Next time you worry about Bainbridge Island getting too crowded, you might broaden your perspective a bit to think about the Earth.
To mark the annual Earth Day observances, we would direct readers to an online quiz sponsored by the organization Leadership for Environment and Development International. Take a few minutes and consider how big an “ecological footprint” you might really be leaving on this little planet we call home. Those small, individual choices start to add up:
www.lead.org/leadnet/footprint/intro.htm.
Recycling time
In other Earth Day news, let’s talk about recycling in what is perhaps its most personally rewarding form – the Rotary Auction and Rummage. The event fulfills not one but two essential instincts – to divest oneself of excess possessions, and take on all-new excess possessions almost immediately.
Rotarian Don Mannino rang up the other day to remind us that the big event is just around the corner – planning for the June 26 event is well under way, he said – and to press the editor for some free ink somewhere prominent in the newspaper. We’d barely hung up the phone when Tom Lindsley and Paul Heys appeared at the office door, and a hearty breakfast at the Big Star Diner ensued.
We do like our Rotarians (and not just for their sense of
timing and good taste in bribes); even if this newspaper’s
support of the annual auction weren’t well-established, we’d still be glad to offer our help. (The whole Review newsroom will be volunteering during auction setup this year, although some members don’t know it yet.) So with this dispatch from our friend Don, consider Rotary Auction and Rummage season officially under way. We trust this notice is prominent enough; plan your spring housecleaning accordingly:
“Don’t clean your garage just yet, but, if you must, be sure and save all the good resalable items for the 45th annual Rotary Auction and Rummage Sale scheduled for June 26. The wonderful cooperation of Bainbridge citizens in donating, delivering, buying back and hauling home all these marvelous treasures makes the auction a huge success every year. We estimate we handled about 320 tons of “stuff” last year and grossed $280,000 for our community projects. For negotiating prices this year, remember that this works out to $0.43 a pound. We will be telling you more about how we use this money in future articles.
“Another aspect of the auction is the remarkable response we get from the community in our volunteer corps. They outnumber Rotarians three to one and literally ‘work for food’ before and during the event. We could not do this job without this unpaid army of helpers. In addition to personal volunteers, we get help from the Bainbridge Island School District, the city, Kitsap Transit, Bainbridge Disposal, the newspapers, local churches, local merchants, the ham radio club, and the Marine Corps League among others. The result is a remarkable community effort.
“I personally have worked the auction for about 10 years, and always enjoy the camaraderie, the dedication, the selflessness, and the teamwork that I see every year. Ideas, enthusiasm and ‘stuff’ are everywhere and the results by the day before the auction, after the chaos dies down, are amazing. Equally amazing is the renewed chaos and buying frenzy on the day of the auction, and the satisfaction that occurs when we are all cleaned up and off the site by 6:30 p.m. auction day. Guinness Book – take note.
“For details, go to www.bainbridgerotary.org and click on
‘auction.’”
