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Back after a "pandemic pivot" in 2021, Dancing with the Local Stars is set for the 2022 run at ilani Casino Resort in Ridgefield, Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022.
“It is so exciting to share that Dancing with the Local Stars presented by Banner Bank will be back, live and in person,” said Club President Nelson Holmberg. “With eight wonderful locally well-known leaders stepping into the spotlight next February, we expect to be one of the first large-scale fundraisers to be back in person. That's ironic, since 'Dancing’ was the last major in-person fundraiser in 2020 before the Covid shutdown.” In March 2020, one week before the shutdown due to the emergence of Covid, Dancing with the Local Stars raised more than $42,000 as Cyndi Holloway of Waste Connections won the Grand Championship by raising more than $10,000. The judges determined Azar Ghiasvand of Banner Bank to be the Best Dance winner for her reprisal of the salsa in the closing scene of the movie Dirty Dancing, complete with both lifts. This year, the cast of Dancing with the Local Stars includes Angie Cherry (Hometown Lenders Mortgage), Kinsey Dhoot (Rotary Club of Three Creeks), Heidi Johnson Bixby (Johnson Bixby & Associates), Sarah Laughlin (Fuel Medical Group), Ryan Montoya (Goosehead Insurance), James Oneil (Columbia Credit Union), Thomas O'Sullivan (ilani Casino Resort) and Nathan Stafford (Banner Bank). The eight local stars will compete for the Grand Championship with the funds that they will work to raise between now and the event on February 6. Funds raised during the event may also be allocated to the donor's favorite local stars to help that star win the Mirror Ball Trophy. A panel of four judges will determine the best dancer, in fashion similar to the TV show that inspires the fundraiser. With the money raised in the 2020 Dancing with the Local Stars, the Three Creeks club was able to award three $7,000 grants – one each to the North County Community Food Bank, Clark County Food Bank and FISH of Vancouver. The club has also made several smaller grants to nonprofits in the community – including the purchase of 50 new stuffed animals to donate to children in the pediatric unit at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center just before Christmas. Total donations, since the club's founding in 2016, exceed $80,000. After the Rotary Club of Three Creeks (Vancouver, Wash.) completed its annual fundraiser in the spring of 2021 - a pandemic pivot from Dancing with the Local Stars to Dining with the Local Stars - the club granted $6,500 to the Clark College Foundation in appreciation of Chef Aaron Guerra's work as the club's culinary consultant and lead judge for the fundraiser.
That grant was earmarked for Clark's Early Childhood Development program and Chef Aaron - head of the culinary arts program at the college - would be able to help guide the expenditure of the money. In its periodical, the Clark College Foundation featured a story about what Chef Aaron did to help the children during some tough times. The rest of the story can be found by clicking here. There’s a new foundation in town with a connection to the Rotary Club of Three Creeks.
Earlier this month, the Rotary Club of Three Creeks Foundation was formed, and the board met for the first time – officially – since its charter. As active as the Rotary Club of Three Creeks has been over the first five years of its existence, it made sense for the club to provide the opportunity for donors to get tax deductible receipts for their contributions to the community through Rotary. “That’s really why we formed the Foundation,” said Dan Sockle, the founding chair of the Foundation’s board of directors. “We’ve given more than $80,000 to nonprofits in our community and have been very grateful to take donations from our fundraisers and turn them into doing good within the community.” Going forward, the primary fundraiser – Dancing with the Local Stars – and giving programs, both major gifts and smaller grants to nonprofits across the community, will be carried out by the Rotary Club of Three Creeks Foundation, which has 501(c)3 status from the Internal Revenue Service. Three Creeks club members have established priority areas of community focus: children, veterans, homeless and hungry. “The Three Creeks Foundation intends to identify and help those most in need, where our donations can have the greatest impact,” Sockle said. “We welcome grant inquiries from nonprofits around the community.” Working with Sockle on the club Foundation’s board are Kelley Campbell (treasurer), Jim Selby (secretary) along with directors Wendy Bukoski and Brian Heimbigner. The Rotary Club of Three Creeks was chartered on October 7, 2016 and has already completed 62 service projects with nearly $50,000 of economic impact to the community. Round Table Pizza in Salmon Creek will continue to be our meeting location through November, at least, as the club's search for a new meeting location is hopefully drawing to a conclusion.
With many thanks to our own Dan Sockle and to Rotary Club of Vancouver Sunrise President Mark Doar, we've been assured that appropriate staff to bartend will be available for both our November 4 and November 18 club meetings at Round Table. We also will not be charged a fee to use the meeting room. While meetings will continue to be done in a hybrid format, we're happy to have in-person meetings again. If you're interested in having a pizza, sandwich or salad bar, please try to arrive a little bit early to limit so you don't miss any fellowship time or meeting content. Round Table Pizza Royalty is located at 13009 NE Highway 99, Vancouver, near the Safeway in Salmon Creek, just east of the Salmon Creek Burgerville.  After the resignation of President Daniel, the club's board of directors met at 10 a.m., Thursday, Oct. 21 to work through a process to replace him for the remainder of the current Rotary year. After discussion, the board agreed on the importance of allowing President Elect Andi Costello to keep her focus on training and preparation for her year as President - which begins July 1, 2022 - and to have some mentoring time.
As such, the club's past presidents, all of whom were present at the meeting, were polled and Nelson Holmberg was able to move back into the role of Club President for the remainder of the Rotary year, effective immediately. Holmberg will preside over the club meeting on Thursday, Nov. 4. Citing a couple of significant family health concerns that will change the way he and his family will allocate their time, Club President Daniel Spanski Dreffin has resigned his presidency, effective immediately, and will be leaving Rotary.
Daniel's wife Kaaren has also resigned her position as President Elect of the Greater Clark County club, and has stepped down from Rotary due to the health issues the family needs to take care of. We wish the Dreffin family all the best in caring for their family members. Thank you to Daniel for the commitment he made, and the time spent, to prepare for service, and his time spent as Club President. It's no small task, and the club is grateful. The club board of directors will work through a process to replace President Daniel for the remainder of the current Rotary year. President Elect Andi Costello, in accordance with the club bylaws, will preside over a special meeting of the club board, and the October 21 club meeting at Round Table in Salmon Creek.  Going back to the place of this club's beginnings, we are going to try Round Table Pizza in Salmon Creek as a potential new meeting space for the October 21 meeting.
The location has been recently remodeled since 2016 when we originally met there. The back meeting room is said to be able to accommodate 30 or so people for a club meeting. It's also got three TVs available to us. Pizza, salad bar, beverages are all available and encouraged, so be sure to arrive early and place your order. Round Table Pizza Royalty is located at 13009 NE Highway 99, Vancouver, near the Safeway in Salmon Creek, just east of the Salmon Creek Burgerville.  As the Rotary Club of Three Creeks returns to in-person meetings, Club President Daniel Spanski-Dreffin has announced a new location for club meetings.
Effective Thursday, Aug. 5, the club will meet in person at Moonlight Events (10017 NE 6th Ave. in Hazel Dell) on the first and third Thursday of each month. Moonlight Events houses both large and small events with indoor and outdoor space. Our club will have access to both spaces, depending on the weather and the desires of the club with each meeting. The Event Space we will use includes access to internet, a projector & screen. We can bring our own food and can have a no-host bar available to us during club meetings. Until further notice, club meetings will have a hybrid setting, providing for club members, visiting Rotarians and guests to participate in our meetings without having to attend in person. More information about the meeting will be posted - and shared with the club via Tributaries and our app - in the next couple of days. In accordance with the Rotary Club of Three Creeks bylaws, the 2020-21 board of directors voted today to fill three vacancies with the resignations of Audra Smith and Rian Davis.
Smith had previously been elected to the president elect nominee and club administration director positions, while Davis had been re-elected to serve as sergeant at arms in 2021-22. The club board voted to appoint Nelson Holmberg as president elect nominee, Kinsey Dhoot as club administration director and Laura Miller as sergeant at arms. Club bylaws require a vote of the sitting board with a simple majority to fill vacancies. In the case of the president elect nominee position, Holmberg will be on the ballot for the 2022-23 board later this year for confirmation in the club's leadership succession. Andi Costello is the club's current president elect, and she will serve as club president in 2022-23. If confirmed by the club this fall, Holmberg would serve as Costello's president elect and be club president in 2023-24. Club elections also allow for nominations in all positions, including the presidential line, as well as write-ins, if voters prefer different options. Wendy Bukoski and Craig Riley have been introduced as the most recent proposed members of the Rotary Club of Three Creeks.
President Daniel Spanski-Dreffin conducted the first reading of both proposed members at the club's July 1 meeting via Zoom. Bukoski was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, and has lived all over the West Coast. She considers Honolulu, San Diego, and Portland my hometowns. Bukoski lives in Felida with her husband, two children, two dogs, and a handicapped kitten nugget. She managed operations at FISH of Vancouver for four years and currently works for Friends of the Children - SW Washington in development. She helped launch the Friends' new chapter during the pandemic and has a healthy respect for how much goes into building something new from the ground up! In her spare time, she enjoys riding bikes, mushroom hunting and foraging, kayaking, and sledding with her family. She is an enthusiastic, yet "vertically challenged" snowboarder and former kickboxing instructor. Riley is a former member of the Rotary Club of Vancouver, having made the decision that the Three Creeks club was a better fit for him. He is managing partner of Medicare Help Now. Having grown up in Southern California, Riley moved to Portland in 1969 to attend Lewis & Clark College. He never left the Pacific Northwest. Riley and his wife Karen have four children and nine grandchildren. In his spare time, Riley enjoys swimming, pickleball, kayaking and travel. Bukoski's sponsor is Carol Mackey, while Riley's is Susanne Holmberg. Second reading for both proposed members will occur at the club's July 15 meeting, to be followed closely by an electronic vote by the board. If you have any feedback to share in regard to either proposed member, please contact a member of the board in writing. |
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First & third Thursdays 5:30 p.m.
Round Table Pizza Royalty 13008 NE Highway 99 Vancouver, WA 98686 |
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