Meeting Notes, April 19, 2017
Posted by Tom McClellan on Apr 20, 2017
Spring is here, and so were the Rotarians.
Meeting notes recorded by Bonnie Kern
Edited by Tom McClellan
The meeting was called to order half a minute early by President Jim Hairston. Dave Cotant provided the invocation; Bob Lawrence led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Jeanne Hill introduced several visiting Rotarians, including Greg and Mary Horn from the Lakewood Club, and Cindy Niemi from Tacoma 8.
Tom McClellan introduced today’s speaker Ivy Berger of CareNet, who was accompanied by Judi Weldy of the Lakewood CareNet office. And visitor Cindy Niemi from Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital introduced two additional representatives from Mary Bridge.
Announcements:
Karen George reported that Marie Barth has been very sick with the flu, Teresa Nye had knee surgery and is doing better and Wally Johnson (husband of Marilee) is recovering for a broken knee that followed his knee surgery.
Tom McClellan announced future programs.
April 26 – No noon meeting due to delivering roses.
May 3 – Kitty Wheeler, of Clover Park High School’s DECA Program
May 10 – Judge Susan Adams, Lakewood’s new municipal court judge.
Alan Billingsley reminded us that we will be at Wards Lake Park from 9:00 – noon on Saturday, April 21 to work on park improvements as part of Parks Appreciation Day.
Ed. Note: As a frequent visitor to Fort Steilacoom Park, I have been very happy to see the new asphalt path around Waughop Lake get finished. Our club helped that effort through a contribution to Partners For Parks.
You may be interested to know that Waughop Lake has had some interesting residents lately, including an otter who spent much of last summer on the lake, and 5 red-eared slider turtles. 4 of the 5 are shown in the picture below. These turtles are a non-native species originally from the southeast, and likely were pets that people released (a really bad idea). Still, they are fun to see.
The reason your editor includes mention of these wildlife is that he forgot to take any pictures during the actual meeting. And Lakewood’s parks collectively represent an underappreciated asset in our community.
Representatives of Lakewood Club invited us to join them on May 12 for the Million Dollar Gala to celebrate the club’s achievement of reaching $1,000,000 in donations to the foundation. The cost of the dinner is $100.00/person and attire is formal. Contact a Lakewood Rotarian if you are interested in attending.
Tom McClellan described his experience with Flat Paul. He took it with him to southern California where he visited his 89 year old father-in-law, whose live-in caregiver is away on vacation. He practiced service to others when he helped his father-in-law clean out his garage, which was a repository for several years' worth of "treasured possessions". While there, Tom also attended a meeting of the Manhattan Beach Rotary Club, which in 1998 switched from lunch to breakfast and increased their membership from 50 to over 100.
Representatives of Mary Bridge presented information about the changes to the Courage Classic which has been a Pierce County Rotary project for the past 25 years. The new program is a 1 or 2 day bike ride, and will be called just The Courage. The goals of the changes are to include more options for riders and to expand services to children who need a greater array of services. The dates will be August 26-27 - the weekend before Labor Day weekend. It is also possible to make a donation to Mary Bridge directly on their website, which has more information about the event.
Upcoming events and/or commitments for our club:
A reminder that June 21 will be our installation banquet so there will be no noon meeting. Mark your calendars and watch for more details.
The district training assembly and conference will be held May 4-6 at the Clearwater Casino Resort in Suquamish, Washington. You can learn more about the event and register at www.rotary5020.org.
Bryan Christensen reported on the Rose Sale. We have ordered 800 dozen roses and have commitments forms for 710. Roses can be picked up Tuesday and Wednesday morning at Washington Floral. Watch for an email from Bryan for more details.
Fun and Fines with General Ed
assisted by red badger Pat Ahearne
Karl Roth paid off his $120.00 Wachter.
Joyce Oubre just returned from a long business trip to Chicago where she learned a lot about the future of McDonalds’ menu and services. One change is that beef patties will be refrigerated rather than frozen. She paid $20.00 for the trip.
John Munn celebrated his 10th wedding anniversary with a $20.00 contribution because all the years were so good.
General Ed matched John’s $20.00 for a trip to Vancouver to visit his son for Easter.
Karl Roth was in Olympia lobbying both sides of the aisle. His visit to Olympia was covered in the Suburban Times and cost him $5.00.
Sheri Hodson and Randy Black each paid $2.00 for being late.
Tom McClellan paid $30.00 for 6 nights away from home.
Visiting Rotarian Cindy Niemi from Mary Bridge paid $5.00 for her red high heels, which reminded General Ed of the pair of red pumps which used to be passed on to incoming club presidents. Ed. Note: That tradition ended years ago when Paul Webb was president, and for some reason Paul just kept the high-heeled red pumps rather than passing them onto the next president. Insert your own joke here.
Today’s Program
Ivy Berger of CareNet shared information about their programs which are designed to teach children about sexual health and the dangers of sex trafficking. She shared lots of statistics on sex trafficking. She stated that the estimate is that 31,000,000 are involved in some level around the world. Trafficking is the fasted growing criminal enterprise today. Seattle has been identified as one of the top 20 cities in the country for labor and sex trafficking. The average age of entry into prostitution is between 12 and 14.
Greg Horn of the Lakewood Club suggested that dealing with human trafficking could be a future Rotary International mission.
John Unfred added some perspective from the Lakewood Police department. Over the past few years, the FBI has become directly involved in helping to help victims and arrest the perpetrators.
Drawing: John Munn drew the winning number and pulled a 5.
And Finally…
An old geezer became very bored in retirement and decided to open a medical clinic. He put a sign up outside that said: "Dr. Geezer's clinic. Get your treatment for $500, if not cured, get back $1,000."
Doctor "Young," who was positive that this old geezer didn't know beans about medicine, thought this would be a great opportunity to get $$. So he went to Dr. Geezer's clinic.
Dr. Young: "Dr. Geezer, I have lost all taste in my mouth. Can you please help me ??"
Dr. Geezer: "Nurse, please bring medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in Dr. Young's mouth."
Dr. Young: "Aaagh!! -- This is Gasoline!"
Dr. Geezer: "Congratulations! You've got your taste back. That will be $500.
Dr. Young gets annoyed and goes back after a couple of days figuring to recover his money.
Dr. Young: "I have lost my memory, I cannot remember anything."
Dr. Geezer: "Nurse, please bring medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in the patient's mouth."
Dr. Young: "Oh, no you don't, -- that is Gasoline!"
Dr. Geezer: "Congratulations! You've got your memory back. That will be $500."
Dr. Young (after having lost $1000) leaves angrily and comes back after several more days.
Dr. Young: "My eyesight has become weak --- I can hardly see anything!!!!"
Dr. Geezer: "Well, I don't have any medicine for that, so here's your $1000 back." (giving him a $10 bill.)
Dr. Young: "But this is only $10!"
Dr. Geezer: "Congratulations! You got your vision back! That will be $500."
The moral of the story...Just because you're "young" doesn't mean that you can outsmart an "old Geezer!"