Last week’s Rotary meeting was all about saying good-bye to one dear friend and welcoming back others.

President Jeff Long started off the meeting with a moment of silence for Skip Kreahling, who died last week. Skip was a long-time member of the club and served as our club president in 2007-08. He was also active at the District level, serving as Assistant Governor, as a member of the District Finance Committee, and as District Treasurer. He will be missed.

During the meeting, members reminisced about Skip: He was one of the “Three Amigos” who started the “make an offer” area at the annual Auction, and could haggle like crazy over a few dollars. He and Sue started the book program by which we honor speakers by giving a book in their name to the Memorial Library, and they maintained the program for years. He traveled with Vic Taylor and Foster Stroup to the Gulf to do rebuilding after Katrina. He was an incredible woodworker and made beautiful cribbage boards for the Community Center as well as ice-cream scoops for our silent auctions, and he repaired numerous things for the auction, always with an eye to perfection. He rebuilt a birdhouse for Mike Pollard so beautifully that Mike and Penny decided it was too good for the birds and now they keep it inside.

Skip had been a Rotarian in Pennsylvania. When he and Sue moved to the region and bought their property on Linekin Bay (from a relative of Bob Jacobson), they hired Neil Ames to tear down the summer cottage on the property and build their year-round home. Neil, himself a past president of the club, instead negotiated a deal: The Rotary club moved the old cottage to Camp Knickerbocker, where it is now the arts and crafts lodge. It was a win-win-win: Camp K got a building; the Rotary club got a project, and Skip got a tax deduction. As Sue liked to say: “Our house IS a Rotary project.”

We also welcomed our speakers from Friends of Thai Daughters back to the Clubhouse.

Jane McBride and Patty Zinkowski, the co-founders and inspiration behind Friends of Thai Daughters, first visited the club in 2006. At that time they brought with them several “daughters,” Thai girls in danger of being trafficked who, through the support of the Friends program, were instead safely in high school and facing bright futures. That first generation of girls are now educated women, living in Thailand and beyond.

Much to their surprise (and delight), Jane and Patty have been able to grow Friends of Thai Daughters in the years since from humble beginnings to now touch the lives of almost 550 girls. Many of the girl sin the program are stateless because they don’t have papers and/or belong to hill tribes that are not officially recognized by the Thai government; others are AIDS orphans or one or both of their parents are in prison. All were in danger of being trafficked – sometimes by their own family members – because the demand for young girls is so high in Thailand. Instead, through Friends of Thai Daughters, they are in school or university or beyond, “paying it back” by providing support to their original villages and looking after other young girls who need the support.

On this trip, Jane and Patty were joined by Dao, a young “daughter” who is interning as sous chef this summer at Topside Inn, and Jenny Flamenhoff, who is working with the program to help build a new “Sunflower House” for the girls, which will serve as a flagship home for the organization and is designed to give back more energy than it consumes. This will be the third “Sunflower House,” all of which are home to 15 girls aged 10-18.

There’s more: Jane and Patty generously thanked us for all the support they have received from our Club and other Rotary Clubs over the years, and they invited us all to join Friends of Thai Daughters on Saturday evening, July 31, for their “Sweet Sixteen” party. Check it out and register: https://friendsofthaidaughters.org/

Don’t know what to wear now that we’re getting out and about more? We are ordering tee shirts for our Barn workers (Rotarian and non-) and polo shirts for all who want them. They are available in short and long sleeves, men’s and women’s cuts, and in various colors. Price is $30 with upcosts for larger sizes. Contact Marty Helman to choose your color and style and order your shirt.

Interested in learning more about Rotary and all we do in the community and beyond? We’re back in our clubhouse on Montgomery Street; join us there for a meeting and a meal (almost) every Thursday evening beginning at 6 p.m. Check us out on our website: www.boothbayharborrotaryorg. We’re always looking for new members who love our community and want to give back and have fun into the bargain.