At our May 9 meeting Kingston North Kitsap Rotarians heard an update on the soon-to-be opened Coffee Oasis in the former Kingston Community Center.
One in thirty high school students in Washington state is homeless. The mission of Coffee Oasis, through it’s unique business model, is to change the world for homeless youth in Kitsap County. Proceeds from the front-end coffee shop business fund back of the shop programs, including providing a safe place to be, job training, and internship programs with local businesses. It was reported 100% of interns had a job within six months. Additionally, homeless youth is provided showers, washers and dryers, and clothing. Coffee Oasis operates a transitional house for women in Poulsbo, one for men in Bremerton, and the county’s only youth shelter in Bremerton.
The meeting included Coffee Oasis personal testimonials from Jet Woelke and Gage Foley. At the conclusion, Kingston North Kitsap Rotary Club president Doug Hallock presented a $2k check from the Club to Daniel Kluth, Coffee Oasis’s Regional Development Director-North Kitsap. Kluth reported work remains on the building, including siding, subfloor, drywall, and painting. He hopes for a September opening for the Kingston Coffee Oasis.
Hear ye, Hear ye! The Kingston Rotary Golf Classic will once again feature a raffle to win an INSTANT WINE CELLAR - consisting of a 28-bottle Wine cooler and enough wine to fill that cooler (and then some). Tickets to win this great prize will be available at the Golf Classic at White Horse Golf Course on the day of the event, Friday June 22nd.
Meanwhile, Wine-loving Kingston Rotarians (you know who you are!) and KNK Rotarians who want to help the club out anyway are encouraged to bring a couple of bottles to any Rotary Club meeting between now and June 13th inclusive. Our Wino-in-Chief Don Hutchins will collect them and organize the inventory.
So PLEASE - BRING YOUR WINE TO ROTARY - the earlier the better for the Chief Wino...
Kingston North Kitsap Rotarians learned about the experiences of exchange student Ada Munoz and her host family, the Andersons - Isaac Anderson is a Past President of our Club - at their May 2 meeting. Munoz, from Spain, spoke about her American experiences, her bonding with the Anderson family, and the “cool” time she has had here. Sponsored by Joni Moore and the Aspect Foundation Foreign Exchange Program, Munoz has attended Kingston High School, and will have been in the States ten months by program end. Anderson’s wife, Holly, and daughter, Delaney, shared their positive experiences - and interruptions to their family routines. Delaney said Ada was like a sister and helped her speed-learn Spanish.
You are a business owner. A key objective is to establish your brand in the market you serve. You do this through advertising and word-of-mouth….and connecting your brand to established, respected community events. One such event, arguably Kingston-North Kitsap’s most prestigious, is the upcoming Kingston-North Kitsap Swing for Rotary Golf Tournament, June 22 at White Horse Golf Club. Sponsorship opportunities exist to further the establishment of your brand in the market. For example, for only $450 you can sponsor a hole. This investment in the community includes your booth and your representatives at the tee box of your hole, greeting a full field of golfers with logo’d giveaways and information about your business. There is no better marketing than one-on-one relationship-building. Following the golf action, your representatives - as many as two - are invited to enjoy a first-rate awards and auction dinner at White Horse. What a way to get involved in your community, to connect with customers, and to have fun. To review all sponsorship opportunities, go to knkrotarygolf.net.
Sponsors already signed up for the 2018 Swing for Rotary Tournament include Port Madison Enterprises (Main Sponsor) and Kingston Dental (Dinner Sponsor), as well as Text2Bid sponsor The Point Casino and Hotel, Ameriprise-The Latitude 48 Group (19th hole sponsor), LYNX Enterprises, Windermere Real Estate West Sound, Kingston CPA, IAFF 2819, West Hills Auto Plex, Liberty Bay Bank, Columbia Bank, Stanley Steamer, Land Title. Others include Apple Tree Cove Dental Center, Chinook Contractors, EHL Insurance, Kingston Mini Storage, Kitsap Credit Union, Martha and Mary, David Connolly Insurance, James Stagg, and Kingston Lumber. Add your company’s brand to that list at knkrotarygolf.net.
Only 124 players get into the tournament. Each year players rave about the fun they have. Many say it is the best charity event they play in each year. For $160, here’s what you get: 18 holes of golf at White Horse, one of the northwest’s premier golf destinations, cart rental, range balls, one set of mulligans per team, lunch, tee gifts, and dinner and beverages at the post-tournament awards dinner. The date again is June 22, with first activities beginning late morning. To register yourself, or your team, go to knkrotarygolf.net.
Why does the Kingston North Kitsap Rotary Club - all fifty strong - dedicate so much time and energy to this event? To benefit the Kids of North Kitsap. Proceeds will support Kingston High School Interact Service Club, scholarships for Kingston High graduates, Food4Kids (a feeding program during school vacations), ShareNet backpacks and school supplies, equipment and uniforms, arts programs, and career days at several local schools, internships for UW and WWU students at Stillwaters Environmental Center, and opening of Coffee Oasis in Kingston, an outreach center for at-risk teens.
Join in the fun. Do something good in your community, so that you may do well. Become a sponsor, a golfer, or both. Go to knkrotarygolf.net.
Oh, please don't get me wrong. What I mean is that we are "high" on our newest Bottle School project. This is one of our longest standing international projects but it may not be well known to some of our readers. Let's fix that:
The Bottle School construction projects provide classroom space for schools in Guatamala that are inadequate, unhealthy or absent. The result is what I like to call a win-win-win-win victory. First the children of the village scour the town and surroundings for plastic bottles and other trash that now despoils some of the beauty of Guatamala's country side. When a small mountain of the trash has been accumulated, the sponsor of the program, Hug It Forward, approves the project and set the adults to the task of stuffing the bottles with the other plastic trash. Next the men are taught reinforced concrete skills, to prepare the foundation and structural elements.
Next the entire village is involved in mixing and moving the concrete, often by the shovel, muscle and wheelbarrow method. Then the villagers stretch chicken wire on both sides of the pillars, forming a place for the walls. That space is then neatly filled with the trash filled bottles, providing a good insulating structure for the walls. Then, it's cement stucco on both sides of the bottle-filled walls. When the doors and windows have been installed, the village has its new attractive school house. The actual cost of a typical two room school building is about 1,300 US dollars.
The school that our Club is helping to finance is located in Estancita, San Martin, Jilotepeque, in the beautiful mountain terrain north of Guatemala City. There is already a school there, but it operates in a borrowed, inadequate building located so far away that many children can not get there. The new school is closer to town, and will serve more children.
We hope to bring you pictures of "our" finished school and the ceremony and festivities of opening day. There are indeed lots of "wins" to a project such as this. Littered trash is removed from view, the men learn new trades, more of the village children will have a place in the new school, and the villagers who have a great deal of "sweat equity" in the building will care for it and know how to repair it. Certainly a quadruple win!
For more details, see the Hug it Forward page HERE.
Board meeting minutes are sent to all members in a bulk mailing. Should you wish to review a set of minutes you may not have saved, follow these steps to find them online.
Go to our website: Kingston-nkrotary.org
Login.
Next select “Member Area” from the top bar.
Scroll down under “My Clubrunner” and select “View Club Documents”.
Scroll down to the Board Minutes you wish to read.
You may recall the item submitted last year by Treasurer Gale Kirsopp, about Amazon Smile - where you can do your Amazon shopping AND make a contribution to our Rotary Foundation in the process! In case you haven't signed up yet - PLEASE do. Here is the link to set up your "Amazon Smile" account. After that it's just a matter of going to "smile.amazon.com" to do your Amazon shopping and your contribution will be automatic. There is NO extra cost to do this. Amazon is sharing their profit with us!
