Two team members launch new business venture

Two of our team members, Shelly Kane and Heidi Ellis, have launched a new business venture together -

Moxie Events!

Shelly's event planning experience and Heidi's interior design skills make for a great team!

Visit them on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/MoxieEvents.

Contact information:

- Heidi: getmoxie@eugeneweddingplanning.com
503-917-9342

- Shelly: igotmoxie@eugeneweddingplanning.com
541-221-0608

PO Box 40603
Eugene, OR 97405

District 5110 Conference - Eugene, Oregon

Our home district, District 5110, conference was held in Eugene on May 21 and 22. The team gathered once again and, as usual, wowed the crowd.

Shelly and Rick opening for the team. As usual, Rick tried to be funny and Shelly saved the day.

"Anna Leelah Layla" Lillah explaining lawyering in the Caribbean. Lillah's team recently placed third in the classic Bend canoe race.

Heidi brings it home with her "outside in - inside out" GSE experience. In a nutshell, we did not look at the island as most tourists do, that is from the "outside in," but staying with local families gave us the unique perspective of seeing it from the "inside out."

Rick: I now make my living with words. I could not have said it better.

At the GSE teams roundtable:

Liesl (from the District 7030 team) and Shelly with a Carnival mask. Shelly has a whole outfit, but maybe not for G or PG audience....

Liesl, Shelly and Monica at the roundtable - good questions and answers.

Rick said something that everyone seemed to like. To his left is the team leader of the the District 4410 (Brazil) team; to his right is the team leader of the District 7030 (Eastern Caribbean) team.

Heidi, always a crowd favorite, talks about her experiences in the Caribbean.

It was nice to reunite with the team, if just for a short time.

Back home to Oregon

March 28 - After a month in the Caribbean, visitng Dominica, Martinique, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a tanned GSE team returned to a significantly cooler and wetter Oregon.

The tanned team at Portland airport

We will be adding more posts to the blog - mostly on the vocational exchange visits - as we sort through our notes and pictures.

The team will also make a presentation on our trip at the District 5110 Conference in Eugene on Friday, May 21 at 3:15pm.

Hazzard Engineering and Lime Grove - Barbados

My third vocational visit on Barbados was in two parts. First being a visit to Mahy, Ridley, Hazzard Engineering Ltd. I met with Gregory Hazzard (below), the director.


His company employs about 10-15 people and their offices are in a building (below)that was originally part of a large plantation.

Gregory was very nice and drove me all around Barbados showing me some of his projects. One was an impressive golf course club house with an amazing view of the ocean (but it was closed at the time, so I couldn't take a photo).

Another project in progress was a large office building that will house an insurance company that fellow GSE team member Lillah's host father, Keith, works for. It's interesting how everyone is pretty much connected to everyone else, since it is such a small island.

In fact, another project underway will be one of the largest retail centers in Barbados, and through my vocational visits I met the engineers, two construction companies, and the leasing office on the job. It's called Lime Grove (below) and is a large commercial and residential development on the west coast of Barbados in the affluent town of Holetown.


Lynne Williams (with me below) in residential sales gave me a hard hat tour of the three and four-story buildings, to be complete with a movie theater, underground parking, and retailers including Cartier, Ralph Lauren, and Louis Vuitton, to name a few.



Palm Grove includes more than 10 buildings, plus a second phase to consist of three-story town houses on an adjacent block. It will be a beautiful site complete with three courtyards and roof-top dining. Check out: http://www.limegrove.com/ for some great images and architectural renderings. The center opens December of this year, just in time for some Christmas shopping!

Heidi Ellis

Rotary Club of Barbados

March 25 - The GSE team attended the lunch meeting of the Rotary Club of Barbados, often called the "big club" or the "old club." The club, with about 80 members, is the largest in District 7030.

Monica - to her left is her host family member Ronnie Ramsey

It is also the home club of Past District Governor David Edwards (seated to Shelly's left), who has invited the team to spend our rest day on his yacht - we said yes.

Lillah presenting

Heidi presenting

The customary banner exchange:

Monica - Springfield Twin Rivers


Shelly - Springfield


Heidi - Eugene Airport

Lillah - Bend High Desert

Rick (wearing his Barbados Legion tie) - Port Orford

Rotary Club of Barbados South

March 24 – The team attended the lunch meeting of the Rotary Club of Barbados South. During the meeting, the club inducted a new member into its ranks.

Shelly making her presentation

Monica making her presentation

The club is involved in several community service projects, including the adoption of a school for children with special needs.

The team members presented banners from their sponsoring clubs:

Monica - Springfield Twin Rivers

Heidi - Eugene Airport

Lillah - Bend High Desert

Shelly - Springfield

Mark Thompson Group - Barbados

My second vocational visit in Barbados was to an architect's office, Mark Thompson of the Mark Thompson Group. We started with a driving tour to view some of his completed projects. The Mark Thompson Group has been very successful and has many beautiful projects throughout Barbados.

We ended up at his office, which is a historical building, the "Ronald Tree House." It's a beautiful two-story home, now converted to office spaces, which houses Mark's company, a massage therapist, and a quantity surveyor's office.

Keith Browne, me, Mark Thompson

Which leads me to my second vocational visit of the day: Keith Browne, quantity surveyor. This profession isn't practiced much in the states under that title, but he essentially is an estimator/budgeter/appraiser all in one.

Quantity surveying includes creating a large document of all the individual costs involved in a construction or remodel project. It can be time-consuming, but is very helpful for the contractors to tender (bid). This practice is more common in the UK as well. Keith's company does quantity surveying among other things.

They also specialize in project management, contract review, and valuations. To be a chartered quantity surveyor, there is a three-year program, then two years of training, and a final assessment test. Keith also completed his MBA, which has aided him in running his own business and managing a team.

Heidi Ellis

Rotary Club of Barbados West

March 23 – The GSE team attended the dinner meeting of the Rotary Club of Barbados West at the Bagatelle Great House in Saint Thomas. The club had numerous visiting Rotarians from Great Britain and Canada.

The GSE team at dinner at the President's table

Dessert Monica

Shelly delivering her portion of the presentation

Club President John Hadchity and banner exchanges:

Monica - Springfield Twin Rivers

Lillah - Bend High Desert

Heidi - Eugene Airport

Shelly - Springfield

Rick - Port Orford

Innotech Construction - Barbados

March 22 - I had several vocational visits in Barbados, the first of which was to Innotech, a major construction company. Martin Da Silva, the CEO, met with me. Their main sector is hotels and condos, which are prevalent in beautiful Barbados. There is growing interest in building right on the coastlines - Innotech is researching how to build structures that can hold up to the Atlantic waters and with respect to the surrounding environment.

Cary from Foundation Technologies, Inc., Martin from Innotech, Phil from Innotech, and Frank from Foundation Technologies, Inc.

That day Mr. Da Silva was meeting with two sales reps from Foundation Technologies, Inc a US company from Georgia, to learn about the newest technology in concrete helical pilings and tie-backs. These products would be very useful in marine construction and are new to Barbados.
The meeting was very interesting and familiar. I often meet with sales reps about the newest technology in flooring, lighting, wall covering, or fabric back home.

Heidi Ellis

George Washington slept here - in Barbados?

March 22 - A little known fact: George Washington lived in Barbados for a short period of time. The team visited the house that is now the George Washington House museum in Bridgetown, Barbados.


The museum account: The young George Washington and his ailing brother Lawrence resided in this historic plantation house, also known as Bush Hill House, for two months in 1751. Barbados was the only country ever visited by the future “First Father” of his country and Bush Hill House the only house he ever lived in outside of the continental United States. The visit is a little known but very important chapter in the life of the then unknown 19 year old man, who would go on to become, as later described by Light-Horse Harry Lee, “first in war, first in peace, first in hearts of his countrymen.”

The bedroom used by George Washington, where he contracted and survived smallpox.

Dining room

Card table

Rotary Club of Bequia, Saint Vincent

March 19 - Bequia is a small island nine miles south of Saint Vincent, part of the nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - at seven square miles, it is the largest of the Grenadines. The population of just over 5000 supports a small Rotary Club.

Since the Bequia club meets on Tuesday evening and the island is accessed only by ferry from Saint Vincent - or "the mainland" as Saint Vincent is called by the Bequians - the GSE team spent the good portion of a day with two of the Rotarians, Sylvester and Clinton.

Maintaining a Rotary club on a small island presents challenges. This includes keeping a viable active membership, raising funds for local projects, and trying to be part of the district that at time can seem like an ocean away.

TVA Consultants - Saint Vincent

March 16 - I visited TVA Consultants in St. Vincent, although they also have offices in Barbados and Grenada. There are two chartered architects at the St. Vincent office and I met them both: Trevor Thompson and Desmond Cox. There is also a technician, a secretary, and an accountant at this office.

TVA is the oldest architecture office in St. Vincent and was started in Barbados in 1965. Desmond showed me their portfolio and I was impressed when I saw their work on prominent buildings in St. Vincent including the National Library, historical courthouse, a community college, General Hospital, several schools, Ace Hardware, and Arnos Vale Sports Complex, which is the cricket stadium.

They are very experienced in building hurricane shelters and building on the slopes of mountainous St. Vincent. They also ofter incorporate cisterns to catch rainwater to increase the water supply, which is very important during the dry season in St. Vincent and especially on the smaller islands of the Grenadines.

What a great learning experience!

Heidi Ellis

Rotary Club of Saint Vincent

March 18 - The GSE team attended the weekly lunch meeting of the Rotary Club of Saint Vincent in Kingstown. The club is involved in a variety of service projects. Today we learned of their donation of sewing machines to both the men's and women's prisons, and dental care provided to a special-needs school by Rotarian Dr Francois Truchot (coincidentally Lillah's host family).

President Kirk De Silva listening to the GSE team presentation. Kirk and his wife hosted Monica.

Lillah with a visiting Canadian Rotarian from District 7090 (Niagara Falls, US and Canada).

Shelly making her portion of the presentation.

Monica making her portion of the presentation.

Heidi conducting the banner exchange with President Kirk.

Visiting Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Nashua West exchanges banners with President Kirk.

Visiting Rotarian from Canada receives a club banner from President Kirk.

Shelly and Monica at Rick's host family's house writing this article....