May 4, 2020 - On-line meeting of the Rotary Club of Kirkland.
The meeting began a bit after ~6:00PM, as arranged by James Nevers, using his Zoom account.
Attending were – James Nevers, Dave Aubry, Steve Shinstrom, Margie Glenn, Kristin Olson, Rick Ostrander, Stefan Landvogt, Bill Taylor, John Pruitt, Joanne Primavera, Amy Mutal, David Mutal, David Debois, Rich Bergdahl, Mike Hunter, John Woodbery, Terry Cole, Patti Smith, Tricia Stromberg, Russ Stromberg, Monica Fratita, Gary Cohn, Darcia Tudor, Rick Walter, Bob Auslander, Don Dicks, Patty Sims, George Anderson, Scott Becker, Dan Bartel, Bella Chaffey, Jim Meniketti, Ambareen Jaddi,. Let me know if I missed anyone.
6:08PM - President John Woodbery rang the bell – we did the Pledge of Allegiance.
Chelsea Tripp, Assistant District Governor for Section 11, our Club’s Section in the District, discussed on-line/Zoom training available for folks in Club leadership positions on every subject imaginable.
6:18PM – Announcements:
- It was announced that a grant writing seminar tutorial/webinar will be available May 5 at 7PM. James Nevers will send out a link
- Dave Aubry recounted the completion of another part of our CKC/Railroad History project. The Northern Pacific logo on both sides of the Kirkland Way overpass has been restored, and clearly marked as “Restored by The Rotary Club of Kirkland”. There has been an amazing amount of public enthusiasm about the project from people walking and driving in the vicinity.
- The Club and the Club Foundation have together donated over $11K to the Kirkland Parks and Community Foundation for the benefit of the Kirkland Nourishing Network. We discussed how the Club might get some positive publicity for this substantial donation. Kathy Feek is pushing the subject. Gary Cohn and Rick Walter are looking at various print media publicity.
- Gary Cohn has updated the Club’s website which now includes a Cub Foundation page. Gary wants information for committee chairs so he can really update the website.
- Mike Hunter said LWSD students cannot use Zoom on school laptops so we will have to find another way to do virtual scholarship interviews. Ambareen Jaddi said there is another App that we can use. We can also interview students by phone or through their home computers. Mike Hunter will get the process of interviewing organized so the team leads for the various schools can proceed.
- We need speakers for 5/18 and 6/15 – perhaps 5/18 should be about Mt St Helens as it will be 40 years since the eruption. Dan Bartel’s daughter is a geologist, so maybe she could speak?
6:41PM – Our speaker was Samantha St John, CEO of the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce. Our Chamber now appears to be the oldest on the Eastside. She has been working on forming a Foundation under the Chamber to carry out educational functions – this has been done this year. Programs have been established in Business, Marketing, and Mentorship among others. The Foundation has now established a small-business relief fund; 501C-3 status is being sought. She recounted that the impact of COVID-19 on Kirkland’s small businesses has been devastating. The Chamber is trying to raise a second tranche of funds for the relief fund.
We discussed how we as a community can make a difference in the survival of local small businesses.
We discussed possibly establishing contributions from Club members to be used to match other community contributions.
7:14PM – break-out rooms. We discussed what we are grateful for in the current situation.
7:25PM – it was announced that golf courses are reopening, which will save the sanity of a number of Club members.
Adjourned at 7:26PM
Respectfully Submitted
David Aubry
Acting Scribe