Hi I am doing great! Christmas and the holidays were really hard but I moved families and we are getting along super well and I am feeling much more comfortable at home now.  I am playing music on my own, they asked me to perform at the 100th anniversary of this district in Prague later in the year.  I don’t have a band here but there is a jamming room at school that people go to and just play music and hang out. Slovak has been really hard.  I am working at it and watching movies in Slovak and trying to read and speak with my family but it is a really challenge for me to learn vocabulary.  I am feeling a lot better here and I am getting more independent.  Thank you for this opportunity and happy new year.

We continue to move forward preparing to move to the Armory before the end of February. Our move date is contingent upon some tenant improvements that need to be done, but thanks to great relationships with the building owner they are working hard to have them done in mid-February.  
In the meantime, Kirsten Willis is working with volunteers to purge and sort years of paperwork  and organize the office in anticipation of the move.  Thanks to last weeks volunteers Marsha Burns, Jace Dwinell,  Jim Henderson and Jeff Rounce. Special thanks to Michelle Roberts who arranged to have one of her shredding trucks come by to shred 25 boxes of paper. You are welcome to drop by the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays between 11-3 to lend a hand. 

We have surplus furniture, office supplies and some Rotary logo’d items that will be offered for sale or donation. We have heard from some of our non-profit members that they are able to use the furniture and we also have a piano and refrigerator that will be available on a first come first served basis. Please contact the office if you have an interest in seeing what we have and making an offer. 

We will also be looking for members willing to do the manual labor of moving the furniture. Members extraordinaire Stacey Ogle and Rusty Hersey are willing to help us with their trucks, but we will need some members with strong backs to lend a hand!  You know the saying many hand make light work. Stay tuned as we firm up the actual move date and watch the Gearshift for more information.

 

Harrison Laird, and the Membership Committee announced that so far this year we have added 23 amazing new members, but they don't want us resting on our laurels. They have challenged club members to help us grow our membership by 45 new members this year. If you have a prospective member please invite them to join you for lunch, the club will host them for their first visit.  There are incentives for you as well.  Any member who proposes a new member  will be entered into a drawing for a weekend at Cedarbrook and will receive a restaurant discount coupon. Give the gift of Rotary to someone you know!

Unless written objections are submitted to the Board within 10 days of this posting, the following individual will be invited to membership: 

 

FINANCIAL SERVICES - Community Bank

Columbia Bank

Sponsor: Angie Martin

 

President Linda Kaye rang the bell at 12:05 and introduced District Governor Craig Gillis as a special guest. Kim Bedier, Tacoma Events and Venues, delivered the invocation, encouraging us to let music inspire us and to “rock on.” Craig Gillis led us in the national anthem of Canada followed by Chris Serface, Tacoma Little Theatre, who led us in the Star Spangled Banner. Jack Warnick was on piano.  A card was circulated for John Winskill whose son, Christopher, passed away last week and for Jan Brazzell whose mother in law passed away.

President Linda Kaye then asked visiting Rotarians to introduce themselves followed by members with guests.  Sharon Benson, Windermere Professional Partners and Rob Pfarr, Allstate Insurance helped with the mics.

Maria Harlow was invited to the podium to introduce new member, Dr. Lin Zhou, President of Bates Technical College. Dr. Zhou shared that she is celebrating 20 years in the US and looking forward to joining the Rotary family. President Linda Kaye welcomed Dr. Zhou as our newest family member and then called Kerrisan Meyer with Read2Me to the podium for a mission moment.  Kerrisan shared how community partnerships, like the one with Tacoma Rotary 8, are essential to the success of programs like Read2Me. Support and mentorship from Tacoma Rotary 8 has helped Kindergarten through 3rd graders with reading support and set them up for success in school and life.  President Linda Kaye asked Rotarians to stand if they had mentored anyone and reinforced that mentorship was important work.

President Linda Kaye invited Craig Gillis to share some remarks, and he presented a District “Be the Inspiration” pin to our newest member, Dr. Lin Zhou. Craig Gillis also shared that he had visited all 90 clubs and recently welcomed the district’s 91st club in Ucluelet - chartered with 42 members in a community of 1600.  He then thanked the club and encouraged Rotarians to attend the upcoming conference. At President Linda Kaye’s urging (he claims), he ended his presentation with a song in tribute to Rotary to the tune of “House of the Rising Sun.”

President Linda Kaye thanked Craig Gillis and invited Kit Evans to the podium to introduce our speaker, Sarah Ioannides with Symphony Tacoma. Kit shared that she is proud of the work Symphony Tacoma and Sarah Ioannides have done to foster arts in the community and excited about what is to come. Sarah Ioannedis shared some information about upcoming performances and explained how she curates each season as a festival for Tacoma, a reason for the community to come together and celebrate the arts.  Her work reflects her philosophy that we need more of the arts and that Tacoma is not just a beautiful place to live but it has great arts. Her vision is for energy around the arts to snowball into social interaction and economic development.  To encourage Rotarians to be a part of this vision, she offered a discount to Rotarians for an upcoming performance.

President Linda Kaye thanked Sarah Ioannides and presented her with a gift of glass from the Hilltop Artists.  She then called Monique Nadeau to the podium. Monique acknowledged the long list of generous auction sponsors and reminded us of the auction date and opportunity to win $1,000 by purchasing a raffle ticket. 

President Linda Kaye acknowledged the anniversaries for this week: Veronica Rollins (1 year), Heather Faverman (5 years), Mike Wark (9 years), Jake Fey (23 years), Roger Lilley (24 years), and John West (53 years). John received a standing ovation for his years of service to Rotary, and District Governor Craig Willis presented him with a “Be the Inspiration” pin.

There was time for “True Confessions,” and Rotarians lined up to pay fines and share their stories: Mike Dunbar announced that he had just returned from attending the wedding of his son in New Orleans. Maureen Fife apologized for being absent recently but announced we would be seeing more of her. Dan Bogart paid a fine for meetings he missed while on vacation in Cabo. Jack Warnick shared that he just returned from a trip to Palm Springs that involved family and basketball. Don Hansen just returned from a ski trip. Barry Benson shared that he and Sharon Benson hosted a recent Fireside and are giving the donations to the World Services Committee for their auction basket. Proud Mama Cynthia Darland shared that her son and his team had recently closed 3 decades-old cold cases. Jim Merritt is celebrating his 46th wedding anniversary and that the next day was his wife’s last day of chemo. Barbara Mead paid a fine in advance as she’s leaving soon for a European vacation. Libby Catalinich announced she had just completed her 50th half-marathon. Jackie Farrar paid a fine for not wearing her pin for a very long time. Chris Serface just returned from a trip to Cabo that he purchased in last year’s auction. Larry Treleven shared that he was donating a dinner opportunity at Columbia Center Tower Club to the auction.

President Linda Kaye asked Gil Quante to make an announcement for the EFN repack.  Gil shared that there were still volunteer opportunities available Feb 2.  President Linda Kaye then reminded Rotarians to consider nominating someone for the Community Service Award and thanked the Auction Committee for sponsoring the meeting.  She also thanked District Governor Craig Gillis and AG Jennifer Durham for joining us today and shared that next week we would hear from Loretta Cool. The following week is a valentines Thursday at 5 at YWCA.  That evening’s social was at Moctezuma’s.  The meeting ended a few minutes after 1 pm with President Linda Kaye encouraging us all to go out and “re-ignite” our Rotary.