Becky covers Francia and Bolivis 10-14

Bye Bye Blackbird, as sung by a roomful of Woodinville Rotarians, opened this morning’s meeting on a crisp and beautiful dawn in the Pacific Northwest. Guests Fred Kemp and Elna Duffield, (who was escorted by Jorge Gonzales) were welcomed by all. President Boland introduced, direct from Bolivia, our always charming and endearing Rotary Exchange student – Francia.

Francia gave a very informative introduction to her beautiful country, replete with tropical lowlands, lush valleys and majestic mountains. There are 9,000,000 inhabitants in the six regions of Bolivia with Spanish being the primary language. Francia provided us with a Power Point presentation, complete with indigenous music and beautiful photographs of her home country. Santa Cruz is the region of Bolivia that Francia calls home, which is 34% of the total territory of Bolivia. Her home city is Santa Cruz de La Sierra, the largest city in Bolivia and of semi-tropical climate.

Bolivia can boast of having some of the “greats” of the world; Lake Titicaca is the highest commercially navigable lake in the world at 12,500 feet above sea level, the Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) are 4,085 square miles, roughly 25 times the size of Bonneville Salt Flats and of course, the pre-Incan ruins of Tiahuanaco– considered by many archeologists to be the world’s most ancient city. La Paz is the highest large city in the world at 11,900 feet above sea level and Potosi was (in the 1500’s) the richest city in the world, having made its fortune from silver.

Francia also shared pictures of her friends and family and wore a beautiful dress of her mother’s that one might wear to Carnival. She also reported on the wheelchair and clean water projects that her local Rotary Club is involved in. Francia presented President Boland with a banner from the Club in Bolivia. It would appear that Bolivia is a country of great beauty and The Woodinville Rotarians were most appreciative of Francia’s efforts.

As Francia states “That’s It” and the meeting moved on to more mundane business at hand.

Larry Duffield announced that the Rotary Exchange program is always looking for host families. If you, or someone you know, would be interested in participating as a host family, please contact Larry no later than the end of October. Due to the timing of the exchanges for students, clubs begin to make plans and arrangements at the beginning of a student’s 10^th grade year.

Art Haines reminded us of the District Conference to be held in Victoria, B.C., May 1^st through 3^rd. There is a boat scheduled to leave on Thursday and return on Sunday. There are 10 rooms reserved at the Marriott Courtyard and 8 or 9 have been spoken for already. The Club also foots $100 of the conference registration fee.

Roger Martindill (in absentia) is the point person for the Kirkland fellowship program scheduled for November 16 at the Kirkland Performance Center, 7 p.m. Television personality Penny LeGate will be the featured speaker regarding polio eradication. According to President Boland, the presentation is quite moving and well worthwhile. Wine and dessert will be served.

Susan Webster brought to our attention an auction that is being sponsored by the UW Health Sciences Center on October 24^th. Their goal is to raise $20,000 to send 9 club members to work with a rehabilitation group in Thailand. Please see Susan for more details.

Doc Marsh reported that Doc Maynard is still at Lake View Gardens and is in good spirits but continues to undergo testing. He asked that we all keep Doc Maynard in our thoughts.

When asked if he had any updates or reports regarding the auction, Rorry said “no”. That was pretty much the end of that subject.

Sergeant at Harms, Larry Leonardson, fined Terry Jarvis for stealing grapes and putting them in his pocket. Terry’s disclaimer was that they were “for lunch”. Not quite getting the point, Terry then attempted to pass off old waiver currency, stating that he does “not believe in” the new currency. He threatened “you guys” with action by the local Police Chief (Fitz??) who will be coming next week. Still not quite getting the point, Terry finally surfaced a one dollar bill for his fine, but it was so difficult to get it out of his grasp that it was torn in half. One might wonder if that wasn’t the first dollar he ever had?

Jay Fiske offered five (5) Happy Pride Dollars, extolling the virtues of the hard working members of the Woodinville Rotary Club in terms of dollars raised at the auction. He has held the Woodinville Rotary Club up as an example of how to raise money to a Rotary Club in Redlands, California and the Kiwanis Club of Snohomish.

Julian Denes offered Happy Dollars due to the fact that his brother recently passed the bar exam. Should we expect an announcement of Denes & Denes, Attorneys at Law?

And, not to be outdone, Bill Gowin offered Happy Dollars for the birth of their first grandchild. Sergeant Larry, on the other hand, celebrated 40 years of marriage at a recent surprise party. . and had enough money left to donate a Happy Dollar.

On a closing note, President Chris announced that he is happy that Coug football is making so many other people happy.

With no one winning the White Marble, the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Becky Clark, Rotary Reporter

Next Reporter:
Baaab Russell
Oct. 21