Sharing our stories through Classification Talks provides a wonderful way for Rotarians to get to know each other better. Patrick Bancke even said so himself in his humorous, heartfelt presentation last week when he started out, “I’m going to share who I am so we can do life together. It should only take 8 or 9 hours if we go fast.”
Patrick grew up in a middle class family, but said there was “alcohol abuse” in the household. He started drinking at age 15, and it eventually created issues with getting into college.
“I pursued a life of justice and equality, and at age 21 went into law enforcement.” He became a firearms instructor, suffered some injuries, and said he is now the proud owner of a new shoulder.
With a wife, a child and a baby on the way, he realized he had to quit drinking. He decided there had to be something better, and “I found my faith in Christ,” he said.
“I found I had a passion for real estate. I actually bought my first house at age 19, and was very blessed where I landed in real estate. I was led to a mentor” and life was good. And then came the August 2008 crash.
“I saw people lose everything….homes, money, their livelihoods. So I started a volunteer ministry to try to help.”
Post-2008, he was tired of working 60 to 70 hours a week and decided to build a team to work smarter and faster. “We now cover the Portland metro area, Yamhill County and Central Oregon,” he said. “We have a great structure–I’m a huge fan of systems. We take care of every client and make sure they are served to the highest standard.”
His goal is a system that would offer every person a luxury real estate experience no matter if they are purchasing a $150,000 starter home or a $3.8 million estate. “But what drives us now is different. Our goals have evolved. We give 10% of all proceeds to heavily vetted nonprofits,” he said. “We are looking for vessels to give back to the community.”
Patrick said he now personally places a larger value on growing his business to help support local families through well-paying skills and jobs.
Someone asked Patrick what he likes to do for fun. “Fly small aircraft, ski,” he smiled. Someone else asked why he joined Rotary. “I had family members in Rotary,” he said, “but before this, I never had time.”
Our hearts go out to the entire Dolan family. At the meeting, Rotarians voted unanimously to establish the Bill Dolan Rotary Scholarship–an annual scholarship awarded to a St. Paul High School graduating senior who has also helped at the St. Paul Rodeo.
Last week we met two of the four artists who are working on a concept for our club mural project. This week, Geoff Gilmore hosted the other two artists: Sierra Ratcliff and Annabelle Wombacher.
Sierra, left, is a junior at George Fox University (GFU) from Olympia, WA. She is an artist, designer and illustrator, and said she was self-taught in art until coming to college. She started drawing at about age 6 and “realized I was good at it” at about age 12. She enjoys oil painting, and painting people in a way that is “not normal. I have some weird art that I do to provoke a double-take, like four-eyed ladies.”
She said she gets inspiration from books, and loves illustrating things from nature and things that matter to her. And she really enjoys doing large-scale pieces.
Annabelle, right, really likes to draw insects. “A large body of my work is bugs,” she smiled. She gets inspiration from photos she has taken and especially likes beetles. She decided she wanted to be an artist her senior year in high school. She does a lot of drawing in ball point pen and pencil, and showed us some bees, a fly and a spider she had done.
She has completed larger scale projects, including a 4-foot-tall drawing of an ant done in graphite. “I really enjoy taking something average or ordinary and making it beautiful,” she said.
Kimberly Abraham, left, a mortgage specialist with Director’s Mortgage, attended our meeting for the first time as the guest of Shannon Buckmaster.
Don’t forget–the District Conference is this coming weekend in Salem. Please go to the District 5100 website for more info and to register.
Deborah Cathers-Seymour invited us to attend the grand opening of a new YOOP facility in McMinnville from 3 to 5pm on May 16. Please RSP to her if you are planning to attend. She also reported her daughter, Sky, has qualified to run the Boston Marathon later this year.
Corey Zielsdorf reported that his daughter has chosen the University of San Diego, where she has received an offer for a full scholarship, for her college experience.
Terry Coss, Dan Sperling and Newberg Robotics are announcing a Newberg High School Machine Shop Open House on Tuesday, May 22, at 11:30am at Newberg High School. They will be showcasing the newly student-renovated Robotics Lab, Tiger Manufacturing partnership with A.R.E. Manufacturing and student projects in Mr. Coss’ CADD/CAM class. Cookies and coffee will be served, but please RSVP at www.newbergrobotics.org/open-house.
THIS WEEK’S MEETING
Dan Sockle, self-described “retiree and proud, active member of the Rotary Club of Three Creeks, the Community Military Appreciation Committee, and the Military Officers Association of America/Columbia River” will be our speaker. Dan is also a member of the District 5100 Peacebuilders Committee and Mediators Beyond Borders International. His presentation is titled, “If Everyone’s SCREAMING, who’s listening?”