The able-bodied staff were Jay Mayer as Sergeant at Arms, James Guerrero at the Paul Harris desk, and Bill Young hustling around to collect some fines.
Jim Skar introduced our visiting Rotarians as being Bob Edington; Karl Roth; Joyce Aubrie from CP; and Linn Larson Tacoma #8.
Guests were Keith Rittel introduced by Debbie LeBeau; Pete Zeigler introduced by Dan Livingston; Jim Sharp introduced by Michael McGovern; Donya Martin introduced by President Greg Horn; and Joanne Crane introduced her grandchildren Hillary and Lucas. President Greg brought to us Satu, whom he awoke at the crack of eleven this morning to make the meeting. John Magnuson introduced Lorna Gifford as a guest to our meeting as well.
Jan Luze gave us the Sunshine Report. She reported that President Greg's skin graft is doing well. Jane Whitney had earlier expertly deduced that President Greg II was wearing two different shoes to this event in support of his healing comfort. Bud Hurlow is healthy and it is okay to visit with him at the University Place Care Center. Eric Quinn is doing great now and is back to work. Skip Stephan is at Madigan Hospital following an exploratory surgery, that he declined to provide details on, which took place on Tuesday.
Announcements. President Greg II will be asking us to sign up to assist at the first annual Lakewood Rotary Home Brew event in August. If you need more information you can look up lakewoodrotaryhomebrew.com Ron Adkins gave his appreciation to those Rotarians who signed up and visited other district clubs. Looks like we got them all covered. Jan Luze spoke to us about the Tacoma Country and Golf Club dress code at the request of the Club. I am going to hold off on the shorts issue, because several people said they got different answers from the Club. But it can be said that men will wear collared shirts and jeans still are not allowed. Women are to wear blouses. Hats are to be removed inside the club. Our meeting is conducted in the "formal" dining room and those dress code rules apply.
Kismet Kechejian was called up to the front of the room by the President to receive his Puffin. He was counseled on the responsibilities for its care and a "fine" warning about how much Puffins love to attend Rotary meetings.
The next fellowship event is on the night of July 24th. Forty-seven people have signed up to see Angry Housewives at the Lakewood Playhouse, AND, there are only eleven of those who have yet to pay. That is something for Lakewood Rotary history. Dinner at the Oakbrook Country Club begins at 6 PM and the play starts at 8. Thanks to Gayle Selden for this update and for the cookies.
Somebody gave an update on the Courage Classic. All of our riders are on track with their donations; if you are still looking to support a rider then Dave Covey's friend from Oregon is your best choice as he hasn't quite hit the $500 mark. Rest Stop volunteerism is also doing well. This writer just received word that Ward Fletcher is willing to drive over in his RV and watch over the equipment at the rest stop Sunday night.  Much thanks Ward.
The BA Committee was called to the front by President Greg II.  That stands for Birthday and Anniversary. Judy Hosea and Dave Sclair gave an entertaining and cost efficient run-down on the July birthdays and anniversaries. I must admit that I am a little disappointed in them as follow bulletin writers: I would have thought that they could read off the list of names just a wee bit faster and make it a real challenge.  Anniversaries: Paul Casey, Greg Rediske, Michael Lewis, Ron Adkins. All of them too cautious to spin the blinking wheel of lights to select their fine for them. Birthdays: Jim Ray, Ben Sclair, Denise Yochum, Phil Eng, Bud Montgomery, Cal Kushen, and Jon Calder. Denise was the first Rotarian not intimidated by the blinking wheel of lights and the choice paid off as it came in at $20. Despite her enthusiastic yet premature victory dance when the fickle wheel did not light at all at first and she thought it was a freebee. The only birthday person called to the front by the BA Committee, present earlier but mysteriously absent now, was Jane Whitney.
Additional fines were paid by Bud Montgomery and Bob Lordahl. Bud gave $20 because his daughter Melissa received a Meritorious Service Award from the 13th U.S. Coast Guard district for her work with abandoned vessels. Bud paid $50 to the International Foundation for his new cabin in Packwood, which promptly received requests for Rotary visits. That and Cindy Thompson's.
Rod Wittmier gave us an introduction to a program he created that seeks to reduce veteran suicide by providing currently returned veterans the opportunity for peer support by past returned veterans. The organization is called Vets Meet Vets and serves all branches of service and all eras of war. His ultimate goal is to have everyone, every American, to join.
Michael McGovern introduced our speaker today. Colleen Adler is the Disaster Preparedness Coordinator for the Lakewood Fire Department.  In that, she has focused on bringing Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) to Lakewood. These are trained volunteers under the national Citizen Corps program. Her presentation covered CERT, who they are and what they do, as well as emergency preparedness and what you can do to be prepared in case of an emergency.
The rule of thumb now is to have emergency food, water, medications, and many other things on a list for 5 to 7 days. Most of the items you already have in your home; it only takes about ten minutes to stow them in one safe location to be available in the event of an emergency.
Colleen can be reached at cadler@lakewoodfire.org if you need a list of emergency items that you will need or if you are interested in starting or becoming a member of a CERT in Lakewood.  And all welcomed Norm Tremaine's proclamation that he had gas.  Colleen was so nimble that she managed to turn the statement into a nice warning about knowing how to turn off your gas main in the event of one of the aforementioned emergencies.
The last housekeeping item was getting a set of yacht keys back to Ted Wier. Is it possible that Ted has found an as yet undiscovered secret passage from Lake Steilacoom to American Lake and it arriving by boat to the meeting? 
The drawing resulted in a crisp five dollar bill getting into the hands of Mary Lou Sclair.  And the ringing of the bell by President Greg II ended the meeting.

Late breaking update: If you are attending the dinner and the play on Friday night, the 24th, you can arrive at Oakbrook anytime after 5:30 for cocktails. Dinner will be served buffet style beginning at 6 o'clock. There are now 65 people attending dinner. Amazing! 

Outgoing Exchange Student News!

Hunter Larsen is Lakewood Rotary's first outgoing exchange student in over a decade.  He is the son of Linn Larsen from Tacoma #8, who was at the meeting and gave a report on Hunter's first few days in Jalgoan, India, located in central India and birthplace to the current Indian president.  The temperature reaches 115+ degrees in the summer, and will go as low as 50 degrees in winter.  They receive 30 inches of rain per year, almost all in the monsoon season of June thru September.  Hunter is blessed with a servant to do his laundry.  His mom suggested that Rotary proved a "rebound" session titled something like "Your Mother Will Not Be Doing Your Laundry Upon Your Return."  Hunter was given his Eagle Scout award 3 days before leaving, and he is already set to assist the scouting program in Jalgoan.  (Hunter's final Eagle scout project was to build the wheelchair ramp at Lakewood Players, and one of his sponsors was our own JohnKorsmo, aka Korsmo Construction.)  Hunter started school July 16, is helping another exchange student from Vermont, and he's eating lassi and bhel.  The Youth Exchange Committee is very, very proud of all he's doing in his short stay so far!

Please remember that the outgoing exchange program is open to Rotarians and their families.  We will be taking applications in the fall, so pass the word!