With the change that the club has seen in the last year and a half, including spending an entire Rotary year in virtual meetings due to the pandemic, new club President Nelson Holmberg, reported the club's state is "solid" at the club board meeting today.
While membership has remained stable in the mid-20s since the pandemic shut down in-person interaction in March 2020, Holmberg reported the club's finances are in very good shape, with more than $20,000 in the bank. Membership is again growing, with two new members already having been inducted this Rotary year, and more in the pipeline. Retention will also be a focus for the remainder of this Rotary year. "I'm enthusiastic about the state of the club at this point," Holmberg said. "We're in really great shape, and it's visible within the membership. Now that we're meeting in person again, it's exciting to see people coming back and having a really great time serving the community, enjoying time with fellow Rotarians and generally feeling like Rotary again." The board also agreed that Round Table Pizza in Salmon Creek would be the club's primary meeting location through the end of the current Rotary year, with the thought that having that decision made providing predictability and stability for the members. 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. More or less everyone who knows Rotary in our area knows that we tend to do a lot of stuff differently than most clubs do. Here's our transition between President Kelley Johnson Campbell and President Daniel Spanski Dreffin.
The club held a relay race with each past president, and DGE Jim Boyle, passing the baton along, ultimately handing it off to President Daniel, who's first club meeting is our July 1 meeting. The relay was recorded and turned into a video that was premiered at the club picnic at the Holmberg home. If you were unable to attend, or would just like to see the video again, please feel free to view it by clicking the video above. The club will also post this video to the club's Facebook and Instagram pages, to the club's website, and to DACdb, so that Rotarians across District 5100 are able to see another of the unique things we do. In case you didn't know, the club actually does have an actual running relay baton, which has printed on it, the Rotary of Three Creeks logo and the title "Presidential Baton". It will eventually have all of the club presidents' names added to the printing on the baton. Thanks for being our special guest star, Jim Boyle! The Rotary Club of Three Creeks and Lewis River Rotary Club have combined efforts to help promote COVID-19 vaccinations, while using the success of the polio vaccine as evidence.
The two clubs combined to pay for a billboard along the northbound side of St. John’s Boulevard, just south of NE 78th Street. The billboard’s message, “The fight to end polio is proof vaccines work. Let’s fight COVID-19 together” highlights the true success of vaccinations around the world. Since 1988, Rotary has been leading the fight against polio globally. There are just two countries – Afghanistan and Pakistan – left on the planet where polio has not been eradicated. For more than three years, there have been wild polio cases in only two countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Polio was declared officially eradicated from Nigeria in 2020. Through June 10, 2021, there was just one case in each nation. “There is clear evidence that vaccines work,” said Rotary Club of Three Creeks President Kelley Campbell. “And Rotary is one of the organizations behind that. Like the billboard says, the near eradication of polio is proof that vaccines work. As Rotarians, we are proud to be a part of it, and if we can help even just a little bit, to end the COVID-19 pandemic, then we’ve done our job.” Lewis River Club President Linda Allen agreed. “Our two clubs are so proud to do something to try and make a difference in ending the COVID-19 pandemic,” Allen said. “Rotary has made a difference around the world tackling polio. We just felt like this was a great opportunity for Rotary to take a lead in making a difference here at home knocking down COVID-19.” There is already evidence that COVID-19 vaccinations are making a difference. The “fourth surge” in Washington state during May was short-lived and case numbers continue to fall in Washington. This progress has given the state cause to re-open by the end of June 2021. Visibility of this billboard is 40,000-45,000 cars per week. |
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