Becky Clark covers April 8 mtg

Judging by the meager attendance at the April 8^th early morning meeting of Woodinville Rotarians, it was rather apparent that only the most hale and hearty of Rotaryville members were present. The general consensus was that those among us who are not quite as robust as to be able to withstand yet another cold, rainy and otherwise gloomy "Northwet" Spring Day fled to warmer climes. There were but two members of the female persuasion (Kathy Kill and yours truly) and but a smattering of those of the male persuasion. None the less, a great time was had by all. To those of you basking on the beach, eat your hearts out . . ..not only did we have enough grapes but lots of left over oatmeal, as well.

That being said, Prezident Elect, Chris Boland got his first taste of true presidential duties. The scheduled presentation was cancelled (due to presenters being somewhat south of the 49^th Parallel) and therefore our leader had to scramble at the last moment. Truth be told, he did quite well, by first asking all present to sing their favorite song (being that the songmeister was also absent). Someone does need to clue the Prezident Elect in, however, that not all favorite songs should be sung simultaneously. Seattle Men’s Choir, we are not.

In lieu of a formal presentation, Mr. Boland asked those present to share their thoughts on what they are passionate about outside of work and Rotary. It was a silent and thoughtful moment as Chris opened the floor by first sharing his passion. .. .that being his participation in The Mankind Project. The mission of this project is to change one man at a time and to encourage men to fully step into their masculinity and into integrity. By doing so, The Mankind Project hopes to help make better fathers, better husbands and better men. Chris has recently been involved in six retreats in the Columbia Gorge and southern Oregon. He shared with the group that the work has been incredibly rewarding.

For those of you who might be interested in further information, the web site address is www.mkpnw.org.

Jorge Gonzalez shared his passion for volunteering at Children’s Hospital. He was originally invited by the Duffields to tour Children’s Hospital and became involved in the volunteer program there. He has been involved in the orientation process for new volunteers once a month for the past 15 years and also finds his experience to be very rewarding.

Jon Bylin shared his passion for rescuing dogs. Over the past seven months, he has rescued six dogs; animals that otherwise would have been euthanized. They have found it to be great practice for the kids and have found great meaning in bringing new life to these dogs. He did say, however, that their own Yorkies are happy to be currently on their own sans the company of other dogs.

Erv DeSmet related the story of a previous client whom he visited several years ago and found her back yard to be a Certified National Wildlife Refuge, with a total of at least 15 bird feeders. Following in her footsteps, Erv has had a “blast” over the past couple of years, spending lots of money at the Wild Birds Unlimited store and creating his own officially Certified National Wildlife Refuge. The birds arrive at his back yard in great numbers and he finds that it is not only relaxing but also rewarding to know that he is part of something significant. As importantly, the whole experience reminds him of his father.

Jay Fiske shared with us how difficult it is for him to see all the different beneficiaries benefiting from his work every week and how tough it is to separate what he does from what they are raising money for. He told us how difficult it is to remain at arm’s length from the various causes and how he frequently bonds with the causes. The funds being raised benefit different charities from abused women and children’s shelters to cancer survivors. He related the story of the auction that he worked last Saturday on Catalina Island where funds were being raised for Camp Corzone, which is designed specifically for children who have had heart transplants or serious heart issues. One little 11 year old girl has undergone 18 surgeries in her young life, but was full of life and excited about Camp Corzone. He was most impressed with the sheer number of children who have serious heart issues and was also aware of how fortunate we are that our children are healthy.

Rorry Dunbar thanked the Rotary for contributing to his latest trip to Peru and Chile. Their group was able to take 20 big bags of medicine across the border, although it was difficult because the “two countries don’t like each other much and they don’t like us more”. His current project is in Sierra Leone, in partnership with a medical group from Eugene, Oregon. They have located a piece of property with an abandoned water reservoir on it and are working toward purchasing the property with the intent to restore the reservoir. With 78% unemployment in West Africa, Rorry is not sure he’s ready to face a hopeless situation that is “heavy” to be around.

The meeting then moved to matters at hand, namely Art Haines telling us that he was recently at the Oregon Coast where it was 40 degrees and sunny and he came back to Puget Sound where it was 40 degrees and (of course) rainy. At that point, he was struck with a wonderful vacation idea where it would be warm, sunny and he knew he could get a river front room at the fabulous Marriott Courtyard hotel. The location is none other than Kennewick, Washington! The District Conference will be held May 16, 17 and 18 and will feature Friday night dinner at Anthony’s.

Wayne Parris reported on the Annual District 5030 Rotary International Foundation meeting, recently held in Kent. He noted that there were many interesting speakers and projects and spoke specifically about the project that Bellevue Club is working on in Nepal. The program is known as 3-H: Health, Hunger and Humanities and is a long term, self help program for those with disabilities or who are maimed. Currently, only 1% of those needing assistance are receiving help. There are 68 Rotary Clubs in Nepal, with 1,800 members. There was also a lot of emphasis on eradicating polio; for further information regarding this program, please visit www.polioeradication.org.

Reminders:

April 15^th Board meeting following regular breakfast meeting

May 20^th Northshore Scholarship Foundation Breakfast

June 24^th Installation dinner at Willows Lodge

Erv “Bullhorn” DeSmet and Snappy gave a brief overview of the activities scheduled for Earth Day, April 22^nd. An invite is extended to all members to attend breakfast at 7:00 a.m. and then venture to the vineyard to plant a special new clone of the Pinot Noir grape. This particular clone of the pinot noir grape is allegedly new to the Northwest and has never been planted in Washington State before. There will be special event food and perhaps a sampling of Reckonyard Gold. There will also (reportedly) be a special dispensation given for early departure from the regular meeting.

Max Zellweger gave a description of the characteristics of the 777 clone vs. the 114 in terms of quality and early ripening. It was not clear as to whether he was discussing airplanes or grapes, but being as this is wine country as well as Boeing country, either could be construed to be appropriate.

There were only two seats left for the fund raising dinner event to be held at Monte Villa Farmhouse on the evening of the 22^nd. By the way, the evening event begins at 6:00 p.m. not 6:30 p.m. as previously and erroneously reported. There will also be release of Burning Bus Red (vintage 2006). The events of this memorable day will raise nearly $6,000 for the enology scholarships for 2009-2010.

Gary Whitsell notified us that the Northshore Senior Center will be holding their annual fund raising auction on Saturday, April 26^th. Silent auction begins at 6:00 p.m.

Jorge announced that we have received $6,500 in procured items for the Wine and Shine event and none of which are “leftovers” from last year – it is all fresh, new merchandise. We are still looking for that fabulous foreign trip and will consider frequent flier miles, cash, checks, money orders, hotel connections, etc. This item is known in the auction business as “The Tent Pole”. Larry Duffield noted that one of the wines that will be given to a procurer of fine items is none other than Baron’s Five, the creation of five Puget Sound CEO’s. According to Mr. Duffield, Baron’s Five is an excellent wine and cannot be purchased anywhere.

Sergeant at Harms fined Becky Clark because she once lived in Kansas. He said it had to do with some basketball game (or some such thing). Gary Whitsell had to pay an early exit tax because he had to go “do taxes”, Max had to pay a travel tax (even after the landing gear didn’t exactly go down as it should) - it was an Airbus. John Ive paid a travel tax in advance for his trip to the Tri-Cities, those being Las Vegas, Sun City and Palm Desert via a convertible Corvette. Jay Fiske, on the other hand, was happy to pay a non-travel tax being that he is able to actually be home for the weekend.

Steve Dolan is celebrating 35 years at Boise-Cascade on April 10^th. Members of the group thought he ought to consider making a career of it as he appears to be doing well with the company.

Gonzalez, Duffield and Eckland congratulated John and Laurie Ive on the fabulous dinner they prepared for the group. Apparently, the Ive’s paid a lot of money at the auction so that the above named individuals could go to Ive’s house and eat his food and drink his wine. They did, however, help with the dishes.

Jorge paid a travel tax as he is traveling to Mexico to help his father celebrate his 93^rd birthday. He also admitted that his “pad” of $2.00 bills came from “Joe in Lynnwood”. Erv (BH) DeSmet paid a Happy Fine Waiver (is there such a thing?) as he is (finally) receiving a nice tax refund this year. Gordy Green paid Happy Dollars in celebration of a family ski day (12 members on one chairlift) at Mt. Hood Meadows.

After assorted winnings of T-shirts, wine and chocolates (the marble remains elusive), the meeting was adjourned.

Becky "Ace" Clark reporting, knowing precisely
just where her prepositions are at.

Roger Stark
continues
a lucky
path
to the
marble box