Weekly Newsletter 04/22/2026

The Rotary Club of Hilo Bay: Meeting Notes – April 22, 2026

Call to Order

President Tim Hansen brought the meeting to order at 7:02 AM. 

 

Opening Activities

The meeting opened with John Gapp leading the Pledge. This was followed by an inspirational moment from Tim Hansen: “We have a duty to care for the planet and leave it better than we found it.” FDR

 

Trivia and Notes

What is the commonest Earth Day project? Planting trees. What is the lungs of the earth. The Amazon rainforest.

 

Guests, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Inductions, Special Recognition

  • Birthdays: None
  • Anniversaries:   None
  • Inductions: None
  • Guests: Lisa Williams (4th visit), DG Nancy Cabral and Toni Bissen
  • Rotarian of the Month: President Tim awarded Patrick Bodell this recognition for his work organizing Eastside Rotarian participation in the Merrie Monarch Parade and his continued work on the Club’s website and his ongoing volunteerism with Club Projects.
  • Paul Harris Recognition: Virginia Juettner presented John Gapp with his first Paul Harris recognition. John recently returned from a sailing trip in the eastern Pacific which included participation in a number of projects.  Virginia noted that the award arrived about a year ago just as John and his wife started their voyage. When asked why John contributes to the Rotary Foundation, he answered it was the polio eradication work since his mother had polio and the youth work of Rotary.

. 

Club Announcements

  •  Richard Cunningham returned from his trip to east Asia and is accepting checks for HRYF and the U. of Hawaii Foundation’s nursing scholarships. The drawing for his door prize will be in May so you still have time to give him a check.
  • Big Mahalo to James Tyrin for organizing the RCHB’s participation in the Queen Liliuokalani Gardens Sludge Removal and to Mary Begier who donated refreshments for the volunteers.  Michelle Fleming shared a short video of the work including her son who was truly mucking about. The day’s activities included 27 Eastside Rotarians, 3 Rotaractors and 1 Interactor.
  • May 16th, the Food Fight to End Hunger. The goal is to raise $6,000 to be distributed to the Food Basket, Salvation Army and Hope Services. Please make your generous donations payable to the agency or agencies which you want to support.
  • Alan Okinaka announced that he is working on the bylaws for the proposed RCHB foundation and securing the Tax Information Number. Stay tuned.
  • Anita Cunningham announced that there would be an article regarding the St. Jospeh’s Interact clothing drive to support the Friends of the Children Justice Center appearing shortly. Victoria reported that the Interact members would be attending our next meeting along with this year’s scholarship recipient at our next meeting.

 

Happy Dollars


$5 - Richard Cunningham - Nice Asia trip with family;
Singapore, Tokyo, enjoyed countryside by rented car. Great drives, food & family.

$5 - Victoria Adams -
St. Joseph School Interact!

A quick reminder that we only print happy dollars if you filled out the form. We want to make sure that what we print is what you said.

 

Guest Speaker—President Tim introduced Toni Bissen. Her topic was the Pua Foundation Punahoa Heritage Forest. Sometimes we run out of time for a speaker; sometimes the subject area of the speaker is so broad, it is difficult to capture it. This is the case with the latter.

 

The Punahoa Heritage Forrest is more than 2,000 acres located between MM  9-11 of the Inouye Highway. The elevation is between 2,500 and 3,000 feet. How do you restore a forest which is missing its native plants?  The answer is slowly, respectfully one plant, one species at a time. Starting with a small seed bed of approximately 1.3 acres, the trees that you plant today become the progenitors of the future.  For a more personal response see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFSfaRr7auo and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFzY241bvjg

 

Toni expressed a real desire to share with us what is happening in the forest and invited us to visit and or volunteer. 

 

Door Prize Winners: Virginia Juettner, a gift box of soaps made by Lisa Williams. Patrick Bodell won a pali tree donated by Toni Bissen and Tim Hansen beat Nancy Cabral’s bid for the numakie.

 

Closing announcements

  1. Next week will by HRYF celebration and foundation update
  2. RI Convention in Taipei June 13-20.
  3. D5000 District Conference August 21-23 in Honolulu.
  4. Sister Rotary Club Visit to Japan, May 2027?
  5. Check your emails and the website, hilobayrotary.com, for the latest.

 

Four Way Test: Virginia Juettner

 

Door prizes and Inspirations for May

                Richard Cunningham      May 6th

                Patrick Bodell,                   May 13th

                Bob Juettner                      May 20th

                Worthy Volunteer           May 27th

You can’t be a door prize winner without door prizes. Lorraine is looking for volunteers for door prizes and inspiration. Her calendar needs names.