April is normally a very busy month for the Rotary Club of La Conner with our annual tulip sales, and it was compounded this year by a longer-than-usual tulip season and a six-day visit from 12 Rotarians from Thailand on a Rotary Friendship Exchange.

Our Thai guests were hosted in the homes of Rotarians Dan & Carol Cain, Christi (& Chris) King, Susan Macek (& Dave Buchan), Whitney Meissner, Marge & John Milnor, Jerry (& Kathy) Willins, Marty Pease.  Other members who were drivers and sponsors who helped defray some of the costs for our guests were Carol Johnson, Doug Jones, Cheri Lenssen, Karen Ryan, Alice Collingwood and other anonymous club members.  Some of the home hosts also served as drivers and sponsors.

We took our guests shopping in La Conner, for a VIP tour of the Boeing Everett plant (with a lovely hosted lunch), a ride on the Deception Pass Jet Tour Boat and visits to Tulip Towne and Friday Harbor. One of the highlights was their presentation to our club over dinner at the La Conner School District board room, where Swinomish Elder and carver Kevin Paul shared stories and native drum songs.

It was a jammed packed few days, and we all learned a lot from each other and shared more than a few laughs – and many photos. Chief organizers were Susan Macek and Marty Pease. Danielle Mullen of our club is the District 5050 Friendship Exchange Chair, who orchestrated the exchange and was also a sponsor and driver.

Our tulip season was longer than usual, thanks to some cool weather that made the tulips last about five weeks instead of the usual four. Thanks to amazing efforts from too many club members to name, we exceeded last year’s sale amount, meaning more scholarships and support for local non-profits.

Special thanks go to chief tulip wrangler Randy Goembel; his partners Martin Howard, Dan Cain and Jerry Willins; and Linda Ryan, who set us up with a great on-line scheduling tool. Countless club members staffed three tulip booths, visited many area Rotary clubs, and sold and delivered tulips to merchants in La Conner, Burlington and Mount Vernon.

We survived and thrived!

The IPA is a collaborative effort with 12 clubs in the Skagit Valley and the Rotary Club in Copan, Honduras. The joint efforts include supplying schools with supplies, a mobile library,  sponsoring 56 schools with grades K-6 so all children of the Mayan village can attend school as well as sponsoring individual students with private party donations through the "Adopt-A-Dream" program so they can attend grades 7-12.

Other efforts include building latrines for homes and schools, providing a water supply to the villages, silos for grain storage, a woman's health clinic, supplying an ambulance. For some villages, the Rotary is providing electricity and lights/fans to schools, white boards, fixing school roofs and floors. In two locations, there are plans to start a middle school.

The Rapid Development program is supporting and educating members of three villages on budgeting, banking procedures, starting business, starting a savings and loan organization with the goal of bringing the villages out of poverty. Also there are plans to have the YES students in June work with one of the villages. All of these efforts are in collaboration with the villagers. The projects are per their requests and they provide the labor while Rotary provides the supplies.

On this trip, Karen and Marty collected and repaired mobile library books. They visited the village schools, 2-4 each day. On these visits, they had the opportunity to see school improvements, observe what else was needed and to sing and dance with the children. They also observed the Rapid Development trainings. The main goal of the trip was to connect with the local Rotarians and village residents.

Other members of the team included members of the Rotary Clubs of Fidalgo Island and Burlington.

It wasn't all work! Tourist activities included a walking tour of Copan, visiting Macaw Mountain and the Mayan ruins. Karen got to practice her Spanish which was a huge help in translating, interacting with village members and school kids and getting to know people. Marty had two instances where she put her physical therapy skills to work. Both Karen and Marty got to know Dania better, the student sponsored by Marty through the bilingual school.

The trip in so many ways was a huge success!!!

SVC Faculty-Mike Beemer, President Susan Macek, Kyle Von Stroberg

We took our meeting “on the road” May 22 for dinner, a program and a tour at Skagit Valley College’s Marine Technology Center, a school for boat mechanics, construction and repair.  Mike Beemer, the college’s marine technology chair and instructor at the center, talked about the program, which graduates 28 students a year, ready for high-demand jobs in the marine field.  The school was founded in 1968, and the new facility was built in Anacortes in 2010.  High school and college classes are held there, and students can earn a one-year certificate or a two-year associate degree.  They also offer adult classes on weekends and special one-week classes during the summer.  We also heard an inspiring talk by Kyle Von Stroberg, an ex-inmate and graduate of the technology center.  He said the school changed his life so much that he raised funds for and started a Second Chance Scholarship fund for ex-inmates that is managed through the college foundation.