Three Creekers’ complete do-it-yourself service project weekend

Seventeen Rotary Club of Three Creeks members combine for 39 hours of service

CLARK COUNTY, Wash. – With Covid 19 still very present in Clark County and not everyone comfortable with being together in even small indoor groups, the Rotary Club of Three Creeks took the opportunity to encourage members to serve on their own.
 
January brought the “Pick your own Cause” service project to a club that’s completed nearly 70 projects in less than six years.
 
“I am proud of our members for stepping up to continue to lead by example, even in challenging Covid times,” said Rotary Club of Three Creeks Service Projects Director Tina Vlachos. “By picking our own virtual service project, we are still able to commit our time toward service in ways that we are individually driven and inspired by, but as a collaborative where we are still able to join forces and share with one another.”
 
Whether in Vancouver, Ridgefield or in Cathedral City, Calif., 17 “Three Creekers” as club members often refer to themselves, completed a total of 39 hours of service.

• Jesse Braman and his wife Amanda ran a 5k in the Clark Public Utilities’ Race for Warmth, to help raise funds for Operation Warm Heart, the PUD’s program to help those in need to pay their utility bills
• Charla Burke, Kinsey Dhoot, Chuck Green, Nelson Holmberg, Susanne Holmberg, Carol Mackey, Dan Sockle and Dan Wetmore all walked a 5k in the Race for Warmth
• Kelley Campbell donated platelets to the American Red Cross
• Louise Hoover ordered bouquets of flowers for the frontline health care workers at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center
• Garry Lucas made homemade chicken noodle soup in a slow cooker and delivered it to neighbors who had been ill for a week
• Laura Miller and her husband Jeff picked up litter along the Salmon Creek Greenway Trail, where they also found a county key ring and returned it
• John Sandstrom generously donated to SelfWA for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program, and to Meals on Wheels
• Jim Selby and his wife Betty took time out of their annual winter visit to Cathedral City, Calif., to pick up cigarette butts and other litter in Panorama Park.
• Kristi Straight and her daughter Annie created and delivered care packages for Office Moms & Dads
• Vlachos made Valentines cards for “Cards for a Cause”, which are provided to sick kids in the hospital.

 
“This was an encouragement for us to do more and I would say it was welcomed with open arms, turned to a great success,” Vlachos said.
In April 2020, right after the pandemic started, the club created its first-ever virtual service project as members were ready to get out and do service projects. The club designed its project within Covid restrictions and safety guidelines, and the project was a success with a dozen members contributing a total of nearly 80 hours of service, illustrating how badly people wanted to be out and about early in the pandemic.