June 17, 2013 Spokesman

Posted by John Woodbery 
on Jun 17, 2013
 
The June 17, 2013 Kirkland Rotary meeting was called to order at 6:35PM by President Patricia Smith, at her penultimate occasion to lead the club. Jerry Campo led the group in our pledge of allegiance and sadly no moments of inspiration were available. (Editor Note:  Special thanks to John Woodbery for scribing at the last minute)  Tim Kehrli acted tonight in the dual role as greeter and Joker Pool salesman. Our guests tonight included Barbara Zeffries ,a visiting Rotarian from Dallas Texas, Shellie Gehrig’s guest Dave Cardenas, a former exchange student from Switzerland Pascal Kunz who reported that he is now in college at the University of Bern after two years in military service, a mandatory requirement for all Swiss citizens. 
 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Cynthia Fitzgerald reported on her medical mission for Rotary to Guatemala where 100 children were given surgical treatment paid for by Rotary; you may contribute for the cost of transportation and lab costs; contact Cynthia.

The Rotary Duck dash news was reported by John Pruitt, (sign up sheets), Bob Webb (parade sellers needed) and Bon Thornton (we need two for duck costume torture during the parade).

Chancellor for the night Rick Walter collected happy father’s day dollars and the stories were too joyful to be mentioned in the interest of restraining pride and passion.

Our program tonight was from Jennifer Barron executive director of KITH(Kirkland Interfaith Transition Housing) introduced by Scott Becker. KITH is committed to bringing hope from despair to the homeless not just a temporary shelter but a leg up on permanent recovery. KITH has merged with Housing at the Crossroads (gaining 12 more apartments) Fairstart and other organizations such as Hopelink and other charitable organizations to allow homeless families to see a light of hope at the end of the tunnel of despair. There may be some unnoticeable homeless sleeping under tarps or tents if they are lucky but KITH would like to see that there is a recovery of self-esteem, jobs and respect after the KITH leg up assistance. Last year KITH in cooperation with others provided 275 meals to the homeless at Thanksgiving and Christmas. The goal is not just to feed the hungry but also to break the cycle of despair. Families in KITH housing units have 24 months to get on their feet and become self-sustaining. Their chief fundraiser event is an auction at the Community Center on Mercer Island. She pointed out that 70% of their donee families are the victims of domestic violence. A recent survey of Kirkland schools revealed that 279 kids were self-identified as homeless ; so folks, the problem is close to home and real.

The meeting was concluded by a drawing for Joker Pool and Rick Walter only got an ace of diamonds and $10.00 Next week is the transition dinner and 75 are expected. The meeting was adjourned at 7:35PM

John E. Woodbery

Scribe

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