The Rotary Club of Kirkland held a meeting on March 14, 2022 at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel.
President Dave DeBois rang the bell at 6:14 p.m., calling the club meeting to order.
Steve Shinstrom led the membership in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Attending were George Anderson, David Aubry, Bob Auslander, Rich Bergdahl, Gary Cohn*, David DeBois, Monica Fratita*, Margie Glenn, Brandon Honcoop, Jim Meniketti, Joanne Primavera, John Pruitt, Steve Shinstrom, Patti Smith*, John Storbeck, Brian Tucker, and Rick Walter. *Attended the meeting online.
Guests:
Dr. Saadia Pekkaman of the University of Washington, our speaker this evening, was our guest, as were Lyndsey Tews of the Rotary Club of Lake Chelan, who is interested in our Rotary club, Doug Evanson, who is also interested in joining the club and was back for another visit, the parents of our student of the month, Lisa Auslander and Scott Densmore, and Lizzie’s best friend, Andi Raubacher. There were numerous guests on Zoom, starting with our special program guest Ben Sterciuc coming to the meeting from Romania, where it was 3:15 a.m. on Tuesday. In addition, there were a number of guest Rotarians and guests of Rotarians, including friends from the Rotary Club of Kirkland Downtown and the Rotary Club of Lynnwood: Catherine Burness, Annette Grimm, Linda Harris, Natalya Harris, Nancy Pasternak, Derick Pasternak, and Phil Smiley, and Debbie Bodal who also represents Rotary District 5030.
When we think of weapons of war we usually focus on weapons designed to cause death or destruction or both, such as bombs, grenades, artillery and the like. We are seeing these things used to devastating effect in Ukraine as a result of Vladimir Putin’s brutal and unprovoked war on Ukraine.
At part of our Rotary meeting on March 14, we discussed the opportunity to turn something as mundane as a 10 passenger van into a weapon of mercy and humanity. We have started to accept donations to provide a 10 passenger van to an organization working tirelessly to ease the plight being suffered by hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, mostly women and children, fleeing the carnage that Putin has inflicted on their homeland. Many of these refugees have walked miles in bitter cold carrying what few possessions they could manage to carry. In many cases they are also carrying infants. A van would help immeasurably in helping these distressed people as they try to navigate this horrific situation.
Dave DeBois, the branch manager of Banner Bank in Kirkland, and the current president of the Kirkland Rotary, is accepting donations to an account established at Banner Bank in Kirkland to collect the funds necessary to make this purchase. Please consider making a donation to Vital Solutions or through our club's website. It will make an extremely difficult situation at least a bit more tolerable. [Editor's Note: Donations to assist in this crisis can be made at Banner Bank in Kirkland, through Vital Solutions, a Kirkland-based non-governmental agency, or via this club's website using the DONATE page and selecting "Ukraine Refugee Aid" for your designation.]
Rotary's second annual International speaker series kicked off March 14 with University of Washington professor Saadia Pekkaman engaging club members with an intriguing presentation on international alliances around security and space. On March 21, Larry Logue, District 5030 International Chair, will provide club members an overview of international project possibilities, review the range of international projects recently undertaken by District 5030, and then discuss some general grant related topics and resources available to help grant writers. On April 4, Judy Ginn, with the Seattle International Club, will discuss how she became interested in developing international projects and provide Rotarians an overview of her most current project. Then on April 18, we’ll join the Rotary Club of the Pacific Northwest Ending Sex Trafficking onlyonZoomat5:30p.m. to hear Judy Runbeck describe her award-winning work to end international sex trafficking. Finally, on April 25, Megan Olson (our own Kristin Olson’s daughter), who is a diplomat with the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, will talk with members about what’s it’s like working in a U.S. Embassy. Thank you to Joanne Primavera for once again organizing this speaker series. For more information on Rotary programs, visit the Speakers page.
With the gradual decline in COVID-19 virus infection rates, and growth vaccination rates, many groups are returning to in-office work environments and the resumption of more in-person meetings. Hopefully, our Rotary club can look forward to increased attendance at Rotary meetings, service projects, and celebrations. There is little debate that the virus has negatively impacted the work of service clubs through affecting peoples' ability and willingness to gather together.
Our Rotary club's meeting attendance is recorded in the Rotary District 5030 system, and now in our own ClubRunner system as well. The chart above provides our membership a snapshot of our club's attendance rates --varying from 32% to 51%-- over the past two months. Club members will now be able to chart their own attendance, as well as the club's overall meeting participation rates.