Everett Rotary Meeting – May 16, 2017

 

We were welcomed by Greeters Sean George & Deri Ford.

President Ed Petersen opened meeting leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Sean George welcomed visiting Rotarians and Guests, as follow:

Visiting Rotarians Carletta Allen – Annapolis, MD Guests

Daniel Stearns – Camp Korey

John Lundin – Bluewater Distilling

Meeting Sponsors Mark Nesse, Steve Juntwait, Roy Yates & Ed Petersen sponsored the meeting and told brief stories of their ancestors emigrated from Norway. Ed pointed to a map of Norway showing where ancestors of Rotarians emigrated from.

 

 

Announcements

• Ed Petersen - Reminder of Rotary Park cleanup this Saturday 9:00 to 12:00.

• Judi Edwards – VOA Food Bank Volunteering, May 25th 11:00 to 1:00.

• Ed Petersen – Plant Flowers on Mukilteo Blvd. on June 3rd.

• Ed Petersen – Rotary Award to Shelly Hutcheson-Smith for Highest Gain in Rotary Membership

• Ed Petersen – Catholic Housing Services honoring Steve & Jo Saunders on June 28th at 12:30. • Ed Petersen – Looking for volunteers to help the Recover Café develop a Strategic Plan. Happy Dollars/Birthday Bucks

• Greg Tisdel (Marc Baker standing in for Greg) – for his ancestors’ emigration from Norway • Walt Greenwood – for his ancestors’ emigration from Norway

• George Bowden – Reminder for Scholarship Niht May 22nd 6:30 to 8:30

• Pat Dowd – Wedding Anniversary

 

 

Raffle:

Winners of Cookies, Wine, Champagne, Popcorn and Rotary Lunch were Tom Koenig, John Olson and Gail Larson.  

 

Program "Norway” Viggo Forde, was introduced by Ed Petersen. Viggo came to the United States from Norway to go to school. Viggo was President of the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce – Seattle from 2011 to 2013. Viggo covered various facts about Norway. • Most famous Norwegian is Hagar (comic strip). • 17th of May is Norwegian Constitution Day (not Norwegian Independence Day).

• Norwegian Constitution is based on the US Constitution which in turned is based on the French Constitution. • In 1814 one million people in Norway 90% lived rurally. • Ballard 17th of May parade was the largest outside of Norway, wasn’t sure if it still is. • In 1920 in Seattle 1 out of 20 citizens were born in Norway. • Today 400,000 in Washington State say they are from Norwegian heritage. • Today 7.6% of Snohomish County residence claim Norwegian heritage. • Rags to Riches. Norway discovered oil in the 1960s and is now the 5th or 6th largest producer of John Lundin of Bluewater Distilling gave and education of Akvavit, a popular Norwegian spirit. Akvavit was passed out and a toast was made.