Rotary meeting minutes  3/17/2014
It is St Patrick’s Day!  [Unfortunately, that means corned beef and cabbage for dinner – your humble scribe abstained.]
Brian Tucker was our greeter
President Scott Rethke called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM.
Mike Hunter led us all in the Pledge of Allegiance.
President Scott reminded us all to pay for our attendance at the upcoming Kirkland Rotary Foundation dinner and auction this coming Saturday, March 22.  The cost is $22 per person.
Introductions:
Guests:
Student of the Month Manon Debuire from Lake Washington High School.  She recently received an award for a pottery sculpture she created.
Angela Pepke, back again.
Visiting Rotarians:
Doug Seto from Seattle 4 – his 4th or 5th visit.
New Rotarian Sam Myoda, also of Seattle 4.
Scott East of the Bellevue Club, a repeat visitor.
Announcements:
Mike Hunter reminded everyone that Jerry Campo will be collecting next week for the tickets to last weekend’s Everett Silvertips hockey game.  Everyone had a great time.
John Pruitt announced that he recently hosted a club Past Presidents meeting yesterday.  The meeting was held to help prepare him for his upcoming term as Club President.  He was advised to get well-organized and to have a good Board.
Bill Taylor announced that today was the 28th anniversary of his joining the club.  He said his uncle tried for 20 years to get him to join, before he actually did.
Rick Ostrander spoke about a past custom of Club meetings, that of having a ‘Rotary Minute’, in which an interesting fact about Rotary is discussed.  He noted that there is an article in a recent issue of the Rotary magazine about the new President of Rotary International, Gary C. K. Huang, from Taiwan.  His goal is to add 50,000 new Rotarians this year.  As part of that effort, he would like to see Rotary reestablished in China.  He believes also that Rotary has not promoted itself enough, especially regarding the work it does. [eds. note: AMEN]
Rick Walter did ‘Happy Dollars’.
Jason Overleese introduced our speaker Sara Paul of the American Cancer Society, who spoke on the history of the ACS and on its fund raiser, the Relay for Life.
Ms. Paul spoke about why she chose a career with the American Cancer Society.  She was diagnosed with a rare cancer at the age of three; after chemo, radiation, and surgery, she was cured.  The drugs she was treated with were developed with financing from ACS.
She spoke about the work done by ACS in the fields of research, education, and advocacy.  Their fund-raising effort is called ‘Relay for Life’.  The American Cancer Society was founded in 1913 – at that time cancer was not spoken of, and a diagnosis of cancer was considered a death sentence.   Ms. walked us through the growth of ACS’ efforts in fundraising, which led to the development of increasingly effective treatments.  Tests were developed to detect early cancers.  Knowledge was gained as to the various factors that increase cancer risks.
‘Relay for Life’ began in the 1980s – it is now the most successful non-profit fundraiser in history.  Ms. Paul’s theme is that one person can make a big difference.  Many of the steps forward in cancer prevention, treatment, diagnosis, and fundraising are because of the ideas and efforts of single individuals.
President Scott had the correct ticket but failed to draw the Joker.  The $10 he received and the ‘Happy Dollars’ went to Ms. Paul for ACS.
Meeting Adjourned at 7:35 PM.
Respectfully submitted
David Aubry
Acting Scribe.