The Rotary Club of Kirkland held a meeting on June 3, 2024 at the St. John’s Episcopal Church in downtown Kirkland.
President Gary Cohn called the meeting to order at 6:25 p.m.
In recognition of the recent Memorial Day holiday, John Storbeck led us in the flag salute. John served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army infantry in Viet Nam during 1969-71.
Rotary Minute:
Membership chair Rick Walter presented a Rotary Minute to the members and guests and led us in a recitation of the Four-Way Test.
Attending were Bob Auslander, Cody Baker, Michelle Cazeau, Gary Cohn, Sue Cohn, Jocelyn Ellison, Rashmi Garimella, Margie Glenn, Isabelle Kalisa, Chris Kelly-Storbeck, Kate Koslosky, Jim Meniketti, Kristin Olson, Rick Ostrander, Joanne Primavera, John Pruitt, Daniel Sada Caraveo, John Storbeck, Alice Volpe, and Rick Walter.
Our greeters this evening were Michelle Cazeau and Kate Koslosky.
Visiting Rotarians:
Our visiting Rotarian this evening was Manassey Tetteh, a member of Rotary Club of Accra-Osu Oxford Street in Ghana, and who is a candidate for membership through the transfer process. This is Manny’s third meeting with the club.
Guests:
This evening the club hosted its annual Rotary Scholarship Awards. Guests of the club were seven Lake Washington High School seniors and their parents and other guests: Scholarship Awardee Noah Aguirre with father Richard Aguirre and mother Jenna Aguirre; Scholarship Awardee Brandon Groodfried with father Mike Goodfried and mother Kim Goodfried; Scholarship Awardee Lexi Storey with father Chad Storey; Scholarship Awardee Claire Vaitkus with father Keith Vaitkus and mother Angela Vaitkus; Scholarship Awardee Brooke Lewis with father Michael Lewis and mother Sarah Lewis; Scholarship Awardee Miguel De Anda with mother Griselda Rivera and godmother Maricel Moctezuma; Scholarship Awardee Katherine Montgomery and her mother Colleen Reilly and guest Christy Laufman.
Along with the students and their guests, Nichole Swanger, Lake Washington High School Career Specialist, was a guest of the club representing the school. Jocelyn Ellison came forward to present Nichole an engraved crystal award in recognition of her significant contribution to the club’s scholarship program. Nichole coordinates all of the information distribution on the high school campus, and helps students who encounter application barriers.
In addition to the student and their guests, the club was delighted to have in attendance Alan Hoviland, former club member and spouse of Alice Volpe. Alice and Alan provided the nautical theme (“Smooth Sailing”) table decorations for the meeting this evening.
Announcements:
President Gary shared several announcements.
The next club meeting is June 10, it is a virtual meeting, and real estate economist Matthew Gardner is the speaker.
The next in-person club meeting is the club’s Leadership Transition Dinner on June 17. It will be held at St. John’s Episcopal Church. Registration was set by the board at $60, and fee and dinner choice are due by Wednesday, June 12 at noon. Please sign up for set-up and clean-up tasks; the volunteer buttons are on the website.
Gary reminded members of the opportunity to attend the District Celebration on Monday, June 24 in Bellevue (it’s a bye week for the club). Rick Walter has assembled a half a table of club members to attend, and there is room at the table for five more. Contact Rick to arrange to attend. The $110 registration fee is billed through the club.
Teams of people are working on identifying and trying out viable venues for the club’s meetings. As of this meeting, we plan to meet at three different venues: July 1 at the Kirkland Eagles on Central Way, July 22. at L’Experience Paris on the boulevard, and August 5 at Sparrow in Juanita Bay.
Dues invoices for 2024-2025 were issued June 1 and are due by June 30 in order to maintain membership. Two reminders will be sent.
The Great Kirkland Rotary Rummage Sale is July 13, and thanks to Cody Baker the remaining yard signs are available in the back of Marsh Hall.
Happy Bucks:
While there was not a round of Happy Bucks at this meeting, Rick Walter contributed $100 because of his extensive happiness. Thank you, Rick!
Program:
President Gary introduced Jocelyn Ellison as youth service and scholarship chair. Together they called to the lectern, introduced, and presented the following scholarship awards to these Lake Washington High School students:
- Noah Aguirre received a Kirkland Rotary Scholarship of $3,000.
- Brandon Goodfried received both a Kirkland Rotary Scholarship and a Business & Accounting Scholarship, the latter provided by Hutchinson & Walter CPAs and Rick Walter, totaling $4,000.
- Lexi Storey received a Kirkland Rotary Scholarship of $3,000.
- Claire Vaitkus received a Kirkland Rotary Scholarship of $3,000.
- Katherine Montgomery received a Charles O. Morgan Communications Scholarship of $3,000.
- Brooke Lewis received a Kirkland Rotary Scholarship of $3,000.
- Miguel De Anda received a Kirkland Rotary Technical Education Scholarship of $1,500 provided by Joanne Primavera.
- (Erisa Baba was unable to attend the awards dinner, however she received the Step Scholarship of $1,500.)
In concluding the meeting, President Gary thanked the students’ parents and guests who support them in their education, greeters for the evening Michelle Cazeau and Kate Koslosky, John Storbeck for the flag salute, Alice Volpe and Alan Hoviland for the very nice table decorations and for setting up with Rick Walter, Rick and Peggy Ostrander for signing up for clean up duty, Rick Walter for presenting a Rotary minute and conducting the flag salute, Bob Auslander and Margie Glenn for table cloth laundry duty, in his absence Dave Aubry for sponsoring our church meeting room accommodations, and The Catering Company for the wonderful food.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:14 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted
Gary Cohn
Acting, Acting Scribe for Dave Aubry, Acting Scribe