June 6, 2011 Spokesman
The June 6, 2011 Kirkalnd Rotary meeting was called to order by President Pat Dye at 6:40 p.m. and the flag salute was led by Doug Carter. President Dye thanked John Pruitt and Shellie Gehring for their service at the front desk, Joanne Burns for greeting and Sue Greenfeld for scribing.
Introduction of Visitors:
Visiting Rotarians were Rick Jones of the Magnolia Club and Cheryl Gunderson of the noon Bellevue Club. Guest of Rick Jones was Bill Spagnola. Other guests included Rotary Summer Outbound Exchange Student Caroline Fletcher and her family, June, George and Cheryl Fletcher. Other guests were Doug Hauger and Aiden Trigg-Hauger, Wilma Bartel, Rotary Exchange Student Jason Wang, Sandy Taylor, Gale Auslander, and Ben and Jack Kehrli.
Club Announcements: Brian Tucker discussed Rotary’s support of the Boy Scouts’ Chief Seattle Council. Bob Webb reminded Rotarians about the upcoming Duck Dash and the need for Rotarians to assist the day of the race, including the importance of having enough Rotarians for cleaning up. Rick Ostrander mentioned that days and venues are available for Rotarians to sell Duck Dash tickets. Elizabeth Rusnak thanked the Rotarians who assisted on June 4th for the Miracle League and requested volunteers for the final Miracle League Day and picnic on June 11th. Pat Dye announced the Transition Dinner for June 20 which will begin at 6 p.m. with a No-Host Bar. It is a Caribbean Night so dress appropriately for the “tropics.” Pat Dye working with Mike Walter of the Kirkland Reporter will accept paid business advertisements for the Rotary insert. Deadline is June 20 for submissions. Our club’s participation in the Eastside Baby Corner Challenge was $410 and, while not “winning” against another Rotary club, the donations of baby items will go for a good cause.
Presentations: Brandon Honcoop reinitiated Chris Rusnak in the classification of Photographer and gave him his pin, red badge and red badge materials.
Special Announcements: Katherine Kehrli reminded Rotarians that, if they join Celebrated Chefs (www.celebratedchefs.com), 5% of their bill from various designated restaurants can be automatically donated to the Rotary Club of Kirkland. Katherine stated the process is easy and she will be at the upcoming June 11th meeting to swipe an individual’s credit card so he or she can participate in this program.
Introduction to the Speaker: Dan Bartel discussed the importance of the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. Rotary has two types of programs: one is a year-long exchange and the other is a summer exchange. Starting in 1965, the Rotary Club of Kirkland was one of the first Clubs to become actively involved with Youth exchange, hosting more than 45 students from 21 different countries. One year there were six exchange students in the Kirkland Club. Currently, Caroline Fletcher, a junior at Juanita High School, will be spending a summer as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in Lyon, France.
Dan also proceeded to thank all the 20 Rotarians who participated with special activities with Jason Wang, Rotary Youth Exchange Student in our Club. There was also a special thanks to the two host families The Trigg/Hauger Families as well as Wilma (and Dan) Bartel.
Program Speaker: Jason Wang, Rotary Youth Exchange Student
Jason gave a marvelous presentation of himself, his life in Taiwan and his experiences in the United States. He put together a PowerPoint show with slides of himself as a young boy, his sister, his mother and father along with interesting and funny commentary through his entire show. He also showed and discussed the typography of Taiwan as well as the animals in Taiwan, the importance of Chinese New Year and various types of Taiwanese food. He showed us the panorama of Taiwan from Mt. Ali and Shei-Pa National Park where there is snow, but no skiing.
Jason talked about life with his host families, the Harpers and the Bartels, as well as his U.S. school life which is very different (and apparently more fun) than his schooling in Taiwan. Best classes in the U.S. were Robotics, Forensics, Wrestling and the Math Club. Jason had many wonderful Rotary activities and thanked the Club extensively on three different times during the presentation.
At the conclusion of his informative and often funny remarks, the Rotarian audience gave Jason a standing ovation. Jason’s speech was very enjoyable.
Lucky Ticket Drawing led by Jim Going. The winning ticket number was held by Jerry Campo who gave the ticket to Jason and he drew the Ace of Clubs, but not the Joker. The Joker Pool stands around $375. The lucky ticket holder automatically gets $10 for having the lucky ticket and a chance at the joker pot.
The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
Submitted by Scribe: Sue Greenfeld
Below is a photo Alex Shinstrom & Daniel at the Miracle Leage game on Saturday. Thanks to Chris Rusnak for the great photos.
