FUN Stories
Happy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a time for friends and family to gather, enjoy a meal and spend time together.  To support families in need in our community the Fidalgo Island Rotary Club put together Thanksgiving meals for the families currently at the Anacortes Family Center.
 
 
In addition the FUN CLUB is supporting Giving Tuesday, which takes place on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, and aims to offset the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday by encouraging people to donate to their favorite non-profits. OUR GOAL this year is to raise $2,000 for the club. Not one, but TWO of our members have generously offered to match any amount we raise (up to our $2,000 goal.) Meaning we have an opportunity to raise $6,000 for our club! What does the FUN Club do with these donations?  Shipwreck Festival, STEM Camp for middle school students, the FREE Kids Boat Building booth at Waterfront Festival, the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, international medical missions, education in developing countries, polio eradication, Thanksgiving meals to AFC families and that's not even all we do. Donate to Fidalgo Island Rotary online HERE.  
What's in a FUN Club Meeting
Ever wonder what in the world Fidalgo Island Rotary members do at the Club meetings held at the early hour of the morning 7am?  Here's a summary of the November 1st meeting to give you an idea of what goes on.
 
The meeting started off with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the thought for the day.  Steve Rutz held us in suspense as he took a picture of the group.
What in the world was this picture for?  Then he shared the quote: 
          Life is like a CAMERA
          Focus on what is important
          Capture the good times
          Develop from the negatives
          And if things down work out
          Take another shot  
 
Then we welcomed our newest Rotarian to the club, Ann Giboney.
 
Jan Vigre, Foundation Chair, recognized Susan Guterbock with her 6th Paul Harris recognition with a special pin.  
 
Yes, we had a great breakfast made by our member volunteers and engaging happy/sads shared by our members.  This was followed by our guest speaker, Debbie Marshall, Founder and President of Heart of Hope.
"Heart of Hope Ministries International (HHMI) started in January of 1991. Debbie Marshall and Chuck Fox, her father, traveled to Romania to adopt a child for Debbie and her husband Dan. They immediately recognized there was far more to do than the adoption of one child. The dire needs of the children and entire families tore their hearts open. Debbie was successful in adopting, but that was only the beginning of what now has been a twenty-one year journey.  Through the decade of the 90s, HHMI focused on the critical needs of the thousands of children in government placement centers through the distribution of food, medicine, and clothing. In addition, HHMI facilitated dental, therapy, optometry as well as construction and renovation teams. HHMI established a spitirual ministry program led by Romanian nationals to address the spiritual needs of children in placement centers and impoverished rural communities."   This year they have also focused on helping Ukrainian refugees.  Click on Heart of Hope to learn more.
 
We ended the meeting with the raffle and inspiration for the day from our President, Kandy Dubuque.
 
Sounds like a FUN and interesting meeting, doesn't it?  Well they all are.  So join us by Zoom or come in person to our next Tuesday 7am meeting.  
Adopt-A-Dream
The Fidalgo Island Rotary Club and many of it's members sponsor students from poor families in Copán, Honduras through the International Project Alliance (IPA) Adopt-A-Dream program.  Students regularly send letters thanking members for their support and sharing some of their experiences.
 
Most of the letters say something very similar.  The students express their thanks for all the support they've been given, the tools provided such as backpacks, and for the overall support to their communities.  Often times they express how much they enjoy going to school and some of the things they do outside of school such as planting trees or helping their parents with housework.  Although the letters say something similar, each one is unique and comes from the students with heartfelt appreciation for all the support they are receiving.  
 
Here are some pictures of the school Fidalgo Island Rotary Club (FIR) supports in Copan.
 
FIRs International Committee provides $1528 to the IPA for supporting the school with whatever they need each year.
 
One of the younger (adorable) students.  Hmmm wonder what he just finished eating? 
 
Interested in supporting a student?  Find out more at Adopt-a-Dream.
Pints for Polio
end polio event
For the second year Fidalgo Island and Anacortes Rotary Clubs teamed up to hold the “Pints for Polio” fundraiser to cure polio under the big top at the Rockfish Grill.  $4,700 was raised from members and guests while Monday Night football played on the big screen.

Each of those dollars was matched by TWO additional dollars by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, meaning every dollar collected at Rockfish provided one dose for one child.  Multiply by Rotary’s 35,000 clubs around the world and the collective impact is huge. Rotary launched its polio prevention drive in 1979 and has partnered with the Gates Foundation since 2007.  Polio cases have been reduced 99.9% and nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries have been protected.

Five reasons we must eradicate polio:
1- To improve lives  
2- To Invest in the Future
3- To improve child health
4- To lower health care costs
5- To make history

October is Rotary’s “End Polio Month”,  which is why the Anacortes and Fidalgo clubs along with many others around the world hold polio awareness events this time of year.  

Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year. We have reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent worldwide and we won't stop until we end the disease for good.

Welcome to The FUN Club!
Fidalgo Island

Service Above Self

We meet In Person
Tuesdays at 7:00 AM
In person at AYC and via Zoom.
Anacortes Yacht Club
611 Rotary Park Lane
Anacortes, WA 98221
United States of America
District Site
Venue Map
Get in
the Loop
Subscribe to our eBulletin and stay up to date on the latest news and events.

Click here to sign up!
 
December 2022
S M T W T F S
27
28
29
30
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Directors
President
Kandy Dubuque
Past President
Daniel Conrardy
President Elect
Brianna Hackler
Vice President
Sarah Davies
Secretary
Valerie Tibbetts
Treasurer
Jeannette Papadakis
Director - Foundation
Jan Vigre
Director Operations/Foundation
Diana Jordan-New
Director Operations/Foundation
Kurt Nelson
Director Operations/Foundation
Peter Martin
Director Operations/Foundation
Walt Guterbock
Community Service Co -Chair
Phil Case
Family of Rotary Chair
Anna Connelly
Foundation Chair
Jan Vigre
Programs
David Sem
International Services
Valerie Tibbetts
Marketing & PR
Mary Willner
Membership Co-Chair
Rachel Muntean-Salazar
Membership Co-Chair
Linda Dobbs
Youth Services
Kurt Nelson
Community Service Co -Chair
Pam Estvold
Photo Albums
 
Amazon Smile
Do you shop online using Amazon? If you click the below link to shop at Amazon Smile, Amazon will donate .5 % of your purchase price to Fidalgo Island Rotary, at no cost to you! Make sure you're shopping at www.smile.amazon.com and select "Fidalgo Island Rotary Foundation" as your charity of choice!
Speakers
Dustin Johnson and Danielle Vincent
Dec 06, 2022
Anacortes Family Center Mentor Program
Philip Prudhomme & Bill Henkel - Community Action
Dec 13, 2022 7:00 AM
Cascade Landing Project
Santa
Dec 20, 2022
Running a productive factory with generation Z
Sarah Davies
Jan 10, 2023
Rachel's Closet
Jesse Miller
Jan 17, 2023
Homeland Security
View entire list...
Downloadable Files
Links
Rotary Links