MEETING RECAP
Sunday, April 4, 2021
By: Paula T. OlsonTHE LAKEWOOD KEY
Springtime comes to Lakewood Rotary by Paula Olson
When President Mark opened the meeting on Friday, he was stepping into a special period of time with flowers coming up and bees buzzing and starting with yesterday’s April Fool’s Day on April 1st. Next, Easter or Bunny Day on April 4th for some, Passover for others and Ramadan a bit later for more others. Maybe it was the excitement that caused our Prez and our Illustrious District Gov. Greg Horn to talk about staging a coup d'état and staying in office for two or three more years. And why he was not willing to relinquish control of the meeting to our top tech person, Leanna Christian who had to get stern with the Prez so she could get the controls to mute us, since we are so wild and crazy, we can’t mute ourselves. Nonetheless, the meeting started promptly at 12:30 pm.
Scott Buser opened with a very nice Invocation and Prez Mark led us in the Pledge of Allegiance (yet another sign he doesn’t intend to step down in June). Leanna Christian did and continued to do meeting set up, John Lowney was not present to take fines so we were all off the hook, Paula Olson was madly taking notes to write the Bulletin and all of us served as photographers.
Visiting Rotarians included our aforementioned District Gov. Greg Horn, Howard Svigals, 5020 District Foundation Chair, Becky Fontaine and Daniel Wirth from Tacoma 8 Rotary and Alan Billingsley from Clover Park Rotary. Our guests, also participating in other parts of our meeting, were: Emily Woodford, Karen Mauer-Smith, Kevin Ikeda, Moira Neal and Carmela Neal. Puffins in attendance were Tom George, Mike Murtha, Jessica James, Carl Bronkema and Rachel Mazoff. There was no official Sunshine Report but Greg announced the passing of Eric Warn’s beloved wife, Kathie. Eric shared with us some of his thoughts, that after a heroic two year struggle she is now in heaven and out of pain. Eric is also free of caregiving and looking forward to finding new activities for his time. May Kathie rest in peace and our love to you, Eric!
Although Prez Mark was not able to play any April Fool’s jokes on us, I am happy to announce that coming up on April 4th in addition to Easter Sunday is National Hug a Newsperson Day. I hope you all celebrated appropriately. Prez Mark asked us to give a round of applause to Troy and Stephanie Wilcox on their wedding anniversary in absentia. Alan Billingsley sent us a chat message that the Lakewood Rotary bench is being dedicated at the work party at the old game farm site on May 1, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. More details to come but put it on your calendar.
Howard Svigals, the District Foundation Chair, reported that Lakewood Rotary is known as a “great club” which exceeded $10,000 in contributions to the Foundation and $7,000 to Polio Plus in the match program during March. He explained that since March is usually a low month for contributions, he did the match to beef it up. And we responded like the champs we are. Howard also said that we are just short of $250,000 into our next $1 million. He said that we should be very proud and he thanked us profusely. He reported that there are only two cases of polio in the world right now, one in Afghanistan and one in Pakistan. Steve Enquist also chimed in and said that in one week, we contributed $4,000. Last week 89 different people contributed $17,800. Steve wanted us all to know that Howard was using his personal points to match contributions during March. Steve then gave out a Paul Harris to Rachel Mazoff, her first. He had wanted her dad to present it to her but life intervened. Congratulations, Rachel!!
Leanna Albrecht stated that we are starting up our Teacher and Student of the Month program again and today we honored the Student of the Month for April: Carmela Neal from Lakes High School. We welcomed Kevin Ikeda, Assistant Superintendent of Clover Park and Karen Mauer-Smith, the Principal of Lakes High School to share in Carmela’s achievement. Bob Hammar described Carmela’s qualifications. Carmela is an excellent student with a 3.8 GPA and participates in many other activities and programs. She is the Editor of the school Newspaper, Lancer Ledger and intends to major in journalism and poetry when she goes on to one of the many universities and colleges that she has been accepted to. She is on the cross-country team, volunteers for Red Cross and church programs, and participates in theater productions at JBLM. She graciously thanked us for our recognition.
Dr. Jim Rooks, who is duly elected to serve as our next President if he can combat the impending coup, announced that the Community Concerns Committee recommended that we give a $2,000 grant to Palmer Scholars, an organization that works with students from low income families for assistance in higher education. These funds are particularly needed now with many students have difficulties. A motion to approve the grant was made and seconded. All members voted affirmatively to pass the motion. Thanks Jim and CCC for this opportunity to help needy students.
Tom George talked about two Global Grants he’s involved in with Rose Stevens and others assisting, with one almost completed. We are supplying two dialysis machines to Sacred Heart Medical Center and Mercy Hospital in Kollayam, North India. These machines will enable poor people to get the treatment they need at no cost. Ordinarily, it would cost about 80% of their total monthly income if they were forced to pay. The hospitals are both run by religious nuns and they have pledged to subsidize the cost of treatment for ten years. Tom showed us pictures of the acknowledgement of the first machine. Lakewood Rotary will be memorialized at the contributing organization by a banner and plaque at both locations. Tom said that Lakewood Rotary was also mentioned in the local news for its donation. The second machine will be installed in another two weeks. Yet another example of how Lakewood Rotarians’ generosity is known around the world!
Thank our lucky stars that Prez Mark acknowledged that he was unable to imitate Eric Quinn’s excellent rapping to announce the next fundraising event. Eric came on the screen and commissioned Gayle Selden and Kendra Riconoscuito to take a paper plate and a marker, put the plate on their heads and draw a picture of Prez Mark in a hot tub, clothing optional. We watched these three for 60 seconds although someone was done in less time. Showing us their efforts, Eric and Kendra’s were what you expect of drawing on your head in front of 40 or so people and eerily recognizable as Mark sitting in a hot tub. Gayle on the other hand cheated. She produced a photograph of Mark which she photo shopped to make it look like she drew it. This stunt was part of introducing “Let the Good Times Roll Night” on April 24th at 6:00 p.m., virtual of course. It’s game night and there are several ways to play. Pony up $30 a person and you’ll get the basics of what you need. Kick in $100 for two people and you’ll get pizza, dessert from the Partners, a bottle of wine and playing stuff. Go the distance for a party of six for $400 and you’ll get even more pizza, more dessert, two bottles of wine, lots of playing stuff, and a decorating kit to be the envy of your block. In addition, if that’s not enough, decorate your house and/or yourselves in your best rendition of spring fever for extra excitement. This is only for those whose health is strong enough. Let’s have a ball together and raise some cash!!
Above: Miracle Drawing!
THE PROGRAM:
Finally, we got down to the program with Daniel Wirth, dubbed “Mr. Hurricane” by Prez Mark and the Executive Director of South Puget Sound Red Cross. Dan was so nicknamed because of the all the hurricanes he had responded to in his job with the Red Cross as well as other disasters. Dan and his wife also served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic back in the day. Dan was joined on stage by Becky Fontaine who heads up the development end of the local Red Cross. Dan gave us an overview and an update on the Red Cross in our area.
Dan began his presentation by showing us a very moving video of the work of the Red Cross and the many ways in which it helped people though natural disasters, big and small. The Red Cross has five lines of service: Disaster Relief; Biomedical; Service to Armed Forces; International Service; and Training. Within the Disaster Relief area, Dan also wanted to emphasize the Home Fire program now going on. Taking each area one by one, Dan walked us through what the Red Cross does for the world.
For Disaster Relief, the Red Cross responds to 60,000 disasters a year, mostly single family or multi family home fires. There were 250 such fires locally. The critical needs are within the first 72 hours providing shelter, food, medical care and clean up supplies. Since COVID, victims are sheltered in hotels throughout the area to reduce the number of people in group settings. The home fire program that Dan wanted to emphasize started in 2014 as intentional preparedness. The Red Cross is working with the fire department to canvass neighborhoods with a higher risk of home fire to pass out smoke alarms and help people develop a fire escape plan. You have two minutes to get out of a burning house and it’s important that everyone knows where to meet each other outside. Now with COVID, you can set up a virtual appointment to go over potential hazards and develop your escape plan.
In the biomedical arena, the Red Cross supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood supply. Locally, it supplies 60 hospitals with blood. Probably a less known service is that to military families. The Red Cross is a 24/7 call center for active duty military and their families. It is the only approved message service between a commanding Officer and family, such as a death announcement to a deployed service member. The Red Cross can also provide loans for emergency travel. It also puts on transitioning workshops when going from active duty to civilian life and networking for work and home.
Above: Giving Blood
The Red Cross trains about five million people a year with such skills as First Aid, CPR and AED as well as swimming and life guarding. With COVID, the classes are reduced but still available. Internationally, the Red Cross assists with disasters such as the recent hurricane in the Bahamas. It provides a reconnection service of separated family members. Dan told a story about the several days that a young son looked for his father and the joy that he shared when the Red Cross could unite them.
Dan emphasized that the Red Cross relies heavily on volunteers to the tune of 90% of their workforce. They have about 300,000 volunteers in 235 chapters across the country. There are eight counties in the South Puget Sound chapter covering 30,000 square miles. Contact Dan with more questions or opportunities to help or donate at dan.wirth@redcross.org.
In response to a question about how we can help, Dan turned to Becky Fontaine. Becky told us that the Red Cross very much appreciates cash donations instead of hard goods like clothing and food. They are able to leverage cash to obtain far more goods than the average person could provide and they make efforts to buy locally. Unless you have 50 pairs of new shoes, cash is much more valuable as relief. A disaster is simply not the time to clean out the closets and dump a pile of clothes on the doorstep of the Red Cross and call it help. It becomes too much to organize when time is of the essence. Becky encouraged everyone to sign up for a home fire appointment at redcross.org/NWhomefire or call 1-833-918-1531. There are Spanish speakers available for those who communicate in Spanish. Becky said she could be nicknamed “Mrs. Wildfire” for the number of fires she has responded to including the one at Paradise, California.
Above: ARC Home Fire program
Greg Horn stated that the district is behind the home fire program in an effort to help people from dying in fires. Jim Sharp expressed the Fire Department’s appreciation of Dan and the Red Cross for all they do to help people. Jim said every volunteer is fantastic.
Prez Mark wanted to know if his nickname for Dan, Mr. Hurricane, was appropriate. Dan stated that he would attribute the nickname to Mark and told us about all the hurricanes he had responded to in his work with the Red Cross, giving care and comfort and assessing needs to be met. He was able to offer a warm meal and safe shelter to folks who had lost everything. Dan said that he loved his job and how rewarding it was to help people every day.
Prez Mark led us all in a round of virtual applause to Dan and Becky for a very interesting and informative program.
A few odds and ends before we closed. First, we must remember to ask Mark how he celebrated National Deep Dish Pizza Day and Read-a-Map Day on April 5th or if he was too wiped out from partying with the Easter bunny.
Next, Greg wanted to remind everyone that we are officially hooked up to dacDB.com so delete Club Runner and be sure and set up your email service for announcements at mailservice@dacdb.net. Finally, Prez Mark wanted to acknowledge Chris Kimball for a new award he received. Chris explained that he has made so much money for so many people that he was awarded the Top of the Table award, one of the highest industry awards in 2020. He’ll get a glass plaque that he’ll display proudly in his office. He will only charge a small fee to see it and he’s going to do some calculations to figure out if/how much he can pay as a fine for his accomplishment. Congrats, Chris!
Be sure to show up next Friday to hear District Gov. Greg Horn talk about the district and what he’s been doing the past year or so. Have a wonderful week, everyone!!
Remember that if you shop online, you should do so at Amazon Smile so you can allocate a portion of your purchase to Lakewood Rotary. Also remember to tell Greg Rediske that you read the bulletin so you can get a make-up for a missed meeting.
Visiting Rotarians included our aforementioned District Gov. Greg Horn, Howard Svigals, 5020 District Foundation Chair, Becky Fontaine and Daniel Wirth from Tacoma 8 Rotary and Alan Billingsley from Clover Park Rotary. Our guests, also participating in other parts of our meeting, were: Emily Woodford, Karen Mauer-Smith, Kevin Ikeda, Moira Neal and Carmela Neal. Puffins in attendance were Tom George, Mike Murtha, Jessica James, Carl Bronkema and Rachel Mazoff. There was no official Sunshine Report but Greg announced the passing of Eric Warn’s beloved wife, Kathie. Eric shared with us some of his thoughts, that after a heroic two year struggle she is now in heaven and out of pain. Eric is also free of caregiving and looking forward to finding new activities for his time. May Kathie rest in peace and our love to you, Eric!
Although Prez Mark was not able to play any April Fool’s jokes on us, I am happy to announce that coming up on April 4th in addition to Easter Sunday is National Hug a Newsperson Day. I hope you all celebrated appropriately. Prez Mark asked us to give a round of applause to Troy and Stephanie Wilcox on their wedding anniversary in absentia. Alan Billingsley sent us a chat message that the Lakewood Rotary bench is being dedicated at the work party at the old game farm site on May 1, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. More details to come but put it on your calendar.
Howard Svigals, the District Foundation Chair, reported that Lakewood Rotary is known as a “great club” which exceeded $10,000 in contributions to the Foundation and $7,000 to Polio Plus in the match program during March. He explained that since March is usually a low month for contributions, he did the match to beef it up. And we responded like the champs we are. Howard also said that we are just short of $250,000 into our next $1 million. He said that we should be very proud and he thanked us profusely. He reported that there are only two cases of polio in the world right now, one in Afghanistan and one in Pakistan. Steve Enquist also chimed in and said that in one week, we contributed $4,000. Last week 89 different people contributed $17,800. Steve wanted us all to know that Howard was using his personal points to match contributions during March. Steve then gave out a Paul Harris to Rachel Mazoff, her first. He had wanted her dad to present it to her but life intervened. Congratulations, Rachel!!
Leanna Albrecht stated that we are starting up our Teacher and Student of the Month program again and today we honored the Student of the Month for April: Carmela Neal from Lakes High School. We welcomed Kevin Ikeda, Assistant Superintendent of Clover Park and Karen Mauer-Smith, the Principal of Lakes High School to share in Carmela’s achievement. Bob Hammar described Carmela’s qualifications. Carmela is an excellent student with a 3.8 GPA and participates in many other activities and programs. She is the Editor of the school Newspaper, Lancer Ledger and intends to major in journalism and poetry when she goes on to one of the many universities and colleges that she has been accepted to. She is on the cross-country team, volunteers for Red Cross and church programs, and participates in theater productions at JBLM. She graciously thanked us for our recognition.
Dr. Jim Rooks, who is duly elected to serve as our next President if he can combat the impending coup, announced that the Community Concerns Committee recommended that we give a $2,000 grant to Palmer Scholars, an organization that works with students from low income families for assistance in higher education. These funds are particularly needed now with many students have difficulties. A motion to approve the grant was made and seconded. All members voted affirmatively to pass the motion. Thanks Jim and CCC for this opportunity to help needy students.
Tom George talked about two Global Grants he’s involved in with Rose Stevens and others assisting, with one almost completed. We are supplying two dialysis machines to Sacred Heart Medical Center and Mercy Hospital in Kollayam, North India. These machines will enable poor people to get the treatment they need at no cost. Ordinarily, it would cost about 80% of their total monthly income if they were forced to pay. The hospitals are both run by religious nuns and they have pledged to subsidize the cost of treatment for ten years. Tom showed us pictures of the acknowledgement of the first machine. Lakewood Rotary will be memorialized at the contributing organization by a banner and plaque at both locations. Tom said that Lakewood Rotary was also mentioned in the local news for its donation. The second machine will be installed in another two weeks. Yet another example of how Lakewood Rotarians’ generosity is known around the world!
Thank our lucky stars that Prez Mark acknowledged that he was unable to imitate Eric Quinn’s excellent rapping to announce the next fundraising event. Eric came on the screen and commissioned Gayle Selden and Kendra Riconoscuito to take a paper plate and a marker, put the plate on their heads and draw a picture of Prez Mark in a hot tub, clothing optional. We watched these three for 60 seconds although someone was done in less time. Showing us their efforts, Eric and Kendra’s were what you expect of drawing on your head in front of 40 or so people and eerily recognizable as Mark sitting in a hot tub. Gayle on the other hand cheated. She produced a photograph of Mark which she photo shopped to make it look like she drew it. This stunt was part of introducing “Let the Good Times Roll Night” on April 24th at 6:00 p.m., virtual of course. It’s game night and there are several ways to play. Pony up $30 a person and you’ll get the basics of what you need. Kick in $100 for two people and you’ll get pizza, dessert from the Partners, a bottle of wine and playing stuff. Go the distance for a party of six for $400 and you’ll get even more pizza, more dessert, two bottles of wine, lots of playing stuff, and a decorating kit to be the envy of your block. In addition, if that’s not enough, decorate your house and/or yourselves in your best rendition of spring fever for extra excitement. This is only for those whose health is strong enough. Let’s have a ball together and raise some cash!!
Above: Miracle Drawing!
THE PROGRAM:
Finally, we got down to the program with Daniel Wirth, dubbed “Mr. Hurricane” by Prez Mark and the Executive Director of South Puget Sound Red Cross. Dan was so nicknamed because of the all the hurricanes he had responded to in his job with the Red Cross as well as other disasters. Dan and his wife also served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic back in the day. Dan was joined on stage by Becky Fontaine who heads up the development end of the local Red Cross. Dan gave us an overview and an update on the Red Cross in our area.
Dan began his presentation by showing us a very moving video of the work of the Red Cross and the many ways in which it helped people though natural disasters, big and small. The Red Cross has five lines of service: Disaster Relief; Biomedical; Service to Armed Forces; International Service; and Training. Within the Disaster Relief area, Dan also wanted to emphasize the Home Fire program now going on. Taking each area one by one, Dan walked us through what the Red Cross does for the world.
For Disaster Relief, the Red Cross responds to 60,000 disasters a year, mostly single family or multi family home fires. There were 250 such fires locally. The critical needs are within the first 72 hours providing shelter, food, medical care and clean up supplies. Since COVID, victims are sheltered in hotels throughout the area to reduce the number of people in group settings. The home fire program that Dan wanted to emphasize started in 2014 as intentional preparedness. The Red Cross is working with the fire department to canvass neighborhoods with a higher risk of home fire to pass out smoke alarms and help people develop a fire escape plan. You have two minutes to get out of a burning house and it’s important that everyone knows where to meet each other outside. Now with COVID, you can set up a virtual appointment to go over potential hazards and develop your escape plan.
In the biomedical arena, the Red Cross supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood supply. Locally, it supplies 60 hospitals with blood. Probably a less known service is that to military families. The Red Cross is a 24/7 call center for active duty military and their families. It is the only approved message service between a commanding Officer and family, such as a death announcement to a deployed service member. The Red Cross can also provide loans for emergency travel. It also puts on transitioning workshops when going from active duty to civilian life and networking for work and home.
Above: Giving Blood
The Red Cross trains about five million people a year with such skills as First Aid, CPR and AED as well as swimming and life guarding. With COVID, the classes are reduced but still available. Internationally, the Red Cross assists with disasters such as the recent hurricane in the Bahamas. It provides a reconnection service of separated family members. Dan told a story about the several days that a young son looked for his father and the joy that he shared when the Red Cross could unite them.
Dan emphasized that the Red Cross relies heavily on volunteers to the tune of 90% of their workforce. They have about 300,000 volunteers in 235 chapters across the country. There are eight counties in the South Puget Sound chapter covering 30,000 square miles. Contact Dan with more questions or opportunities to help or donate at dan.wirth@redcross.org.
In response to a question about how we can help, Dan turned to Becky Fontaine. Becky told us that the Red Cross very much appreciates cash donations instead of hard goods like clothing and food. They are able to leverage cash to obtain far more goods than the average person could provide and they make efforts to buy locally. Unless you have 50 pairs of new shoes, cash is much more valuable as relief. A disaster is simply not the time to clean out the closets and dump a pile of clothes on the doorstep of the Red Cross and call it help. It becomes too much to organize when time is of the essence. Becky encouraged everyone to sign up for a home fire appointment at redcross.org/NWhomefire or call 1-833-918-1531. There are Spanish speakers available for those who communicate in Spanish. Becky said she could be nicknamed “Mrs. Wildfire” for the number of fires she has responded to including the one at Paradise, California.
Above: ARC Home Fire program
Greg Horn stated that the district is behind the home fire program in an effort to help people from dying in fires. Jim Sharp expressed the Fire Department’s appreciation of Dan and the Red Cross for all they do to help people. Jim said every volunteer is fantastic.
Prez Mark wanted to know if his nickname for Dan, Mr. Hurricane, was appropriate. Dan stated that he would attribute the nickname to Mark and told us about all the hurricanes he had responded to in his work with the Red Cross, giving care and comfort and assessing needs to be met. He was able to offer a warm meal and safe shelter to folks who had lost everything. Dan said that he loved his job and how rewarding it was to help people every day.
Prez Mark led us all in a round of virtual applause to Dan and Becky for a very interesting and informative program.
A few odds and ends before we closed. First, we must remember to ask Mark how he celebrated National Deep Dish Pizza Day and Read-a-Map Day on April 5th or if he was too wiped out from partying with the Easter bunny.
Next, Greg wanted to remind everyone that we are officially hooked up to dacDB.com so delete Club Runner and be sure and set up your email service for announcements at mailservice@dacdb.net. Finally, Prez Mark wanted to acknowledge Chris Kimball for a new award he received. Chris explained that he has made so much money for so many people that he was awarded the Top of the Table award, one of the highest industry awards in 2020. He’ll get a glass plaque that he’ll display proudly in his office. He will only charge a small fee to see it and he’s going to do some calculations to figure out if/how much he can pay as a fine for his accomplishment. Congrats, Chris!
Be sure to show up next Friday to hear District Gov. Greg Horn talk about the district and what he’s been doing the past year or so. Have a wonderful week, everyone!!
Remember that if you shop online, you should do so at Amazon Smile so you can allocate a portion of your purchase to Lakewood Rotary. Also remember to tell Greg Rediske that you read the bulletin so you can get a make-up for a missed meeting.
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