April 13, 2020 - Third on-line meeting of the Rotary Club of Kirkland.
 
The meeting began a bit after 6PM, as arranged by James Nevers, using his Zoom account.
 
Attending were – James Nevers, Dave Aubry, Steve Shinstrom, Margie Glenn, Kristin Olson, Amy Mutal, Rick Ostrander, Dan Bartel, Stefan Landvogt, Bill Taylor, Patty Sims, John Pruitt, Joanne Primavera, Amy Mutal, George Anderson, David Debois, Rich Bergdahl, Mike Hunter, Brandon Honcoop, John Woodbery, Terry Cole, Patti Smith, Russ & Tricia Stromberg, Monica Fratita, Gary Cohn, Bob Auslander, Scott Becker, Bella Chaffey, Cheryl Guenther, Rick Walter.
 
Let me know if I missed anyone.
 
We had a speaker – another first!  Steve Crider of Skagit Valley Organic Farming spoke and showed a video illustrating how his organization is assisting people to get into farming, to learn how to run and grow a business.  The focus is on people, primarily poor and disadvantaged, who want to get into establish themselves in sustainable, organic farming, especially Latino farmers – the program is bilingual, Spanish & English.  Viva Farms, where much of the training takes place, is located along State Highway 20 between I-5 and Anacortes.
For this program to succeed, the farmers also need access to infrastructure to move products from field to market, as well as field equipment to allow efficient farming and harvesting.  The program functions as a bridge to full-time, larger-scale farming.
 
Our speaker next week will be our own Stefan Landvogt of Microsoft, discussing Artificial Intelligence and its applications to our lives.
 
We will have another on-line meeting next week, at 6:00.  Committees can give their reports.
 
Respectfully Submitted
David Aubry
Acting Scribe