The Rotary Club of Kirkland held an in-person meeting at the Eagles Club in Kirkland. Gary Cohn acted as president for this meeting. He called the meeting to order at 6:16 p.m.
Al Hoviland led us in the Pledge; Rashmi Garimella was our Greeter.
Attendees were: David Aubry, Cody Baker, Scott Becker, Gary Cohn, Sue Cohn*, Donald Dicks, Jocelyn Ellison, Doug Evanson, Rashmi Garimella, Isabelle Kalisa, Kate Koslosky, Laura Loomis, Kristin Olson, Rick Ostrander, Rémy Pairault, Angela Pritchett, John Pruitt, Manassey Tetteh, and Alice Volpe. *Attended via Zoom.
Guests included: former member Al Hoviland, guest of Alice Volpe; Charles Loomis, guest of Laura Loomis; and Daniel Kao, guest of Gary Cohn.
Rotary Moment:
Don Dicks gave us a Rotary Moment, reminding us that this Thursday, October 24, is World Polio Day. He recounted a brief history of Rotary International’s leading role in the fight against polio. He informed us that amazing progress has been made, but pockets of the disease remain, mostly in conflict areas where services are almost non-existent. Worldwide, Rotarians have contributed more than two billion dollars, and countless hours vaccinating kids around the world. In September, 550,000 kids in Gaza were vaccinated; teams will return to Gaza soon to continue the effort.
Announcements:
Cody Baker inducted new members Angela Pritchett and Rémy Pairault.
Laura Loomis was welcomed back to the Club.
Gary Cohn shared that Stephanie Walter reported Rick came through his surgery and will be convalescing at home for the next few months. Members are encouraged to drop him a line.
John Pruitt will be spearheading the Thanksgiving Baskets for John Muir Elementary. There is a donation option on the website to contribute to the baskets.
Holiday Gift Shopping will be December 14 at Fred Meyer in Kirkland, and the Holiday Gift Wrapping Party and Dinner (and annual meeting) will be December 16. Terry and Michelle Cole have very generously offered a $2,500 match for donations to the Holiday Gift Shopping Fund, and Terry Cole plans to lead the gift purchase day at Fred Meyer. Doug Evanson has agreed to coordinate the donation gathering and preparations for the shopping event, and Joanne Primavera will coordinate the evening activities. The price for the Holiday Gift Wrapping Party and Dinner is $50 per person – members and guests may register and pay on the club’s website.
Gary Cohn reminded us to bring raffle prizes so we can go back to the ticket drawing event at meetings. That and Happy Dollars pays the $100 per meeting fee to use the Eagles Club.
Terry Cole has donated some choice Seahawks tickets for this Saturday [10/26] to auction to members later this evening.
Doug Evanson announced the Valentine’s Dinner event will be at the Kirkland Woman's Club on February 10. Registration will open shortly; cost is $50 per person.
Cody Baker passed out flyers for a food and fund drive through Banner Bank – ending Oct 31. Drop off items or money at Banner Bank.
The Rummage Sale is planned to be at Lake Washington High School, probably June 28-29, but conflicting uses for the gym are causing us to look at Rose Hill Middle School and two nearby elementary schools as well.
The Salmon Bake will be at Bob Auslander’s house August 25, and again the dinner fee is $50.
We need a few more Rotarians to join the Eagles so we can continue to enjoy the facility [a member must be present at every Rotary meeting at the Eagles Club for us to access the bar]. Kate Koslosky announced that she is in the process of joining the Eagles. Gary added that Rick Ostrander and John Storbeck will also submit membership applications.
Jocelyn Reiter, chair of the Youth Service Committee, announced that we gave six $3,000 scholarships this year and she needs donations in order to continue the program at that level. The members of the committee are meeting after the club meeting to make the student of the month selections.
Alice Volpe, chair of the Vocational Service Committee, would like members at meetings to relate how their actions in the community provide services to the community outside official club activities.
Isabell Kalisa, chair of the International Service Committee, is looking for assistance with projects in Uganda, Ghana, and India. We also usually partner with other clubs through the District 5030 programs or the Rotary International programs to multiply our efforts.
Cody Baker announced that the club will have a booth at Pumpkins in the Park this Saturday at Marina Park from 11 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. He has several folks signed up for the 11-1 shift and the 1-3 shift to man the booth but encouraged members to stop by and assist as needed. Check the club website for more information.
Presiding Past President Gary Cohn reminded us of the proposed revisions to Article 9 of the Bylaws accommodate vacancies in the treasurer position. The Board approved the changes. It was moved by Scott Becker and seconded by Cody Baker to approve the proposed revisions to Article 9 as distributed to membership, and attendees approved the changes unanimously. After the issue was disposed of, Gary reminded us we received a recommendation from the board to make the membership chair, programs and speakers chair, and sergeant-at-arms voting members of the board, and to clarify that vacant offices are not included in the quorum count, and to change the title of the spouse/partner membership and clarify eligibility, and that those issues would be voted at the Nov. 4 regular meeting.
Program:
Gary Cohn introduced our speaker, Carol Reitz of the Rotary Club of Bainbridge Island. She spoke at some length and detail about their major [and only] fundraiser, the Bainbridge Rummage Sale and Auction. Almost everything she discussed is available in the binder that her club shared with us three or so years ago.
This year they grossed over $800,000 and netted over $600,000 at an event that takes about 10 days to set up but only 6 hours of sales time. It works because 2,300 of community members are involved, The club has 145 members, the event has been on-going for more than 60 years, and the event is tightly and thoroughly organized and managed. The event has become an integral part of Bainbridge’s community culture, with folks planning on donating items and buying certain items almost every year. A good example is a family with young children who buy small bikes and then donate them in a couple of years and buy bigger bikes as the children grow.
They carefully manage pricing, security, goods sorting, publicity, and community involvement. They only recently began seeking sponsorships to cover some costs and have recently been working on reducing the disposal costs of unsold items. To do these things, they have a network of community organizations that take unsold items; other groups provide volunteer labor. They take good care of their volunteers, providing food and snacks, and clear communication to everyone involved. Some community volunteer groups such as school athletic teams can receive small grants, but no one is paid a wage.
Some useful ideas I heard include a silent auction of high-value, high-interest items; accepting credit and debit cards rather than insisting on cash for purchases, finding more groups to take unsold items, GREATLY increasing our publicity efforts, especially getting the word out months in advance. We need to find ways to make the experience ENJOYABLE for volunteers rather than a chore. Bainbridge also has “Preview Day” so folks can see what will be offered the next day. They also allow volunteers who work at least six volunteer hours to buy before the event opens. Do not take all things people try to donate – see Bainbridge’s website for a list.
Pay stations are in each department – this can reduce theft.
There were a number of questions from Rotarians – many of the answers will be found in the manual Bainbridge shared with us.
Rick Ostrander did Happy Dollars – many Rotarians were VERY happy as he collected about $250.
Gary Cohn put Terry Cole’s Saturday Seahawk tickets up for bid. Not many football fans were present – they went for $400 total, and then another $250 was added to the price, and were then given to Jocelyn Reiter’s daughter to use.
The meeting was adjourned about 7:35 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
David Aubry
Acting Scribe