Pearl Rotary, half-way through the year, from the front-row, presidential seat.
Busy!
One of the best parts of serving as club president is my front-row seat to our many and varied activities. Because of the breadth and success of those activities, the Portland Pearl Rotary Club continues to be the envy of other clubs…es la verdad! We have terrific projects in all five Areas of Service—Club, Community, International, Vocational and New Generations and fun weekly meetings with terrific speakers. Here’s an “executive summary” of current club enterprises:
Club Service is actually the umbrella for a variety of activities providing the glue that keeps us moving forward in the same direction—fellowship activities, weekly programs, fundraising, communications and membership. All those committees are incredibly effective.
Community Service continues support of Open Meadow, Boy Scout Troop #69, the Zimmerman Center, Meals on Wheels, the Bud Clark Center Transitions Project and they are moving forward with a project at the Pearl’s last remaining open space, Field’s Park.
International Service continues to monitor our Nepal solar project and is in the process of planning projects for this year. They are almost ready to start the grant writing process for a cleft palate surgery project in Zimbabwe. It will cost approximately $45,000. Also in consideration is a second project for Nepal. The two ideas so far are a micro hydro project with the power going to a school in a rural village. This is a fairly ambitious project with a cost of around $65,000. There is also another project involving purchasing a herd of yaks that would be owned by a community. The yaks are valued for their cheese and fur and this would be an income generation project. The estimated cost is $20,000 for a herd of 40-50 yaks. Stay tuned!
Vocational Service is working on the Pearl Business Awards breakfast project. The committee met recently to address the questions of a budget, venue, catering services and a potential speaker for the event. Al Dennison, executive director of Pearl District Business Association; Allan Classen, NW Examiner edior and publisher; and Joan Pendergast, board member at Pearl District Neighborhood Association (and Pearl Rotarian!) joined the planning meeting.
New Generations continues close collaboration with the Lincoln High School Interact Club and the Portland State University Rotaract Club. We have all been impressed with the amazing Students of the Month from Lincoln and our exchange student, Stella. Next year the youth exchange will send two students abroad (Elizabeth and Xavier) and host two students–double the pleasure, double the fun!
The Club Board of Directors is close to recommending a revised set of club bylaws for review and approval by the membership, under the director of Past President Dave Bangsund. Our goal has been to align club bylaws with current practices, make sure we meet legal requirements with regards to the club’s relationship with our charitable 501(c)3 Pearl Fund, remove outdated material and generally provide future boards with a cogent path to governing the club.
An amazing array of activities with which we can be proud.