March 22, 2010 Spokesman
President Jim called the March 22, 2010 Kirkland Rotary meeting to order right on time at 6:30. Greeter was Sarah Brooks. The Pledge of Allegiance was lead by Ken Hollingsworth. The Inspirational Moment was offered by Steve Shinstrom. His theme was 'life is not a journey to the grave'…! Enjoy life! Our exchange student Selis introduced her mother Ninai, who is here visiting for a couple of weeks. Selis reports that mom is enjoying her visit very much.
Dan Bartel introduced our Student of the Month, Ibrahim Khilfeh, from Lake Washington High School, who is here for his last visit. Ibrahim talked about his life and scholastic career. He has done very well in wrestling at Lake Washington. He spoke about learning more about Rotary and our work. He spoke also about various Lake Washington grads who have gone on to excel.
Rachel Knight introduced Greg Toser, an ex-airborne Ranger, who is the new Issaquah Rotary President. His classification is Construction Manager.
Our bowling night outing last Friday evening was a great success, thanks to Wilson Anhar and John Overleese. As a participant, I can say that the bowling itself was pretty shaky.
John Woodbery plugged the upcoming Kirkland Rotary Foundation auction April 24, 5:30-9:30. We need auction items, appetizers, desserts to auction, set-up and clean-up help.
Dave Aubry announced that Duck Dash ads will begin running in the Kirkland Reporter this week and continue for 9 weeks.
Pat Dye announced that next week's meeting will be Patti Sims' baby shower. She is registered at Target and Babys 'R' Us. We can as an alternative make a gift to Rotary First Harvest Baby Corner. The donation can be made through Kirkland Rotary Foundation and designated for Baby Corner. It was also announced that Baby Corner is very appreciative of our Club's efforts on behalf of Baby Corner.
Brian Tucker asked members to support Friends of Scouting, remembering that a local Scout troop was started a few years ago under the Club's sponsorship. The troop is doing well.
Mary-Alyce Burleigh spoke about her recent 2-week trip to Israel, through her church. The tour was both sight-seeing and a learning experience regarding the current Israeli political situation.
Dan Bartel reminded us that the Rotary picnic will be the 3rd Monday in July at Everest Park Picnic Pavilion. He also announced that our next exchange student will be a 16-year old boy from Taiwan. We will need host families - please consider hosting him.
Bill Taylor introduced Past District Governor Cathy Johnson from the Issaquah club. She commented about Boy Scouts and Rotary First Harvest Baby Corner and the value of those organizations.
Her talk to us was in regard to a process called 'Club Visioning'. It's about seeing the past in order to build our future. The process does require some thinking outside the box. It's thinking farther ahead than one year while maintaining continuity. We want to get everyone pulling together - continuity, consistency, and consensus. The goal is to look five years ahead and decide where the Club wants to be. Ms. Johnson is facilitating and leading this effort in this District. A large representative group from the club (20-25 people) is selected to participate.
Ibrahim won the ticket drawing and the pot.
President Jim closed the meeting at 7:40 with a funny (!!) Norwegian joke.
Respectfully submitted,
David Aubry
Acting Scribe