Morrow Manor, Rotary and a big-hearted city

Published 3:01 pm Friday, September 16, 2016

A search for words is required to explain the heading of this letter: Amazing, incredible, unbelievable, astounding, awesome. They all apply.

As a relative newcomer to the Northwest, and Poulsbo in particular, I pinch myself quite often at my and wife Diana’s good fortune of locating in one of the most popular cities on the Kitsap Peninsula.

Poulsbo is a rare find, indeed. Even rarer is the vibrant, involved membership of one of the most active Rotary clubs I have ever had the good fortune of joining, including four in Southern California as small as 30 members and as large as 650 members. None compare.

Unlike most Rotary clubs, all very generous in giving to their respective communities, Poulsbo Rotary not only gives generously to the community, but, unlike most, they DO things — physical things, like cleaning city trails, Fish Park’s trails, bridges, rest benches, and much more.

Consider this: A team of Poulsbo Rotary members remodeled the Coffee Oasis building’s interior and exterior. What they didn’t build, they secured and donated. In short, the members of Poulsbo Rotary are doers as well as donors.

The Morrow Manor project is an undertaking which has grown from a seed of an idea into one of the most ambitious undertakings for a service club ever seen in Kitsap’s history, as the recent groundbreaking ceremony underscored. The endeavor is a $2.5 million effort, half of which is already committed while we in Rotary eagerly solicit additional donations to meet our goal.

To help manage the four duplex residences, Poulsbo Rotary wisely negotiated a partnership with Kitsap YWCA to staff the personnel and caregivers for the residents, then they will deed the adjoining park to the city on completion.

When one looks at the preceding paragraphs, realizing the City of Poulsbo has a population of just over 10,000 residents, and the Poulsbo Rotary has a whopping 125 active members, this is amazing in and of itself.

There is a community spirit here in Poulsbo like nothing I have ever experienced in all of the cities large and small in which I have ever resided: its historic downtown, waterfront summer concerts, street dances, Viking Fest, quaint shops, art galleries and unusual dining experiences as well as the residents themselves.

Poulsbo, the “Big-Hearted Little City,” deserves to be known by all of the descriptive words at the top of this page, and then some.

Bill Effinger
Poulsbo