The Rotary Club of Lake Stevens wishes everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. (To our brethren north of the border it's just a regular workday for you.) Please be safe if you are traveling. We want to make sure we see you and your family at our future gatherings.
There won't be a formal meeting of the Club this week. there will be, however, an informal gathering at The Buzz Inn on Friday morning, Nov 27th. If you aren't full, come on down.
The Club is having Fireside next month! December 18th is the date. Click on the event in the Events section to the left to register and bring a significant other!
Two new members of our Club from the Lake Stevens Fire Department gave Classification Talks this past week. Captain Ron Rasmussen has been a member since June 16, 2015 and Chief Kevin O'Brien has been a member since July 17, 2015.
Ron Rasmussen was born and raised in Bothell. Ron's father was a teacher and mother a stay-at-home mom. He has two brothers and a sister. Played high school baseball and football. Started college at UNLV in Las Vegas but ended up playing baseball for Shoreline. Marriage followed and than it was off to Central Washington for a degree in Law and Justice. When he saw a poster about a career in the fire department, another change took place and Ron was hired in 1999 as a full time firefighter. Ron and his wife Kim have three daughters. Kim is a teacher at Glenwood Elementary in Lake Stevens after a career in the human relations field. Ron has many talents. He attended Harborview Medical School to become a medic and now is a Captain EMT and teaches EMT at Everett Community College. Plus, Ron is an accomplished furnace repairman and technician. Welcome Ron and Kim to our club.
Kevin O'Brien joined our Club shortly after Ron did in July 2015. Grew up in Federal Way but along the way, his parents bought an old house on Orcas Island, moved to the Island where he played in all of the school sports. There were 25 kids in his class. His mom became a totem pole builder and his dad was a fisherman, later opening up a sporting goods store on the Island. In 1983 Kevin was a ballboy for the Denver Broncos. The owner of the Denver Broncos at the time, lived on Orcas Island. Kevin repeated his senior year in Spain living outside of Madrid with his host family. Kevin has three Spanish host brothers. Later, he discovered that his host father was in charge of Spanish intelligence. Afterwards, Kevin returned to Washington, enrolled at UW taking five years to complete his degree. During college Kevin earned money by painting houses and cleaning boats. His great uncle and uncle were Seattle firefighters. Met his wife Nancy at a friend's wedding. Kevin and Nancy have three boys. He started his firefighting career in Auburn, followed by being the Chief of the Orcas Island Fire Department and now this year was named Chief of the Lake Stevens Fire. Nancy is a teacher as well but is getting the boys acquainted with Lake Stevens before looking for a job in education in Lake Stevens. Welcome Kevin and Nancy to Lake Stevens and to our Club.
We often are so engaged in watching the First Responders working the various tragedies that we do not see the behind the scenes helpers and special workers. First Responders are our heroes but they have their own set of heroes. Until recent events, no one likely heard of the Soup Ladies. Two weeks ago, we were privileged to have as our speaker Gina "Mama" Passarelli, the founder of the Soup Ladies. There are approximately 45 volunteers who assist her in tragic events like the OSO mudslide and the Marysville Pilchuck High School shootings including many other events such as the major forest fires and the shooting in Roseburg. Last year, the Soup Ladies served over 7,300 meals and this year are at 7,500 meals.
How did the Soup Ladies get started? It all happened when Mama Passarelli went to Mississippi with her church to help with the destruction caused by Katrina. While there, a chef from Kansas showed up and served BBQ dinners to all of the First Responders and other volunteers. She returned home, and started a 501(c)(3) organization which is funded by donors. Since its inception in 2004, the Soup Ladies have provided thousands of meals to our law enforcement, SAR, firefighters and other emergency first responders across local, county, state and federal jurisdictions. Their goal is to provide meals to all of these individuals in these tragic events. Recipes are high carbs and protein to get them through the day.
All of their volunteers are FEMA certified in ICS, background checked by the King County Sheriff's Department, King County SAR credentialed badges, Washington certified Food Workers, experienced in serving jurisdictions throughout the U.S. and available to deploy across the United States. Their volunteer base includes certified chaplains.
Again, heroes come in many forms and backgrounds. The Soup Ladies are heroes to the First Responder teams, police, fire, SAR and military personnel. In instances of disasters and prolonged critical incident scenes, they prepare and serve home meals tailored to special nutritional needs of all of these individuals and at no cost to these groups. Thanks so much for your service, Mama Passarelli and her 45 plus volunteers. She wants to start a chapter in north King County and Snohomish County. In her spare time, Mama Passarelli's owns a restaurant in Black Diamond.
"Primarily Rotary seeks to apply the theory of service to business and community life...This is expressed in the first part of our code of ethics: To consider my vocation worthy and as affording me a distinct opportunity to serve society. He Profits Most Who Serves Best is a less ideal expression, but the suggestion of egoism is removed by the added words Service Above Self."
.jpg)
