NEXT MEETING: June 9, 2017

Community Capital: Impact Investing for Everyone

What if everyone in a community could invest in its revitalization and keep the profits circulating locally? They can! With community capital strategies, anyone of any economic class can invest in local businesses, nonprofits, and community investment funds. This is impact investing for everyone. In this discussion we will talk about what community capital is, why it’s so impactful, and the legal strategies that make it possible. We’ll compare community capital with crowdfunding and go over some real life examples.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• As we reported last week, dues are due! (Was that duly noted?) You can take care of it right now. Just direct your eyes to the right sidebar of this page. Below the Flywheel Archives look for a yellow “Donate” button to pay your $200 annual dues. Click it and you’re almost done.
• Just below that button you’ll see another yellow button. This one enables you to donate to the Rotary Foundation. The Foundation asks you to chip in $100 yearly for the life-saving, life-changing programs it conducts worldwide.

MEETING OF June 2, 2017

Welcome

Incoming President Connie Tritt called the meeting to order and asked Pam Jones to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Herb Cole asked for silent prayers for peace, hope, and justice. Sergeant at Arms Sidney Chauvin offered a quote for the day: “Women are to be loved, not understood,” which resulted in a few snorts from women in the room.

Visiting Rotarians and Guests

Mack Lingo and District Governor Fred Collignon were visiting from Berkeley Rotary.

Stacey Street brought Khalid Elahi who is a life skills coach.

Recognitions and Happy and Sad Dollars

• Ric Ambrose recognized: Mark Howe’s birthday, Herb Cole and Normie’s 53^rd wedding anniversary, and Stacey Street and Don’s 7^th wedding anniversary.

Paul Harris Awards

Incoming President Connie Tritt turned the floor over to District Governor Fred Collignon, who did the honors of presenting Paul Harris Fellow awards, courtesy of David Brown, to:
Connie Tritt, Simon Ellis, Nick Despota (PH+2), Liliane Koziol (PH+2), Shana Bagley (PH+2), Mike Winter (PH+3), and Mark Howe (PH+3).

As Fred pointed out,  Paul Harris awards are much more than expensive jewelry. Each award represents enough money donated to save 4 lives—so today’s total is 76 lives saved!

• Stacey Street was sad that our speaker failed to show but had happy dollars for surviving a house full of 13 year olds.
• Mark Howe had happy dollars because Stoney Stonework went sailing with him.
• Nick Despota had a sad dollar due to 45’s lack of business savvy (re: Paris Accord) and a happy dollar because the result is the promotion of renewable technology and a doubling down on climate action by governors, mayors and businesses all around the country.
• Tiffany Strauss was happy because her 16-year-old now has a driver’s license. Woohoo!!!
• DG Fred Collignon was very happy because there were hundreds of RotarAct kids participating in a sleepover sailing trip. Fred reported that Henry Moe was amazing. He IS amazing, isn’t he!
• The always-positive Simon Ellis was happy that his son is graduating from high school and followed his advice to not participate in “senior cut day.”
• Ric Ambrose had sad dollars because his mom passed away.

PROGRAM

The scheduled speaker of the day failed to show, show there was an impromptu presentation by Ric Ambrose and Shana Bagley.

Ric grew up “as a normal person” in Warren, Ohio with 7 siblings. His father worked 7 days a week. Ric was the state tennis champ and managed the best hot dog restaurant around (The Hot Dog Shoppe, 740 W Market St. Five stars on YELP, by the way). When he decided to attend college at the University of Oregon (Go Ducks!), his life began to take shape. He studied Art History and Studio Art and met his wife (of 37 years). He went on to earn a Masters in Fine Art and fell into an art studio curatorship that eventually led him to the Richmond Art Center. He enjoys the opportunity to run an art studio and to have time to create his own masterpieces (and they ARE fabulous).

Shana talked about life lessons she learned from sailing offshore, which you can learn more about on her blog posting, here. To summarize:

• Leave your politics and drama on shore.
• Be prepared because you never know when the next squall is going to hit.
• And when it hits, you don’t want unsecured stuff flying all over the cabin, so clean up after yourself because you won’t have time when this really matters.
• Pack lightly because what is truly important is the value of time and your loved ones (not stuff).
• Be responsible for your own health and safety so that you can take care of others who need help.
• Take time to breathe.
• It is the journey, not the destination that is important.
• Surround yourself with a good crew – people you would like to be.
• The vast ocean and billions of star can make you feel insignificant in the universe, but small efforts can make a big impact. For example, ask the bartender for no straws in your drink, get your club to have paper straws and only on request. These steps help reduce the massive amounts of plastics polluting our oceans. Or just participate in a Rotary project. And smile at strangers.

-Shana Bagley, Rotating Scribette