Wednesday, December 18
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM; Socialize @ Noon!
The Triple Door (216 Union St. near corner of 3rd Ave.)
Brad Smith, Microsoft
As Microsoft’s vice chair and president, Brad Smith is responsible for spearheading the company’s work and representing it publicly on a wide variety of critical issues involving the intersection of technology and society, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, privacy, environmental sustainability, human rights, digital safety, immigration, philanthropy, and products and business for non-profit customers. He leads a team of roughly 2,000 business, legal and corporate affairs professionals located in 54 countries and operating in more than 120 nations.
Merf Ehman, Executive Director, Columbia Legal Services (CLS) described their work as advocacy for racial and economic justice, litigation, and legislative advocacy. CLS is funded by the Endowment for Equal Justice, the largest legal aid fund in the U.S., CLS gets no public funding to ensure its independence. “We are a community led social justice system/organization dedicated to ending racism,” he began.
CLS is dedicated to equal justice initiatives aimed to “confront, overcome violence and discrimination” as since the 13th amendment prohibited slavery, people of color have been oppressed by a system of racial laws. CLS takes on cases from field worker overtime to those unfairly imprisoned. “Immigration has a history of white supremacy such as the Chinese exclusion act in Seattle, continues today with threatened mass deportation as a form of racism,” they said.
Ehman stressed the importance of understanding every person’s “story” or how they found themselves in their current situation. Ehman described their “life” story or voice as one that included addiction, felonies, and mental arrests. “I knew a Rotarian who reached out, telling me I had such potential and that led me to Buffalo Law School and ultimately to CLS,” Ehman said as a representation of their “voice.”
Ehman cited a recent lawsuit win where the “voices” of agricultural workers enabled CLS to have ag. Workers included in the Fare Labor Standards Act. Challenging conditions and due process at the NW Detention Center. “No one benefits from those imprisoned as they are taken away without due process,” Ehman said. “Fear based vs. hope-based, and accountability and healing are community building.,” Ehman followed, “as individual voices are essential in CLS advocacy work.”
Ehman concluded by emphasizing CLS’ special commitment to working with people impacted by incarceration, immigration, and unfair labor practices.
The day’s short program featured Kendrick Davis who provided an update on activities at Rotary Boys & Girls Club located at 19th & Spruce in Seattle. He said the club now has licensed therapists on site and serves seventy kids a day. Rotarians were asked to donate in support of their holiday shopping list including a backpack refresh. Visit the seattlerotary.org to donate.
Do You Ski? Cynthia Chirot and Faith Ireland want to find ways for Rotary skiers to connect and as convenient meet up to ski. We will have a skiers table at the Dec. 18 meeting. Please join us to learn more and bring your own ideas.
Be on the look out in the new year for a comprehensive check-in survey as we ask members for their insights regarding recent implementations of Future Vision Task Force recommendations. These surveys are invaluable ways for us to ensure we get a full picture of how our fellow members are feeling about things and gives you an opportunity to suggest tweaks you might see fitting or new ideas you'd like us to consider. Do your part and respond when the survey comes through in the new year!
Your SRSF Board spent the several months talking with community leaders about the $75,000 Large Local Grant opportunity. We asked questions like “Are we on the right track with the theme of The Vitality of Downtown Seattle: Public Safety and The Drug Crisis? Would $75,000 make a difference to an organization doing this work"? We spoke to leaders from Uplift NW, Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Seattle Association, We are PDA/Third Avenue Project, Seattle Fire Department, Alliance for Pioneer Square, Pioneer Square Resident’s Council and The Seattle Foundation. We had resounding support that we were on the right track. Also, being able to communicate that Seattle 4 is the downtown Rotary Club for Seattle was very impactful on these leaders and they expressed their appreciation that our club does in their community.
Each of these organizations have received the application and we have asked that they share it with others.
We now ask each of you to consider an organization that is focused on Public Safety and The Drug Crisis. Think about organizations in your neighborhood that are making a difference and how the $75,000 might propel their work. We would like to see a wide variety of applicants: small nonprofits, grassroots organizations, and larger projects related to our theme are all welcome! If you do think of one, please share this link with them. We will welcome your advocacy for the organization as well.
Saturday, December 14
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Wellspring Family Services
Holiday Volunteering and Gift Drive
Volunteers will support the Family Store program extension, providing holiday gifts for children facing homelessness and hardship. Tasks will include sorting incoming gifts, or packing orders to go directly to families. It will include light lifting and walking. Day of tasks will vary based on our greatest needs.
To find the required volunteer form AND register to attend, please sign up via the Our Mayberry event listing by CLICKING HERE.
Thursday, December 19
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Queen City Yacht Club
Annual Holiday Party
Please note that this will be a ticketed event this year for all members. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased through Our Mayberry by CLICKING HERE. This year we welcome back the Seattle Rotary Mariners as our entertainment organizers. Live classic Christmas music will be provided by Sam Russell and the Harbor Rats, so bring your dancing shoes!
Monday, February 3
3:00 PM
Lumen Field Event Center
Seattle Boat Show with the Seattle Rotary Mariners
The Seattle Rotary Mariners invite you to join them for a visit to the Seattle Boat Show. It will be free admission day for women.
Please meet at the entrance at 3 PM for a show walk-thru followed by a drinks from 4-6 PM at the Tunnel Club Lounge (cash bar).
We love to see our Rotary members promoting good works in our community and abroad! If you have a project or fundraiser that you are excited about and would like to promote to your fellow club members, please check in with our Club Director, Mary Goldie, before distributing information or invitations through our email roster. We value the privacy of our members’ contact information and can let you know the appropriate ways to reach out to folks in our club. Thank you!!
These are club membership (not total years of Rotary membership) anniversaries only
1 Year
Logan Reilly
Collin Moriarty Olden
2 Years
Jared Grose
Barton Delacy
3 Years
Ryan Pong
7 Years
Tatyana Tsyrlinda-Spady
Paul Tsai
8 Years
Adel Sefrioui
Mary Wagner
10 Years
Jim Kraft
14 Years
Andrew Rapp
17 Years
Brian Bruce
20 Years
Mark Wright
23 Years
Heather Fitzpatrick
30 Years
Linda Walton
31 Years
Dave Siebert
32 Years
Jim Duncan
33 Years
Assunta Ng
37 Years
Anne Farrell
44 Years
Skip Kotkins
45 Years
John Ellis
46 Years
Carl Behnke
Get Involved
Meet fellow Rotarians and get involved in service. See below for a list of committees. Email the committee chair by clicking on their name. Or, contact Mary Goldie for more information.
4. Invite your connections to a weekly meeting, and let mary@seattlerotary.org know so they may be introduced.
If you don't already have a LinkedIn profile, CLICK HERE to learn how to get started.
SEATTLE 4 ROTARY AUDIO VISUAL SPONSORS
Video of Seattle 4 Rotary Programs are available online thanks to the generous support of our Seattle Rotary Audio Visual Sponsors.
In addition to supporting our club, becoming a Seattle 4 Rotary Audio Visual Sponsor brings many benefits. To learn more, click here, or contact Mary for more details at mary@seattlerotary.org.
Do You Have Any Musical Instruments to Donate to Students in Need?
Music4Life is a non-profit and project of Rotary District 5030 that distributes musical instruments to public school students in need.
We welcome any gently used musical instruments you wish to donate. They can be delivered directly to these local music stores that are now open: American Music in Phinney Ridge and Kennelly Keys Music in Bellevue, Lynnwood, and Everett.
Please accompany your instrument with the PDF donation form, linked below.
Our Rotary Cares team is ready to listen and to support you. One of the wonderful things about our club is that you have many friends --you just need to reach out to tap into our amazing network of caring people. Please contact our Rotary Cares Committee Chair to let us know how we can help.
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