Attending: Bob Allen, Pat Anderson, President Keith Carpenter, Shaun Dean, Katie Dugan, Ed Jefferson, Les Metrovich, Scott Weaver, guest speaker Guermo Carvajal.
12:12 PM - President Keith called meeting to order and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Katie led the Invocation. Keith then introduced our guest Guermo Carvajal from Northgate Elementary School.
President Keith noted that 8 members were in attendance that this meeting would be the “smallest” meeting for the rest of the year.
President Keith Carpenter presiding over his first meeting. Photo by Bob Allen
Shaun took the lead in walking the Happy Bucks basket around the table. Happiness in the room included:
Pat – Was happy about the bunny that has been visiting her home and nibbling on the grass in her yard. Bob – Is happy about the start of swim, baseball and soccer season for his 5 grandchildren so he’ll be attending a lot of sporting events. Les – Celebrated his son’s 1st haircut by a professional barber. Ed – Was happy to have Guermo at the meeting.
Guermo – Spent Monday hiking Tiger Mountain with a friend and had a fantastic day. Katie – Was happy to be at the
meeting. Keith – Had a good weekend making a 3 day drive with the family to Minnesota. Sadly, his father-in-law has liver cancer and the prognosis is not good. Christine stayed behind to be with her family. Keith was also happy that even though he got to the airport late to fly home, he still made his flight and was upgraded to 1st class. And if that wasn’t enough happiness for 1 buck, Keith went onto say that he saw Le Mis on Sunday and he cried like a baby. And finally, he is happy to be President. (phew). Scott – Spent the weekend in North Pole, Alaska where he helped with the Jingle in July 5k fun run. 480 folks turned out and raised over $40,000 for the Arthritis Foundation. Shaun – Was happy to spend the 4th of July weekend with friends in Arizona where it was a balmy 110 degrees.
Prior to the arrival of lunch, in lieu of a joke, President Keith read an excerpt about Sir Edmond Hillary’s accomplishment of climbing Mount Everest. Most don’t know that Hillary failed in his first attempt to conquer Everest and that he reached the summit on his second attempt. Keith stated that when Hillary was asked after his first failed attempt if he would try again, he replied “of course, Everest has stopped growing, but I have not.” Keith related these remarks to his personal optimism and his vision for the North Seattle Rotary, saying that neither of which has stopped growing and that we should always be looking to move forward and improve.
Lunch arrived and during lunch Bob reported that he hand met with the manager of the new Key Bank (Tori) and that she would be attending the Rotary meeting on July 31st and is a potential new member.
Guermo Carvajal and President Keith. Photo by Bob Allen
Guermo was our guest speaker and he began by telling us a bit about himself. He moved from Costa Rica to NY City (Bronx) in the early 1970’s when he was 10. He shared some personal experiences while living in NY that shaped him and influence him for life. In the 1980’s he got married and moved to Seattle. Upon arrival he couldn’t find a job right away so he spent time volunteer for assorted social service agencies and eventually landed a job with Seattle Public Schools. He is now the Family Services Coordinator for Northgate Elementary. Guermo expressed his appreciation for the Rotary and the support we have provided to the school and more importantly the students and their family.
Meeting adjourned at 1:18 PM.
