Rotary International Theme 2024-2025	THE ROWEL Rotary Club of Durham		Rotary International President: Gordon McInally Rotary District 5160 Governor: Clair Roberts Durham Rotary President: Glenn Pulliam _____________ Editor: Phil Price Publisher:  Jen Liu
	January 21, 2025	Crab Feed 2025 Will be held on Date: January 25, 2025

The Meeting Opening We met at the Memorial Hall in Durham for a pre-Crab Feed final planning meeting. The meeting was called to order by President Peggi.  Peggi asked Mike Crump to lead the pledge, which he did.  Peggi asked Larry Bradley to lead us in a song.  He led us in singing My Country Tis of Thee. Following that, Peggi asked Jim Patterson presented the invocation which he did.

Announcements

It was previously announced that the Crab Feed will open at 5:30 pm, earlier than the 6:00 pm we have traditionally opened.

It was reported that Camp Royal will be held June 9^th -14^th.  Camp Venture will be held Jun 11^th – 15^th.  The applications have been received and delivered to the school.

It was also reported that Chico Sunrise 'donated', $500 to go towards our District Grant for the audiovisual project at the Memorial Hall. You will see the screens on the walls this weekend at the Crab Feed.

Our Next Meeting

Our next meeting, on February 4^th.  It will be a debrief of the Crab Feed.  It, will be at the BCCC. 

Following that we will again meet at the Memorial Hall in Durham for as Club Social on February 18^th.

Recognitions

President Peggy recognized Jim Patterson because Ohio State won.  She contributed $10 and he contributed $25.

She recognized Glenn Pulliam for which he contributed $25 which went towards Happy Bucks that the TV screens are now up and running at the Memorial Hall, available for our use this weekend at the Crab Feed!

Tonight’s Meeting Program 

It was all about the Crab Feed. The meeting was primarily conducted by Glenn Pulliam with contributions by Jessica,  Diana,Steve and others, where appropriate.  It was working out the final kinks in the Crab Feed this Saturday.

During the meeting President Peggi with Diana's help give us a review of the newly installed Video & Audio systems.

     

Here is the work assignment schedule that Glenn passed out at the meeting.

Durham Crab Feed Work Schedule   

Saturday, January 25, 2025

All Durham Rotarians show up by 4 p.m. and stay for clean-up.                                  

Friday:                       Beer pick up – Glenn Pulliam

Fri. 3:30        Table set-up    Chair - Diana Selland

Saturday:

8-8:30            Storage unit         All available

Crab and shrimp pick up – Eric Hoiland

9-11               Set tables              All Available 

9-11               Decorations    Chair – Diana Selland

9-11               Auction set-up     Chair - Jessica Thorpe

                                                            2 Interact     

3-5                  Kitchen set-up   Chair – Glenn Pulliam, Ravi Saip                      

5 – 6               Crab sorting  Chair – Eric Hoiland                                        

5 - 6:30          Greeters and Check-in – Chair- Diana Selland  

3-4 Interact 

6:00 – 8:30   Servers    - Chair - Glenn Pulliam & Ravi Saip

                                                26-30 interact                                            

5 - 8:30          Bar – Chair - Jen Liu & Steve Heithecker

                        Ticket sales – Steve Plume

Clean Up   All Rotarians + 3 Interact

Sat Night Work Crews

Check in / Greeters  -Diana Selland  + 4 Interact

Tickets – Jessica Thorpe

Steve Plume, Susie Sorensen – Drinks

Imogin Hines – Raffle

Steve Hines – Whiskey Raffle

Bar – Jen Liu           Steve Heithecker

            Karen Heithecker              Mary Sakuma          John Sakuma

Auction – Jessica Thorpe           Peggy Kohler           Diana Selland

Kitchen / Servers – Glenn Pulliam   Ravi Saip

            Eric Hoiland Larry Bradley           Daryle Polk

            Mike Crump Bob Bracewell        Harold Kohler

Tom Knowles          Chuck Jenkins         30 Interact              

It was noted that the table configuration will be different this year.  There will be round tables near the stage, which are for the people who reserved a whole tables.  They will have beer and wine provided.  The long tables, for those who bought individual tickets, but not a whole table, will be at the kitchen end of the room. Between the two sets of tables will be the silent auction tables (in the middle of the room).

Membership

Bring guests who you think you can interest in becoming a member.  Your dinner and your guest’sdinner will be paid for by the Club.  Also, bring a guest to one of our occasional social gatherings.

District 5160 Governor, Dan Geraldi is asking each club member to bring at least one guest toa meeting this year.

Go to the following Rotary International web site for information on membership development:  https://my.rotary.org/en/learning-reference/learn-topic/membership .  From this website there is access to membership development and other related information.

The Rotary Foundation Donations

You can make a difference in this world by helping people in need. Your gift can do some great things, from supplying filters that cleanpeople’s drinking water to empowering local entrepreneurs to grow through business development training.

The Rotary Foundation will use your gift to fund the life-changing work of Rotary members who provide sustainable solutions to theircommunities’ most pressing needs. But we need help from people like you who will take action and give the gift of Rotary to make these projects possible.

When every Rotarian gives every year, no challenge is too great for us to make a difference. The minimum gift to The Rotary Foundation is $25.00.   An annual $100.00 gift is a sustaining member.  Once your donations accumulate to $1,000 you become a Paul Harris Fellow.

If you have any questions, ask Steve Heithecker.

It is possible to learn more about The Rotary Foundation on the Rotary web site. 

Your gift can be made online or by sending Jessica Thorpe a check made out to The Rotary Foundation to Durham Rotary, P.O. Box 383, Durham, California 95958.

Must Be Present to Win Drawing:

From District 5160

Candidates for District Governor

______________________________________________________________ri

From Rotary International’s News and Features Website

{Note that the following may not be the complete article.  See the complete article on Rotary International’s News and Features web page}.

Massive wildfires in California, USA, have destroyed at least 12,000 buildings, razedneighborhoods, and displaced tens of thousands of people. Rotary members have raced to help.

By Clara Germani

Bill “Chilly” Chillingworth walked out the door of his home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood on 7 January — a normal,bright California, USA, Tuesday morning — for a business appointment 60 miles south.

He would never see the house again.

In the early afternoon his adult daughter called to describe wildfire smoke blooming over canyons that descend sharply tothe Pacific near where Chillingworth and his fiancé live.

He didn’t initially worry, because his neighborhood isn’t typical wildfire fuel: It’s a flat neighborhood with green lawns and no dry wild land around it, he says. But he can vividly chart the crescendo of panic triggered when his phone alarm erupted with an evacuation order. As he raced northward to meet his fiancé, they talked on the phone and feverishly checked off the so-called “p’s” she should grab as she fled: people,pets, pictures, paperwork.

How to help

• Donate today to Rotary’s Disaster Response Fund. Rotary districts in wildfire-affected areas can apply for grants from the fund to quickly provide essential supplies.
• Fundraise among your colleagues, friends, and family members using Raise for Rotary.
• Learn how Rotary members help their communities respond to disasters and about local relief efforts by District 5280 and District 5300.

When they met at a California Pizza Kitchen in a community a short distance south of their home, their cellphone alarms were going off. Each new ping eroded hope, he explains: “There was smoke detected in our master bedroom. … Five minutes later we got an alarm that was detecting excessive heat in the kitchen. … Five minutes later we got another alarm detecting excessive heat in the fan in the laundry room, and then we got a notification our front door had been breached … then we got a notification in two 15-minute increments that the front door was still open. … After a half an hour those messages stopped altogether, and we knew that we likely had been facing a total loss of our house and all of our belongings.”

Chillingworth is the kind of guy who relates this dark chapter with self-awareness and some humor. The fire, he chuckles, drove the couple to break their 30-year streak of going without alcohol after the holidays during “dry January.” Even while hitting an outlet mall to buy shoes, socks, and underwear, he says he’s hyper aware he’s only one of thousands who have been displaced — and a privileged one, at that,financially able to start again.

But still, in a phone interview, his voice quavers twice: over the “profound distress” of seeing his neighborhood burning on TV news and in describing his heartwarming awe of being both giver and receiver in community service.

Rotary network brings aid to fire victims

Rotary is the platform for that reciprocity, he says. A member for more than 35 years and president-elect ofthe Rotary Club of Santa Monica, California, USA, he has an extensive global network of fellow members calling, texting, and emailing to offer help.

Those connections buoy him as he helps plan and participate in two major fundraising events. On 1 March, the club’s annual $150,000 black-tie benefit will direct the bulk of this year’s proceeds to fire relief. And Chillingworth is scheduled as a featured speaker discussing his fire experience remotely for a Seattle-area fundraiser in late January. That fundraiser in Washington, USA, was organized in a matter of days by Larry Snyder, who goes to California to serve as the auctioneer every year at Santa Monica’s black-tie event. Snyder isn’t a Rotary member  himself, but on the sheer basis of his years of work with and respect for Santa Monica , he believes they are a conduit for philanthropy that “people can trust.”

“Rotary is all about jumping into action as quick as we can,” says Chillingworth, whose club of 100-plus members has kicked into service overdrive, even with close to a quarter of those members now without homes. (As a point of fire reference, all members of the much smaller Pacific Palisades Rotary club have lost their homes, as well as the business where the club met.)

That quick action is important, especially if it’s the right action, says Brady Connell, governor-nominee or Rotary District 5280 (California).

A lesson driven home in the outpouring of desire to help is that random collection of physical donations may not be as efficient as a more purposeful needs assessment, says Connell, a member of the Rotary Club of Playa Venice Sunrise. “That’s where Rotarians can really come in because [they] are very connected in the community.”

Members have been helping displaced people in their communities with paperwork for insurance and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, lending spare bedrooms and providing money, clothes, food, and listening ears. But there’s a bigger, longer-term picture, says Connell.His club is working with the Santa Monica club, which includes leaders from crucial front line assistance organizations like the YMCA, Salvation Army, Boys& Girls Clubs, and Meals on Wheels, to focus on fire relief and “what families are going to actually need when they are given access to their properties.”

The two clubs have partnered on a “safe search” project to provide ash sifters and protective wear to families returning to their homes to go through the ruins. Home Depot has donated 150 sifters to the two clubs, and they have applied for a grant from the District 5280 Wildfire Disaster Relief Fund to buy protective kits of goggles, body suits, gloves, and booties.

Steering Rotary momentum across a large chunk of the Los Angeles basin is Albert Hernandez, governor of District 5280.By profession, he operates a homeless services nonprofit in Burbank, a city situated between the two big fires that were still burning in late January int he area of the Palisades to the west and the Altadena community to the east. With his work and service missions aligned, he’s accustomed to meeting human needs which, he says, fall into two categories: the monetary and “sense of touch, as I call it.”

“Monetary contributions allow us to get what we need when we need it,” he says, convinced it should be a service priority after witnessing evacuation centers across L.A. turning donations of food and clothing away because there was no storage space.

His district’s fire relief fund has collected $250,000 as of 20 January. The money will be used to help organizations serve the community, to help Rotary members directly who’ve lost homes and businesses, and to be part of matching grants for projects dreamed up by clubs to meet needs in their own areas.

Hernandez sees the powerful community bonding in disaster as “sense of touch.” He recounts how a Burbank club’s recent lunch meeting program consisted of members expressing their feelings, one by one around the room. The intimacy of that crisis response, he says,echoes across state and international borders with the hundreds of offers of help he has received. It’s particularly poignant, he says, after years ofs ervice trips abroad, to now be on the receiving end of Rotary members’ service offers — one of which came from a club official in Ukraine where war continues.

Hernandez is looking beyond the moment, as well as to a future where changes in patterns of precipitation, temperature,and wind is driving hotter, fiercer fire seasons here. He offers this perspective: “A lot of people are worried about the homes that we’ve lost; butI think we’re forgetting about how many businesses people lost. And … how many children’s schools have burned down? How many children are out of school [now]?When are they going to have that sense of normalcy again?”

— January 2025

Photo courtesy of Alamy

This story originally appeared in an issue of Rotary magazine.

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