Uncle Ernie Coming Back To Perform At The Poverty Bay Wine Festival!

Uncle Ernie

The Poverty Bay Wine Festival is pleased to announce the return of Uncle Ernie to it's muscial line-up.  Uncle Ernie is a Seattle area band know for its classic rock roots. The band offers a high energy show that captures the essence of popular rock music. Two of its' band members, Tim Clark and Matt Pina, are locals boys who have played together since the early 80's.

Performing at the 2010 World Vision Haiti Relief Fund Raiser
Seattle

Uncle Ernie brought the house down at last year's wine festival with classic rock tunes from the 60's and 70's  and the auditorium quickly turned into a dance floor! The band will perform on Friday, March 2nd - which is the opening night of the Poverty Bay Wine Festival.  The wine festival, in its eighth year, will be held in the grand setting of the Landmark Event Center in Des Moines on March 2-4, 2012.  


For more information on the Poverty Bay Wine Festival, please visit  the Rotary Club of Des Moines' website at www.dmrotary.org. 

Raise Your Glass! The Blues & Brews A Huge Success!

The Poverty Bay Brews and Blues Festival was a huge success raising over $5,000 dollars towards projects like Highline Music4Life, while bringing community spirit and fun to the City of Des Moines! Over 600 people were in attendance on a beautiful sunny day and enjoyed local handcrafted beer and live musical entertainment. The Rotary Club of Des Moines would like to say a huge Thank You to all of our sponsors, volunteers and participants for making the day such a huge success and for helping us support projects like Highline Music4Life.  To date, Highline Music4Life has raised over $22,000 and has acquired over 78 musical instruments because of community partners like you! 


We hope to see you all next year at the 3^rd Annual Poverty Bay Blues & Brews on August 25^th!

Highline Music4Life Representative Dick Lee and David Endicott with Rotarians Al Isaac, Dan Johnson and Rotary President Mark Rusnak

For more information about the Rotary Club of Des Moines, please visit www.dmrotary.org.

Turn Prospective Members into Rotarians

Rotary International News -- 27 September 2011  

In the last 10 years, more than 50,000 men and women have completed the Prospective Member form to find out how they could get involved in their local Rotary club.  Imagine how many more members we might attract if every club and district included a link to the form on their websites and Facebook pages.

“I’ve had 50 to 75 people complete the Prospective Member form in the past two years,” says Winston Connolly, membership development committee chair for District 7020 (Caribbean), whose district website includes a link to the form. “Many of them have gone on to become members.”

Whether it’s community work, networking, or friendship, potential members are drawn to Rotary for a variety of reasons. Connolly received a membership inquiry from a minister in his community who had contracted polio when he was three and was interested in joining Rotary because of its polio eradication efforts. Connolly forwarded the information to a club in his district, and the minister was invited to a meeting.

And that’s exactly how the process is supposed to work. After a prospective member completes the form, that person’s contact information is forwarded to the district governor and district membership development committee chair, who send the information on to one or more clubs in the area. If a club is interested, it invites the prospective member to a meeting.

“This process has been well received by clubs in my district,” says Connolly, who urges all clubs to take advantage of this resource.

The form can also be used by club members who want to refer potential members, and by relocating or returning members who are looking for a new club. Make it easy for potential members to find your club byembedding ads on your website for Club Locator and “Share Your Passion for Rotary.” 

Celebrate World Polio Day!

Celebrate World Polio Day - 24 October

To encourage widespread support for the effort to eradicate polio online, the website www.thisclose.net makes it possible for you to join the ranks of celebrities and others around the world in pledging to make a difference in this effort. Right now, you can create your own ‘This Close’ message, and share it with members of your social networks, and encourage them to do the same.   Here is how you can participate: Visit (http://www.thisclose.net/), Click on “Add your face and name”, Select a silhouette, Upload your picture or take a new one using your webcam, Use the 5 different adjustment tools to customize your ad Personalize your ad by selecting a color for the background and End Polio Now T-shirt, Publish your ad in the online gallery as part of the global campaign, Don’t stop there: Share your pledge and invite friends to do the same through Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. You can also take part in a special celebration to honor the widely-recognized World Polio Day and Rotary’s tremendous progress around the world. The plan is to have Rotarians change their social networking profile pictures to their “This Close” ads and ask their friends to do the same, generating awareness about the issue and also collaboration. For more information about the Rotary Club of Des Moines, please visit www.dmrotary.org.

Dates of the Poverty Bay Wine Festival Announced!

March 2-4, 2012 - Poverty Bay Wine Festival

The Des Moines Rotary Club invites you to attend the 8th Annual Poverty Bay Wine Festival located in the historic and grand setting of the Landmark Event Center in Des Moines on March 2- 4, 2012 .  Enjoy live local musical talent while tasting premier wines from over twenty Washington State Wineries and sampling delicacies from local food vendors.  100% of the net proceeds generated by this event are used to fund the charitibale activites of the Des Moines Rotary Club.  Free parking and a free shuttle service will run from the Des Moines Marina to the Landmark Event Center all three days of the festival.  

Wine Festival Tickets are $25.00 in advance, which includes ten tasting tokens, and $30.00 at the door.  

Tickets will go on sale in December.

For more information, please visit www.dmrotary.org.

The Beat Goes On For The Highline Music4Life Musical Instrument Drive

First Annual Instrument Drive

On Saturday, September 17th, Highline Music4 Life sponsored an instrument drive at the Des Moines Farmers Market.  This was the first of what is intended to be an annual event to ask adults who have unused musical instruments in their garages or attics to donate them to the Highline Music4Life program.   The program was inspired by Des Moines Rotary and with the active support of the Burien-White Center and SeaTac Rotary clubs.  The overall goal is to provide gently used musical instruments to 5th & 6th grade students in the Highline School District. 

Rotarians, Claudia Dickinson, Steve Swank, Don Warren and David Endicott man the booth

It was a successful event, despite the cool weather and occasional rain, with several community members dropping off their donations.  Market shoppers also stopped by the booth and after learning about the program committed to donating instruments to the program.  Highline Music4Life has now collected over 78 instruments and $16,000 in cash donations. "We are seeing a very positive response from the community.", says Rotarian and organizing chair, Steve Swank, "In fact, we recently received a $1,000 donation from a community member in Des Moines during our Blues & Brews Fest".

If our readers are interested in organizing an instrument drive in their workplace, church or other organization, please contact Steve Swank or Dan Johnson of the Rotary Club of Des Moines.  Click here for a current list of musical instruments needs.   For more information, visit http://highlinemusic4life.org.

Photos courtesy of Lisa Meinecke.

Homeless Students at Mt. Rainier High School Get a Much Needed Hand

School districts around Washington State are grappling with how to help growing populations of homeless students, even as budget cuts further slash their ability to meet their federal obligation to do so.  Being homeless can affect how children learn, can lead to depression, and can be misdiagnosed as learning disabilities, labels that stick with a child for years.  High school students, in particular, go out of their way to hide the fact they’re homeless to avoid being stigmatized by peers, which makes it difficult to identify a need.  Highline School District, like other districts, relies on service agencies to help them identify kids and teens whose families are homeless, as well as teachers, school volunteers and others who may spot a red flag that indicates homelessness.   As the new school year approached at Mt. Rainier High School, it was estimated by Joanne Kandler, the Librarian and Rotary Interact Advisory at Mt. Rainier, that there would be approximately twenty-five students or more attending school this year that are homeless or living in some type of temporary housing.  

 Glenn Bishop, 2011 President Mark Rusnak and Steve Swank

Members of the Rotary Club of Des Moines  partnered with Mt. Rainier High School to assist with this concern.  Rotarians, Mark Rusnak, Glenn Bishop and Stephen Swank, stepped up to the task and met at the Target Store at Westfield Mall to shop for these students.  School supplies, clothing, and other miscellaneous items were purchased to allow these students to start the school year. The management at Target that night upon hearing about the project provided a 10% discount for the supplies that were purchased.

In response to the Rotary Club of Des Moines’ generous donation, Kandler wrote the following:

“Mt. Rainier High School wishes to extend a huge Thank you to the Rotary Club of Des Moines for the amazing amount of personal and school supplies you donated to our homeless and needy MRHS youth.  It is astounding!  I was thrilled to find that we can truly meet this problem head on and make a difference for these kids in need.   OH HAPPY DAY!!!!”

For more information about this project or to get involved, please visit www.dmrotary.org.