President Kelli Thode started the 15^th meeting of the year and the 5,615^th meeting of the Rotary Club of Everett with the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Ryan Willis reported Ralph Quaas is in Providence Hospital. He is in good spirits, and he is always happy to have visitors. Room D-902. Get better soon Ralph!

 

Betsy Baker Bold introduced her brother, Garth Baker.

 

Ryan Willis introduced Scott Murphy who is the former president of Goldfinch Brothers Glass and co-founder of Mountain Pacific Bank.

 

Bob Bavasi presented a heartfelt resolution for fellow member and past Rotary president, Marc Baker, who lived life the way it should be lived.

 

A full copy of the Resolution can be found on the Everett Rotary Facebook page.  Live Like Marc!

 

Ashley Bolden: Rotary Community Coffee Hour.  Wednesday, October 8 at 9:00AM. The Milk House Coffee Company.

 

Kelli Thode: Blood Drives are Friday, October 24th and December 22nd. Everett Elks.

  

Krissy Davis: Reminded members about the Imagine Children’s Museum Fundraiser breakfast this Friday. She has a table reserved for any member how would like to attend. Phone or email her to join in the fun.

 

Betsy Bold Baker: The Everett Rotary Club is creating a scholarship in Marc’s name for an Everett High School student who is a community builder, shows leadership and civic involvement, and brings people together. Let’s all pull together to fund this scholarship and create an Endowment in Marc’s name.

 

Henry Janicki was $10.00 thankful for the members of the club who purchased raffle tickets for a fund raiser that raised $16,700 for the family of a friend who died in a tragic logging accident.

 

Past President Michael Kvistad was happy/surprised his youngest daughter selected Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Man Without Love” to listen to while in the car on her way to school. He was also happy Henry Newton shared his raffle tickets with Michael, and he won the raffle for the first time in his Rotary career.

 

Bob Bavasi: Was $20 happy Scott Murphy is stepping up to run for the office of Mayor of Everett.

 

Betsy Baker was happy about completing a half-marathon in Leavenworth on a smoke free day.

 

Paul Stoot: Happy Birthday bucks. He also attended Saturdays Mariners Playoff game and sat in a suite with former Seattle SuperSonic point guard Gary Peyton. Paul also reported there is one month until the 26^th annual Rise up Academy gala. Paul has a Rotary table set up for 10 Rotarians to attend. The guest speaker is Krist Novoselic, bass guitar player from the band Nirvana.

 

Will McMahan was happy that Henry was kind enough to sell raffle tickets for the fundraiser for the family of his deceased friend.

 

Rose Goulet was a bell ringer happy to say thank you for the heart felt resolution presented by Bob Bavasi for Marc Baker today and a few years ago for honoring her dad. Nice job Bob.

 

RAFFLE: Ashley Bolden

There was a reminder to donate more prizes to the Raffle Committee.

 

Winner Number 1 – Rose Goulet selected Wine and two ghost glasses.

Winner Number 2 – Michael Kvistad selected Taffy and Rotary hat

Winner Number 3 – Larry O’Donnell selected Orange Slices and a Rotary hat.

Ed Peterson won the “Biggest Loser” raffle for a Paul Harris Award.

 

Ryan Willis introduced our guest speaker, Gregg Milne, President of Christmas House.

 

Christmas House is a recipient of a grant from our Local Impact Committee. Christmas House was started in 1981 by Roy Frazer who noticed several neighbor children did not receive Christmas gifts. So, he refurbished toys in his garage and distributed them to low-income neighborhood children. He died shortly after but his legacy lives on. Christmas House is a 100% volunteer, non-profit organization in Everett that provides an opportunity for qualifying, low-income, Snohomish County parents to select free holiday gifts for their children age infant – 18 yrs old. In 2024 more than 51,000 gifts made their way from the Christmas House store to 2,900 homes, helping to make it a happy holiday for more than 8,215 children. Over 800 volunteers donate time each year. The typical annual budget is over $170,000. Each December their “store” is located in the Boys & Girls Club gym at 2316-12th Street.

 

How can we help? Donate cash and gifts, donate services, donate storage for all the toys, hold fundraisers or gift drives at your place of business, volunteer your time. Volunteers are needed to make the whole thing work. Volunteers are need to help moving, stacking and sorting toys. Volunteers also assist shoppers with their gift selections, perform data entry tasks and translate for Spanish and Russian speakers. Sign up to volunteer and donate on the Christmas House website www.christmas-house.org.

 

NEXT PROGRAM: Grace Stensland and Zac Anderson - CASA

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Photos Submitted,