OPEN: President Duane Clark opened the meeting at 7:05 p.m.
WELCOME: Duane welcomed the members, guests Braydon Cooley and Michelle Slater, and new member Steve Miller.
MAY MINUTES: Don Lapworth made a motion to approve the May minutes as distributed. Elaine Oliphant seconded the motion. The motion passed.
SPECIAL GUEST: Braydon Cooley
Braydon is the latest ASCA Student Travel Fund recipient. He is going to Austria on a People-to-People program. He said he would be playing baseball, visiting famous places, going to a concentration camp, and taking books to poor children. Braydon will get both high school and college credit for participating in this program. He was recommended for the program by teachers and coaches. One of the members commented that it is a very expensive program. Duane said one of the reasons we waited until June to give Braydon the scholarship was that we wanted to be sure he would be able to raise the entire amount. The program costs $6,000 for ten days. It includes air fare, sports venues/activities, lodging, and two meals a day. Participants will include 2,000 young people from the US and 4,000 young people from Europe playing seven different sports. Braydon will be leaving on July 5.
SPECIAL REPORT: Krystyna Lijek
Krystyna is also a an ASCA Student Travel Fund recipient. She goes to St. John’s University in New York City from where she will be departing on her overseas adventure. Since she could not be here to tell the members about her adventure, she sent an
e-mail, which Cora read, as follows:
“I will be embarking on a four-week study abroad experience to Rome on June 25. To prepare for this experience, I took Italian I this past semester at college. Prior to arriving in Rome, I will be visiting Amsterdam and Paris. Even though I lived in Europe as a child, I didn’t visit either of those cities. I am looking forward to seeing the architecture and visiting famous places like the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Louvre.
I will report to the St. John’s University Rome campus on July 3rd and stay for four weeks. While there, I will be taking two classes, Italian level II and a survey of Italian art and architecture. Both of these classes will be hands on. We will have the opportunity to visit many architectural sites as well as be submerged in the marketplace and city interacting and speaking with Italians during classroom hours. Some of the places we will visit are the Arch of Constantine, The Coliseum, the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the Basilica of St. Peter just to name a few. IN addition, we will be living in walking distance of Vatican City, and I cannot wait to see the heart of Catholicism. There are two scheduled weekend trips away from Rome to other parts of Italy where we will be visiting Paestum, Pompeii, Naples, Montepulciano, Florence, and Assisi. Through this experience I hope to gain more confidence and further my abilities in conversational Italian and indulge in the culture. One day I hope to be able to speak Italian fluently, and I think this is the best way to learn the language.
Thank you so much for helping me be able to take part in such an amazing experience.”
SPECIAL REPORT: Town Crier Victory
Rich Riddell participated in a Town Crier competition in Bermuda in celebration of Bermuda’s 400th birthday. He said that Bermuda was a dream, and he was treated well. Winning the competition was the icing on the cake. Rich had expected to do well, but had not expected to dominate. Duane said we can be proud of Rich. He is very talented and loves being a Town Crier. Rich will be in another competition in September in Nova Scotia. Rich will be sharing photos at a future meeting.
SPECIAL GUEST: RE- Homestays needed for Chinese students
Duane introduced Michelle Slater, who is a coordinator for Cultural Homestay International. Michelle said that the organization has students from 43 different countries in Washington this school year. Five years ago, a group from Chongqing, China came to Anacortes for the first time. They like it so much that they have continued to ask to send their students to Anacortes each summer. This summer’s visit was initially put on hold because of swine flu. All other agencies’ visits were cancelled. The fact that China closed its borders because of swine flu is an indication of how seriously they are taking the health risk. Recently, Cultural Homestay International was told that the trip was back on. Michelle was given about three weeks to find 32 homestays. She has seven, so is looking for 25 more. Homestay hosts provide a student a bed and three meals a day, which includes a sack lunch. If you have space, but no bed, Michelle can provide a bed. The students are quite busy while they are here as they have language activities in the morning from 9 am to 12 pm, interactive activities in the afternoon, and tours on Thursdays. The students have their own spending money, and they will be taken shopping as part of the program. They are fully insured and there is a doctor and dentist on call. If help with carpooling is needed, this can be arranged. The group will be coming with two escorts. The students, who are mostly 15 and 16 with a few 14 and 17 year olds, will be here for 28 days from June 29 to July 25. If the length of the stay is too long, it can be split with another family. Michelle needs to have this set by June 22, so that their parents can know who they will be staying with. Each home stay family receives a profile and photo of the student before they arrive. The students are from 1 child families and are very responsible and independent as they are used to living at school during the week. In the past, students have loved to cook, have stayed in touch with their host families over time, and some have returned to study in the US or Canada. They can travel out of the area, but cannot go to Canada while they are here. Don said he and Joyce had homestayed a Chinese Cultural Homestay International student in the past, and it was a great experience for them. Duane said that with our own student exchanges, we would have to keep these in mind. He said he had a couple of ideas for media contact, and felt this would be a good connection with our Sister Cities Association. Contact Info: 421-5436 or chimichelle@comcast.net.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Mark reported:
May, 2009:
Checking Account Balances: $10,142.97
Savings Account Balances:
General Reserve: $3,062.02
Operating Reserve: $20,951.26
Dedicated Reserves: $12,132.34
Golf Tournament Reserve: $3,100.00
Official Travel Reserve: $1,000.00
Cookbook Reserve: $440.50
Sidney Committee Reserve: $116.34
Student Travel Fund: $6,000.00
Vela Luka Reserve: $1,475.50
Total Assets: $46,288.59
Custodial Funds: $3,171.56
Kisakata Student Exchange: $2,279.00
Lomonosov Student Exchange: $892.56
Significant Items:
We reimbursed Town Crier Rich Riddell $1613 in connection with his competition in Bermuda and the purchase of an appropriate summer costume. We will be billing the city for its share under our tourism contract.
The Kisakata students raised an additional $247 while the Lomonosov students received a grant from Tesoro for $2000 (which is not yet reflected in their fund total).
Krys Lijek received a student travel grant in the amount of $1500 to help support her studies in Rome this summer.
Golf Tournament revenue continues to come in and is responsible for much of the increase in checking account balances.
We received $300 in dues income.
Braydon’s $1,000 travel fund grant will be in June’s report.
VELA LUKA:
Nikki reported that the three students from Vela Luka will arrive on June 27th. Nikki and one of the moms will be picking up the students at the airport. There will be a welcome party on Sunday, June 28 at 2 p.m. in Washington Park. Nikki will send out information about this event. The students will be in the Sidney Canada Day and our Fourth of July parades, touring Victoria with Kris Lytton, visiting Seattle, and going to Birch Bay. They will be here until July 14th. They will be staying with the Anacortes students who will be going to Vela Luka in 2010. Duane, Nikki, Johnny and the students and their parents reviewed activities at an earlier meeting tonight. The students are about 16 or 17 years old.
LOMONOSOV:
Our four students and their chaperone will be leaving for Lomonosov on July 18 and will be there for about 18 days. They raised about $1400 with two car washes and sold 15 cookbooks. They also received some donations when they held a membership drive at the Market.
KISAKATA TOWN, NIKAHO CITY:
ADULT VISIT- There was a meeting on Saturday. The home stays have been worked out, and activities for the visit were sketched out. Anne will coordinate the activities with one person in charge of each activity. There will be a party for the visitors on Saturday, September 26 at the Skyline Cabana. There will be another meeting at the end of August or early September for anyone who would like to be involved in the visit. Details of the activities will be decided then. The visitors include Ms. Satomi Suzuki, her mom Chizuko Yokoyama, and Satomi’s daughters Saaya (2 years old) and Kokoro (5 years ), Ms. Kyoko Honma, her friend Ms. Kazueko Kato, and Mr. Kuniaka Takahashi. Because there are two tots, we will be looking for car seats and strollers to borrow. Please call Cora at 299-4335 if you have any you can lend during the visit.
STUDENT VISIT- The Japanese student visit for this summer has been postponed because of swine flu. Cora has been working with Kyoko, her counterpart in Japan, to find alternate dates for the visit with the help of Setsuko. Cora has not received official confirmation, but she expects the visit to happen in March 2010. In the mean time the students are continuing to fundraise. They will be selling lanterns they made in front of the Scott Milo Gallery from 6 to 9 pm tomorrow night, June 5th. There will be a car wash in June, but we don’t have a date yet. A notice will be sent out. We have reserved a space for Shipwreck Days, so if you have any items to donate, please let Cora know. Some help selling would also be appreciated, as a few of the families will be out of town that weekend. And, of course, we hope that you will come by our booth and buy items or make a donation.
SIDNEY:
The Canada Day trip will be our second this year. The first was for the opening of the ferry route. Canada Day is July 1. About 8,000 to 10,000 people come to the parade. We will be participating in the parade. The plan is to go over on June 30 and return on July 2. A sign up sheet for those needing home stays was passed around. If you were .not at the meeting, but would like to go, please contact Jo Fuqua through email or call David Rapella at 588-8781. The air museum will be open for us to visit. There will a group breakfast and dinner on July 1. David will send a notice about the Fourth of July homestay needs.
GOLF TOURNAMENT:
Stan has contacted all the volunteers helping with food related jobs. If you have signed up, but cannot make it, it is not a disaster, but please be sure and let Stan know ahead of time. If you say you are coming and don’t show up, it will make things difficult for everyone. Duane said we know of about 85 golfers right now. Last year we had 115, which was the most we have ever had. We still need to be thinking of those who can be sponsors or golfers. The committee has an extensive list of sponsors who have already been contacted, so if you have an idea of someone to contact, please check with Duane first. Duane had brochures available. Duane said there has been some impact on sponsorships because of the economic situation. We have some faithful sponsors who either are unable to sponsor this year or are sponsoring with a lower amount. We will be recognizing those who have supported us in the past, but cannot this year. We do have some new sponsors and of course many continuing sponsors. Duane said that Stan and Cora have a good list of volunteers.
WASHINGTON STATE FERRIES PUBLIC MEETING:
There will be a Washington State Ferries public meeting on June 11 at 6:30 pm at the Senior Center. Duane said we have accomplished a great deal, but we will have the same battle in two years if we do not prepare. Please keep up with what’s going on with the state ferries. Duane said they have been a good crew to be working with. They need to find funding to build more ferries.
PROGRAM:
Duane showed a few photos of Rich in Bermuda and past golf tournaments.
ADJOURNMENT:
Because of lack of time discussion about ASCA membership growth was postponed.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted:
Cora Lijek, Substitute Secretary
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