President Deb called the meeting to order at 12:09.
Walt Greenwood followed with the thought for the day. In short, “Stand for the values of Rotary and perhaps others will stand with us.”
Intros were conducted by Tina Gilson and included
John Brozovich, new Providence VP of Mission and Spiritual care.
Sherrill Dryden introduced
Eileen Ford, a new staff member at Village Theater.
Tina Gilson gave her classification talk, as she said, “A good classification talk like a short skirt. Short enough to be interesting and long enough to cover the subject.”
Tina is from small town Michigan and was the first to attend college in her family. Among her key interests is her Bible study fellowship. A critical turn in her life came when her college counselor recommended healthcare communications and she now serves the Providence General Foundation in that capacity. Tina married HS sweetheart Tracy, they are restoring their 100 year old home in N Everett and enjoy sailing.
Upcoming items:
June meetings, 21st is when Deb recognizes those who helped above and beyond
June 28th is the changing of the guard - if you have not signed up you will get a call.
Please pre-pay as there will not be an opportunity to pay at the event.
Holiday guess: escargot day.
Walt Greenwood offered an update on new initiatives in club communications. These include:
Sharing info more broadly
Getting more out to news media
Using social media such as Twitter and Facebook
Sharing up to district and the Peace Arch Journal
Avid info shared with Everett Public Schools
And special thanks to: Reid Hale, Glen Bachman, Andy Skotdal, Rod Moody, Don Steward, Dale Newman, Marc Baker
Happy Bucks:
Janice Ellis (bell ringer) back from 3 weeks in Asia, Bhutan, 16k foot pass. Rotary exchange.
Scott Washburn birthday
Ed Peterson - happy Rotary moment. WCS members G. Bowden and Greg Lineberry, picked up a couple of hitchhikers while they were travelling in the Dominican Republic.
Mary Toews – had some sad bucks as her sister in law passed recently.
Judy Edwards - update on niece who will be attending UW for an aDvanced construction mgmt program.
MaryBeth- announcement that she'll be happy to get signups for greeters
Dick Schlosser - happy to be back from 3 months in the desert golfing
Mark Nesse- new knee
Raffle:
Wine and caramel corn- Mark Nesse
Cider and flowers - Steve Ellis
Wine and teatree candle holder, wine glass for Marybeth Dingledy
Ed Peterson introduced the program on our ongoing work in the Dominican Republic. WCS has sent four teams to DR in the last year.
Key takeaways were presented by Todd Morrow and Julie Herber.
Todd began with background on the Dominican Republic and the area where are grants are being directed. The DR is home to 10mm people. The closest airport to our project area is Santiago, a city of 500k people and one of the largest cities in the Caribbean. Founded by Columbus' brother, the city is easy to get to from USA with airfare running about $600. Features include Trujillo monument/ museum and good food.
Dajabon, the site our work, is near the Hatian border. Haitians allowed over 2x per week to shop and barter. Some sell donated clothing.Our Rotarians stayed at Masacre Hotel, named for a nearby river that's named for the Spanish slaughter of a cohort of French buccaneers in the seventeenth century.
Julie continued with details about the project and our partners. The purpose of trip was to look at project options, meet with local groups, and get a survey of the surrounding region.
We’re in partnership with Dajabon rotary. We have 3 scholarships for AVID students to go volunteer, each for $1000. We have established 10 grants to help locals via micro loans in building gardens. 6 gardens are complete with 5 of those in production growing lettuce, peppers, and cilantro.
The WCS recognized several critical needs, such as ongoing supply of materials like posts and netting. Local soil very poor and tough to work with. It was determined that frequent contact would be required - eg three times per year – to ensure success. We've pledged $30k for this project, with district and RI matching and money already invested should be about $105k. Partnered with Peace Corps. Local partners required to have 160 hours of training to be eligible for our grants
Upcoming Events:
May 26 board meeting
Scholarship awards May 31st
Marina crawl June 16th
Wheelers meeting July 12th
President Deb wrapped up with the following thought: “At the end the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness but the number we answer is of greater importance.”
)
)
)
)
){kind=logo}
