The Rotary Club of Kirkland held an in-person meeting on January 6, 2025 at the Fraternal Order of Eagles in downtown Kirkland.
Past President Joanne Primavera presided at this meeting and called the meeting to order at 6:16 p.m.
John Pruitt led us in the Pledge; John Storbeck acted as Greeter.
Members Attending: David Aubry, Cody Baker, Gary Cohn,* Sue Cohn*, Don Dicks*, Jocelyn Ellison, Laura Loomis, Jim Meniketti, Rick Ostrander, Rémy Pairault, Joanne Primavera, Angela Pritchett, John Pruitt, Daniel Sada Caraveo, John Storbeck, Pat Swenson. *Attended via Zoom.
Guests included Anna Aubry, guest of Dave Aubry; Charles Loomis, guest of Laura Loomis; Rep. Roger Goodman and Liv Grohn, parents of our student of the month; later on Joanne Primavera corrected her failure to introduce Lake Washington High School's college and career specialist, Nicole Swanger, and so ‘fined’ herself $10.
Rotary Moment:
The Rotary Moment was combined with the award of a Paul Harris Fellowship +3 to Joanne Primavera by John Pruitt.
Mr. Pruitt spent a few minutes reminding us of the important work being done world-wide by Rotary International. This work is made possible by the support and participation of long-time members such as Dr. Primavera, now celebrating her 25th year as a Rotarian. She recounted how she has set up an automatic monthly donation of $25. RI has a 4-Star rating as a charity; its endowment pays for its overhead and operating expenses, meaning that 100% of contributions go toward its various projects world-wide.
Student of the Month:
Jocelyn Reiter Ellison introduced Rotary Student of the Month Felix Goodman, with whom your scribe and wife Anna had a very interesting conversation before the meeting. Daniel Sada Caraveo used an interview format to assist us in learning more about Felix. He attends Lake Washington High School and has applied to a number of prestigious colleges; his first choice is the University of California at Berkeley. [Go Bears!!] He plans to study electrical engineering and computers at Berkeley.
He told us about his courses at LWHS and about his other community activities. He assists his mother with her home-based business, and is inspired by his parents’ community engagement and by one of his teachers, who continues to teach even though “retired”. Felix also has been helping to rework various electronic tools at Lake Washington.
Interesting family factoids – Dad has been in the state legislature for 19 years and belongs to the University District Rotary Club in Seattle; mom was Rotary Student-of-the Month in 1984 and was chauffeured to the meeting by the legendary Lee Johnson.
Announcements:
February 10 is the Rotary Valentine’s Dinner at St. John’s in Kirkland. Register and pay $50 per person on the club website.
Cody Baker reminded us of the upcoming Rummage Sale. He is still working on a potential name change, having learned that a number of these types of events are named rummage sales. The location will probably be Rose Hill Middle School, June 24-29. We may go to 2 sale days. The current focus is on securing sponsorships and reducing event costs. Let Cody know of any potential candidates for sponsorships. He is looking to change the sale format such that there are separate departments, managed by one or two people, and where items are paid for before leaving that department. (This is how the Bainbridge Rotary sale is organized.)
Jocelyn Reiter Ellison, chair of the Youth Service Committee this year, is hoping that the college scholarship application process will begin in February. She solicited financial donations to be routed through the Kirkland Rotary Foundation.
John Storbeck related his phone conversation with Rick Walter, and urged members to stay in contact with Rick as he copes with the difficult recovery process following his cancer surgery. His recovery is on schedule but it is tougher and slower than he had hoped.
Former member and club president Gary Redfern is in Memory care – keep him in your thoughts/prayers. Contact Ms. Primavera for more information.
Program:
John Storbeck introduced our speaker, Helen Banks Routon, who is the director of development and community relations at KidVantage, formerly Eastside Baby Corner. KidVantage was founded in 1990 and has grown to three locations in King and Kitsap counties. KidVantage helps children have what they need to grow, play, learn and thrive by providing essential care, safety, and health goods for children who are experiencing the stresses of economic insecurity, systemic inequities, or family disruption.
She gave some details on how Kidvantage has evolved, what services they provide, and how they partner with organizations like Lake Washington School district in order to connect with families needing assistance, and to more efficiently distribute aid to clients.
Helen emphasized that 70% of the KidVantage budget comes from in-kind goods and services, 30% consists of cash that they need to obtain the rest of what they need. She showed us a short film on the organization and its work. One of the lesser-known facets of their services is the fact that assistance reduces stresses on their clients, allowing them to focus on succeeding rather than surviving.
The organization is mostly staffed by volunteers; there are a total of 18 employees, mostly part-time.
There were several questions from Rotarians.
Joanne reminded everyone to watch their email for a Rotary Leadership Program flyer, the event to take place on Mercer Island.
We did a short Happy Dollars program, indicating that there a number of happy Rotarians – Rick Ostrander in particular is very happy, donating in honor of his 80th birthday plus a family celebration.
Cody Baker did the raffle, producing three winners – Chuck Loomis, Joanne Primavera, and Manny Tetteh.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:18 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
David Aubry – Acting Scribe