Loved, respected servant of this club and Rotary for 42 plus years. She served as Executive Secretary beginning in in 1967. She left the club in June 2012 and was an honorary member until her passing on March 26, 2019. Visit our club home page for more information on Carol, including the Rotary memorial scholarship being established in her name.
ROTARY AMBASSADORS - APRIL 18
SPONSOR OF THE WEEK
Please try to arrive by 11:30 AM. Future schedule tentative
because new members are asked to greet. But all members
are always welcome to greet.
If unable to attend, please greet at your next meeting.
THE APPLE BLOSSOM FESTIVAL IS CELEBRATING 100 YEARS. Queen Savannah Slife, Princesses Elizabeth Popoff and Oliva Lancaster will be our guests Thursday. You don’t want to miss this one.
Queen Savannah Princess Elizabeth Princess Oliva
These young ladies will be representing Wenatchee at many festivals all over the state of Washington throughout the summer along with their chaperones, Wendy Focht and Allison Womack.
The Festival was born in 1919, the brainchild of Susan Wagner, wife of the district’s first apple shipper and a native of New Zealand. She enjoyed the festivals of her childhood so much that she suggested beginning a similar festival in the Wenatchee Valley. The Ladies Musical Club produced the first festival in 1920, and the first Apple Blossom Festival Queen was Fern Powell who reigned over the festivities, then called “Blossom Days” The one-day event in Memorial Park involved songs, speeches, Maypoles, and baseball.
The event drew large delegations of business and community leaders from throughout Seattle, Spokane, and North Central Washington, and its continuance was assured. In 1921 the Commercial Club, forerunner of the Chamber of Commerce, took over sponsorship of the celebration. The first parade was held that spring. From this birth, our celebration carries the distinction of being the first Apple Blossom Festival in the country, and the oldest major festival in Washington. Only Sequim Irrigation Days in Western Washington is older than our Apple Blossom Festival.
Linda was sponsored and introduced by Britt Dudek (whose daughter Brittany was an exchange student to Korea through our club 4 years ago). Linda has been married for 34 years, has three children and 4 grandchildren whom she adores. Linda comes from an extensive background of over 25 years in sales. She has worked at her local church for the past 9 1/2 years, managing the Congregational Care and Community Outreach. She has a passion for kids and making sure their basic needs are being met so they can thrive in school and be happy and healthy. She loves to feed hungry kids.
Each year, over 15,000 children in the Wenatchee Valley depend on free or reduced lunch during the school year (many are homeless). In many cases, that is their main meal of the day. When school is not in session during the summer, many children go without food. Small Miracles partners with USDA Summer Food Program and our local Farm to School Programs to fill this gap and make sure every child has a nutritious meal throughout the week. Last summer Small Miracles provided 9,000 lunches at over 21 locations located in Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Rock Island and Cashmere - but we still have only scratched the surface. Your donation will help us reach more families, increase awareness, and change the life of a child.
Small Miracles staffs people as well as volunteers to provide lunches Monday - Thursday during the summer to children in the community at various locations. The program operates under the Washington State Department of Agriculture and is managed by the State of Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction.
For the 2017-2018 school year, 6,166 children in the Eastmont School District, and 7,557 in the Wenatchee School District and 1,587 children in the Cashmere School District qualify for free or reduced meals at school. That is 15,310 children in the Wenatchee Valley alone! The School District fills the gap during the school year, but what happens when school is not in session? Unfortunately, they go without in many cases. It is estimated that 1/3 of these children go hungry during each school break.
The annual budget is $150,000, but increasing. There will be a fund-raiser on May 18 at Wenatchee Golf and Country Club, at 5:30 PM. Tickets are available on their website. Listen here to the audio of Linda's talk, during which she showed a touching video.
Small Miracles is a local 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization dedicated to ending hunger among children in the Wenatchee Valley.
President Pete opened the meeting of theGRUYERE of Rotary clubs and made or allowed or the following announcements. Gene Anderson, at the head table, and at 90 years of age and with 50 years in Rotary, was recognized as one of the hardest workers in Rotary.
Pete also announced the next new-member breakfast for Tuesday, April 16, at Smitty's Pancake House , 1621 N. Wenatchee Ave., 7:30 AM. This is for any new or "newish" or prospective members.
Tom Ross spoke about the Wenatchee Rotary Foundation (WRF), and especially the new Carol Norton Scholarship Fund; it has about $1500 in pledges to date, with an initial goal of $10K, and a long-term goal of at least $20K. Download the PLEDGE FORM here. They can be mailed to PO Box 1723, Wenatchee 98807-1723. Tom also appealed for volunteers to serve on the WRF board. Listen here to Tom's appeal.
Laurie Flarity-White explained about her husband, Dr. Jim White, being featured in a front-page Wenatchee World story regarding the national award from the US DOE for his recent innovative solar-power invention. She had previously bragged about the award and paid a LARGE fine. She was proud that he first wanted to donate some of the prize money to a school in Nairobi, Kenya that he has worked with in the past. The next step is to present in Boston, so he is working hard to prepare.
Barbara Walters reminded us that the library is temporarily being relocated to accommodate the long-awaited renovation, and she appealed for volunteers to help pack up the library books on Monday April 22-23, 9 AM-1 PM each day (20 or more needed). Come for 1 hour or the entire time. If you missed the sign-up, email Barbara.
Pete recognized and praised the World Community Service Committee on their work toward clean water in Haiti and reminded the members that April 14 is the 10-year anniversary of beginning our efforts in Haiti. [Note: Committee leaders are Bill Murray and Carin Smith. Carin has taken ownership of the Haiti page on our club website and it's looking good! And, Bill will be making a presentation at the District Conference].
Terry Stuller made an appeal to support our current member-recruitment initiative so that we can meet membership goals as well as be more effective in community service. Listen here to Terry.
Joe St. Jean gave an update on some amazing student interviews for Rotary scholarships.
Alice Meyer praised the DECA students at WestSide HS. From the school website: "The WestSide High School DECA team will receive a visit from Congresswoman Kim Schrier on April 25th as part of the SIFMA Foundation’s 16th Annual Capitol Hill Challenge™ (CHC) national program. READ MORE
Repeating from last week : Our good friends in Leavenworth hope some of us might be interested in their big fundraiser on April 28, Hot Havana Nights!Click here for information.
Pete's Good News: Since it's National Pet Day, Pete gave some interesting ways to entertain your pet.Listen to Pete's funny explanation.
Join Kory Kalahar & John McDarment on the Centennial Committee . Help plan the January 16, 2021 big celebration gala at the Wenatchee Convention Center.
Wenatchee Rotary Foundation Board Nominations
We are a stand alone nonprofit managed by members of this club. Each year one third of this board is up for reelection; or after two terms replacement. The annual meeting of the Foundation will be during the Club's May 16th lunch meeting and the election will take place at that time. See chart below for list of current officers and board.
We encourage any of you interested in running for an open position to let me know. We are a working board (about an hour per month of your time plus a one hour meeting most months). We seek two skill sets: 1. Those interested in helping us grow our corpus - fundraising. 2. Those interested in helping award scholarships and gifts. This is a fun and rewarding board and I hope you will consider joining us.
SPEAKERS. Are you thinking of sponsoring a speaker? Guidelines are posted on our website under the main menu. Or click here.
End Polio Now/Club 60: Our ambitious goal was set by President Pete at $10,000. On April 11, donations by club members to the Club-60 cups was $28.05,bringing our total to $7,253, or $21,759with the Gates match! This equates to 36,337 lives potentially saved!
$7,253
Note: We continue our 10-year relationship with the Gates Foundation. Since 2013, they have matched each dollar with $2 toward polio eradication. Collections at KPQ on Polio Day were $1,133. Read about 2018 World Polio Day, October 24