Sara Scheetz is scheduled to share more information about A Caring Closet, a non-profit organization that provides gently used Durable Medical Equipment to those in need at no cost.
This week's meeting will be in Conference Room C&D on the third floor at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center. There will be a major event in the hospital lobby at the same time, so please be sure to arrive early (for parking) and use the skybridge to walk between parking and the hospital. Thanks!
Sheetz's A Caring Closet non-profit which primarily serves the geriatric population - also accepts microwave ovens that are donated to Meals on Wheels. A Caring Closet is operated 100 percent by volunteers, and does not turn anyone away.
Scheetz is the CEO of At Your Place Senior Care. She was raised in Clark County, is passionate about her community and a huge believer in volunteerism. She is the co-founder of “A Caring Closet.” She has served on the Firstenburg Meals on Wheels Steering Committee since 2008 and is on the board of Mobile Healthcare Providers Northwest.
In her spare time you might find her jogging on a local trail or running a race on the weekends. She loves spending time with her family, friends and three dogs.
Tina Vlachos will introduce Sara at this meeting.

On April 19, 15 members, and a couple of proposed members, attended and took part in the discussion which was facilitated by President Elect Nelson Holmberg. Among the many terrific ideas that came out of the club discussion.

We have recapped, below, some of the notes that came from the discussion at last night's meeting. Again, many thanks to all who attended. It was great to hear from all of you.
 
Membership

• Put a focus on sustainability of membership; deepen personal engagement between members and the value they are getting from the club meetings, programs, service projects, fundraisers, etc.
• All members should be involved in trying to recruit new members to the club. The best testimonials for prospective members to hear are those from happy club members.

 
Youth Focus

• While the club has always been one with a high value on making a difference for kids in the community, the original idea of being a youth exchange club has proven to be something that’s too big of a bite for our club to chew. So instead, the idea of creating an Interact Club (think high school Rotary) was presented as a substitute for the youth exchange. There was strong support to head in this direction as a club.
  • As a club we talked about a number of ways to support and integrate an Interact club with our Rotary activities.
  • We also talked about the financial commitment it would take to properly engage youth through an Interact club. This felt much more doable and comfortable for the group.
  • It was even suggested that we might be able to create a “Leadership Clark County Light” program in our work with Interact.

 
Programs/Guest Speakers

• There was general agreement among those in attendance that the individual commitment to recruit speakers is a good thing, versus just having a committee do all the work and “assume” what kinds of programs the membership would want to hear.
• As a group, we identified that the best speakers/programs are those that:
  • Have a compelling story
  • Do something that makes a difference
  • Help us learn something by giving us some inside scoop
  • Engage and inspire those in attendance at meetings
  • Are good presenters
• It was agreed that while the idea of each member having the responsibility for a program was good and that adding a small subcommittee of the board to vet speakers proposed by the members would be a good thing. Daniel Spanski-Dreffin volunteered to chair that review committee.
• It was also emphasized that we do not HAVE to meet at Luke Jensen for every program, just because that space might be available to us.
  • Reminder that offsite meetings, particularly those at local businesses where they do something interesting are often very fun, and interesting. Encourage members to consider presentations and tours at locations in the area as offsites with presentations/tours of those businesses.
  • There was also a reminder shared that it is OK, when possible, to have service projects during our first and third Thursday meeting times/days.

 
100 Rotarians Who Care

• After having participated in a couple of “100 Women Who Care”/”100 Men Who Care” events in the past week, some of our Rotarians shared stories about an idea that was suggested to pay a compliment to these two organizations and repurpose their concept for a local fundraiser by Rotarians. Perhaps Rotary Club of Three Creeks would take the lead, and partner with another club in Clark County to put on a 100 Rotarians Who Care a couple of times a year, with benefits of the funds raised going to another non-profit in the county. This idea was popular and it is expected that this idea will be followed up on in the coming Rotary year (beginning July 1, 2018) by the Service Projects Committee.

 
There was general consensus both on site after the meeting, and through personal communications in the following days that this meeting was a big success. President Susanne, having heard of the popularity of the meeting, is even considering scheduling the next one for August 2018 during her program date.

It was a truly great meeting. We'll have more #3CreeksAt3Peaks socials like this one!