As most hospitals in the United States, the Pullman Regional Hospital has lost revenue during the pandemic, due to the cancellation of all non-essential surgeries, among other reasons. Therefore, the hospital has set up a COVID-19 fund to
Community
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, our Service Projects coordinator has found a way for our club to contribute to our community. Kudos for Jess! Specially because our club canceled the meetings starting on March 18, when Jess had scheduled a project to help Habitat for Humanity. We are hoping to resume our meetings on June 3rd.
Jess responded to a call for help from the Palouse Chapter of the Washington State University Alumni Association (WSUAA). This is what they said:
“Due to these challenging and uncertain times, more and more of our WSU undergraduate and graduate students are seeking food assistance. Please join us by making a donation of non-perishable food to the Cougar Food Pantry, the student food pantry on the WSU Pullman campus. On Monday, April 27, between 4:00 - 6:00 p.m., WSUAA volunteers will pick up non-perishable food items from your porch and deliver them to The Cougar Food Pantry to provide food to students in need."
Jess and wife Eva, who is also a club member, picked up the donations from club members, and set them all at their front door for the WSUAA volunteers to pick up.
Every year, our Rotary Club funds projects or services that improve and enhance the Pullman community. The concept was initiated in 1979 by then Rotary President Irv Field, with calls for projects costing up to $1,000, or “One Grand.” The Rotary Club of Pullman has funded over 40 projects under this program. In recent years, the "One Grand" has turned into "One and a Half Grand".
This year the award committee, chaired by club Secretary Eric, chose two projects with a total cost of $2,000. In order to be able to fund both applications, some of the committee members donated a total of $500.
The award recipients were: 1) The Pullman Community Garden at Koppel Farm, for the purchase of a rototiller, and 2) The Pullman Child Welfare, who will purchase computer equipment and peripherals.
Alas, the awards were not presented in person, since we are all cooped up at home trying to fight the spread of the coronavirus.
ShelterBox is a project partner of Rotary International. Their mission is "to provide emergency shelter to families who have lost their home to disaster, enabling them to rebuild their lives." It does not matter if the disaster is natural or due to conflict. Among the items they provide are relief tents, tools to repair damaged buildings, solar lights, water purification kits, thermal blankets and cooking utensils. After each disaster, ShelterBox determines the needs of the community and delivers what they need.Often, the areas are very difficult to reach, but carrying everything in a box makes those areas more accessible.
The Rotary Club of Pullman has been donating to ShelterBox USA for 12 years. This year, club members donated $2,250, and the club matched $1,250, for a total donation of $3,500. We are happy to partner with ShelterBox USA, and to contribute to the wellbeing of those who have been displaced from their homes. To learn more, go to https://www.shelterboxusa.org.
Our club’s service project for February was to join forces with an experienced volunteer from Trinity Lutheran Church
in Pullman to deliver hot mid-day meals to Pullman's homebound seniors. Jess and Eva volunteered on Feb. 9th,
Eric (not pictured) on Feb. 12th, and Charice on Feb. 14th. Each team delivered 5-7 meals.
Thank you to Northwest Cancer Foundation of Hope for another successful fundraiser! The Rotary Club of Pullman partners with this incredible organization to support
their mission of serving families on the Palouse who are battling cancer.
We are so grateful for everyone who purchased our raffle tickets!
Pictured is Rotary Club of Pullman President, Alison Weigley;
We are so grateful for everyone who purchased our raffle tickets!
Pictured is Rotary Club of Pullman President, Alison Weigley;
Founder of NW Hope and Rotarian, Debi Dockins;
and Rotarian and NW Hope Board Member, Eric Hollenbeck.
Our club’s service project for January was to put together 50 welcome kits, and make 50 beds fornew international students
that will be attending Washington State University (WSU).
This is done through WSU’s International Programs in partnership with INTO WSU.
After a long day of travel, students will arrive at their dorm room with a freshly made bed, snacks, water, toiletries and fresh towels.
As always, we had a great time with our fellow Rotarians! Two of the Rotarians brought their families to help expedite the process.
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The District Rotary Foundation Committee has a new Express Grant program for every Rotary and Rotaract club in the District.
The Express Grant provides up to $350 for a club which applies to use the money for a community need.
The Express Grant provides up to $350 for a club which applies to use the money for a community need.
Club members Eric and Jess applied to provide food to the Pullman Schools Pantry Program. This is a supplemental food program
that supports the health of families in need and serves public schools in Pullman.
Linhda, the Pantry coordinator, used the grant money to buy healthy snacks. Rotary Club volunteers put together 200 bags with
several snacks so that the students in need can supplement their food intake during the winter break.
Our club's November community service was to donate 40 Thanksgiving meals to Pullman Child Welfare.The 40 meals account for about 1/4 of all meals distributed by this food bank in Pullman.
Each family receives stuffing mix, instant mashed potatoes, gravy mix, corn, cranberry sauce,
green beans, fruit cocktail, pumpkin pie mix, evaporated milk and pie crust mix.
The picture shows the Pullman Child Walfare's pantry and the happy person who received our donation.
Many thanks to organizer Jess, and to Archie. Archie is the owner of Dissmore's IGA, as well as
a Rotary Club member. He kindly sold the food at a discount to the club.
Without Jess and Archie, 40 families could have gone hungry on Thanksgiving Day.
Without Jess and Archie, 40 families could have gone hungry on Thanksgiving Day.
October is Polio Awareness Month. In addition, Rotary International designated October 24 as World Polio Day. This day commemorates
the birth of Jonas Saks (Oct. 24/1914), who developed one of the first polio vaccines.
Thanks to gifts from our club members, we raised $2,200 in October to donate to the Rotary Foundation Polio Plus Campaign. We are contributing to worldwide efforts to eradicate polio. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match $2 for every $1 Rotary International commits to ending polio.
In effect, our club's donations are tripled thanks to the Gates Foundation!
Volunteers from our club and from the Student Veteran Association at Washington State University spiffed up the Mayors’ Grove along N Grand Ave.
This Rotary event takes place twice a year. The first was in June.
Service projects organizer Jess is seen in the white shirt.
The bottom middle picture shows Sir William, who likes coming with his owner John to projects in parks.
(Photos provided by Alison W.)
Co-treasurer and Service Project organizer Jess is seen in the pictures below at the Moscow Farmers Market.
The market takes place every Saturday between May and October.
The Rotary Club of Moscow has a kettle corn booth at the market. Jess helped them make kettle corn this Saturday.
Pullman is the Lentil Capital of the World, so every August the Lentil Festival is held in Pullman, on the
weekend before classes start at Washington State University. Everybody has a lot of fun at this event.
To raise funds for local projects, Rotary club members serve wine at the Beer and Wine Garden
of the Lentil Festival. The Rotary Club is grateful to the local winery Merry Cellars for donating the wine.
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The International Picnic is an annual event put together by the Rotary Club of Pullman and Washington State University International Programs.
The picnic is to welcome all international students to the university and to Pullman with a BBQ.
It takes place at Reaney Park the week prior to the beginning of the fall semester.
After putting together 125 dorm making kits for incoming international students on August 3rd, Tyler delivered more than half of those kits to several dorms across Washington State University. Tyler is the Student Experience Coordinator for Housing and Arrivals for the INTO WSU program.
On Aug. 6th and 7th, Rotary members and Tyler took the rest of the kits to the remaining dorms and made the rooms for the students.
Left: Eric hands the kits to Connie, who is happy to be finished filling the laundry cart.
Second from left: Each kit contains bedding, toiletries, snacks, laundry hampers, a shower caddy, and a desk fan.
John, Jake, Eric and Tyler are making the beds and placing the other items on each student’s desk.
Jeff M. also helped but is not in the pictures.
John, Jake, Eric and Tyler are making the beds and placing the other items on each student’s desk.
Jeff M. also helped but is not in the pictures.
Two pictures on the right: Ana, Connie, Tyler, Eric, Jake & John at the lobby of the Stephenson complex.
They will transport the kits to each room and then they will make the room.
They will transport the kits to each room and then they will make the room.
An example of the finished product! This room has a nice view of the Palouse hills.Rotary Club volunteers helped prepare 125 kits for incoming international students who will stay in the Washington State University (WSU) dorms. The students are coming through the INTO WSU program. They will start arriving next week. WSU is giving each student a shower caddy, toiletries, bedding, a pop-up laundry hamper, snacks, and a desk fan, so that they feel welcome at their new home away from home. Next week, Rotary volunteers will make the beds and leave the bedrooms ready for the students to relax on their first day in Pullman.
Left two pictures: All the items that are going into the kits are nicely arranged in shelves. Tyler, the Student Experience
Coordinator for Housing and Arrivals, made it easy for the volunteers to put the kits together.
Coordinator for Housing and Arrivals, made it easy for the volunteers to put the kits together.
Third picture: John, Debi, Wendee and Ana (not pictured) can easily take the items for the kit off the shelves, and put them
in a plastic bag. We set up an assembly line that allowed us to finish all the kits in two hours.
in a plastic bag. We set up an assembly line that allowed us to finish all the kits in two hours.
Right: The shelves are almost empty after the 125 kits are done.
Left two pictures: John delivers the completed kit to Xavier, who will tie the bag and put it on a pile.
Middle: When all bags were done, we took them to a room that was close to the loading dock of the building.
The bags will be taken to the different dorms that were assigned to the INTO WSU incoming students.
The bags will be taken to the different dorms that were assigned to the INTO WSU incoming students.
Fourth picture: Xavier, Tyler and Wendee are happy to be finished.
Right: Ana, Xavier and Wendee.
Our club’s July service project was to help clean up the debris from the 4th of July fireworks at Sunnyside Park.
Top: Alison, Colleen, Ana & Ed
Middle: Jess Top: Jess, Alison, Colleen & Ed Top: John and helper Sir William
Bottom: Jesse Bottom: Mayor Glenn Johnson Bottom: Michael, Ed, Jess, Colleen, Alison, Jesse, Ana
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This is a summary of the club activities and achievements that happened during President Colleen Hinman's tenure, as recounted by Colleen during the
last meeting that he presided over as president.All club members are very thankful for the energy and enthusiasm that she put into all her achievements.
A. Goals
- Continue to engage with Rotaract participation & growth. Involve Rotaract in our service projects.
- Increase Conference Attendance: PETS, District Assembly, Joint District Conference, Rotary International Convention, RYLA.
- Membership Growth. Two new members joined the club, with a few more on the horizon.
- Socialization Opportunities between club members and with Area 9 clubs.
- Committees: finance, Spaghetti Feed, Community Service, Irv Field Grand Project, Communications, Foundation.
- Service Above Self: 83 volunteers, 75 service hours, 11 projects!!!
B. Recognizing Honorary Members
- Bill Paul
- Keith Saxton
- Mike Kallaher
- Pat Caraher
C. Polio, Annual & Endowment Funds
- Club members gave $6,391 to the Annual Rotary International Fund to fight polio. The goal was $6,000.
- The club has 13 Paul Harris Fellows, 22 Rotarian Donors, 7 Rotary Direct Donors & 4 Benefactors.
- Our all-time giving is $177,378!
D. Shelter Box & Club Giving. We continue to have:
- Holiday giving.
- Raise money through a 50/50 raffle every meeting for charity.
- Our Irv Field grant had 18 applicants. The $1,500 award went to the Palouse Discovery Science Center to remodel a room in the museum.
E. Fundraising Effort & Growth
- Helping INTO WSU brought $1,500 to the club.
- Spaghetti Feed: $3,900.
- National Lentil Festival Wine Pouring: $400.
F. Year-End Rotary Awards
Colleen presented award certificates to the following members:
- Service Above Self - Jess Downs
- Service Above Self - Eric Hoyle
- Rotarian of the Year - Ana Dodgen
- Rookie of the Year - Jacob St. Clair
- Committee of the Year - Spaghetti Feed: Gary Schell & Debi Dockins
- Emcee of the Year - Glenn Johnson
- Best Attendance - John Brewer & LouAnn Heroff
- Best Spirit - Debi Dockins
- MVP - Alison Weigley
Colleen thanked the Rotary Club members for making her Presidential year so memorable and fun!
She appreciates all that Rotary brings to her life and looks forward to being Area 9 Assistant Governor.
Volunteers work hard to beautify the Mayors’ Grove twice a year.
The Grove is located along Grand Street, one of the two main thoroughfares in Pullman.
Top row (left to right): 1) Eric coordinates the cleanup process. 2) Steve’s getting ready to use the weedwhacker on the almost 3 ft. tall grass. The grass blocks the views of the creek. 3) Alison setting up our “Rotarians at Work” signs. 4) Jake being silly.
Second row: 1) Eva putting mulch under the Grove sign. 2) Xavier and John made a great team. 3) Alison and Jesse were the other great team.
Third row: Eric (left) and Jess (right) cleaning the dead grass on the tree. Alison helped too.
Bottom row: After the group photo, we enjoyed the donuts and coffee that Jess and Eva brought, while Jess lets us know about next month service project.
Rotaract is a youth program of Rotary International. Our club is very happy that we have Rotaract clubs in our area, and that they do service above self at a young age.Our club contributed some of the Shopping Guide necessities to the Rotaract of the Palouse, and in turn they will make sure that all donations are sent to the military overseas.
We hope that in the future some of the Rotaract members will be part of our club!
Every year we organize a Spaghetti Feed and we raise funds with a silent auction.
The money that we make goes to local charities, community projects, and the August annual international picnic
to welcome foreign students (in collaboration with WSU).
