ROTARY CLUB OF EVERETT
PRE- MEETING TIDBITS:
For what it’s worth: Today is Calendar Adjustment Day which commemorates the significant historical event of the transition from the Julian to the Georgian calendar in 1752. The change was necessary to align the calendar with the solar year, which had become out of sync with the seasons due to inaccuracies in the Julian calendar. As a result, 11 days were omitted, causing confusion and protests among the public, who felt cheated. This day serves as a reminder of the complexities of timekeeping and the importance of accurate calendar systems in our modern world.
These folks all looked at their Georgian Calendar: There were 37 Rotarians and guests in attendance, along with approximately 8 ZOOMERS for our Rotary meeting at the Indigo Hotel on the Everett waterfront.
MEETING:
President Kelli Thode led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and into her/our 10th meeting of the year and our 5,610th meeting of the Rotary Club of Everett.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY:
Kari Quaas related her quotes from Margaret Mead to the painting, the Sistine Madonna by Raphael, whose two curious young angels appear to be deep in thought.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has”.
“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think”.
“I was wise enough never to grow up, while fooling people into believing I had”.
INTRODUCTION OF VISITING ROTARIANS AND GUESTS:
Past President Andy Hall introduced Past President Tom Koenig who is now a member of the Lake Chelan Rotary Club.
Henry Janicki introduced his parents, his wife and his young daughter.
Past President John Olson introduced Lynsey Gagnon who is with the Interfaith Family Shelter, and Jennifer Hem who is with BECU.
Janice Ellis had a whole slew of guests to introduce which included Parker, our exchange student who returned from Japan this summer, his parents Glenn and Ginny, Andy (not me) is the first host dad of our incoming exchange student from Japan (who attended the same school as Parker did while he was in Japan), and Karen Moore, a superior court judge and former member of our club.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
President Kelli made the following announcements:
- On August 28th the Rotary After Hours was held at APEX in downtown Everett that included a building tour and a Happy Hour.
- In November we will have a service project centered around Veteran’s Day and it will be at the Carl Gipson Center.
- Marc Baker’s memorial will be from 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm this Sunday, September 7th at the Everett High School Gymnasium.
Heather Barnhart told us about another very successful blood drive that took place at the Everett Elks Club on August 29th. There were 29 units of blood collected that translate into up to 85 lives that could save. The next opportunity to bleed for the need or to volunteer another way will be on October 24th.
Janice Ellis reminded all of us about the friendship exchange our club will be hosting the week of September 22nd and how we are all encouraged to participate and welcome our visiting Rotarians from Hungary. She gave a special shootout to Past President Steve Miller who along with his wife Dru will be hosting a dinner for our visitors and those who sign up from our club to attend.
HISTORIC PRESENTATION
Past President John Olson, our Club Historian said that in 1916 Everett had a population of 25,000 people, electric street cars, lumber mills, shingle mills, shipbuilders, canneries, a huge snowstorm, the Everett Massacre, and a tobacco store owner named Henry Prince. What Everett didn’t have was a Rotary Club and Henry helped change that so by 1917 The Tacoma Rotary Club (of which Henry had previously been a member of) sponsored the formation of the Rotary Club of Everett. To this day we still have Henry’s in our Club (Past President Henry Newton and our newest member Henry Janicki).
HAPPY DOLLARS AND BIRTHDAY BUCKS:
Past President Tom started today’s bell ringing craze with his appreciation of being able to join us and for the wonderful friendship and fellowship that Marc Baker brought to the Club.
Past President Michael Kvistad was $100.00 happy to be here today as the last few weeks have been trying times at the Kvistad household with a car needing a new engine, brake problems, getting kids to events with one less working vehicle, etc.
Mark Johnson gave $100.00 as he has been named Providence General Foundation’s new Chief Philanthropy Officer.
Henry Janicki’s little brother recently got married and Henry was $100.00 happy for that.
Karen Moore was $20.00 happy to be celebrating the whole month of September which is her birthday month.
Janice was happy that the Herald wrote a great article describing an unfortunate “smear campaign” against Everett School Board candidates financed by a family who has “an agenda” and has spent thousands of dollars of their own money producing mailers, etc. in their “campaign” effort.
Past President Steve Juntwait and Past President Henry both spoke about the recent passing of Past President Larry Hanson. Larry started at the Herald as a messenger and rose to become the publisher and CEO during his 45-year career. Larry was actively involved in our community, always had a smile on his face, was engaging, and truly loved Everett.
RAFFLE:
Winner number 1 - Krissy Davis won something from the AquaSox. ( Guess what it was, a hat, bat, ball, a base, pennant, season tickets, mug, water bottle, seat cushion, game worn jersey, tee shirt, a glove, or a sweatshirt?)
Winner number 2 - Past President Tom won some candy and an hourglass, which, it turns out, a 4 minute and 46 second glass.
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Winner number 3 - Henry Janicki won a movie. (I think, it looked like a DVD packaged movie, maybe it was a book).
Editor’s Note: This LOG reporter needs a spotter.
NEW MEMBER INDUCTION:
Henry Janicki was inducted as a Rotarian of the Everett Rotary Club of Everett.
PROGRAM:
Janice introduced Parker Miller, our outbound exchange student, who returned this summer from his 10 months stay in Kanazawa, Japan.
Parker gave us the following breakdown of what he is doing now and what his experiences were while going to school and living in Japan.
After finishing his sophomore year at Everett High School, Parker completed his junior year in Japan at a Christian school which he said was very unusual as only 1 percent of the population is Christian.
This year he is in Running Start at Everett Community College.
He thanked all of us for supporting him in his efforts to become an outbound Rotary Exchange student.
Experiences and memories:
- Upon arrival to Japan, he was greeted at the airport by his host family and other members of
- the host Rotary Club. He was exhausted after his hours long flight from Seattle.
- The weather is like Everett’s except they have more rain and more snow.
- Even though he studied Japanese prior to going on his exchange, the language barrier was difficult for him at first. (At the end of his talk he did speak
- to us in Japanese and whatever he said sounded as though he mastered the language during his 10 months in Japan).
- He had 4 host families during his stay.
- He loved Sushi.
- He visited Okinawa on a school trip.
- He gave a speech, in Japanese, to a large Rotary “convention” and met the District Governor.
- He placed second in a speech competition with 11 other exchange students participating.
- At first the class he was put in wasn’t too conducive to making friends. Once he switched
- to another class he felt more comfortable and made a lot of friends.
On his last day of school, they presented him with a tee shirt and a Japanese flag that his school mates had all signed.
He said this was the best year of his life.
Parker knows our incoming exchange student for this year as he is from the school Parker attended in Japan.
Parker thanked all of us again for the experiences that his Rotary exchange provided to him.
NEXT PROGRAM:
To Be Determined
MEETING ADJOURNED:
President Kelli adjourned the meeting at 1:07 PM
Respectfully Submitted,
Past President Andy Hall
Photography Submitted by,
Walt Greenwood