President Greg Nelson brought the meeting to order at 12:19.
Our Greeter and Sargent-at-Arms, Liz Taylor, lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Guests today were Charlotte McGee (Barb Tubekis), Cam Johnson (Community House Director of Development-Amy Skalinder) and John Rogers (Robert Mardirossian).
Birthdays: Amy Skalinder, for whom we serenaded with Happy Birthday.
Anniversaries: July Tye – 5 yrs; Greg Kurr – 5 yrs; and Trisha Kocanda – 5 yrs.
Announcements:
Donna is retiring as our caterer. We will be trying 3 possible replacements in August.
David Grant announced that his email was hacked so you may have received a message purportedly from David. The problem has been fixed.
Rich Lalley reported that Operation Warm will be giving away shoes in July and could use some help. Laura Cunningham volunteered,
Tony Kambich reported that this month’s Rotarian had a good story on page 44 about Rotary’s positive involvement in Uganda.
Happy Bucks:
Robert Mardirossian was happy the micro-lending project in Uganda is still paying dividends to the community.
Fred Schwimmer was pleased that even with all the Covid problems, there was still a Fourth of July parade.
Barbara Tubekis was both sad and happy. Allen Goldberg and Martha Atkinson both passed away this week. They were both tremendous community leaders and Barbara was happy they were part of her life.
Dig and Grin: Peter Skalski told us how Yodeling came to be.
Today’s Speaker: Hussein Al-Baiaty Queen Marie Kuipers introduced Hussein, who has written a book called “The Art of Resilience” about his experiences as a refugee from Iraq. Hussein and his family escaped the war in Iraq to become refugees in Saudi Arabia in Camp Lot 22. Fortunately, his father was an artist and a painter who had the skills to support the family in those dire times. Hussein gained confidence and sold his father’s paintings to the soldiers. Eventually, Hussein made his was to the US where he could not find a job. Eventually, he combined his artistic talents with his sense of entrepreneurship and started the “Printory” which created embroidered tee-shirts. Marie is the book editor and said there would be copies of Hussein’s book at our next Rotary meeting.