Prior to this meeting I Goggled what national observances celebrated on April 14^th. 

Nothing interesting came up so I didn’t give it another thought until I got to the meeting and looked over the Raffle prizes for today and I saw a bag of pecans.  When I saw those, I realized what I had read that morning about today being National Pecan Day.  I bet you didn’t know all of this about pecans. It is the only major nut tree native to North America (in the future I will look up what minor nut trees are native to North America).  Archaeologists have evidence that the tree grew along the Rio Grande River as far back as 1600 BC. Indigenous people domesticated and named the nut “pakan”, which means a nut the requires a stone to crack it.

 

MEETING:

President Kelli Thode led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and into our 40th meeting of the year and our 5,640th meeting of the Rotary Club of Everett. There were 31+/- Rotarians, guests, and ZOOMERS in attendance.

 

Walt Greenwood played a song he had written during COVID when he was feeling isolated within his home and his thoughts turned to the wonders and pleasantries of a country drive. The title of his song was Ride of Your Life.

 

Brian Hollingshead thought of the day is: “Maybe living your best life just means slowing

 

Paul Stoot introduced his guest, Danan Powell, who is the father of a successful graduate of Rise Up Academy and is in the real estate business.

 

Bruce Timm introduced his wife, Jessica.

 

Tasha Boston is with KRB Concepts LLC.

 

Amy (I did not catch her last name)

 

Walt modeled a dark blue polo shirt that sported a fine-looking Rotary logo and our club’s name. He had several of these made to see if there may be something club members may want to purchase (at approximately $35.00 each).  Walt will do more research to see what the price may be if he had a group order.  More to come.

 

Kari Quaas updated us on the scholarship interviews that will take place this coming Saturday the 18^th. Students will be interviewed by 5 teams of Rotarians and at the end of the day, they will select 40+ students who will receive a scholarship at the May 13^th awards

night. It is estimated that the total amount of the scholarships that will be handed out that night will be around $390,000.00

 

Krissy Davis is looking for volunteers who can help with the student Shopping Spree that will take place at the Fred Meyer store on 128^th on June 2^nd and June 4^th.  Students will be able to get up to $600.00 worth of items to help them get a start on their journey into college life.  Please contact Krissy if you can help on one or both dates. (krissyd@pskc.net)

 

On April 21^st our 20^th blood drive will take place at the Everett Elks.  There is still some space available to sign up and donate your Red Blood Cells, Platelets, and Plasma. Please contact Heather Barnhart (heatherbarnhart@comcast.net) if you’d like to donate your time and your blood.

 

The District 5050 Conference takes place at Harrison Hot Springs the weekend of May 1^st - the 3^rd. Come and Celebrate the Impact of Rotary.

 

Vice President Ryan Willis gave us a recap of the District Assembly that took place in Surrey, B.C. on April 11th.  He said it was a great time and very engaging. Janice Ellis was also in attendance and they both, I am certain, represented our club well.

 

Past President Michael Kvistad presented the Slate of Officers for 2026-2027.

 

The following officers will be voted on at the April 21^st meeting.

Vice President - Krissy Davis

Treasurer - Janice Ellis

Secretary - Walt Greenwood

Board Members

 

Past President Neil Angst completed his radiation treatments, and he was a happy bellringer ($100.00).

 

Past President Michael was $100.00 happy for Neil’s milestone.  He was also happy to be back at Rotary for our noon meetings.  He has been missing the meetings to watch his middle school basketball player who happened to have games in the early afternoon on

Tuesdays.

 

Janice Ellis was excited to share all the experiences she enjoyed during her travel to Japan.  The hospitality and the people she met were so wonderful and the stories she told about formal tea parties, meeting Haku’s parents, and being the “guest” of honor at a Rotary meeting. She met up with Connor, our outbound Rotary Student, at that meeting and he acted as her interpreter.  Janice said she had memorized a thank you speech that she gave in Japanese but realized what she was saying wasn’t registering with her audience.  She has all the appreciation in the world for what Haku and Conner have done to learn and communicate effectively during their year abroad.

 

Past President Andy Hall was $40.00 happy to relate a very random story.  I get the Seattle Times delivered on Sundays only.  Last Sunday I opened to the second page of the Sports section and there was an article with the title FLASHBACK (I hadn’t ever seen

a flashback article in that paper before).  Under the title it read “In the news, 119 years ago this week”. In other papers I’ve seen articles featuring something that happened 25 years or 50 years ago today but not a random number like 119 years ago this week. The picture just below the headlines was of my grandfather who was a pitcher for Seattle High School (later to be named Broadway High School). The article was all about the high school team that went on a promotional tour (1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition was coming to Seattle) across the country playing and beating amateur and professional teams.  It included

a lot of information about my grandfather’s prowess on the mound, especially his command of the “spitball”.  It also highlighted that he played major league baseball in 1914-1915, although sparingly, for Brooklyn.  At the time they were the Robins later to be known as the

Dodgers.

 

Haku was happy that he has been having a wonderful experience as our exchange student.

 

Ashley Bolden drew the winning tickets that belonged to the following Rotarians.

 

Winner number 1 - Past President Henry Newton - Pinot Grigio, Pecans (pakans)

 

Winner number 2 - Past President Will McMahan - Red wine, Japanese tea from Haku, and candy

 

Winner number 3 - Past President Steve Miller - Hot cocoa and a Rotary hat.

 

Past President John Olson presented the following awards.

 

Cathy Woods - Paul Harris Certificate with lapel pin

Ryan Willis - Paul Harris Certificate with lapel pin

 

Krissy Davis - PHF+1 lapel pin with 1 blue stone

 

Kari Quaas - Paul Harris Certificate with lapel pin

Kari Quaas - PHF+1 lapel pin with 1 blue stone

 

Brian Hollingshead - PHF+2 lapel pin with 2 blue stones

 

Bruce Timm - PHF+3 lapel pin with 3 blue stones

 

Betsy Baker-Bold - PHF+4 lapel pin with 4 blue stones 

Betsy Baker-Bold - PHF+5 lapel pin with 5 blue stones

 

Past President Henry Newton - PHF+6 lapel pin with 1 red stone

Past President Henry Newton - PHF+7 lapel pin with 2 red stones

Past President Neil Angst - PHF+6 lapel pin with 1 red stone

Past President Neil Angst - PHF +7 lapel pin with 2 red stone

 

Walt Greenwood - PHF+7 lapel pin with 2 red stones

 

Past President Tammy Dunn - PHF+7 lapel pin with 2 red stones

Past President Tammy Dunn - PHF+8 lapel pin with 3 red stones

 

President Elect Kari Petrasek - PHF+7 lapel pin with 2 red stones

President Elect Kari Petrasek - PHF+8 lapel pin with 3 red stones

President Elect Kari Petrasek - Major Donor (crystal and pins)

 

Jim Schrader - Major Donor, Level One

 

Other Rotary Club of Everett major donors are:

(I’m sorry if I missed anyone)

  

NEXT PROGRAM: Students of the month

 

President Kelli adjourned the meeting at 12:53 PM

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

Photography Submitted by.