Posted by James Nevers on Mar 05, 2018

Rotary Minutes

 

March 5, 2018

 

The meeting was called to order by President Steve Shinstrom at 6:30 PM and opened with an inspirational moment.

Thanks to John Pruitt and Rick Ostrander for manning the front desk and James Nevers for Scribing

Dan Bartel led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Visitors and Introductions:

Ambareen introduced our Student of the Month

David DeBois introduced Monica, a prospective member who works at Boeing.

Rick Walter introduces Sue, a visiting Rotarian from Seattle 4.

Bret O’Rourke was also visiting and hopes to become a member soon.

 

Dan Bartel introduced his wife Wilma.

Dan also reminded everyone of the upcoming Rotary First Harvest event Saturday, March 10th.

Updates
Board meeting will be Thursday the 8th at Rich Bergdahl’s office as usual. All are welcome to attend
Reminder that there will be a Rotary event at Café Veloce on April 16th instead of meeting at the Woodmark.
The District Conference will be April 27-29 at the Tulalip Resort Casino.
Scott Rethke invited everyone to the Rotary Golf Tournament to be held on May 14th at 1PM at Willows.
James Nevers asked for volunteers to help interview students at Juanita High school for Scholarships
Happy Dollars were gathered by Rick Walter
 
Speaker : Dr. Peter Bower
Dan Bartel introduced Dr. Peter Bower, who was born and raised in Denmark by an American Father and Danish Mother. He has spent a total of 12 years in Seattle, spanning both Kindergarten, elementary School and Graduate School. He ultimately received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Washington where he studies structures in peptides and proteins using solid state nuclear magnetic resonance. Shortly after attempting his Ph.D.  he worked on cryopreservation techniques applied to human sperm, which ultimately led him to found the European Sperm Bank in Copenhagen in 2004. Today he lives in Seattle with his Danish wife, Grethe and their two Danish/American sons Oscar and Magnus.
 
Dr. Bowers presentation went through how he formed his company and how candidates are screened. Only 5-7% of applicants end up being able to donate after going through an extensive screening process that includes advanced genetic testing, online testing, counseling, medical screening, multiple sample tests, and extensive family medical records. Most donors participate for altruistic reasons and to date they have helped families have over 25,000 children in over 80 countries.
 
President Steve ended the meeting thanking Dr. Bower with a race duck and 600 lbs of food donated in his honor to Rotary First Harvest.
Meeting was adjourned at 7:30