Featured Speaker
Chris Hare, Founder of The Storied Future speaking on The Storied Leader (Feb. 25)
Chris Hare uses Atomic Storytelling™ and strategic narrative design to help CEOs and midlife leaders earn trust, increase their effectiveness, and make a more meaningful dent in the universe. Chris a veteran of Amazon and Microsoft and is founder and principal of The Storied Future, where he helps clients—ranging from midmarket companies to trillion-dollar titans—to build narratives that shift the future. He is also a keynote speaker and the host of The Storied Future Podcast, where he interviews leadersfrom storied organizations such as Logitech, NASA, Microsoft, Bain & Company, and Netflix. In his spare time, Chris leads therapeutic storytelling for The Bar X Project, a fly-fishing nonprofit that serves combat-wounded veterans. Chris and his wife live in Fall City with their two teenagers.
Upcoming Speakers
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Club Updates
Hellen Banks Routon receives a grant of $5,000 on behalf of KidVantage from Alex Comstock and Jeremy Kirschner.
David Anderson with visitor Natalie Firebaugh-Woosley (yes, she is TJ’s daughter-in-law)!!!
A focused future Rotary president !!!
February Rotary Anniversaries!
Join us in celebrating the remarkable dedication and service of our members as they mark their Rotary Anniversaries. These individuals have contributed their time and energy to make a positive impact in our community and beyond, embodying the true spirit of Rotary. Let’s take a moment to recognize their outstanding commitment and express our heartfelt gratitude for their unwavering support.
- Chuck Doland 49 Years
- Jim Hogue 41 Years
- Julie Arnevick 26 Years
- Andy Baker 22 Years
- Cathy Kimball 20 Years
- Jerimy Kirschner 4 Years
- Regina Glenn 3 Years
Evergreen Court Valentines Day Event (Feb. 13th @ 2:30pm) – Service to Mature Adults Committee
The Service to Mature Adults Committee is holding a Valentine’s Day event for the residents of Evergreen Court Senior Housing on February 13th from 2:30 to 4:00. We’d love to have you drop by to visit with the residents.
Evergreen Court is located at 900 124th Ave NE, here in Bellevue. We hope to see you there. Contact Steve King: [email protected]
Chuck Doland and Partners For Work Featured in Greet Magazine
January’s theme at the Bellevue Rotary Club is all about “Brace For Impact”. The positive impact we make in the success of our communities by investing our time, talent, treasure and trust.
A shining example is highlighted in this month’s article in Greet Magazine which features our own Chuck Doland and his commitment to service above self. The article focuses on Chuck’s long term work with the Bellevue Schools and Partners For Work. In the article you will see our wonderful greeters Megan (from last year) and Sebastian (this year). Chuck reflects on the power of Rotarians working together to effect change, build inclusivity and lift our communities. Find a copy and be inspired. Well done Chuck!
Article Summary
Chuck Doland, a longtime West Bellevue resident and Bellevue High School alumnus (’61), has dedicated his life to community service through his work with the Bellevue Rotary Club. A key focus of Chuck’s efforts is the Partners for Work (PFW) program, which connects individuals with developmental disabilities to meaningful employment opportunities. This initiative started with four Rotary clubs and has expanded to nearly 25 chapters in King County and created over 200 competitive jobs. Author of A Trifecta of Impact in Bellevue, Allison Frey, notes:
“The program’s footprint has grown thanks to its proven success in connecting communities and businesses to the untapped potential of individuals with developmental disabilities.”
PFW provides mock interviews, resume presentations, and job tours to help students transition out of public school and gain employment. In accordance with Washington Administrative Code (WAC) and the Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA), the Evergreen Transition Program in Bellevue further supports young adults with disabilities from high school to fulfilling futures by fostering independence in employment, education, and life skills.
Chuck champions the Rotary ethos of “Service Above Self” and believes in the transformative power of inclusivity, emphasizing the value that individuals with disabilities bring to the workforce, and says “communities thrive when they’re inclusive.”
Book Group Discussion – March 12, 2025
The next Book Group meeting will be by Zoom on March 12, 2025, from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.
Back again in our rotation is a Popular Classic pick; this time it’s “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley.
“One of the most prophetic dystopian works of the 20th century” (Wall Street Journal), that must be read and understood by anyone concerned with preserving the human spirit in the face of our “brave new world”.
Huxley’s profoundly important classic of world literature is a searching vision of an unequal, technologically advanced future where humans are genetically bred, socially indoctrinated, and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively uphold an authoritarian ruling order – all at the cost of our freedom, full humanity, and perhaps also our souls.
“A genius who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine” (The New Yorker), Huxley was a man of incomparable talents: equally an artist, a spiritual seeker, and one of history’s keenest observers of human nature and civilization. Brave New World, his masterpiece, has enthralled and terrified millions of
readers, and retains its urgent relevance to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as a thought-provoking, satisfying work of literature.
Written in the shadow of the rise of fascism during the 1930s, Brave New World likewise speaks to a 21st-century world dominated by mass-entertainment, technology, medicine and pharmaceuticals, the arts of persuasion, and the hidden influence of elites.
More reviews:
- “One of the 20th century’s greatest writers.” — Washington Post
- “Chilling. . . . That he gave us the dark side of genetic engineering in 1932 is amazing.” — Providence Journal-Bulletin
- “It is a frightening experience, indeed, to discover how much of his satirical prediction of a distant future became reality in so short a time.” — New York Times Book Review
If you are interested in attending, please contact John Campbell to receive the Zoom link, which will be published about a week ahead of the meeting.
Hearts & Wine 2025
Help those in our community who experience hunger by inviting your friends, and joining us on Friday, March 14th from 5:30-9:00PM for Hearts & Wine, signature fundraising event by Harvest Against Hunger, at 1730 10th Avenue NW in Issaquah, WA.
Registration for the evening includes dinner, fellowship, live auction, and wine tasting.
Empowering Lives Through Service: A Visit to Nepal 🇳🇵
Bellevue Rotary’s World Community Service committee is honored to collaborate with Nepali Rotarians in serving the Children’s Orthopedic Hospital.
Rotarian Robert Rose had the privilege of meeting Rotarian Ashok Shrestha in the scenic town of Dhulikhel, Nepal. They visited several impactful Rotary projects, including one at HRDC Children’s Orthopedic Hospital. HRDC delivers exceptional orthopedic medical services for children up to age 16 on a sliding scale, based on what their families can afford.
Through the generosity of Bellevue Rotary’s World Community Service committee, HRDC has received vital equipment like an x-ray machine and an ambulance. Now, with an already approved Global Grant from The Rotary Foundation and the Rotary Club of Dhulikhel as our local partner, HRDC will conduct a screening camp for 300 children with disabilities. Each child will receive a comprehensive treatment plan, and the grant will also cover surgical interventions and prosthetics when needed.
Bellevue Rotary Club has contributed $3,500 toward this $36,000 global grant, continuing our legacy of successful collaborations with the Rotary Club of Dhulikhel. Recently, we completed a school rebuilding project at Shree Devitar Primary School.
The Rotary Foundation makes these impactful programs possible thanks to the generous contributions from Rotarians worldwide. 🌏🤝💙
While visiting the city of Dharan in Eastern Nepal, I toured a school for children with developmental, or intellectual disability. They have recently completed a hostel (dormitory) building to provide housing for children whose families live too far away to bring them to/from school every day. This is a lovely facility run by dedicated staff. While the physical hostel building is complete, there are a number of needs to be met before the children can move in, such as: bunk beds, bedding, mosquito nets, boundary fencing, etc. I have identified a Rotary Club in South Dakota (Dickenson Rotary Club) who have shown interest in providing grant support for this organization. I plan to present this project to BRC’s World Community Service Committee. In addition, I met with the education officer from the local municipality who expressed interest in helping and my own non-profit, The Rose International Fund for Children (www.trifc.org) may provide financial support too! Many hands can come together to make a difference in children’s lives half a world away!
New Bellevue Rotary website feature: Club internal pages
In the past few months, several committees have asked to publish club internal content to our website.
As our website is currently targeted to public facing content only, the ability to add club internal content was lacking until now.
We’re pleased to announce that we have a new section of our website dedicated to this.
You can find this section by clicking on “Club Internal” on the member page (see screenshot) of our site or by directly opening: https://bellevuerotary.org/internal/
This section of the website is password protected, we will change the password from time to time and send an update to brc-mbrs@ (and include it in the emailed bulletin as a reminder as well)
Using Zelle for Club and Foundation Invoices and Donations
The Rotary Club of Bellevue and the Bellevue Rotary Foundation now accept payments via Zelle. We recently switched our banking relationship in order to reduce operating costs for both the Club and the Foundation, but we need your help! Another way to reduce our operating costs if for our members to start using Zelle to make Happy Bucks, Fines, Club, and Foundation payments as there are no fees associated with these transactions versus the fees we incur when payments are made via credit card.
See instructions on how to use Zelle to make payments to the Bellevue Rotary here.