Rotary

Great to see you all this morning! Here is a recap of the meeting in case you missed it:

A huge round of applause for our September Rotarian of the Month, Susan Webster! Susan leads by example and took on the personal challenge of writing a grant on behalf of our club. She strives to provide opportunities for involvement for members, and always brings a positive can-do attitude. We appreciate all you do for our club, Susan!

We heard from a few of our members on things they are doing independently to support the environment: Nathaniel (Rotaract) is focusing on clean up events and farm projects; Sandy sources her foods locally and composts; and Roy helps ensure no food goes to waste by getting unwanted food to those who need it.

This week we heard from Lisa Ayrault, Director of FairVote Washington and Marc Miller (board member), a non-partisan, non-profit champion of electoral reforms such as Ranked choice voting. This nonprofit aims to reduce the polarization of voting, and promotes a program to offer a scale of preferences when voting. Ranked choice voting provides voters the opportunity to vote for more than one candidate, ranking them in priority order. It is used in several other states, but is not legal in Washington. It was extremely interesting, and you can check them out at fairvotewa.org.

Here is a recap of today’s meeting in case you missed it.

Welcome to our new member, Luann Ferguson! We are so glad you’ve joined our club and are looking forward to getting to know you.

We heard from our very own and beloved Erv DeSmet as Chair of the District’s Environmental Committee. He shared with us our District’s 3-year plan to support the environment by increasing awareness and providing solutions that we can start today in our daily lives. He emphasized that we don’t need to stop living our lives the way we want to, but rather, we must realign our habits with our desire to enjoy our planet. We will be sharing some of these things in the months to come.

No birthdays this week, but thank you to Marilyn, our Birthday Meister, for the fun “what happened on this date in history” facts!

Happy Dollars included many cheers for Tana’s amazing Oktoberfest last week, kudos to Roy for his outstanding work getting food that would be wasted to those who need it, Andy’s gratitude for fixing a car issue, and cheers from Luann for becoming a member and being able to use Zoom as a cheat sheet for learning names!

Great to see you all this morning! Here is a recap of the meeting in case you missed it:
We heard from Rachel Krinsky from Lifewire, which is the largest provider of domestic abuse services in WA state. They provide advocacy, housing services, and prevention services. They serve roughly 4,000 individuals each year, and that number has increased significantly during COVID. They have an upcoming Gala (which Sandy Kallio says is one of the most fun fundraisers she’s ever attended!), the info is to follow! Learn more.

No birthdays this week, but thank you to Marilyn, our Birthday Meister, for the fun trivia!

Happy Dollars included Andy sharing gratitude for his new grandson Owen; Erv for his gratitude on the exciting things happening at the district on environmental support; Allison for gratitude on bonding with her half-brother in a new way; and Pat for exciting energy at the Warm Coats meeting!

Thank you Sandy, for this invocation to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving (yesterday):
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.

Great to see you all this morning! The shenanigans were lively and it almost felt like a normal Tuesday morning at our in-person meetings. ️ Here is a recap of the meeting in case you missed it:

1. We heard from Susan Webster on the “Keep it Cool, Keep it Fresh” Sammamish Valley Farm Refrigeration Project. “Environmental Support” is Rotary’s 7th area of focus, and our club has put together a grant request to fund cold storage for SV farmers. This refrigeration unit will extend the life of perishable produce from the valley, reduce food waste, and help local farms support a local food economy (both by selling their produce and donating gleaned food to local food banks). We should find out the results of our grant request in the next several weeks. A HUGE thank you to Susan for taking the lead on this!
2. A big Happy Birthday to Gary Witsell (10/7)!
3. Happy Dollars included several to Susan Webster for her extensive work on the grant; to Keith Wells for his suggestion of Rotary Neck Tattoos; by guest Larua Hall on her successful completion of chemo for her breast cancer diagnosis; by Allison for a special trip to Colorado to meet her new niece, and by Sandy for the fun Oktoberfest put on by BBRC and Good Time Brewing (Mike Tenhulzen).
4. John Hughes gave us a club history snapshot that around this time in 1986 is when he, Terry Jarvis, and a few other members submitted the request to Charter this club. We are so glad you did!

Dates to make a note of:
10/8: Happy Hour Trivia Night, hosted my Marshall Moon (zoom link to follow) 5:30pm
Next Week: a second food drive for Woodinville Families (details to follow)
10/13: Rotary Oktoberfest lunch at Maltby Cafe, 11am. RSVP’s required, space is limited to 25 and almost full!
10/14: 9am, Environmental Committee meeting (zoom link to follow)
11/7: Mid Sound Fisheries Samm River Planting, time TBD
12/12: Operation Warm Coats, details TBD