ROTARY CLUB OF EVERETT
 
MEETING:
President Kelli Thode started the 5th meeting of the year and the 5,605th meeting of the Rotary Club of Everett with the Pledge of Allegiance.
 
THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
John Olson, PP, gave a History of the Club Thought of the Day. Thoughts of the Day have been prayers, stories, or quotes that tie in with that week. Rotarians say “Yes” when asked to do Thought of the Day. Thank to those who have done Thought of the Day.
 
INTRODUCTION OF VISITING ROTARIANS AND GUESTS:
Kelli Thode introduced Pranal Patel, Snohomish County Rotaract. Henry Janicki with Osprey Logistics and Emily Hoke with Larkspur were our visitors.
 
RESOLUTION:
Bob Bavasi, PP, read a resolution for Bob Beil. He told us about Bob’s life and read the resolution which will be sent to his family.
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
American Red Cross Blood Drive is Friday, August 29th, 10 am – 3 pm at the Everett Elks Club. Snohomish County Rotaract is a partner.
 
Strategic Planning Workshop needs 25 members to attend. Greg Tisdel, PP, is coordinating Strategic Planning. Date and time will be announced soon. The workshop will be for 4 hours.
 
Rotary Friendship Exchange with Hungarian Rotarians. Janice Ellis is looking for host families, September 20-24.
 
Kari Quaas reminded us to save the dates. Scholarship interview day is April 18th at the Community Resource Center, and the Scholarship Awards is May 13th at the Civic Auditorium.
 
Rotary After Hour is August 28th at the APEX. We will have a tour from 4 pm – 5 pm then the social hour from 5 pm – 6:30 pm.
 
Rotary Coffee Hour is August 13th at Narrative Coffee at 9 am. Come join for an hour of great conversation and coffee.
 
Save the Date – South Everett Mukilteo Rotary is having Dueling Pianos fundraising event on September 27th at the Rosehill Community Center.
 
HAPPY DOLLARS/BIRTHDAY BUCKS:
President Kelli told a story about Bob, Ralph Quaas, and Amy Norman wearing cheerleading outfits for Halloween.
 
Paul Stoot thanked everyone who attended the groundbreaking of the housing with the new Rise Up Academy and the Gala is November 7th.
 
Barb George was happy as she would be a great grandmother as her granddaughter is having a baby girl.
 
Glen Bachman stat the new housing development with Rise Up Academy is the “right thing at the right time”.
 
Henry Janicki had raffle tickets for people to purchase as the money raised helps a friend’s family as his friend passed away a couple of weeks ago.
 
In honor of Bob Beil, Janice Ellis gave happy dollars. She attended the memorial service and remembered when they dressed up as cheerleaders for Halloween.
 
RAFFLE:
  • Winner 1 – Heather Barnhart selected wine and candy.
  • Winner 2 – Paul Stoot selected the Starbucks cup
  • Winner 3 – Bob Bavasi selected the baseball hat and kozi
PROGRAM: Rotaract Update and Green Bag Project
Vice President Ryan Willis introduced Pranal Patel, Snohomish County Rotaract. Pranal is an industrial engineer at The Boeing Company.
 
Pranal started with an icebreaker. It was National Chicken Wings Day. How many wings are eaten during the Super Bowl in the U.S.? 1.47 billion eaten on Super Bowl Sunday.
 
Snohomish County Rotaract Club was started in 2017 with three people as the founding members. The club has 5 members currently. The club is for 18–30-year-old young professionals dedicated to serving Snohomish County.
 
Pranal talked about two projects. The Green Bag Project which is a Snohomish County Food Project. It is easy to volunteer to be part of this project. You sign up, grocery shop and leave the bag outside for someone to pick it up. The Green Bag Project serves Everett, Mukilteo, Snohomish, Lynnwood and Lake Stevens Food Banks. Donation totals as of June 2025 is 1,000 pounds of food collected.
 
The second project is the Guatemala Water Project. In June 2025 a group of people went to Guatemala to install water tanks for a small community. These water tanks provide clean drinking water and a sustainable collection method for the community. It is a 2,500-liter water catchment system that they built. They accomplished 24 installations, 24 cement posts, 3 roofs and 32 cement pads. The group met with the Rotary Club while they were there. Snohomish County Rotaract Club will continue to travel to Guatemala every two – three years.
 
President Kelli thanked the guests and presenters.
 
NEXT PROGRAM: Scott Oki – Author of Outrageous Learning: An Education Manifesto
 
Respectfully Submitted,
Tammy Dunn
 
Photographs Submitted,
Walt Greenwood