March 17, 2008 Spokesman

Posted by Chuck Brockway 
 

For St. Patrick's Day, Alice Volpe had the Marina Room all decked out with green banners, shamrocks, green hats and beads.  There was even some Irish music playing that made one want to break into a river dance.  Alice was also the one responsible for the "green" ice water!  Of course our meal consisted of corned beef and cabbage.

The March 17, 2008 St. Patrick's Day  Kirkland Rotary meeting was called to order by President Rachel at 6:36 PM. Elizabeth Kemmish led the flag salute and Bill Taylor presented the inspirational moment, again, on Tom Sturgell's behalf.  It seems that wife Sue's birthday defeated Rotary attendance.. Bill's theme was "Sharing Rotary through membership". Rotary can only continue to serve if it continues to grow.

Chuck Brockway and Stephanie Mapelli, our speaker, were greeters
Guests and visiting Rotarians were introduced :
Scott East, Attorney, Bellevue noon and Lia Gaidos, Redmond joined us.
Michelle Goerdel was a guest of Karen Quirk.
Pascal Weber our Exchange Student reported that he packed and unpacked his suitcase over the weekend, as he moved in with a new host family.  During the unpacking process, Pascal found a book, written in English, with some interesting information about Switzerland, which was passed around.  He also mentioned that he participated in track meets in the rain, which he said seemed to be a "Seattle thing."  Pascal also made a trip to Bainbridge Island.

Announcements:
President Rachel had all Kirkland Rotarians who are currently or will be serving at the District level to stand.

  • Joanne Primavera will begin a 3 year commitment as the Assistant District Governor
  • Gary Bruner is the District Fellowship Chair and is the District Registrar for the 2009 District Conference
  • Dan Bartel is the Registrar for the 2009 District Conference
  • Bill Taylor, current Assistant District Governor, also serving on the District's vision team

Hats off to these very active Kirkland Rotarians who continue to provide their leadership at the District level!
Alice Volpe was recognized and thanked for all of the Irish decorations.
President Rachel informed us that Bob Scott, the Rotary International Foundation Chair, will be attending our meeting on April 14th.  (NO skipping this meeting because of the auction on the preceding Saturday!)

With the Duck Dash only 3 1/2 months away, we still need to find more sponsors.
Chuck Brockway announced that Boy Scout Troop 532, which is sponsored by Kirkland Rotary, is in need to an 8' X 10' storage space, for which they need access 24/7.  If storage space is not available, perhaps there is a corner of someone's property that could be used to build a storage shed.  Any takers, see Chuck.

Alice Volpe announced that our auction will be on Saturday, April 12th.  Please get your donations in as soon as possible.

Elizabeth Rusnak said that we have just learned who our incoming exchange student will be.  His name happens to be Pascal and he, coincidentally, is from Switzerland.  This was done purposely in order that many of our Rotarians  would remember his name.

April 12th is also the Rotary First Harvest Work Party, coordinated by Dan Bartel.
March 29th is Rotary Service Above Self Day, more information to follow from Miriam Gilbert.
Fred Tuttle, recently back from his sabbatical from the mountains of Tibet to regale us with stories of his boyhood in Dublin.  Many of the Irish myths were brought to bare.

Speaker:
Steve Brown, former board chair of Leadership Eastside and without his specs, introduced our speaker, Stephanie Mapelli, the Executive Director of Leadership Eastside.  Stephanie has an extensive background, most recently with City University.

Leadership Eastside is the resulting organization of Advance Bellevue and the Leadership Institute.  Recognizing that we seem to deal with issues more on a regional basis, Leadership Eastside now has brought together the 15 Eastside communities of Bellevue, Bothell, Carnation, Duvall, Issaquah, Kenmore, Kirkland, Maple Valley, Mercer Island, Newcastle, North Bend, Redmond, Renton, Sammamish and Woodinville.

Leadership Eastside is dedicated to building strong leaders to enrich the Eastside region.  A graduate of  the 3 year program will be better grounded and more connected to the community.  There are currently 100 new leaders who contribute to 17 new community projects.

Leadership Eastside is producing its first graduating class, with 37 members.  This class currently fills 81 leadership positions. Leadership Eastside is currently filling their 4th class, beginning in the fall, 2008.  Applications are due by April 2nd.  For more information please go to the website, WWW. LEADERSHIPEASTSDIE.COM. Leadership Eastside is a 3 year commitment and costs a total of $3,000 and some tuition assistance may be provided.

As the program was completed by 7:15, Chuck Brockway was called on to extract Happy Dollars.  Jim Feek offered a couple of Scandahoovian Irish stories, that were basically PG friendly.  With the cell phones of Pat Swenson, Patti Smith and Brad Green, the dollars built rapidly

Alice Volpe continued to draw the had the lucky ticket but her number 3 guess was not matched by the draw of ducky number 2.   After having her tickets drawn a few more times, Steve Shinstrom was ultimately the big winner for a green t-shirt that read, "Irish by Day, hung over by night", suitable for coaching little league.  Gary Redfern then won a cherished Irish beanie baby.

 The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 PM.
Chuck Brockway
Scribe