President Tammy Dunn started the meeting at 12:05 pm with 30 members at the start of the meeting.

 

Rotary is about connecting and partnerships for the greater good of our community.

 

Tom Koenig, Past President of our Club & Chelan Rotary Club, was visiting today. 

 

Brian Hollingshead announced that the next Happy Hour is on June 22nd at the Marriott on Colby.  The fun starts at 5:00 pm. 

 

Kari Quaas is looking for volunteers for the Shopping Spree on June 7^th at Fred Meyer. 

 

The next Blood Drive, a partnership of the Red Cross, Rotary and the Elks, is set for June 30^th from 10 am to 2 pm.  Volunteer coordinators are needed. 

 

 

Kari Quaas was $25 happy about the success of the Shopping Sprees! 

 

John Olson was eager to celebrate his birthday. 

 

Ed Petersen provided some happy news and a bellringer that five more classrooms have been adopted as part of the literacy project and over $10,000 has been raised in total for the project.  

 

Kari Petrasek was $20 happy that she was able to attend the R.I. convention.  

 

Tom Koenig was happy to hear about the scholarship success and is sharing the model with his new club. 

 

This week, Anna Marie Lawrence (Red wine and cooking cocoa), Larry O’Donnell (face detox and Moscato) and Tom Koenig (Moisturizer and free lunch) all won.

 

TODAY’S PROGRAM: DAJABON & ROTARY CLUB OF EVERETT

Dajabon and the Everett Rotary – Eight Year of Collaboration, presented by Ed Petersen and Julie Herber.   Ed has been a member of the World Service committee since 1999 and Julie is the current chair (second time) of the committee.  In 2015, Julie, Greg Lineberry and Ed toured the Dominican Republic in search for a Rotary partner.  There, they met with the members of the Dajabon Rotary and began the eight-year project (so far).   This September, we will be hosting members of the Dajabon club for a celebration of our partnership and our relationship/purpose. 

 

Ed and Julie highlighted the many projects from the relationship.   The greenhouse garden project was the first.  With funding support over $100k from our club, other local clubs, the District, the National R.I. grant and with the efforts of many great volunteers, 16 gardens have been developed in eight villages so far.  Also, agricultural training and entrepreneur experience (business plans, marketing, subsidy loans and sales partnerships) have been provided.  Also, a full-time coordinator has been hired to support the success of this program.  During this phase, Past President Amy Norman worked with the partnership to donate 120 wheelchairs to the local villages in the Dajabon area during her presidency.  

 

A major second project was launched in the Dajabon area – the Literacy Project.  A partnership with Dickerson Literacy LLC, this culture of literacy has supported three schools receiving books in 2022 and four more schools in 2022.  Mary Ramos, our project coordinator on-site, has presented to multiple classrooms.  A greenhouse garden project has also to help teach the students about agriculture.

 

A new project, the Water project, is a new endeavor.  After seeing the success of the greenhouse gardens and the need to provide water, we were asked to help with adding a reliable water source.   Research was conducted in 2022 and a plan to add additional water tanks for $56k was developed.  The Arlington Rotary has taken the lead with this project.  This additional water will serve 3,000 families in the Chacuey water district. 

 

There are more opportunities to provide service and fellowship in this region including more classrooms for students, shelving for books and community litter clean-up.   Altogether, $232k has been invested in these projects over the eight years. 

 

President Tammy thanked our presenters, our guests, and thanked the members for their bellringers and happy bucks.  The meeting was adjourned.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Photography Submitted by.