February 7, 2011 Spokesman

Posted by Mike Hunter 
on Feb 7, 2011
 

Kirkland Rotary

 

Meeting Notes for February 7, 2011

 

Woodmark Hotel, Carillon Point, Kirkland

 

President Pat Dye began the meeting at 6:30 PM.  Dave DeBois led the members in the Pledge of Allegiance.  President Pat gave the inspirational moment about how a glass of milk given to a stranger resulted in a woman’s life being saved and the “bill was paid in full” by the stranger who later founded John Hopkins in Baltimore.

 

Guests:

John Overleese and Jim Going met members of the Beta Club at Lake Washington High School while doing Student of the Month interviews.  Their conversation resulted in several members of the Beta Club attending our meeting to learn how they can help us in service to the community.  First, Jim Going introduced Maggie Lehr, our Student of the Month from Lake Washington.  Then various members of our Club introduced Karen Van Daveer (one of our Teachers of the Year a few years ago), the Facility Advisor for the Beta Club, along with the following Beta Club members:  Suejean Hwangpo, Brittany Plumb, Molly Shipman, Laura Duncan, Shada Shomali, and Payton Jones.    

 

In addition the Principal of Lake Washington High School, Cristina Thomas, was introduced (Ed. Note – Cristina informed me that on August 11, 2011 an Open House and BBQ will be held at the high school to celebrate the opening of the new campus buildings).

 

Brittany Plumb then gave a short description about the Beta Club.  It is the largest non-profit high school service club in the U.S and has been in existence for many years.  Recent efforts of the Club include decorating pumpkins for seniors; filling 100 boxes with goodies and letters and sending them to our troops; providing Holiday baskets to Hopelink; giving items to Hospice facilities; and plans are underway to help Tent City, now in Kirkland.  The Lake Washington High School Beta Club has 77 members and is coed.

 

John Overleese and Jim Going are hopeful that in the future an Interact Club can be started with the support of Beta Club members. 

 

President Pat added her support for an Interact Club and explained there are going to be several ways Beta Club members can help, through a Habitat for Humanity work party on April 9, and other projects that are planned for the spring and summer. 

Announcements

President Pat asked members to bring their extra books on February 12 and March 12 to the Northwest Harvest workdays.  Then April 2nd will be a Rotary District work day when the books will be packed for shipment to South Africa.

 

Rachel Knight told us about the ladies-only dinner and “Texas Hold’em” poker tutorial on Wednesday evening, February 16 at 5:30 PM at Katherine Kehrli’s home.  Cards were provided to male members to pass along to their spouses, so please RSVP to Rachel or Barb Seaton.  This poker practice evening is in preparation for the Kirkland Rotary Foundation Texas Hold’em Night (instead of an auction) on April 16th so be sure and save this date.

 

Bill Taylor gave us an update on the District Conference to be held in Portland on April 29, 30 and May 1.  There are 254 Rotarians signed up so far with 15 going from our Club.  For every 25 Rotarians who register, a $250 Costco gift card is awarded, so please sign up and join in on the fun!

 

President Pat announced the next Board meeting is this Wednesday, February 9, from 4 to 6 PM at the Conover/Feek office in Kirkland.  Members are invited, so let Pat know if you are coming.  This is a must do for new ‘Red to Blue’ badge members.

 

Program

Several people were in attendance to present a program on the progress of rebuilding the Milkin home in Kirkland and to appeal for help with a building permit and other items:  Michele Yousef, Joe & Mary Cantwell (CDV Construction) and Karl Ramsey (Alpine Land Care). 

 

Michele reviewed briefly what happened to the home that was burned to cover up the deaths of Leo Milkin’s wife Olga, his two sons, Justin & Andrew, and his sister-in-law Lyubov Botvina.  Since the house was destroyed in July 2006, many man-hours and companies’ participation & donations have gone into rebuilding the home and landscaping the yard.  Only the garage, basement and a gazebo remain to be finished.  The City of Kirkland has been very supportive; however the next step is to pay for the $1,000 building permit needed to rebuild the garage. 

 

After the presentation and several questions, John Woodbery, the President of the Kirkland Rotary Foundation, announced that the foundation would provide the $1,000 for the building permit.

 

Chuck Brockway then proceeded to collect $663 in Happy Dollars that were also donated to the Milkin home project.

 

If you want to help with dollars or volunteer efforts, contact Michele Yousef at MilkinHouse@gmail.com  In addition Sterling Savings has an account for donations.

 

Joker Pool

Jim Going had a ticket drawn and Steve Shinstrom was the lucky winner.  Steve graciously donated the $10 winnings to the Milkin home project and then drew the 8 of Clubs.  So now there are 34 cards left and a pot that will grow beyond $1,050.

 

President Pat announced that next week’s meeting will be in the Marina Room, so bring your spouse or significant other for a Valentine’s Day Dinner and an evening with Patti Payne.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 PM.

 

Submitted by,

 

Michael Hunter

Scribe