North Clark County, the Rotary Club of Three Creeks has installed its very first Rotary Book Nook.
 
In partnership with Friends of the Ridgefield Library, club president Nelson Holmberg worked with Friends member Tevis Laspa to install a Book Nook at Lark Park at the corner of Lark Drive and Heron Drive in Ridgefield.
 
“We’re thrilled with the opportunity we’ve had to put this program together,” Holmberg said. “The Rotary Club of Three Creeks purchased two of these small libraries at fundraising events to benefit the Ridgefield library and to place the first one in Ridgefield is absolutely appropriate.”
 
Books have been purchased by the club to stock the Book Nook and, going forward, speakers at regular meetings of the club will sign books to be placed in the small neighborhood libraries with inspirational messages for readers.
 
“It’s really about providing access and visibility to the value of literacy and accessibility to reading,” Holmberg said. “Basic education and literacy is an official area of focus as designated by Rotary International, and this is just one small way our club can make a difference while honoring that area of focus.”
 
The new Lark Park library has birds hand painted on it, which makes it a good fit in the city that not only honors the presence of birds at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, but also plays nicely with the location at Lark & Heron Drives.
 
Titles in these Book Nooks are free and Rotary Club of Three Creeks hopes that visitors will “take a book and leave a book”. While the club sponsors and maintains the Book Nooks – including stocking the inventory – it is known that sharing of books by the users means the club doesn’t have to keep purchasing books to share.
 
“We believe this is a great service to the communities we love so much,” Holmberg said.

One of the recent discussions we've had as a club is whether or not to move our regular club meeting location from Luke Jensen Sports Park to Red Barn Coffee House.

We included that question on the membership survey, and talked about it at the Strategic Social on November 15. The overwhelming response was that we should indeed make that move. Twenty-one of the 22 members (95 percent) who responded to the survey said "yes" to such a move, so the board put it to an email vote and the result of that vote was unanimous.

Beginning with our regular meeting on Thursday, Jan. 3, we will officially call Red Barn Coffee House our home location for club meetings.

A number of reasons were considered, including the ability to have a glass of wine or beer, a coffee or a snack during the meeting, the comfortable setting for social time, availability of the location exclusively to us during our meetings, access to free wifi, and more.  Other considerations were the location and access, visibility to potential future members, and the ability to come early to enjoy sanctioned social opportunity between 5 p.m. and the official start of the meeting, should members choose to do so.

It didn't hurt that the ownership of Red Barn expressed just how much they really wanted us to be their guest on a regular basis, which was very nice.

The first official meeting we will hold with Red Barn as our new home is set for Thursday, Jan. 3 when Kevin Getch, founder and director of strategy at Webfor, will present his inspirational story "Expose Yourself: The Story of Cheagle".

Sgt. Kevin Allais from the Clark County Sheriff's Office will be our speaker to talk about Santa's Posse and how it impacts local kids and families. We will also conduct our third annual Santa's Posse Toy Drive at this meeting, so please be sure to bring a new unwrapped toy that we can donate to the cause to this meeting.

Allais has been with the Sheriff’s office for 30 years. He was hired as a Deputy Sheriff in 1988 and promoted to Sergeant in 2001. During his tenure he held the position of Narcotics/Gang Detective, Child Abuse Detective, Internal Affairs Sergeant, Major Crimes Sergeant, Drug Task Force Sergeant, Honor Guard Sergeant and currently the Community Outreach Sergeant.

He has always been involved in a non-profit organization or been a volunteer in some capacity, coaching in Special Olympics for seven years. He has been a member of the line duty death team for the Behind the Badge Foundation, responding to 22 line of duty deaths in our state since 2008 assisting families and agency plan for the line of duty service for their fallen officer. For the past 14 years he has been involved in Santa’s Posse, and is currently the non-profit's board president.

Dancing With the Local Stars returns to Windy Hills Winery for its second season being conducted by the Rotary Club of Three Creeks, Saturday, March 23, 2019.
 
The Rotary club recently finalized its cast.
 
Six local stars – Russell Brent (Mill Creek Pub/Chelatchie Crossing Smokehouse), Kelley Campbell (Specialty Graphics Solutions), Sandra Day (Ridgefield City Council), Mike Filbin (Filbin’s Ace Hardware), Kevin Getch (Webfor Digital Marketing), and Maureen Montague (Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center) – will compete for the Mirror Ball Trophy.
 
Tickets will go on sale shortly after the first of the year.
 
Dancing With the Local Stars will be produced and emceed by local ballroom aficionado and First Dance, LLC. Owner Ralph Stevens, who has coordinated professional instructors for the local stars. First Dance produced the highly successful event in March 2018.
 
The event’s aim is to benefit Rotary youth programs, hands-on community service projects within the community, and Rotary’s basic education and literacy area of focus.
 
“Last year’s event was more successful than we could have dreamed, so we are excited to continue one of the area’s favorite date nights,” said Rotary Club of Three Creeks President Nelson Holmberg. “We’re excited about this year’s cast, and the ‘Night at the Movies’ theme. I can’t wait to see what the local stars decide to do with it!”
 
The six dancers will compete for best dance, voted by celebrity judges. The grand champion – and winner of the Mirror Ball Trophy – will be the local star who raises the most funds.
 
Scot Brantley was the 2018 Grand Champion, and Jeff Swanson won Best Dance. The 2018 show was sold out two weeks prior to the event and raised more than $11,000.

RIDGEFIELD, Wash. – The Rotary Club of Three Creeks recently celebrated its second “birthday” and totally skipped the “terrible twos”.
 
In its first 25 months of existence, the Rotary Club of Three Creeks completed 24 hands-on giving or service projects to make a difference in the community – or the world.
 
“Our transition from startup to success was remarkable,” said Club President Nelson Holmberg, whose wife Susanne led the club through its first two years. “We’re very proud of the culture that’s been developed in our club and continues to evolve.
 
“I like to say ‘we’re not just anyone’s Rotary’ about the culture of our club. It is nothing like the general public’s perception of Rotary. We are always trying new things and the members have a lot of energy and are really fun.”
 
Among its accomplishments include the service projects members are so proud of, a spectacular celebration of the club’s charter in 2017, two successful fundraisers, peace & conflict resolution recognition, development of a youth program and a basic education and literacy program that are funded through club monies and Rotary grants.

Statistically, the new club has proven to make a big difference. Through its first two years, the club has recorded the following metrics of community service:

• 2 meetings a month – instead of the traditional weekly meetings
• 24 service projects
• An average of 7 volunteers per project
  
• 486 volunteer hours
• $2,100 in project funding (both in-kind and contribution of club funds)
• Member diversity: 14 women, 15 men
• Generational diversity: 12 members age 50-59; 10 age 30-49; 5 60 and over; 2 under 30

 
The club is also a model for flexibility for its members, providing an option for members to provide service, work on a club committee or otherwise engage with Rotary activities twice a month rather than attend meetings if meetings aren’t for them.
 
“Time is more valuable than money to many who seek a service organization to be a part of. Rotary is about service, not primarily about attending meetings,” Holmberg said. “We are a small club and we are growing. It’s quite amazing what we’ve accomplished with a small membership.”
 
Holmberg said at a Rotary-provided leadership seminar last February he was inspired to continually try new things during his leadership of the club.
 
“As a response to that inspiration, we have done all kinds of things that are different than the ‘normal’ club,” he said. “Some – like ‘Bizarro Rotary’ – have gone over very well and others – like the video newsletter we tried briefly – not so much.”
 
Trying new things isn’t really rocking the boat for this club.
 
Susanne Holmberg credits the secret to the club’s success to its structure. She said of the club’s 29 members, just nine had any Rotary experience prior to joining this club.
 
“That creates a culture that’s open to innovation, and disrupting the way Rotary is seen and experienced,” she said. “Even the veteran Rotarians are excited and engaged in the way we do things!”
 
The grassroots are important to the club, too. Among some of the things the club does differently include how each member is responsible to create the meeting program one time a year; strategic social meetings designed to help leaders guide the direction of the club; and rotating some of the club’s meetings to different locations each year.
 
Recruitment of new members is another thing the club does differently. The Three Creeks club strongly encourages those interested in Rotary to explore the other clubs in the county before making a commitment to join a club. Additionally, the Three Creeks club suggests a potential member visit their club at least twice to be assured it’s a group they feel a good fit in.
 
“It seems to be working for us,” Susanne Holmberg said. “We’re very proud of the growth of the club, and the way people see our club when they visit us.”
 
ABOUT THE ROTARY CLUB OF THREE CREEKS
The Rotary Club of Three Creeks recently celebrated its second anniversary and serves the Hazel Dell, Felida, Salmon Creek and Ridgefield areas of North Clark County. Since chartering in October 2016, the club of 29 members has completed two dozen service projects. More information about the club can be found on its website (www.rotaryofthreecreeks.com), or Facebook (www.facebook.com/rotaryofthreecreeks).

We in the Rotary Club of Three Creeks are very proud of our own Tina Vlachos and congratulate her on being named to the Accomplished & Under 40 by the Vancouver Business Journal.

This is an appropriate recognition for a person who goes more than an extra mile to provide Service Above Self.

More information about the award can be found by clicking here.

Congratulations Tina!

If there was ever any doubt that the Rotary Club of Three Creeks didn't take its hands on service seriously, let that doubt die now.

On the first two Saturdays of November, the club completed service projects with the Community Military Appreciation Committee (CMAC) and Habitat for Humanity.

These were projects number 23 and 24 for the club, which is 25 months old.

On November 3, five members, a spouse and a potential new member volunteered to rake leaves, eliminate moss, pull weeds, trim shrubs and pressure wash concrete at the Clark County Veterans War Memorial to prepare for Veterans Day ceremonies.

On November 10, nine members and a family member volunteered to complete outside tasks including installing siding, spray insulation, fire blocking, and caulking in preparation for paint at Habitat for Humanity's McKibbin Commons.

These projects make a big difference to the organizations that host us, and the efforts of our volunteers go a long way in making a big impact for the groups we're helping.

With many thanks to Three Creeks Peace Builder Committee Chair Dan Sockle, our club's efforts have been recognized in a recent Rotary International public image piece.

On October 26, 2018, the Rotarian Action Group for Peace published an email newsletter that discussed, among other things, "Fostering Peaceful Political Dialogue", and cited our club, along with one in Bornheim, Germany, for their efforts toward engaging in peaceful discourse and democracy.

The article included:

"Rotarians in America are tackling polarization between the political sides. The Rotary Club of Three Creeks (Vancouver, WA) is a RAGFP Peacebuilder Club. This Peacebuilder Club is active in Rotary Peacebuilder District 5100 promoting initiatives to foster political conversations that reflect the Four-Way Test and offer Rotarian guideposts leading to constructive civic activities and discussions. Rotarian peacebuilders in this club are supporting Better Angels. This non-profit organization offers events and education designed to 'depolarize America.' Better Angels' Red/Blue Workshops visit cities across America and feature activities, listening exercises, and co-operative skills training developed to get even the most hardened political partisans talking (and listening) to one another."

The full newsletter can be seen by clicking this link.

Lisa Bechtold has been unanimously approved as the newest member of the Rotary Club of Three Creeks.

We are excited to welcome Lisa in her club induction coming soon. She is the 30th member of our club and is the second new member this Rotary year.

Lisa is the program coordinator at North County Community Food Bank and has deep experience in the non-profit community.

"Work and volunteer experiences has allowed me to develop and enhance my leadership skills over the years, I find opportunities to step up and out of my comfort zone," Lisa said. "I love team, building friendships and strong foundations."

Lisa's sponsor is Jessie Harris.

To gain a little more knowledge of who Lisa is, click here for a brief profile on the Vancouver Business Journal's website.