May 23, 2022

Club President Klark Swan presided over the meeting.

Flag Salute: Wayne Wilson

Thought of the day: Kate Witthaus “One small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.”

Guests: Jeremy Campbell, Executive Director of Waterfront Recovery and James Danny White were introduced. They have both recently applied for membership.  Kate Witthaus introduced guest, Jaimie Carroll who is also our guest speaker today.

Recent Events and Announcements:

  • There was a social event at Humboldt Provisions recently. It was a small turnout but a lot of fun.  The next one will be in June at Old Town Coffee and Chocolates.  Stay tuned for more information.
  • Kate Witthaus recently put together two press releases on our Small Grant recipients- Redwood Discovery Museum and Humboldt Family Service Center. They have been running in local media and on Facebook. Please share on social media so we can encourage people to apply for small grants.
  • We will be voting for awards in our club for various categories. Klark will be sending more information soon.
  • Carly talked about a walk-a-thon happening on June 4th to benefit Food for People. All are welcome.
  • District Conference was in Fortuna last weekend. Klark said the Rotary Club of Eureka won an award for enhancing the experience of Rotarians and inspiring enthusiastic participation especially among our younger members.

Book Delivery: Anthony Stubbs announced that books will be delivered to Humboldt County 3rd graders.  On June 10th @9:30am they will be delivering to Alice Birney and at 1:30pm on the same date to Grant School. Contact Anthony if you can help with the delivery. It’s a lot of fun.

The winners of the raffle were: Silver Dollar – Lynn Dugaw, Value meal- Matthew Owen, $10 donated back to the Foundation, Phatsy Kline gift certificate- Jaimie Carroll, Chance to win the gold coin worth $451.00- Steve Lafferty – Sorry Steve- not a winner today.

Speaker: Our speaker was Jaimie Carroll.  Jaimie now lives in Seattle, WA. She was born in Eureka in 1990. Until she was 7 years old she was homeless. Her mother had schizophrenia and as a result was a drug addict/homeless, etc. When she was in 2nd grade her teacher approached her and was able to send her to foster care.  She’d never known her father, bus social services found him when she was 8 years old and after he had attended parenting classes she ended up living with him at the Greyhound Hotel for 5 years until he died of cirrhosis of the liver.  She attended high school, moving around some, and was planning to enlist in the Army until she found out about Rotary Youth Exchange.  She ended up being the Rotary Club of Eureka’s outbound exchange student to Brazil.  It was a great experience and when she came back she joined Rotaract, eventually going to Bangladesh on a Rotoract trip, and knew her goal in life was to help others.

Rotary Club of Eureka was welcoming, caring and supportive and Jaimie feels was an important part of her life.  She received a college degree in international development from HSU in 2019 and moved to Seattle.  She is now employed by a private foundation called Roots & Wings Foundation who funds non-profits working to bring people out of poverty.  Jaimie is excited about her job and the people she can help.  After some questions and answers the meeting was adjourned at 1:30pm.