Rotarians huddled around their computers, monitors, and devices on Wednesday, January 29th, 2024, for the monthly Zoom meeting. The meeting began with a call to action from Seattle 4 President Jon Bridge urging Seattle Rotarians to complete the membership survey. The survey is currently (at the time of writing this report) still open and access can be found within the weekly bulletins for the club. Additionally, President Bridge asked Rotarians to make their annual commitments to the Settle Rotary Service Foundation and the Rotary Foundation by March.

It was also announced that on the evening of January 30th, 2024, the three finalists for the $75,000 SRSF grant will be presenting at 5:30pm at the Rainier Club. The current finalists are Operation Nightwatch (https://www.seattlenightwatch.org/), Uplift NW (https://upliftnw.org/), and Third Avenue Project (https://wearepda.org/programs/third-avenue-project/).

The first short program of the afternoon was from Roy Chang of School Connect Washington to speak about the $30,000 grant that School Connect received. With this grant, Chang and School Connect Washington were able to create the Read Seattle Movement. “The goal to of the grant is to ignite a volunteer driven literacy movement across Greater Seattle,” Chang said when speaking about the goal of the movement. In addition to starting this movement, the grant has allowed School Connect Washington to partner with the producers of the documentary Sentenced. Together, both groups hope to foster a a literacy driven movement across cities in the United States. Through local showings of this film, School Connect Washington has been able to add over 70 volunteers. More information can be found on School Connect Washington’s website at https://www.schoolconnectwa.org/.