Fund Raiser Success!!!

           

            Nov. 12: No “Rotary Connects” gathering.Veterans Day Holiday.

 

            Nov. 19: Luncheon at Nectar’s in Kendall Yards.  Speakers: Theresa and Matt Wild, “Matt’s Place.  Matt is an ALS victim.  The CDA couple are adding “smart homes” for victims with similar disadvantages.

 

            Nov. 17: Rotary Serves is the “Tom’s Turkey Drive”.  Volunteers will participate at Rosauers stores on 29^th and at the “Y.”

 

            Dec. 3: Club Christmas lunch at Nectar Downtown (Main and Stevens).  Family members and guests welcome.  RSVP to Chad Haverkamp.

 

            “Staying put”:  Unless there are rare exceptions, such as the Christmas luncheon, President Lenore Romney said the club will remain through the Rotary year (June 30) for luncheons at Nectar’s in Kendall Yards. Other than federal holidays, the club meets Monday noon on the first and third weeks of the month.

 

            Turkey thoughts:  President Lenore Romney is coordinating our club’s “Rotary Serves” monthly event – joining the hundreds of volunteers Nov. 17 at Rosauer’s stores for “Tom’s Turkey Drive.”  Our shifts, assigned earlier, are 8 a,m. to 10 a.m. at the 29^th Street store and the “Y” store at 9:45 a.m. to Noon.

 

            Nice reunion:  Akihiro Nakahara, a Club 21 member and leader of the Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute, visited our club Nov. 5.  Nakahara, who in 1985 was a Rotary and Junior Chamber exchange student, was hosted by Dave Peterson.  Dave and “Aki” were reunited at our luncheon meeting.  Nakahara also has served in the Nishinomiya-Spokane Sister City Society.  His wife, Dian, attended Ferris, and their parents, Dick and Misako Egner, are Spokane-Nishinomiya Sister City Society board members.

 

            Holmes ideas?:  Board member John Mailliard, who attended the Rotary Foundation meeting in Coeur d’Alene, said matching grant applications for the club are due in April for the 2019-20 Rotary year and suggests Holmes projects might be worthy of consideration.

            

 

            In just a few minutes 36 of the 40 slips for needy children and their families at Holmes were picked by members at the Nov. 5 luncheon.

 

            Treasurer Sandy Fink, the gift event coordinator, was amazed at how fast the tags disappeared at the rate of two per Holmes family.  The wrapped gifts – with letter IDs attached on the outside – are due at the Dec. 17 luncheon meeting at Nectar’s in Kendall Yards.

 

            Sandy stressed that total items per tag should stay at $40 because more expensive gifts create equity problems.

 

 

            In just 45 days, the wine-tasting fundraiser Nov. 2 generated about $13,000 net proceeds – an amazing result for a club with just 20 members.

 

            President Lenore Romney reported preliminary results at the Nov. 5 luncheon.  Among the results:

 

                    Set at the Kalispel Golf & Country Club, 105 people attended, including 20 staff members from Holmes Elementary.

   

                    The results:  Paddle raises:            $8,000

                                          Cork draws:                $1,320

                                          Sponsor checks:         $1,250

                                          EventBrite                   $   576

                                          Ticket sales (net):      $1,750

                                          Total:                           $12,896

 

            When Romney presented that preliminary total of $12,896, she said one more bottle of wine remained.  A spirited bidding started at $5 and ended at $200 for the Reustle Vineyards dry Reisling vintage.  That raised the preliminary total at nearly $13,000.

 

            She added that one other good result of the fund-raiser was that changing to a fall event puts the total closer to Rotary’s July 1 budgeting year.  It has been difficult to gauge expected amounts for projects when results are not known until mid-June when springtime fund raisers have been staged.

 

            Romney said an earlier date might be considered, perhaps a date in September.

 

            Asked for reactions about the event, most responses were very favorable.

 

            The mix of the wines, professional music, tasty appetizers and cordial conversation all got raves.  The cork pull was a hit and some said we could raise the $20 price, along with adding more bottles of wine.

 

            Precisely at 7 p.m., Romney noted that nearly every ticket-holder quickly moved upstairs and took seats at tables at the rounds of 10.   She thought it looked like an orderly school drill. 

 

            The event, one club member said was “more fun, with less effort” than the games and auctions at previous fund-raisers.  Another agreed, saying this event “didn’t drag out” like previous times.

 

            Romney said the weather forecasts “spooked me,” prompting the move from the big tent to inside.  Some members said it was a plus to have the tasting downstairs so the tables could be ready for the buffet dinner.  Members and guests loved the tiramisu dessert.

        

   After the dinner, Romney talked about that the club focused on Holmes projects 12 years ago.

 

            Principal Stephanie Lundberg thanked all attending, especially all the staff members.  “It’s inspiring,” she said.

 

            Lundberg, now in her ninth year at Holmes, and fifth year as principal, said 89 percent of the school’s 400 students are on free or reduced-price lunch plans, showing the overall poverty of the West Central neighborhood.

 

            “We want to make a difference and we want to inspire them to make a change,” she said.

 

            Lundberg described how one former student was sent to her office after fighting. Forced to another city in a custody fight, he sent an e-mail to Lundberg 10 days ago with the message “I just wanted to say hello and tell you I’m doing well.”  It was a positive change indeed.

 

            Assistant Principal Ben Gilsdorf said he is in his first year at Holmes, but “has been in similar schools” in his 14^th year in the district.  He talked about Holmes’ “hierarchy of needs,” including clothes, “including whitey tidies,” plus school supplies.

 

            Ben talked about how the school “collaborates as a team to help, dropping what we are doing to do what else is needed.”

 

            He added: “It’s incredible to see the Rotarians’ work here.”  He said when a 5^th grader finally got his Holmes Heroes shirt, which Rotary provides, the boy “blew his mind” when mom came to the awards luncheon.

 

            Lisa Vance, assistant principal and health and fitness specialist is in her 24^th year at Holmes.  She said she has “kids of kids and grandparents of kids at the school.  “I wouldn’t want to be at any other place,” Lisa said.  “It’s really a great place.” 

 

            She said the help for supplies and the shirts “go above and beyond the monetary gifts,” including weekly mentoring sessions.

 

            Collaboration may be one of the best words for Spokane-North and Holmes.  It defines how the members work together to affect the positive change that Lundberg talks about.  And it shows how, on very short notice, our members, especially a special club president, can make a fund-raiser a real success.