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President-elect Jennifer Jones imagines a Rotary where members act to make their dreams become reality and they make the most of their club experiences. She urges members to engage more with each other and use these connections to build partnerships that change the world.

UGM - Linda Ziehnert

North Notes

Spokane-North Rotary Club

May 22,2023

Calendar:

May 29: No meeting – Memorial Day.

June 5: Rotary lunch. Noon, at the Bark. Speaker: TBA.

June 12: Rotary lunch. Noon, at the Bark. Speaker: President’s Update

June 19: No meeting. Juneteenth Holiday

June 26: No Rotary lunch. Year-end dinner gathering. 6 p.m. at Maryhill Winery, 1303 W. Summit Parkway in Kendall Yards.

Happy Buck$:

Bill Simer was happy – and wearing – his Bloomsday virtual finisher T-shirt. (No mention if he got a matching shirt for his dog.)

Chuck Rehberg donated $1 to join the golfing worldwide “Block Party,” in honor of Michael Block, the 46-year-old club pro from Mission Viejo, Calif., whose high ranking and hole-in-one during the PGA’s major championship thrilled viewers everywhere.

It’s Official

At the May 22 luncheon the slate of officers and directors for the 2023-24 Rotary year was approved unanimously.

Continuing the club practice of selecting quarterly presidents, the lineup includes:

Presidents: Michelle Fossum, 1^st quarter; Nancy Hanson, 2^nd quarter; Ron Noble, 3^rd quarter, and, Bill Simer, 4^th quarter. Bill also will lead charitable fund giving and programs.

Other officers are Lenore Romney, Treasurer; Melinda Keberle, Secretary, and Steve Boharski, Past-President.

Directors include John Mailliard, Colin Prestesater, and Chuck Rehberg (International Service).

UGM reaches out for the poor

One way to think about the challenging issues of homelessness is the level of barriers.

At the club’s May 22 luncheon, Linda Ziehnert, director of community engagement for Spokane’s Union Gospel Mission, offered a comprehensive and compelling overview about various programs.

She said UGM programs are “high barrier.” Participants attend counseling, chapels. Bible studies or churches, and must avoid violent behavior and drugs and alcohol problems, she said.

In comparison, Ziehnert said the city’s Track Center on East Trent is “low barrier,” not nearly as strict as UGM rules.

She added that “Camp Hope,” where hundreds of the homeless occupied the east Spokane land during the past year, was “no barrier.” Of Camp Hope operators, Ziehnert said about UGM, “they don’t like us.”

The Union Gospel Mission was founded in 1951 as a Christian chapel and soup kitchen for homeless men in downtown, near Trent (now Spokane Falls Blvd.) and Bernard. For decades it has been operated by members of the Altmeyer family. Phil Altmeyer is the current executive director.

Some 50 years ago UGM was moved to space at 1224 E. Trent. Since then locations have grown and been added.

At East Trent there is a men’s shelter, men’s recovery, vocational advancement, aftercare services and youth outreach. There is a women’s recovery program at Anna Ogden Hall on west Mallon and a crisis shelter for women and children on east Illinois

UGM also has a student impact center on East Sprague. A mission camp in Ford, Wash., a center for women and children in Coeur d’Alene, a vehicle donation center in the Spokane Valley and thrift stores on West Boone and East Sprague in the Valley.

Last year, UGM’s four shelters fed 203,000 meals for the hungry and 106,000 nights of shelter. Some 3,000 medical visits were arranged, plus 237 men in women in recovery programs. And 336 men and women found jobs with UGM assistance.

But for all the big numbers, a UGM pamphlet said “addressing homelessness merely by providing shelter would be like treating cancer with bandages.”

“UGM targets the underlying causes of homelessness: broken relationships, dysfunctional families, mental illness, trauma, abuse and generational poverty.”

The UGM approach “acknowledges the needs of the whole person: physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual.”

Ziehnert said those in need see a program case manager within two weeks.

She adds that after a program is finishes, “we don’t make them leave. They can stay a few months to save up money, find a place to live and get a job.”

Despite the heavy challenges of homelessness, Ziehnert says “there is reason for optimism.

She added: “Everybody is unique. Everybody has a story.”

Bulletin editors: Chuck Rehberg and Sandy Fink

Expo '74 Anniversary -- Matt Santangelo

North Notes

Spokane-North Rotary Club

May 15, 2023

Calendar:

May 22: Noon, lunch at the Bark. Speaker: Linda Zienhert, Union Gospel Mission.

May 29: No meeting – Memorial Day.

Happy Buck$:

John Mailiard was happy again for solar-panel-roof savings.

Ron Noble was happy for a trip to Inchelium with his sons.

Jerry Logan was happy for a shick-shift auto drive.

Melinda Keberle was happy that her teenager tried to drive a stick-shift car.

Michelle Fossum was happy for a glorious camping weekend trip.

Steve Boharski was happy for a wake surfing outing.

Welcome Sheila

Spokane-North Rotary officially welcomed new member Sheila Fritts on May 15.

Sheila, marketing director of the Fairwood Retirement Village and Assisted Living, said “I am grateful to find this group.”

She said that “back in my 30s, with some kids, I got a Rotary scholarship. It was a small amount but meaningful to me. It forced me to write about it, set my goals putting on paper and let me go forward.

“It is a group that feels in the future. So thank you,” Sheila said.

This 50^th will be Expo-special

If a 50^th anniversary is “golden,” Expo ’74 next spring will remember the golden days of the World’s Fair and the golden nuggets of the legacy of Riverfront Park and many other Expo-spurred developments around Spokane.

At the May 15 club luncheon, Matt Santangelo outlined the plans for two months of celebrations to honor the 50^th anniversary.

Matt, a former GU star guard, “came off the bench” to sub for Spokane Parks Director Garret Jones for the meeting. Matt is helping to coordinate the Expo anniversary events. He also works with Gonzaga’s NIL (name, image and likeness) program and, “wearing his third hat,” works with D.A. Davidson investments.

As the lively group at the Bark chatted, Matt said, “I am the youngest of nine kids, so I’m used to the noise.”

He said Jones asked him to get involved when several folks last winter mentioned the golden Expo anniversary and said “Oh, we should do something.”

Jones knew that Matt, who led Hoopfest for seven years, “needed a point guard to connect all the points.”

Matt said that the plans probably should have been started two years ago, but members from 12 public agencies and private organizations are now filling in the details.

The two-month anniversary calendar will start Saturday, May 4, the day before Bloomsday, and conclude on the July 4^th weekend.

“This is not a World’s Fair; this is an anniversary,” Matt said.

Through the two months, the anniversary will focus on “five pillars:”

Environmental stewardship (an Expo theme),
Legacy (“it transformed families” and the city,)
Arts and culture,
Recreation and sports (“the Spokane River is healthier now),” and,
Tribal councils.

“Because its low-budget, and no major fund-raising, a little things will add up to a big thing,” Matt said.

For example, the Spokane Indians baseball team next year will be the “Expos.”

Boxes of Expo ’74 pictures and artifacts will be displayed at the Mac museum and in skywalks and other venues, Matt said.

Ron Noble recalled the tangle of railroad tracks, including elevated rails, which formerly occupied the Expo site, and now the beautiful, active Riverfront Park.

Only the clock tower remains of the waterside environs.

For many of those who lived and knew Spokane before Expo ’74, there will be at least two months’ worth of memories and stories.

It’s a new ball game

Matt Santangelo was asked about the NIL program and his involvement with Gonzaga University, where he was an outstanding point guard.

Matt said when he was recruited in high school in Portland “all we asked was who shoe company do you use and how many times are you on TV?”

“And during the past 25 years, no school has done better than GU,” he added, as the Zags have gone to the NCAA’s “Big Dance” yearly.

Matt, born in 1977, played at GU in 1997-2000. The 6-1 point guard was co- freshman of the WCC in 1997 and a first-team member in 1998-2000. He won a gold medal in the 1999 World University Games in 1999 and played pro ball in Europe for six years.

But now, with an open portal for easy exit to other games and NIL have changed the game.

The Name, Image and Likeness allows payment from companies everywhere. For example, he said Northern Quest and other sponsor ads with Drew Timme was a key reason the all-American forward stayed at GU, Matt said.

Matt said the “Zag Collective,” locally and nationally, raised $750,000 last year, mostly for men’s and women’s basketball.

He said it is very difficult for smaller cities to compete against schools in major metropolitan areas in the new NIL arena.

Bulletin editors: Chuck Rehberg and Sandy Fink

Pictures: Lenore Romney