A meeting where we hear from Diane Formoso, who really IS Caring For Kids.
The September 13, 2017 meeting of the Rotary Club of Clover Park
Notes taken by Tank Hairston
Edited by Tom McClellan
Meeting called to order – President Bryan Christensen. Invocation – Fred Willis. Pledge of Allegiance – Joy Taylor.
Visiting Rotarians:
Don Daniels – President, Rotary Club of Lakewood; Dave Harkness, Tacoma South; Cyndi Atwood, Tacoma South
Today’s Guests: Diane Formoso, Lakewood Kiwanis and Guest speaker for “Caring for Kids; Marin Dunlap, Lakewood Kiwanis; Ingrid Willis
Future Programs:
September 20 – No Wednesday meeting
September 22 – (Friday) we will participate in a joint meeting with the Lakewood Club to host the District 5020 Governor. Location: Tacoma Golf & Country Club. Lunch begins at 1200 pm and the meeting begins at 1230 pm. Reminder: the TG&GC has a dress code: Business attire is appropriate for both men and women or attire appropriate for the event. Men need collared shirts. Coat and tie are optional. No hats for men. Women: slacks, skirts, dresses are appropriate.”
September 27 – Betsy Peabody, The Puget Sound Restoration Fund.
October 3 – Jeff Gumm, Dangerous Building Abatement, and The Rental Housing Safety Program.
Sunshine Report
A. Charlie Maxwell will have surgery on Friday, Sep. 15.
B. Our thoughts and prayers are with Anne Winters and Karen Fengler Nichols as they mourn the passing of their mother.
C. Former Lakewood Police Chief Bret Farrar passed away on Tuesday, after a battle with cancer. Please keep the Farrar family in your thoughts and prayers during this time of loss.
Announcements:
Heidi Wachter – reminded everyone that we are approaching the final stretch for the Theater Benefit. What’s needed now is to sell all the seats for the performance.
Dave Harkness – came to invite us to their annual Mini Golf Extravaganza and Raise the Paddle event on Friday evening, October 20th. The Raise the Paddle segment this event will be The Trufant Family Foundation which supports programs that directly serve the needs of disadvantaged children who have health and wellness concerns. Dave also provided a $100 certificate to be auctioned at our club and donated $250 as a sponsor of our upcoming Theater Benefit.
Tom McClellan reminded all that Carr’s Restaurant will be open for lunch next Wednesday, but there will be no Rotary meeting on Wednesday September 20 due to our Joint meeting on Friday September 22 with Lakewood Rotary at TGCC.
Maren Dunlap – Invited us to come to the Kiwanis Club’s annual Dinner Auction and Raise the Paddle event on October 7th at Clover Park Technical College in the Rotunda. Kiwanis are Raising the Paddle this year to support the Springbrook Connection.
Fred Willis – Brought peace lilies for anyone interested in taking them.
David Cotant – Reminded all of the Work Party on September 30th at Lakewood Playhouse to spruce up the outside Bistro area to prepare for the Theater Benefit.
Sydna Koontz – Announced our upcoming Progressive Dinner and encouraged all new members to come join in the fun on Friday October 13. The event is hosted by Bill Harrison, Karen George, Georgene Mellom, and Sydna Koontz. The event begins at 6:00 pm. Please RSVP to Sydna so that they can plan for how many mouths to feed.
President Bryan called Diane Formoso up to the podium and presented her a check for $500 on behalf of Clover Park Rotary for her Caring for Kids organization.
Memorable Fines and Moments with Gen Ed
(Amy Schreiber & Sheri Hodson assisting)
General Ed opened with collection of Wachters and an explanation for our many visitors today of how and why we use the word “Wachter” for IOU’s.
David Cotant was recognized for his 6th wedding anniversary and their associated travels. He paid a $20 fine.
Sydna Koontz - celebrated 51 years of marriage and gave $100 towards her Paul Harris.
Alan Billingsley - commented on General Ed wanting to make additional money for the club, when he was asked how many waterfalls he has visited so far this year (as part of a family challenge). He responded with 54 waterfalls and $25.00.
Heidi Wachter – Admitted that she had fun participating in the VA 9/11 golf tournament and will forego touring as a Pro Golfer. Heidi paid $10 for that admission.
Randy Black – was fined $2.00 for not signing in
Today’s Program:
Diane Formoso is a long time champion of Lakewood children in need and works every day to ensure that goods and supplies are collected and available for children within this community. Caring for kids began 43 years ago when Diane, then a school bus driver, noticed kids on the bus with worn-out clothing and shoes.
Diane quickly gave us an update on what is going on in the community and the things her organization is doing to help. Her youngest volunteer is 65 years old, and being the youngest was recently assigned to climb into a bin of books and pass them out to other volunteers who were waiting to stack and repack them into small boxes for distribution. It’s only September, and business is brisk.
This school year’s highlights, so far include:
- istributing 461 Airbeds, pillows and blankets for kids who sleep on floors and furniture rather than beds
- eceiving word that there are at least 525 homeless school aged kids in Lakewood
- Providing clothing and supplies for 118 homeless kids during the first week of this school year.
Diane indicated that there are approximately 9,000 children in Lakewood schools on free and reduced lunches [ed. note: that’s 9,000 out of a total Lakewood population of 60,665, as of 2016]. Her organization received 151 supply requests on the first day of school. She services about 1000 clothing bank orders per year, issues free bike helmets, and supports the Read Across America program.
Raffle Drawing:
Dave Cotant possessed the chosen ticket, pulled an Ace (only 2 remaining in a deck of 5 cards) and collected a cool $900+!
And Finally… Some one-liners:
What did the Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor? "Make me one with everything."
My wife was always telling me to stop doing flamingo impressions. I got so tired of her nagging, that I finally had to put my foot down.
Did you hear about the mathematician who was afraid of negative numbers? He'd stop at nothing to avoid them.
What did the pirate say when he became an octogenarian? 'Aye matey'
I told my mom I was going to build a bike out of spaghetti. You should have seen her face when I rode straight pasta.
Just read the worst page in the entire dictionary. What I saw was disgraceful, disgusting, dishonest, and disingenuous.
If a pterodactyl goes to the bathroom in the woods does it make a noise? ...No, it's a pterodactyl, the p is silent.