President Michael Kvistad started the 40^th meeting of the year and the 5,590^th meeting of the Rotary Club of Everett with the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Ashley Bolden presented a quote from John Maxwell’s 16 Invaluable Laws of Communication. “If you remember you are not building a case for your subject matter, but you are building relationships to help people you can make a difference.”

 

Ashley Bolden introduced her friend Oli Noa. Daneille Mullen or the” Tulip Lady” from the La Conner Rotary was selling tulips for a club fund raiser. Paul Stoot introduced his executive assistant Crystal Fick.

 

President Michael introduced Past President and Rotary Foundation Chairperson John Olson to speak about a change in the Everett Rotary Youth Foundation bylaws. As a result of the decline in membership dues and other fundraisers, there is a shortfall in funds available to administer the programs of the Everett Rotary Youth Foundation. The majority of the funds are used for the scholarship program. To cover this shortfall, the recommendation is to add a line to the bylaws of the Everett Rotary Youth Foundation. The proposal states that starting in May, the amount of funds to be distributed for administrative support is to be no higher than 1% of the 3-year rolling average of the Vanguard account. There is no cap currently in the funds. The balance of the fund is currently around $6.1 million thus around $60,000 per year is available, but we currently use only about $20,000. After a few questions were answered, Will McMahan made a motion and Mark Valentine seconded the motion, and the motion passed as presented unanimously.

 

President Elect Kelli Thode had several announcements:

Neil Angst reminded the past club presidents about the Past Presidents dinner Wednesday, May 14^th at 5:30 at the Vintage Café.

 

Ryan Willis is grateful even though his car is not running correctly, his body is healthy.

 

Ann Marie Laurence is grateful to all the Rotarians who are volunteering to do interviews for the scholarship committee on April 26^th.

 

Larry O’Donnell is grateful to see his kindergarten class of 1942 friend Henry Newton is out of the hospital and back at the Rotary meeting.

 

Henry Newton was a bell ringer grateful for the medical care he received from Providence Hospital and Optum and he recommends seeing your doctor if you are not feeling well.

 

Kelli Thode thanked Will McMahan for 24 years of service with the Red Cross.

 

Will McMahan was in South Texas with the Red Cross helping people recover from 20” of rain and flooding.

 

Kari Quaas is excited to attend the Dead & Company concert at the Sphere in Las Vegas next weekend.  John Mayer will play with Grateful Dead’s offshoot band.

 

Julie Herber rang the bell for a wonderful trip with the World Community Service Committee to Dajabon. The group delivered 1061 books to 6 different schools and packed more books for 5 other schools. Her daughter, Catherine, and our exchange student, Tobi, had a great time as well. There were a few hours of ocean time and lots of fellowship with the members of the Dajabon Rotary Club.

 

Daneille Mullen was happy about a Friendship Exchange to Hungary she attended last year. She was also happy the Everett Rotary and South Everett Mukilteo are hosting a Friendship Exchange team next year. Finally, she was grateful for her mother who recently turned 104 years old.

 

Oli Noa was grateful for how life flows. Earlier today she felt like she wanted to be around older people, and she ended up at our club meeting. Last week she was at a farmers’ market in San Diego and found a new favorite bread, and today our program is about farmers markets.

 

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

Kari Quaas introduced Karen Erickson from the Everett Farmers Market. Karen reviewed the history and many locations the Farmers Market has occupied over the past 32 years. The market’s goal is to build community and help local farmers, entertainers and crafts people display their wares.

 

The market accepts EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) which is a like a debit card and is the system used to deliver SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits and can also be used for WIC., WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women) which is a nutrition program for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, infants and children under 5. There is also a program available for seniors that is administered through Homage Seniors Services.

 

There are 150 producer participants sharing their edibles, skills and crafts. The producers rotate throughout the summer as fresh produce becomes available. The Market opens at 10:30 every Sunday starting May 11 (Mother’s Day) thru October. The market’s new home is located in the heart of downtown Everett on Wetmore Ave between Hewitt and Pacific Avenues.

 

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Photograph Submitted,