Meeting Date: Monday, October 29, 2012

Scribe:  Elizabeth “DeeDee” Rusnak

The meeting is called to order by President, Patti Smith at 6:30 p.m.

The flag salute is led by Tom Sturgell.  Tonight’s Greeter is Diana Kohn.

Inspiration Moment:

The Inspiration Moment was introduced by Terry Cole.  The topic was a rhyme provided by a friend who attended a linguistic conference. What’s the difference between “complete” and “finish”.  If you marry the right person, you are complete.  If you marry the wrong person, you are finish. If you mess around with the wrong person after marrying the right person, you are completely finished.

Introduction of Visitors:

Student of the Month: Stephanie Langford

Other Visitors: Steve and Sarah Langford (parents of Stephanie Langford)

Club Announcements: Club Service, Community Service, Vocational, International, or Foundation

Pat Swenson announced that she received a commitment from Barnes & Noble (B&N) to receive a discount of 40% to 60% off books that are purchased in bulk, (which are the books that will be signed by our speakers and given to John Muir Elementary library). This is possible because literacy is B&N’s focus, and they recognize that our mission is aligned with theirs. In addition, our Rotary Club will participate in the gift wrapping event that B&N provides to its customers, and donations we receive from the gift wrapping are for the Club to retain and put back into purchasing books for the school.  Gift wrapping dates will be December 13th and December 19th at the Bellevue Barnes & Noble store. Pat Swenson will be providing sign ups.

Don Dicks announced that next Monday is Foundation Night, and all are encouraged to donate to Rotary International Foundation.  All donations of $100 or more will be matched, and full credit provided to the donating Rotarian.  This is a great way to add to the amount needed to reach your Paul Harris Fellow goal. Past District Govenor Don Gregory will be speaking (in replacement of PDG Mike Montgomery, who was called away by FEMA).

Special Announcements:

President Patti asked for a show of hands for anyone interested in participating as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army.  LOTS of hands went up (thank you Rotarians!), so a schedule for sign-ups will be coordinated for December 2012.
Elizabeth “DeeDee” Rusnak introduced our Student of the Month, Stephanie Langford.  Stephanie has been a member of the National Honor Society at Juanita High School for all 4-years of high school. Because of that, she will graduate with her gold cord this year. She was also the recipient of the Paul Robeson Scholar Athlete Award in 9th grade; and the Paul & Marsha Dowd Merit Scholarship in 10th and 11th grade for her two summers of studying dance in Chicago. She has been an active dancer at the Pacific Northwest Ballet and has taught children in poverty about ballet. She found out today that she was accepted to the University of Idaho, and is awaiting responses from other colleges where she applied. Stephanie’s final talk included thanks to the Rotary Club of Kirkland for honoring her with the award of Student of the Month, as it has increased her awareness of Rotary. She also thanked the Woodmark for their great meals. After Stephanie’s talk, Elizabeth presented Stephanie with a Certificate, 300 lbs of food donated in her name to Rotary First Harvest, and a yellow ducky to remember the Duck Dash event as the source of fund raising for our club.

Happy Dollars:

Happy Dollars were collected by Rick Walter. Lots of good stories (and jokes) were shared, and Kirkland Rotarians have much to be thankful. Thanks were echoed throughout the room to Steve and Patty Shinstrom for hosting Bunko 2012. There were 31 attendees and lots of fun, and Alice Volpe won the “Ugly Sweater” contest (even though Steve’s jacket stunned the crowd). Steve said he and Patty look forward to hosting Bunko 2013 next year.

Program Speaker: Shari Storm, introduced by Chris Morgan. Shari Storm is a member of the Emerald City Rotary is the mother of three girls. Her bio can be found at: http://www.sharistorm.com/bio/.

Program Topic: Her book: “Motherhood is the New MBA”

About the program:

After having her first child, Shari learned that she became better at her job once she was a mom. It helped her to be more empathetic and organized. She became a better manager and leader. Her advise book, published by St. Martin’s Press, was released in 2009 and has been featured in Time Magazine, the Costco Connection, NW  Cable News Television, and Martha Stewart Whole Living Radio, to name a few. The book is intended for managers, and talks about how human nature is the same at age 2 and age 62: that we all want to operate in an environment that is safe and predictable.  She interviewed 60 women for her book, all with various backgrounds. Some main points discussed included: 1) Remember that getting dressed can take all morning: managing people through change; 2) You are further along in the process than your employees are; 3) you have more control over events; 4) remember you see the big picture more readily than your employees can. Shari shared that her experience is if a manager asks good quality people to step up to the plate, they will.  Shari had copies of her book available after the meeting.

Lucky Ticket Drawing led by Jim Going.  The winning ticket number was held by: D.V. Hurst. There were only 3 cards remaining. Unfortunately, D.V. didn’t pull the joker, so now there is one card remaining plus the joker. The pot is pushing $8,000. D.V. did receive $10 for having the lucky ticket and a chance at the joker pot.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

Submitted by Scribe:

Elizabeth “DeeDee” Rusnak