The Rotary Club of Kirkland held a meeting on October 24, 2022 at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel.

President Amy Mutal rang the bell at 6:15 p.m., calling the club meeting to order.  Most of the power at the hotel was out, as well as the internet, so no one had to struggle to get us connected.

Joanne Primavera led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Attending were George Anderson, Pete Anderson, David Aubry, Bob Auslander, David DeBois, Doug Evanson, Margie Glenn, Jim Meniketti, Amy Mutal, Kristin Olson, Rick Ostrander, Joanne Primavera, John Pruitt, John Storbeck, and Rick Walter.

Guests:

This evening’s guest was the presenter, Joe Cunningham.

Greeters:

Jim Meniketti manned the front desk.

Announcements, Club Business, Committee Reports:

Kirkland Rotary Foundation President John Pruitt reported that we had a very successful Gala and Auction on Saturday.  He called on Dave Aubry to report on set-up, operations, and take-down.  Dave recounted that thanks to board members coming early to assist with set-up, and then helping during and after the event, everything went smoothly.  Dave also thanked Jim Meniketti for managing and accurately recording all the financial transactions during the event.

Dave also thanked Rich Bergdahl for once again being the dishwasher technician extraordinaire, Alice Volpe for artfully decorating the tables with a Halloween theme, and Rick Walter for expertly and painlessly extracting money from attendees during the live auction portion of the event.  Plus, almost everyone present was able to contribute items to auction and to assist in some way in the functioning of the event – a participation in the event’s that was gratefully acknowledged.

Rick Ostrander reported on the plethora of items large and small that generated interest as well as money, from attendees.
 
Jim Meniketti reported that we will net a bit over $5,000, a very creditable showing for our first such event in three years.  The fact that St. John’s Episcopal Church allowed us to use the very attractive venue saved a good deal of money.

John Pruitt also reported that former club members Dan Bartell and Bill Taylor, with wife Sandy, attended the event and were warmly welcomed.  He also reported that socially, everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves, which was one of the major goals of the event.

Rick Walter reminded us that Rotary will have a booth at Pumpkins in the Park on Saturday at Marina Park.  Several Rotarians will assist by volunteering at the booth; Rick invited all Rotarians to stop by.
Joanne Primavera reported that Rotary will be ringing the bell at the Salvation Army Kettle at QFC at Kirkland Urban for two Saturdays in December.  Joanne also reported that she and Doug Evanson met with the new, very enthusiastic social worker at John Muir Elementary and that winter coats have been ordered for the kids who signed up at the school.  The coats will be delivered this week and next.  Unfortunately, the club will no longer play the same role in distributing the coats that we did in the past.  Another COVID casualty.  The same social worker will be contacting selected families to see what they would like to eat for Thanksgiving dinner, as the past practice of providing traditional turkey dinner ingredients does not mesh with the school’s international diversity.  Many of the recent arrivals in the U.S. have different dietary tastes from what we are used to.  Joanne also reported that we are planning a Holiday Party combined with our usual gift-purchasing and wrapping event, as we successfully did last year.  Dave Aubry will see if we can again use the venue at St. John’s; we will do no cooking.  The event will be catered like last year, which everyone agreed was very successful.  Joanne will donate the wine for the party and Dave Aubry will do the selecting and purchasing.  As Joanne will be out of town at that time, Doug Evanson will do the actual event.  We will deliver the wrapped items afterward (not the same day).  Rick Walter suggested that we also invite Bella Chaffee and her husband.  She did a great job on the event last year.

President Amy explained again that we are actively looking for a new meeting location for next year, as the Marriott can no longer guarantee Monday evenings.  She thanked everyone for staying involved during this awkward time, as we try to reestablish acceptable routines.

Gary Cohn is working on development of a survey to gauge member preferences on our meetings.
 
Happy Bucks:

There were no Happy Bucks this evening.

Program:

President Amy introduced our speaker, Joe Cunningham of Washington Autism Alliance (WAA), an advocacy group.  WAA works to raise awareness of autism socially and politically, and to improve services that are available to families and people impacted by autism.

He related his personal experiences with his own autistic child: trying to come to terms with this situation, to learn about it, and to secure assistance for his child so the child can more successfully navigate school and society.  He also spoke about WAA’s work in various arenas with the goal of easing the burden on families and institutions who cope with autistic individuals, and fostering the develop of therapies that can help sufferers overcome their issues and become successful members of society.  The scope of these efforts encompasses family life, schools, work environments, and social situations.  Autistic individuals can have varying degrees of difficulty in any or all of these situations.  Successful treatment for children involves not just the individual, but assisting all family members to become people who can help the sufferer cope with this condition.

Early intervention is critical to the individual’s ability to successfully cope with autism.

There were quite a number of interesting and informed questions from Rotarians.

We were reminded that there will be no meeting next Monday, which is Halloween.

Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 7:04 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted

Dave Aubry, Acting Scribe