President Michael Kvistad rang the bell at 12:00 noon, calling to order meeting #5579 of the Rotary Club of Everett and meeting #29 of his presidency. He then led the club in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Ashley Bolden presented the Thought of the Day, quoting from the book Courage Calling.

 

Kelli Thode introduced Miles Wesma from Australia. Ryan Willis introduced Congressman Rick Larsen.

 

PP Niel Angst asked for a round of applause for Congressman Larsen. Congressman Larsen said hello to the club and briefly discussed some federal funding issues.

 

Kelli Thode announced that on Friday, January 31^st at noon, the club will visit Recovery Café. Also, there will be a social gathering on February 5^th at the Jetty Bar & Grill, as well as Coffee Hour at Bargreen’s Coffee. Kelli also thanked all who came to Obsidian last Thursday.

 

Kari Petrasek discussed the Rotary Literacy Project. Their goal is $20,000 by January 31^st.

 

President Michael plugged the Clubrunner app.

 

Ashley Bolden was happy that her youngest child turned 3.

 

Paul Stoot was $10 happy that he was named 2024 Person of the Year by the Lynnwood Times.

 

President Michael then showed a video about Rotary direct membership.

 

Ashley Bolden ran today’s raffle. The winners were:

 

President Michael encouraged the club to bring prizes for the raffle.

 

Ryan Willis introduced today’s speaker, Wendy Poischbeg with the Everett Chamber of Commerce.

 

Wendy thanked the club for the invitation to speak. Wendy started working at Boeing when she was 19 years old and owned a coffee shop at 20 years old. She discussed the Economic Alliance Snohomish County, which formed 13 years ago when the Everett Chamber of Commerce and the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce merged. Services fell off. Recently 20 members of the community formed a committee to revive the Everett Chamber of Commerce while differentiating it from EASC and the Downtown Everett Association.  

 

Areas of focus include:

 

By joining, members gain:

60% of revenue comes from membership fees, 20% from fee for service, and 20% from sponsorships

 

Wendy then entertained questions from the club members.

 

President Michael thanked Wendy with a donation to Millenia Ministries in her name. He also shared a dream he had about space.

 

Meeting adjourned.