March 14, 2011 Spokesman
The March 14, 2011 Kirkland Rotary meeting was called to order by President Pat Dye at 6:32 p.m. The flag salute was led by Patti Smith. Tonight’s Greeter was absent. There was no Inspirational Moment. President Pat went directly to introduction of Vistors. Shannon Beebee from Lake Washington High School is our Student of the Month and announced her acceptance to Gonzaga University, but she is still waiting to hear from Whitman (her first choice). Barbara Hagstrom was visiting for her second time. Jason, our Exchange Student, gave a short presentation on his past week’s activities. He was given a Letter for Wrestling, which is a sport he really enjoyed.
Announcements:
Dan Bartel thanked everyone who helped with Northwest Harvest over the last weekend, including Wilma Bartel (Dan’s wife), Doug Carter, Dave DeBois (including wife and son), Brandon Honcoop, Katherine & Tim Kehrli (including Jack and Ben, their sons), Joanne Primavera, John Pruitt and John Woodbery. The group processed 35,000 pounds of citrus, 12,400 pounds of frozen pears and 1,500 pounds of pasta. So far this year, 9Million pounds of food have been processed worth over $13,600,000. Our Club is 8th in the District for participation and 13th in the District for donations.
Dave DeBois (for Rachel Knight) reminded the Club that we have a Homes for Habitat work day coming up on April 9th. Please sign up for either the morning or afternoon session (about 4 hours). Let Rachel know if you are going to participate. Details will follow.
President Pat Dye announced our District will be putting together information about donations for the Japan rebuilding and rescue fund. Details will follow.
Special Presentation: Mekonen Giorgis has successfully completed and transitioned to Blue Badge from Red Badge. Congratulations Mekonen!
Happy Dollars, led by Bill Woods, were collected and added to the general treasury.
Tonight’s Program: “How Did We Get Into This Fowl Situation?”, by long time member,
Rick Ostrander. Rick delivered an excellent re-cap of the Club’s history in fund raising events. The Club started with a Pancake Breakfast, moved to a Hamburger Booth weekend event during Moss Bay Days, tried a 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament with the Boys & Girls Club, Had a boat donated---The Dog Boat in Purple with Gold (the winner could not pay the taxes, so this was dropped), Pizza Stand at Key Arena during Sonic Games, Bill Woods Roast, Garage Sale which was one of the largest on the East Side at Park Place Center, Lynnwood Air Show selling hot dogs again, Charity Auction with Overlake Bellevue Club and Redmond Clubs, Voksmark Walk with pancakes after, Dove Bars & Popcorn at Arts Festival, Hot Dogs at Opening Day of Yachet Season. The most any of these events raised above expenses was $8,000.
Then in 1988 The Great Duck Race was started. (this is our 13th year of running the race). A great deal of research went into looking at other Clubs’ fund raising events and those Clubs using the duck race. Phoenix is the USA leading fund raiser with over $100,000, Eugene had $47,000. Over the years, our Club has raised over $829,000 through the direct sale of the tickets, giving back $530,000 to the Community, with our Club’s average net profit of $40,000 per year. The Duck Race is our Club’s only annual fund raiser, which requires the participation of every member. The selling of the tickets at our venues brings awareness to the Community of our Club’s involvement in various local and international activities. It also promotes becoming a Rotarian through conversations with the ticket buyers.
Rick provided an excellent summary of each of the previously tried activities as fund raisers and why the renting of the yellow ducks was the best choice for our Club.
*There is an unlimited amount we could earn and very little extra expense to add more ducks to the water and/or printing extra tickets.
* We get a lot of visibility selling the tickets in the community (i.e. QFC, Farmers Markets, Safeway, etc.)
*The selling season is short, only two-three months before the day of the race.
* Anyone can sell the tickets by teaming up with “experienced” sales people.
This year’s duck dash tickets will be available at the end of April. Remember to turn in tickets as you sell them and never destroy any unsold tickets, turn them back in at the end of the race---the Gaming Commission requires were have a record of all printed tickets.
The lucky ticket was Gary Bruner’s, but he did not pick the Joker from the 30 cards. The pot is now about $1300, with ½ going to the winner.
Scribe: Pat Swenson