Home Page | Rotary Club of Anchorage East

Do Good, Have Fun, Make Friends

We meet Wednesdays at 12:00 PM
Hilton Hotel

500 W. 3rd Ave.
Anchorage, AK 99501
United States

District Site

Bulletins

Venue Map

Lisa Keller, Triathelete & Running Coach

Sep 26, 2018 12:00 PM

Runninng Free Alaska program at Highland Mountain Corrections

Denise K. Runge, PhD, Dean of CTC at UAA

Oct 03, 2018 12:00 PM

Student Success Initiative

Adam Szabo, AER Inbound Exchange Student

Oct 10, 2018 12:00 PM

Slovakia

Polly Smith, CEO, Alaska Literacy Project

Oct 17, 2018 12:00 PM

Jeffrey Harris, AER Rebound Exchange Student

Oct 24, 2018 12:00 PM

Finland

Diane Fejes, District Governor

Oct 31, 2018

2018-2019 Rotary District 5010 Trends and Goals

Clint Johnson, Chief, NTSB Alaska

Nov 07, 2018 12:00 PM

Air Safety Investigation

Deena Bishop, Superintendant

Nov 14, 2018 12:00 PM

Anchorage School District

To Be Announced Inspiration

Nov 21, 2018 12:00 PM

Military Appreciation

Bob Cox

Nov 28, 2018 12:00 PM

Rotary Foundation

Jeff Jesse, PhD, Dean of UAA College of Health

Dec 05, 2018 12:00 PM

Meeting the health needs of Alaska's peoples and communities.

Friends of Pets and Howling Peaks Training

Dec 12, 2018 12:00 PM

Family Pets

Holiday Party

Dec 19, 2018 12:00 PM

Merriment and Celebration

No meeting today- Happy Holidays!

Dec 26, 2018 12:00 PM

No meeting today- Happy New Year!

Jan 02, 2019 12:00 PM

View entire list...

Business Card Bonanza

Posted by Rich Dyson

For a mere $25, you can place your business card in the Eastwind for a whole month. This is a great, and cheap, way to get your business noticed by fellow Rotarians. It’s always better to do business with people you know and trust, so this is a good way to let our membership know what goods and services you can offer. But wait, there’s more! If you submit your business card this week, you can see your card in the Eastwind for the rest of September AND all of October—all for just $25. Just hand your card to Chris Wolpert or Rich Dyson and watch your business grow.

Rotary Fun

Highlights from Anchorage East Rotary (Sept. 12)

Posted by Paul Paslay

At our meeting September 12:

Bob Cox, Dave Young and Rick Mystrom reported back about an Outside golf trip they took recently.
We sang happy birthday to Rotarians celebrating this month and distributed cake from the Cake Lady.
I donated 150 of my Foundation recognition points to Adam Sikorski for his outstanding support of our club in a number of different positions.

Later in the week:

At the Board of Directors meeting on Thursday, November 7 was set as the date for the club visioning. About 20 – 25 club members will be invited to participate in a session about the future of our club
At the board meeting we also decided to start a program whereby for $25 per month, members can place their business card in the Eastwind, our online weekly newsletter.
At the board meeting we also decided to give our speakers the option of choosing one of three charities to which our club will donate $50 in their name.
On Friday the Communications committee met at the Alaska Bagel Restaurant. Jeff Blake, Chris Wolpert, Tony Freije and myself met over lunch. One idea that came up was to create PSAs (Public Service Announcements) about our Mobile Food Pantry, garden box project and other club events.
Our own Rick Goodfellow spoke at the Sunday morning speaker’s forum at the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and later that day our own Barbara Kagerer and her husband John hosted a party at their business, The Horn Doctor, where he and his wife Jan Ingram celebrated 30 years of operating KLEF classical music radio station.
The Anchorage area Rotary club presidents meet later today to review how this year is going.

President's Corner (Sept. 19)

Posted by Paul Paslay

Hello Anchorage East members,

The Rotary theme for September is actually Basic Education and Literacy. In our club Shirley Nelson is spearheading a project, under the Community Services Committee, to read to elementary school students. We will do this at Baxter Elementary. Our contact is Shannon Ferris who teaches 2^nd grade there and is a member of South Rotary. At present we are looking for 6 club members to go into the school for about an hour on Thursday mornings at 9:30a. More about this soon.

On the front page of the District 5010 website our District Governor Diane speaks: “Students returning to school remind us how important learning is to ALL of us. Not only should we continue learning about new things, new places and people, we should continue learning about ourselves. I encourage you to be both a mentor and mentee to others – the World and your community needs YOU! And Rotary needs you as well to Be The Inspiration.”

Our support of Interact clubs continues at West High and East High. The clubs are putting together their plans for the year. Today West club finished a small food drive started last week, and delivered the foodstuffs to a classroom where the teacher keeps a crock pot of food going for hungry students. Our East Club is considering spending some funds to provide a banner, a bell and gavel, Interact Club pins and some other things to these Clubs so that they become more aware of the connection they have to Rotary as they learn how to be of service to others. This is also turning out to be a good time to meet up with other Rotarians who can rearrange their schedule to be there Tuesday and Wednesday at 10:15.

Highlights from Anchorage East Rotary (Sept. 5)

Posted by Paul Paslay

Highlights for Anchorage East Rotary from September 5 – September 11, 2018.

At our meeting September 5:

We remembered our member David Hoffman who is on the mend from medical challenges.
Sandra Wicks gave happy dollars about her trip to Europe.
Our treasurer Jennifer Snodgrass made good use of the no-fine-button to talk about her work life.
Barbara Swenson was awarded a Major Donor award for contributing $10,000 cash to the Foundation. Arnie Cohen did the presentation. Congratulations and thank you, Barbara!

Later in the week:

Wednesday late afternoon Woody and Chottie Angst, Sandra Wicks, Bruce Phelps, Shirley Nelson, myself, and a number of folks from the Anchorage South Rotary community, constructed 8 garden boxes at Baxter Elementary and partially filled them with dirt. The business which supplies the soil closed at 5p so we were not able to fill all the boxes with dirt. On Thursday Adam Sikorski and I, together with Amy Mackey-Hornak and another from Anchorage South, returned to Baxter Elementary and completed the job. The man who brought the dirt was able to dump it directly into the beds, so it did not take long to rake and shovel the dirt evenly.
On Saturday, under brilliant sunny skies was our monthly Mobile Food Pantry. Sharon Sullivan, Ventis Plume, Bill Faulkner, Duff Pfanner, Reed Smith, Sandra Wicks, Bruce Phelps, Heather Flynn, Karen Smith, Christian Deykes, Jeff Blake, Lee Nordstrom and yours truly were present. We could not completely get rid of a mountain of spinach and bagged salad fixings the Food Bank delivered!
On Monday we had another social event at the 2 Friends Gallery, owned and hosted by Jacqui Ertischek. Mary Rohlfing, Jim & Kim Arlington, Gloria Castenada, Sandra Wicks, Bruce Phelps, Woody and Chottie Angst, Emily Rohrabaugh (with her little one), Raquel Edelen, Heather Flynn, Kathleen Madden, Rayli Wilson and yours truly munched on nice refreshments. Sivaluaq, an Inupiaq artist and story teller, was present. So was a cloudless sky outside.

President's Corner (Sept. 12)

Posted by Paul Paslay

Barbara Swenson Award

The next time you see Barbara, be sure to extend to her a big congratulations! Pictured is Barbara receiving her Major Donor Award during last week's AER lunch meeting. Congratulations Barbara!

Social Events

Posted by Gretchen Klein

Save dates for two fun events coming up in October:

Paint-a-Scarf night at the Alaska Botanical Garden. You will have the choice of making either a wreath or a northern lights scarf.

When: Thursday, October 4, 2018 from 5:30-7:00pm

Where: 4601 Campbell Airstrip Rd

The cost is $39 (RSVP required - limit 25) per person. Please bring refreshments and snacks to share.

Guess Who is Coming to Dinner

When: Saturday, October 20, 2018 from 5:30-7:30pm

Where: Surprise!

The cost is free. Bring a side dish. There will be limited seating (maximum of 8), so please RSVP.

Highlights from Anchorage East Rotary (Aug 29)

Posted by Paul Paslay

At our meeting August 29:

Sgt Rich informed us a visiting Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Pleasantburg in Greenville, SC, sent us his club’s banner in memory of an enjoyable visit to our club meeting.
We sang happy birthday to our exchange student Adam Szabo, whose 17^th birthday actually fell on the day of the meeting. Bill Miernyk gave to Adam an Anchorage East mug.
Jeff Blake from the Communications Committee reviewed what he and co-chair Chris Wolpert have planned for this year. He asked for members to sign up to help think about and participate in a public image/relations project for the club.
Dave Young announced that Anchorage East trounced Anchorage Downtown 17 – 3 in the annual softball match.

Later in the week:

On Thursday the Community Service Committee met for the first time. Present were co-chairs Christian Deykes and Rebecca Sentner, together with Gideon Garcia, Barbara Swenson, Duff Planner, Reed Smith, Heather Flynn and myself. One grant was approved to be submitted to the board, and there is a need for more submittals for grants. Please think of what might be a good one!
I attended the luncheon meeting on Thursday for Anchorage South, where the presenter was from Children’s Lunchbox, which is a program of Beans Café. This is one of the programs to which the produce from our garden boxes will be donated.
Today I visited the second meeting of the Interact Club at West High. John Ruhlin, the faculty adviser, had the students tape together boxes to create places for plastic to be collected for later delivery to a larger bin. Tomorrow East High Interact meets for the first time.

President's Corner (Sept 5)

Posted by Paul Paslay

Hello fellow Anchorage East members.

The Rotary theme for September is New Generations Month. This is the month when Rotarians all around the world focus efforts on supporting youth and Youth Programs. What can we do? Listen to their ideas about how Rotary can assist them to make a better world? Take the time to discuss the great Rotary programs for youth, in particular the youth exchange program? There are opportunities for us to make a real difference to the lives of many young people.

We have at least five opportunities in our club. Anchorage East sponsors the Interact Clubs at West High and East High. I have attended both meetings at West, which occur on Tuesdays and last about one-half hour starting at 10:20a. There were 20+ students there each time. One of the ideas that came up at the first meeting was a way to get some of these students to one of our meetings.

East High starts its Interact Club on September 5 at 10:26a in Travis Cooper’s classroom 206. It makes a difference to have a Rotary presence there, to remind the students of the bigger picture of which they are now a part. If you can make it you are welcome.

Our exchange student Adam Szabo has just arrived for the year. He has gone golfing at least twice, and he was on the Segway Tour social event last month. He will be at the Mobile Food Pantry this month. He may participate in the Shelter Box project this year. At lunch last week a member who had hosted him pointed out his English is excellent. Please consider inviting him to do things.

Later this year we award scholarships to a number of outstanding high school students from Bartlett High and East High. We also honor a student periodically from these schools, together with their teacher. Talk to Mike Zahare, chair of the Vocational Committee, to be involved in these opportunities!

Paul

The Little Radio Station that Could

Posted by Heather Flynn

Fellow Rotarian Rick Goodfellow is giving a presentation called “The Little Radio Station That Could” at the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (AUUF). Rick and his wife Jan are celebrating the 30th anniversary of KLEF, one of the few, and the very best all classical stations in the country. Join Rick at 9 am on September 16th. Rick will regale us with tales of early Anchorage and how he (mostly) stayed out of trouble. AUUF is located at 2824 East 18th Ave. Coffee and refreshments are included.

Greg's Groaners

Here is some fresh humor courtesy of Greg Solomon:

I lost my job at the bank on my very first day. A woman asked me to check her balance, so I pushed her over.
Well, to be frank, I’d have to change my name.
Whenever I try to eat healthy, a chocolate bar looks at me and snickers.
I wanted to make a clever chemistry joke, but the best ones argon.

Golfing with Adam Szabo (Round 2)

AER's Dave Kester, Paul McGuire, and Bob Cox had the opportunity to go for another round of golf with Adam Szabo. Here are some photos from their event:

Highlights from AER Meeting (Aug 22)

Posted by Paul Paslay

At our meeting August 22:

I asked that our members to keep Gloria Castenada in their thoughts as she deals with an illness in her family.
Lance Wilber announced he recently returned from a quick 2500 mile road trip.
Our exchange student Adam Szabo plans to go for his second round of golf with Bob Cox and Dave Kester.
Our club raised $300 for the college fund for the newly born daughter of Jon Dyson and his wife.
I presented our annual $5,000 check to the Food Bank. Karla Jutzi, Executive Director, accepted the check and also talked about upcoming Food Bank events because she held the no-fine button this week.

Later in the week:

Rick Allen, Adam Sikorski and I attended the meeting of the Palmer Rotary club which every year takes place on the grounds of the Alaska State Fair. The meeting went longer so there was a chance for people to talk about their club activities. There were a number of exchange students present. Adam and I talked about what Anchorage East is doing.
I visited with a staff member at Williwaw Elementary about whether this school might be a candidate for garden boxes. Although it does not look like Williwaw is a candidate at this time, this person told me about hydroponic “grow towers” which can provide vegetables all year long. Maybe this is a project for a future time?
I checked out 2 Friends Gallery and it looks like this will be a nice venue for our social event on September 10. More about this later.
Jeff Johnson took this picture of me at the Palmer Club meeting last week at the State Fair. I was asked to sit in for a bass player who could not make a gig, and it turned out the gig was the meeting at Palmer Club.

President's Corner (Aug 29)

Posted by Paul Paslay

Hello East Rotarians,

We have opportunities for members outside of our weekly meetings:

This year four local clubs including Anchorage East are using a District Grant to build garden boxes at elementary schools in the Anchorage area. The next planned activity is Wednesday, September 5, 4:30p, at Baxter Elementary where we shall construct eight boxes.

Our club has for years gathered to distribute food at the Fairview Recreation Center. The next distribution of the Mobile Food Pantry will be 1:30 – 3p on September 8.

Today Woody Angst, Karen Smith and I attended the first meeting of the Interact Club at West High. About 30 students and their faculty adviser John Ruhlin showed up. The next meeting is Tuesday, September 4, 10:20a, Room 10, West High School. It helps to have as many Rotarians as possible there to support these future leaders.

Our club also supports Interact at East High and they will soon be starting up their year.

Last night was a meeting of the Foundation Committee at Sullivan’s Steakhouse private dining room. Bob Cox, Lynn Allingham, Lynn Shaver, Rayli Wilson, Bill Ure, Michelle Engelke and yours truly showed up and had a good work meeting combined with fellowship. The next meeting will probably be September 24, 5:30p, also at Sullivan’s

Coming up is a meeting of the Community Service committee (5p August 30 at La Cabana). I think the opportunity, to be more “hands on” and being involved in activities which make the world a little better, is as rewarding as our weekly meetings. Not everyone can make a meeting, and fortunately there are a lot of options at other times. Choose one of these opportunities and get involved!

Paul

Highlights from AER Meeting (Aug 15)

Posted by Paul Paslay

Here are the highlights from the Anchorage East Rotary meeting held on August 15, 2018:

Kelly Larson and Chelsea Eckhart spoke for our program on the 2018 Alaska State Fair. Kelly reminded us that this Thursday, August 23, 12:30p – 1:30p, there is Rotary Fellowship at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer.
Bob Cox gave more details of the raffle for Alaska Airline miles. To enter, start a monthly contribution to Rotary in any amount, and let Bob know you have done so. You can go to My Rotary and type in “donate” into the search window.
Adam Szabo from Slovakia, this year’s exchange student, made his first visit to our club. Later that day he went golfing with Dave Kester and Bob Cox.
I reminded the group of the East – Downtown softball game August 22, 6pm at Mulcahy Stadium.
I announced that the first AERIE meeting of the year will be August 23, 5:30pm at the Cattle Company, hosted by Past President Lance Wilber.
I announced that the Board of Directors has approved Youth Exchange for 2019 – 2020, which will be Charlotte Tharp’s year as president. The board also approved its budget for my year. Finally, I think I invited folks to come to one of our board meetings to see more of what your club does.

Later in the week:

On Saturday we had the second social event of our year, which was a Segway Tour of downtown Anchorage. It was fully subscribed and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Very early Friday our outbound student flew out of the Anchorage airport to Poland, his host country.

President's Corner (Aug 22)

Posted by Paul Paslay

Hello East Rotarians,

Following is more from RI President Barry Rassin in his President’s Message in the August issue of The Rotarian:

“Our membership has hovered around the same 1.2 million mark for 20 years. We aren’t growing, and our membership is getting older. We have too many clubs that don’t have the knowledge or motivation to have an impact: clubs that don’t know what we’re doing on a global level, clubs that don’t know about our programs or our Foundation, that don’t even know how to get involved. And with a membership that is still mostly male, we clearly aren’t doing enough to become the organization of choice for women who are seeking to serve.”

August is Rotary’s membership month. I urge everyone to think of who they might invite to check out Rotary. It would be nice if it is a prospective member for Anchorage East, but there are about 7 clubs in the Anchorage area which meet at different times, and each of which has its own distinctive atmosphere.

I spoke with one of the presenters at our last meeting, encouraging her to consider Rotary. She said she is on the road about 8 months of the year and it would be hard to attend a “brick & mortar” meeting. I told her that the Rotary E-Club might be a good fit.

Paul

Supporting the Foundation

Posted by Bob Cox

The Rotary Foundation Committee is encouraging all Rotarians to sign up for Rotary Direct. You can do this on line at www.rotary.org/give. First, select what you would like to support. The Featured Causes are the Annual Fund and the Polio Fund. Contributions to either of these Funds are eligible for Paul Harris Fellow recognition (more about this in future articles). Note that a portion of the money you contribute to the Annual Fund comes back to the District over time to support projects we sponsor (these are called District Designated Funds). You may also choose to direct your support to one of the Areas of Focus:

Peace and Conflict Prevention/Resolution
Disease Prevention and Treatment
Maternal and Child Health
Economic and Community Development
Water and Sanitation
Basic Education and Literacy
World Fund

Select the amount you want to contribute (minimum is $10), the frequency and provide your credit card information.

As an added incentive, every person who signs up with Rotary Direct before the end of October will be entered into a drawing for 25,000 Alaska Airline miles, donated generously by Rayli Wilson. Drawing will be held during November, which is Rotary Foundation Month. In addition, if this is your first time donating, you will receive 100 Paul Harris points generously donated by one of several “senior” Rotarians to assist you in reaching the Paul Harris recognition level faster.

Art Gallery Social Event

Posted by Gretchen Klein

AER Members, here are the details for our next social event:

What is it: Music & Artisan presentation by owner Jacqui Ertischek
Where: 2 Friends Gallery, 341 E. Benson
When: Monday, September 10, 2018, 6:00-8:00pm
Cost: $10 (RSVP required - limit 50)

Food and refreshments will be provided by 2 Friends Gallery per the owner's request instead of members bringing their own dishes. (This is a change from the notice posted on the social flyer). If you plan on signing up for this private Rotary social party, please RSVP and make payment by September 5th. ***Make checks payable to East Rotary Social Event by September 5th so we can give the final count to 2 Friends and make payment for food and refreshments.

Segway Tour Fun

Posted by Gretchen Klein

A huge thank you to Mary Rohlfing and Buzz, and Susan Metcalf for helping make Anchorage East Rotary’s August social event amazing this past Saturday at Segway Tours of Anchorage!! Check out their specials through the end of summer on different tours and services they offer in marketing, theatre, audio and film. http://www.segwaytoursofanchorage.com.

Stay tune for next event social event scheduled for September 10 at 2 Friends Art Gallery.

And our fearless leader, Paul Paslay!

Abbott Loop Elementary Garden Box Photos

Posted by Paul Paslay and Emily Rohrabaugh

President's Corner (Aug 15)

Posted by Paul Paslay

Hello fellow Rotarians.

Last Wednesday, August 8, a group of members from our club joined Rotarians from other clubs, and other folks (young and older), to construct 7 garden boxes at Abbott Loop Elementary. Bill Ure, Adam Sikorski, Craig Bledsoe, Woody Angst, Berry Kirksey, Bob Cox, Dennis Bookey, Christian Deykes, Emily Rohrabaugh and Frank Cahill helped complete the task in only about an hour and one-half. The next step will be to plant next spring.

I spoke with the principal at Baxter Elementary yesterday and she said eight boxes for her school would be phenomenal!

Tuesday, August 14, we fill with soil existing concrete planters at Springhill Elementary, and I just did an email blast to remind everyone. This is a good example of Rotary working to make the world a little better in our community. Hope you can all join us at some point in the process.

Highlights from Aug 8 AER Meeting

Posted by Paul Paslay

Here are the highlights from Anchorage East Rotary meeting on August 8, 2018:

Sally Archer gave a happy dollar and expressed well received thoughts about the role of bringing new members into our club.
Dave Kester gave happy dollars for his excellent showing in a weekend golf tournament. He plans to take our exchange student Adam Szabo golfing.
Visiting Anchorage South Rotarian Ross Johnston auctioned off admission to an upcoming event to Marilyn Porter for $50. The event is Accelerate Alaska, August 29 – 30 at the Anchorage Loussac Library.
Dave Young announced our yearly softball match with Anchorage Downtown Rotary on August 22, 6 pm, at Mulcahy Stadium.
Heather Flynn had the No Fine button and told a story of overcoming souffle creation challenges in her kitchen on her birthday.
Mariko Selle bought the No Fine button for August 15, and Gideon Garcia bought it for August 22.
Past President Lance Wilber announced the first AERIE meeting will be coming up.
Adam Sikorski mentioned our Beer Fest coming up early next year, and that the Kenai Peninsula Beer Fest, which is an inspiration for our event, takes place August 11, 5p – 10p. Some Anchorage area Rotarians will be going there to help out.

A Letter from the Food Bank of Alaska to AER

Posted by Jim Baldwin

Below is a letter presented to us by AER's Karla Jutzi and written by Jim Baldwin, CEO of the Food Bank of Alaska, thanking Anchorage East Rotary for our cub's support:

You are helping ensure our kids in Alaska have the summer they have been looking forward to, free from anxiety about where their summer meals are coming from. Thank you!

“You can tell the kids need this food,” says Brian, a monitor at one of Food Bank of Alaska’s rural summer meal program sites. “No one is picking on each other when they’re eating.” From Anchorage to Bethel, Kotzebue to Dillingham, your support is helping provide summer meals to kids in over 40 communities. When kids have enough to eat in the summer, they have energy to burn. You truly are putting smiles on their faces. “When they eat here, they leave happier you know," says Brian.

If you’d like to speak with us, please call Development Director Karla Jutzi, 907-222-3112, or email kjutzi@foodbankofalaska.org.

President's Corner (Aug 8)

Posted by Paul Paslay

Hello fellow Rotarians.

Last Friday I enjoyed spending some hours at the airport with a group of Rotarians who are passionate about youth exchange. I helped greet about 5 – 10 exchange students from around the world, including our own Adam Szabo from Slovakia.

These young people may have little knowledge of Rotary at the beginning of their year abroad, but after one year they should be able to speak well about our program and be an ambassador to others. We have the Interact and Rotaract clubs which they can join, and ultimately they can move into being members of a Rotary club. Thus our youth exchange program can be viewed as a way we bring in new members to our organization.

When you talk to people about what Rotary is, consider mentioning the “membership drive” aspect which is our Rotary youth exchange program. Even if a youth exchange student does not pursue Rotary membership, or a person you invite to lunch does not become a member, they go away from the experience with a positive view of what our organization does, and this word can spread to others.