August 20, 2007 Spokesman

Posted by Pat Swenson

Rotary Minutes for August 20, 2007

The meeting was called to order by President Rachel Knight at 6:35 p.m. The flag salute was lead by Carl Boruck and the Inspirational Minute was given by Past President, Steve Brown. (A gentle reminder about the worth of each person.)

Visiting Rotarians and Guests : Dick Weston, former Kirkland Club Rotarian. Kaminez Castra from Merrill-Lynch, Diana Lansoff, Justin Sloan from John L. Scott, plus 3 exchange students: Kathryn from Kirkland, Audrey from France, and Allena from Spain, and Chris Rusnak (Elizabeth aka Dee Dee Rusnak's husband).

Dick Weston has been proposed for membership and approved by the Board at the Wednesday, August 15, 2007 board meeting. This is a notice for all Rotarians of his proposed membership.

Announcements:

Welcome Party for Pascal Weber, our Youth Exchange Student at 6:00 p.m. at Bob and Gail Auslander's home. Please sign up to attend and bring a food item to share. For details see Club Runner.

Northwest Harvest will be celebrating their 25^th Anniversary with a special event on Sept. 22^nd, please contact Dan Bartel for details.

Dance Class has moved their meeting day to the 3^rd Thursday of each Month. First class begins on September 20^th. Contact Jim Feek for details.

The three (3) Rotary exchange students (Kathryn, Audrey and Allena gave a brief description of their experiences as exchange students. They all had wonderful educational and cultural experiences and wanted to thank the Rotaries for sponsoring and supporting them.

PROGRAM:

Speaker: Jacque Coe, Communications Director for Washington Lottery. Topic: Where Does The Money Go?

The Washington lottery is celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year. Started in 1982 under Governor Spellman. Jacque gave us a very informative talk about the most asked about question concerning the Washington Lottery. The Answer: The money goes to 4 main areas: 60% to Winners, 21% to Beneficiaries set by the Voters and Legislators, 16.7% to Operations and 2.3% to Administration Costs. For details of each of these areas see: www.walottery.com .

Kirkland received $63 million dollars in winners since the inception of the lottery. There are 37 retailers in Kirkland that sell lottery tickets, which generated in sales $4.5 million dollars. Retailers receive 6% of the operational costs, along with a 1% bonus on any tickets they sell that hit the jackpot. F.Y.I.: Fred Meyers returns the bonus money to the community where the jackpot ticket was purchased. The employees of Fred Meyer determine which charities receive the bonus money. The most frequently asked question of Jacque: Which game would you play if you could play the lottery? Her answer: Lotto Quick Pick Advance Play (best odds for the $1 investment with a minimum of $1 million payoff.) The Washington Lottery has paid out $2.5 billion dollars.

Lucky Ticket Drawing: The ticket was held by one of our Exchange Students, Allena. She did not get the lucky duck, but Rachel gave her the $30 anyway with cheers from the crowd.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m. Submitted by your Scribe: Pat Swenson