September 15, 2008 Spokesman

Posted by Gary Redfern 
 

President Bob Webb called September 15, 2008 Kirkland Rotary meeting to order at 6:35 pm.  Jack Bloodworth led us in the Pledge and Dr. Ernie Norehad shared a fun inspirational moment on the gender of Jesus.

 

 Thank you to Carl Boruck and Barb Seaton for looking after the front desk. There was no Greeter tonight.

A. Introductions:

 

  • Pascal Kunz - our new Exchange Student.   Pascal  spoke to us about his great weekend retreat to Gary and Zondra Schuster's  cabin at LakeWenatchee having fun wind surfing, water skiing, and getting to know the other ten new students who just arrived. He also played golf  at Mt Sai last Monday with Brian Tucker and other Kirkland Rotarians. 
  • Vicki Cooley- it was great to have Vicki join us tonight.  She is a former Kirkland Rotarian who moved to Anacortes roughly four years ago, and is looking to relocate to Kirkland..
  • Brett Halvorson - guest of Pres Bob Webb.  Brett is considering joining a Rotary Club in the Puget Sound area, and  is quite interested in joining our club. .  His connection to Rotary goes back to1979 when he was 4 years old. The Gift of Life organization, which receives a good deal of its funding from Rotary International, arranged that he and a number of other very sick Korean children would be flown to the United States for life saving heart surgery. Over 10,000 children have been save by this Rotary supported progam, and Brett has decided to join the Gift of Life organization on a full time basis to help promote the great work that they do.  

B. Announcements:

 

Bob Webb thanked Patti Smith for organizing and putting last Mondays golf tournament together at the Mt. Sai Golf Course. Alice and Al were certainly involved in getting things started, but were away - and certainly appreciated Patti's work to organize this fun event.

 

Committee Members wanted!  Pres. Webb advised that he and his Committee Chairs are looking for members to sign up and get involved on any of the various committees.  We would love to have you involved!

 

New Member Induction

Jim Feek, Membership Chair, called Makaylaa Powers forward and led in her induction into the club. Pat Dye proposed her for membership, and Karen Quirk will be her mentor.  Makaylaa is a franchise owner of a great growth company, Visiting Angels.  She has located in the Kirkland area, and will be a great new member.

 

C. Program

 

President Bob called Chuck Brockway forward to lead our "Getting to Know You" Program for the night. Bob and Chuck explained that this program has been especially helpful for newer members to get to know more about their fellow members, and has been well received in the past.

 

Member Bob Gassen led off the presentations by telling us he was originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  He then reflected back on his 30 year professional career in Information Technology. Eight years ago he started his own studio, Humanature Photography, and  is very excited with this change. He does a lot of philanthropic work in his area, and has enjoyed his community involvement with our Rotary  club. Bob is happily married with 2 grown children and one grandchild.

 

Member David Aubrey is a California lad who graduated from Berkeley in Geology a long, looonnngggg time ago. He reflected back on how much easier it is for us now. He talked of how he was born during the 2nd World War, and how  they lived in a garage through some of these early days.  His career had him focus on Technical Training, mostly in the area of Hazardous Waste and Awareness.  David retired in 2001 and has been busy as a volunteer at the City along with his Community  involvement and his Rotary Club of Kirkland activities. He, and his wife, Anna, have been very busy with some property development. David has promised Anna to be living in France by next July (for at least a year). They  have two grown up children and one grandson

 

Member Carl Boruk has worked in the Banking and Insurance fields for over 35 years. He is originally from Portland, Oregon, and is a graduate of OregonState. He   worked with a subsidiary of Safeco Insurance for 28 years, mostly as a supervisor of Independent Agents, and then returned to Seattle roughly 4 years ago to join Sterling Bank in Commercial lending.   Carl has been married to his wife, Judy, for 36 years.  They have two grown daughters, one a teacher with three daughters and the other daughter is a Biologist with 1 daughter.  Carl has a unique interest that may have him in good standing with the city of Kirkland.  He is a licensed Piro Technician, and loves to celebrate local community events with a big bang!

Overall, a great chance for us to get to know more about three of our great members.

D. Upcomiing  

Rotary 1st Harvest -our first event for the year will be on Sunday, October 11th    Be sure to sign up a.s.a.p. for this Northwest Harvest event!

 

E. Reminders       Jesse Than, our new District Governor, will be at our next meeting on Monday, September 22.  He will attend a brief meeting with our Board prior to the meeting. .

 

F. Upcoming Events

Sept 22 - Visit by DG Jesse Tam.

Oct 11-12 - Wine Tour "Western Washington".

Oct 18 -  Bunko Night at the Shinstrom's

Nov 17  (Sunday)- Ethiopia -  Penny Legate speaking on Polio Plus at KPC.

 

G.  Closing Events

Dr Webb got support from guest Brett Halverson in identifying this night's Honey Pot ticket winner, Karen Quirk.