We were all cheerfully greeted and welcomed by the gregarious John “Hugo” Hughes, processed efficiently by the front desk manned by Roy Williams, sold raffle ticket by Bob Rosso and was all made possible by the fine work of Tana Baumler’s set up and tear down.  Breakfast was served promptly at 7  and President Pisani called the meeting to order at 7:30 AM with Bob Russell leading the salute to the flag, invocation by Marty Dennis, and Al Marsh leading us in song. 

     Roy Williams introduced the guests: Norm Noble from the Sun Lakes AZ Rotary Club and two past exchange students, Anni Laasonen (1999-2000) from Finland and Rosa Faoro (2004/05) from Essen, Germany.

    Jorge Gonzales introduced our guest speaker Don Kendall, VP and GM of King County Publications and Sound Publications.  Don was a past Rotarian and Paul Harris Fellow.  In the era of big media newspapers that have been losing readership and market penetration, TV/Cable and Internet news outlets, Sound publishing has found success and growth in local markets. It serves western Washington and northwestern Oregon communities with individual paper deliveries. Sound Publishing newspapers focus on local news content fulfilling a valuable and growing marketplace by providing readers with localized, useful news coverage that is rarely seen in metro daily newspapers and other mass media outlets. This strategy allows advertisers to target a high percentage of households with strong readership.  There was a lively Q & A session and then President Pisani presented Don with a certificate in his name for a donation to Rotary First Harvest of 452 pounds of food.

The two visiting past-exchange students gave a brief update on their lives since their exchange-student days with us.  Anni graduated last fall in Business Administration majoring in Human Relations, became engaged two week ago, lives in Helsinki, and here for a two week visit.  Rosa graduated this year with a high GPA and will attend dental school, and will be visiting locally for about two months.  Also, her sister Anna Faoro was an exchange student with us in 1996/97.

The announcements made included: 

Saturday, July 28, 2007 will be the final work party before official opening of the Rotary park, with work parties starting at about 9:30 AM and finishing at about 11:30 AM followed by a BBQ. 

The 5^th Tuesday Social on July 31 will be a family picnic at Wilmot Gateway Park.  Hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, baked beans, cold drinks and coffee will be provided.  Those with last names A-K bring a dessert and L-Z bring a salad except potato salad that will be provided. 

Items for the October 6 Charity Auction are needed.  Only two items have been turned in so far and there are only two more months before the auction; procurement forms were available at each table. 

Chris and Gregg emphasized the need to sell pre-auction raffle tickets for the barrel full of premium Northwest wines and put on a little skit demonstrating how easy it is to sell the tickets. 

Joe Truglio stated advertising for the auction program book was going well with most of last year’s advertisers re-signing and $2,500 sold already.

President Pisani requested volunteers to fill two open position in the Club Administration Group–District Conference Coordinator and Special Event/5^th Tuesday Socials—and requested that those interested should see Bill Schink (note: after the meeting Erv DeSmet volunteered to take charge of Special Events/5^th Tuesday Socials – thanks Erv).

There were two birthdays this months.  Joe Truglio celebrated 61 years, he and Suzy their 39^th anniversary, the family business is excellent, but Joe is working less and playing more by giving his son-in-law more responsibility, and a big family reunion is planned for Sun River, Oregon in a couple of weeks.  Congratulations Joe and have a great time in SunRriver.   Terry Jarvis has new house (and we had a great 5^th Tuesday Social), married 42 years, claims to be the same age as Joe, Town of Grace is doing well and there are plans for a new Grace vineyard with specifics to unfold shortly.

The marble raffle pot was worth $42, but Marty Dennis was unable to draw the white marble.

The meeting was closed promptly at 8:30AM.