Thank you Members, Friends and Community members alike for supporting this year's Corks, Kegs & Coins fundraiser. We have a couple of articles below with more information.
The program at this week's meeting will include a Classification Talk by our newest member, Amy Lewandowski! Come and meet Amy on Friday.
We have been requested to wear masks if you are attending the meetings at the school district's Community Room. You can still attend by joining the meetings via Zoom.
The link to our YouTube Channel is now available on our website and our weekly bulletins. You can view recent online meetings. If you watch any of them, you can count it as a makeup. Just let our Secretary, Gary O'Rielly know.
PHOTO CONTEST: You are encouraged to participate in this. The photo has been updated. Can you guess the location now? Be the first person to correctly identify from where the photo at the top of this bulletin was taken from by 7:30 am Friday, October 1st. Send your guess to the Editor.
The Irish Brothers testing the Viking waters as the Silent and Live Auction occurred on Friday evening, September 24th from 6 - 9 pm. The auction was light-hearted, fun, full of surprises and building our funds for community projects. Too early to provide the financial details, but we all had a great time showcasing Rotary and silent and live auction baskets. The Coin Quest drawing was mid-evening and Violet, Queen of AquaFest pictured in another story, did a fantastic job. There are so many people to thank, starting with our sponsors, our Club members and our guest participants. Everyone who made a purchase, please enjoy your basket.
Violet, Queen of AquaFest 2021 pulled coins from the gigantic treasure chest selecting the winners of the $1,000 Grand Prize and the winners of $500. $250 and three $100 winners under the watchful eye of Vikings Chris and Don. The drawing was part of the Corks, Kegs and Coin multi-fundraiser on Friday, September 24th from 6 - 9 pm at the Lake Stevens Senior Center. Winning tickets holders will be announced soon.
Congratulations to Christine for being named the Rotary Citizen of the Year. Christine has been so deeply involved in the community, as a volunteer, a leader and a go-to-person when you need help or some really good advice.
Our guest speaker on Friday, September 24th was Kevin O'Brien, Club Member and Chief of the Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue to update our members on his organization. In 2019, voters approved a merger between the Lake Stevens Fire and Snohomish County Fire District 7. Today, SRFR serves 175,000 residents in the cities of Lake Stevens, Mill Creek and Monroe as well as in unincorporated southeast Snohomish County (Clearview, Maltby, Echo Lake). SRFR provides emergency services to the City of Mill Creek through a temporary contract. SRFR responds to over 17,000 calls per year with highly trained personnel and state of the art rescue programs.
To maintain this level of service, the Snohomish Regional Fire and Rescue is asking voters to a approve a one-year fire levy lid lift of $0.23 per $1,000 assessed property value. The November 2nd General Election Ballot Measure, Prop 1 will return the fire levy from $1.27 to $1.50 per $1,000. This levy lid lift is required by state law and is the way that fire districts revenues are raised in the state.
The last time voters approved a fire levy lid left was in 2017. Call volumes have increased by 10.2% compared to the same time last year. Inflation is another factor affecting the operation which is 6.3% making cost higher to respond to emergency calls and maintain operations. Levy revenue is not keeping up with the demand for and the cost to provide emergency services.
Funds for the lid lift will be used to maintain staffing levels, restore firefighter training, fire prevention and life safety programs, replace aging fire engines and ambulances and funding fire station projects throughout the district.
SRFR is legally required to operate under a balanced budget. If the lid lift fails, SRFR would borrow money to fund apparatus and station projects as well as continuing to reduce public outreach, fire prevention, maintenance, training and specialized rescue programs. Finally staffing levels would be reduced resulting in service level cuts and longer response times.
Kevin was joined by members of his team and three of the fire commissioners. Thank you, Kevin for the update.
Interact is a service club for youth ages 14-18. The name is a combination of the words international and action. We join Clubs in over 120 countries around the world. The global youth network is dedicated to community and international service. Every Interact Club project, great or small, has a lasting impact on society worldwide.
Club Meetings have resumed! Contact Mrs. Odegaard for more information!
Our regular Rotary Club Meetings are at the Lake Stevens School District Educational Service Center lower level Community Room located at 12309 22nd St NE. We start at 7:30 am. Click here for the online link. There will not be any breakfast served. However, coffee will be available. Visitors are always welcome.
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