Rotary Log 11/10/2015 (Nov 10, 2015)

Greeters: Joe Gaffney and Pat Sievers

THE ROTARY CLUB OF EVERETT

Meeting #19 of President Deborah Wright’s year on November 10, 2015 (#5127 of the Rotary Club of Everett) was called to order at 12:12pm. President Deborah lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and in honor of our Veteran’s Day meeting, the song My Country ‘Tis of Thee sung by all.

The Thought of the Day also in honor of Veteran’s Day by Sean Kelly was a thoughtful reflection on the importance of the study of war.

Greg Lineberry introduced guests which included the NJROTC color guard.

Announcements for the day:

1. A Classification Talk was given by Neil Angst who thanked his Rotary mentor Ron Edlin and sponsor Ron Thompson for bringing him to the club. Neil is a Veteran himself, serving 14 years in the army as a musician. His classification is Life & Health Insurance and Employee Benefits. (go to evrotary.org to read report )

2. Mark Valentine gave us the ERYF Annual Report, an impressive report including $11k raised with the New Generation walk-a-thon.

3. Foundation Month reminders by Tom Koenig included opportunities for getting Paul Harris awards by purchasing playing cards for $50 and dart throwing chance for $100.

4. George Bowden reported on the gathering at Ed Peterson’s house to discuss the World Community Service trip to the Dominican Republic

5. Judi Edwards reported that in lieu of a Soup Kitchen day, we will be collecting Thanksgiving donations to Food Bank at next Tuesday’s meeting

6. Marc Baker reminded us that he is collecting $20 for turkeys for the Everett High School ASB food drive for local families, and he introduced Courtney Hooks, who is our club’s outgoing Youth Exchange student for 2016 (country unknown)

Happy Bucks/Birthday Bucks: Dennis Smith-$75 for the 75^th Birthday of United Way, money for the 240^th anniversary of the Marine Corp by Dale Newman (and someone else I missed),

Jeff Cornish and Pastor Stoot both gave money for the Greater Trinity Academy Luncheon and the Rotarian’s present,

Dave Surface donated in honor of Lyle Ryan who was honored with the Lou Denney Award at the Camp Fire breakfast, and for the $80k raised for Camp Fire. Roy Yates gave an IOU for $20 (his allowance from his wife had already been spent) for the First Christian Church Veteran’s Day event.

Drawing: Tom Koenig won some crackers, wine and cheese. Larry O’Donnell won some wine and chocolate macadamia nuts. Michael Hawks (I think?) won some Kona coffee, cookies and wine. We were reminded by the House Committee that there is need for items and they are open to suggestions for items. Today was the lowest sales to date for drawing tickets.

Gift cards were given to the speaker today since no one in the club could name that today was National Read a Book Day and National Forget-Me-Not flower day.

Program Introduction: Sally Lancaster gave a thorough introduction of our speaker for the day;

Commander Richard Gile who is a decorated veteran as a flight instructor, training officer and safety officer who instituted the first night vision goggle training program for helicopter pilots. He retired from active service in 2005 and has been proudly leading the Everett High School NJROTC program since 2007. He has won several honors for his work with the NJROTC program and has inspired his students for community involvement including 22 performances already this year for Veteran’s day. Cmdr Giles teaches and inspires his students to live with honor, integrity, leadership and courage. He lives with his wife Cindy in Mill Creek.

Program:

Commander Gile’s inspiring presentation titled “Seconds to Live ” was the true story about two brave young Marines who were ordered to guard and protect a base in Iraq when a suicide bomber attacked the entrance. The young marines had only 6 seconds from the time suicide bombers in a truck came into view, aggressively driving toward the entrance and then came to a stop in front of the base after the soldiers bravely stood their ground firing and killing the driver and passenger. However the bomb exploded feet from the entrance, killing the two young soldiers. However, their brave actions prevented the truck from entering the base, saving 150 people, American soldiers and Iraqi policemen, in the process. Cmdr Giles’ presentation ended with a moving video that left few dry eyes in the room, to remind us all about our Veterans serving around the world to keep us safe and protect the freedoms and liberties we are blessed with in the United States.

I for one am glad that I was in attendance at this inspiring and motivational program.

President Deborah thanked Cmdr Giles with a donation in his honor to the Dispute Resolution Center and thanked the NJROTC members for attending as well.

She reminded us about our next program titled “ UW – Bothell” presented by Diane Gillespie introduced by Tammy Dunn.

MEETING ANNOUNCEMENTS AND MAKEUP OPPORTUNITIES:

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, November 13^th 6pm at various member homes
District Foundation Dinner, November 14^th 5:30-9pm Club pays $50.00 registration fee is paid for first-time attendees
Rotary Board Mtg, November 19^th, 7:30am 3^rd Flr Chapel at Bethany
District RLI Training, November 21^st in Surrey, BC 8am-3pm
Wheeler’s Meeting, January 12^th, 11am at Boys & Girls Club

Aphorism of the day : “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”

― John Bunyan

Be a Gift to the World