Rotary Meeting Minutes July 31, 2017
The meeting was called to order by President Steve Shinstrom at 6:30PM. He had to remind your Scribe that he was supposed to take minutes that night – luckily, pen and paper were quickly found, and we have this record of the meeting.
Shoshanna Ryan, the daughter of our speaker Joel Ryan, led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Visitors and Introductions:
Mark Shu, who is checking out our club, was introduced as a guest.
Visiting Rotarians Arati & Arun Ganacharya of the Shaniwarwada Club of Pune, India, near Mumbai. We were treated to a short talk by Arati detailing information about their club, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. The club has 70 members, ALL of whom are Paul Harris Fellows. One of their club projects is sanitation and water conservation in the surrounding villages.
Announcements:
Next Monday August 7, we will be at Lee Johnson Chevrolet at 5:30PM for Duck Branding. Pizza will be provided. We need everyone, and spouses, and kids, and friends, and anyone you can pick up on the street to show up.
Next Monday August 7, we will be at Lee Johnson Chevrolet at 5:30PM for Duck Branding. Pizza will be provided. We need everyone, and spouses, and kids, and friends, and anyone you can pick up on the street to show up.
Sign up for Duck sales with Bob Webb.
We will be doing Christmas shopping and gift wrapping again this year for families in need, thanks to the generosity of Bob Auslander, who is funding the project.
Rotary Family Day at Shinstroms at Lake Shoecraft is Saturday August 19. Fun casual day. All are welcome. Come for the morning, afternoon or all day. All that is needed is your picnic lunch and drinks. Shinstroms will provide the place and water activities.
The Salmon Bake will again be at the Auslander’s, August 21, at about 6PM. Come a bit early to help set up
Rick Walter collected Happy Dollars from a number of Rotarians.
Jason Overleese introduced our speaker Joel Ryan, Executive Director of the Washington State Association of Head Start and ECAP. He spoke on “Investing in Our Children”. His organization advocates for high quality early childhood education.
He discussed the difficulty that employers in Washington State have in finding qualified employees for many job openings. The reason he gave was that we do not graduate a high enough percentage of our young people from high school. Children that enter the school system behind in math and literacy finish their academic careers still behind. Much money and effort has been spent trying to address this issue during and after the child’s school career, with little success.
He showed us numbers that demonstrate that children who are behind in literacy and math at age three have to be taught these subjects, with strong family involvement and stability, to avoid scholastic underachievement and failure. Everything from social success, economic success, and scholastic success depends on children attaining a level of proficiency in math and literacy before entering kindergarten. Head Start and ECAP and are designed to address this issue. This is an issue that has strong bi-partisan support both in the legislature and in the community.
Dan Bartel had the winning ticket, but failed to draw the Joker.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:38PM
Respectfully Submitted
Acting Scribe - David Aubry