Rotarians vote to support programs for kids, veterans, hungry & homeless
 
VANCOUVER, Wash. – North County Community Food Bank was selected by members of the Rotary Club of Three Creeks as the club’s nonprofit community partner, announced Club President Scot Brantley at the club’s August 1 regular meeting.
 
As nonprofit community partner, the Food Bank received a check for $10,000 and will have the opportunity to be the club’s partner for up to two more years. Rotary District 5100 Governor Dianne Noriega and Rotary Zone 27 Coordinator Steve Lingenbrink were in attendance for the check presentation and the meeting’s program.
 
At the club’s July 18 meeting, 10 nonprofits each gave two-minute pitches in a “Shark Tank”-like exercise that was backed up by added written documentation. Every member in the club then had an opportunity to vote for their favorite nonprofit partner.
 
“Wow, I’m stunned and I’m crying, this is just totally amazing,” said Liz Cerveny, executive director at North County Community Food Bank, upon hearing of the award. “Each one of the groups presenting at the ‘Shark Tank’ event is truly doing great things in our community and are certainly deserving. I am humbled and I feel extremely fortunate having the North County Community Food Bank selected.”
 
“We were all really impressed by the nonprofits and the impact each of them has in our community,” said Club President Scot Brantley. “We really are blessed to have so many compassionate and thoughtful people in Clark County. We could not have gone wrong with any of the nonprofits as our partner.”
 
Funds for this award were raised in the first two seasons of the club’s primary fundraiser, Dancing with the Local Stars 2.0. The 2020 season of Dancing with the Local Stars 2.0 will culminate on Saturday, March 7 at ilani Resort. Local stars will be the event’s dancers and 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. Brantley was the 2018 Grand Champion, and Jeff Swanson won Best Dance. In 2019, Kelley Campbell won both the Grand Championship and the Best Dance award.

Local stars and ticket sales will be announced soon.
 
“I’m extremely excited to have this opportunity to partner with Rotary of Three Creeks in making Dancing with the Local Stars 2.0 at ilani an amazing event,” Cerveny said. “There is such a great potential with our organizations to see this event continue to grow each year, attracting a terrific, supportive crowd which can benefit each of our organizations.”
 
The other nonprofits who participated in the “Shark Tank” exercise were: Boys & Girls Club of Southwest Washington; Community Military Appreciation Committee; Evergreen Habitat for Humanity; Home With Heroes; Northwest Association for Blind Athletes; Rock Solid Teen Center; Shared Hope International; Police Activities League of Southwest Washington; and YWCA of Clark County CASA Program.
 
The Rotary Club of Three Creeks is approaching its third anniversary and serves the Hazel Dell, Felida, Salmon Creek and Ridgefield areas of North Clark County. Since chartering in October 2016, the club of 34 members has completed more than three dozen service projects. More information about the club can be found on its website (www.rotaryofthreecreeks.com), or Facebook (www.facebook.com/rotaryofthreecreeks).

Azar Ghiasvand, who has visited our club several times, is the latest to apply for membership in the Rotary Club of Three Creeks.

She is associate vice president and branch manager for the Salmon Creek Banner Bank. Azar has been in management for over 42 years and in banking over 32 years.

Her sponsors are Lisa Abrahamsson and Jim Selby. Lisa says she's very excited to be joining our club, as her experiences with the club so far have been a lot of fun. We conducted first reading of her proposed membership on May 16, and will conduct the second reading at our strategic social on May 30 at Dan Sockle's house. Her induction - pending board vote - will be set for June 6 at Creed Coffee Co.

The Rotary Club of Three Creeks is excited to introduce the Emerging Leaders Confab, designed to connect tomorrow’s leaders with the leaders of today. We will bring together outstanding high school and college students with leaders of business, nonprofit and government. Our goal is to help emerging leaders see the complexity of business relationships and demonstrate the many opportunities in our local area.

The day begins with a moderated discussion among several leaders, then moves to a “speed dating” session where students can have a few minutes of facetime with business, nonprofit and government leaders. We believe this will not only help students see the myriad connections between different businesses, but demonstrate the great opportunities for the future in our local area so they will consider returning to Clark County after completing higher education. We hope you will consider joining us for this FREE event on Saturday, June 1, 2019, from 9 a.m.-noon at the brand new Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex.

A continental breakfast will be served.

If you're an emerging leader in Clark County who would like to register for this event, please click here.

Event raises nearly $17,000 for youth leadership, literacy programs and service projects
 
RIDGEFIELD, Wash. – Kelley Campbell hustled her way to both the best dance and Grand Champion honors at the Rotary Club of Three Creeks’ annual Dancing with the Local Stars 2.0 fundraiser.
 
Themed “A Night at the Movies”, the event was held at Windy Hills Winery in Ridgefield on Saturday, March 23.
 
“After last year’s success, we are so excited and proud that our Local Stars were record-setting,” said Rotary of Three Creeks President Nelson Holmberg. “It was a thrill to see the dancers not only get into the role of their character, but it was also really fun to see the creativity and collaboration they put into their fundraising.
 
“We are so appreciative about how the local stars, fellow Rotarians and the community supported us.”
 
Campbell, owner of Specialty Graphic Solutions in Salmon Creek, as the last of six stars to dance, performed a hustle with instructor Aaron Siebol to “Disco Inferno” from the movie Saturday Night Fever. Her costume and her moves wowed the crowd and the judges, who scored her dance a 39 out of 40. Kevin Getch, owner of Webfor, was second in the judges’ scores with a 38 of 40. Getch and his instructor Rachel Lidskog performed a stunning Viennese waltz to “Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music.
 
Campbell also raised a total of $4,063 for the Rotary Club, followed closely by Mill Creek Pub owner Russell Brent’s $4,033. Third place was Mike Filbin, owner of Filbin’s Ace Hardware, who raised $3,134.
 
Brent performed to “Can’t Fight this Feeling” from the movie Trolls. Filbin’s dance was to “Old Time Rock ‘n Roll” from the movie Risky Business. Sandra Day, Ridgefield City Council Member performed the role of Sandra Dee to “You’re the One That I want” from Grease.  Maureen Montague of Columbia Springs performed to “Dancing Queen” from Mamma Mia.
 
“This turned into a series of smiles,” said First Dance Productions founder, and event producer, Ralph Stevens. “These dancers really started at doubt and it very, very quickly turned to confidence. These stars were pushed beyond the limits of their own expectations and they embraced it. They performed, they bonded, and they had fun.”
 
The fundraiser brought in donations totaling nearly $17,000 from the Local Stars, who solicited donations over three months while also learning their dance and rehearsing for the event.
 
First Dance Productions, owned by Stevens, produced the event and provided dance instructors Siebol, Lidskog, Dani Synarski and Melinda Piekstra. Stevens also instructed and served as emcee.
 
Judges for the event were KGW Meteorologist Rod Hill, WSU Vancouver professor Dene Grigar, and professional dance instructor Brett Graham. Valerie Dewitz won a raffle to be an audience member serving as judge.
 
The event sold out for the second consecutive year at Windy Hills Winery.
 
Sponsors of the event included: Opsahl Dawson Certified Public Accountants, Insure North America, Vesta Hospitality, ilani Resort, Sherwin Williams Protective and Marine Coatings, Specialty Graphics Solutions, First Dance Productions, Riverhouse on the Deschutes, Best Western Plus Agate Beach & Local Ocean Seafoods, Double Fifth Dragon Boating, Clark County Historical Museum and Windy Hills Winery.

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.