COEUR d'ALENE — Rotary Club President Ashley Lenz usually presides over the Friday meetings, but instead she appeared partway into the meeting, dressed as a bemused Alice having stumbled into a cast of merry and odd characters from “Alice in Wonderland.” 

Two white rabbits were late for a “very important date” Friday at the Rotary Club meeting, but rather than being late for an appointment, a skit incorporated Lewis Carroll references into the annual rose sale. 

“Tea, no time for tea! We have roses to sell and funds to raise,” Steve Roberge said while clad in Mad Hatter attire. 

Throughout the tables at The Coeur d'Alene Resort, roses served as a reminder and a primer for the next five weeks of the sale.  

Beautiful blooms are to be distributed by the dozens to their intended recipients Oct. 25 for $30 a dozen. The flower festivities are intended to shower loved ones with support, all the while raising money for grants and scholarships for local students. 

The deadline for rose orders is Oct. 16 and this year marks the 34th year of the sale.  

As a newer member to Rotary Club, Carla Cicero was added to the sale committee to get faster acquainted with the ins and outs of the club.

If the club sells its goal of 1,375 bouquets of roses, it will raise over $30,000.

“It’s great, it’s just something we came up with because we have a time limit and we’d like everyone to act quickly and it’s fun and playful,” Cicero said. 

Past sales have raised over $1 million and benefitted agencies like Hospice of North Idaho, the Museum of North Idaho, Lake City Center and the Boys and Girls Club of Kootenai County. 

Caiti Bobbitt was also brought into the sales silliness as a new member of the group and said the fundraiser has been rife with fun so far, going so far as to get her dressed as either Tweedle Dee, (or was it Tweedle Dum?) in front of her colleagues and friends in the organization. 

“Everyone shows up for this and shows out and they know it’s going toward a good cause,” Bobbitt said. 

With 175 members competing to sell the most roses and avoid the loser prize of a rose-bedecked toilet lid, the stakes are high. 

Roberge said he has lost and won the fundraising competition before and it’s always an adventure either way, although he did enjoy hosting the flower-covered toilet seat at his home between rose sales. 

For him, it all comes down to amplifying positivity in the community. 

"Rotary makes you help others. We have so much in our lives, and this is just a small part of it. It makes you feel good to help others,” Roberge said. 

Rose orders can be placed by emailing jodyazevedo1@gmail.com or 208-699-4579.

    Max Mendez, dressed as the Cheshire Cat, speaks during an "Alice in Wonderland"-inspired Rotary Club skit about the rose sale fundraiser Friday at The Couer d'Alene Resort.
  

    Orange roses represent fascination, enthusiasm, desire, energy, admiration and excitement. The Coeur d'Alene Rotary Club has begun its five-week rose sale to fundraise money for scholarships and nonprofits.