Home Page | Rotary Club of Skagit (Mount Vernon)

President Elect

Melissa Beaton

President

Ray Horak

Secretary

Susie DeVries

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Welcome to the Skagit Rotary Club

Service Above Self

We meet Wednesdays at 7:00 AM
Max Dale's Steak & Chop House (Restaurant)

2030 Riverside Drive
Mount Vernon, WA 98273
United States

District Site

Venue Map

Welcome to Skagit Rotary!

The Rotary Club of Skagit, chartered in 1986, has 68 men and women representing a wide cross-section of local businesses and professions. The club meets each Wednesday morning for fellowship, breakfast, and interesting and informative programs dealing with the topics of local and global importance.

The Rotary Club of Skagit has earned a reputation as being a fun-loving, dynamic, and high spirited organization.

In concert with Rotary's motto of "Service Above Self," the Rotary Club of Skagit has demonstrated a deep commitment to the community in which we live, both locally and globally, through the many worthwhile projects the Club has initiated, participated in, and jointly supported.

Our club is always seeking speakers that have an interesting and informative presentation. We welcome speakers that will present items of community interest. Since we are not a political or religious organization, we ask that the topics appeal to a wide and diverse audience. If you are interested in joining us for a program and breakfast, please contact the Program Director Dan Berard.

If you are a Rotarian who needs a makeup meeting - come and join us! We know you will enjoy our meeting and we always enjoy visiting with our fellow Rotarians.

We invite you to take a look around our site and learn more about our club and Rotary. Check out our FaceBook page too!

Wild Game Dinner & Auction

Celebrate our 30^th Annual Skagit Rotary Seafood and Wild Game Dinner & Auction!

Saturday, January 27, 2018

TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE!

Gashanda Health Clinic Update

In 2008, Skagit Rotary began an international project in Rwanda. Through the extraordinary efforts of Rotarian Bruce Lisser, the fundraising efforts of Skagit Rotary, and a matching District 5050 grant, we were able to fund the creation of a health outpost in rural Rwanda. It was our hope to provide healthcare for the Gashanda region so that people wouldn't have to walk over 60 miles to the nearest health outpost. The project, which began with Bruce's heart to serve and a small sum of money, has blossomed into an expanding health outpost serving a large portion of the population. We recently received a letter detailing some of the expansion of the project. Here are some of the outstanding excerpts:

1) People from many sectors come to the Gashanda Health Post, not just those from the surrounding area. It's located in a great place and it has been viewed by the government as one of their most successful health facilities in Ngoma District.

2) After a government audit that identified "mismanagement of funds" by the Anglican church, the facility became under control of the district and sector governments.

3) Two years ago, a new maternity building was built just to left of the original health post. It's large and also contains a big reception/registration area (it can hold over 60 people). Although the labor/delivery equipment has not arrived yet, the plan is for this to become the primary birthing center for a four-sector area.

4) This past year, a very large clinic expansion was built to the back/right of the original health post. This building is now being filled by a laboratory, the health insurance office, pharmacy, and a number of patient consultation rooms.

It is a wonderful health complex that is now transitioning from a government "health post" to a "health center". Whenever we go to visit, it is very busy...and the people say that they get very good care there...the reason why people from far away walk all the way to this facility.

For the past five years, HFC has had a solar study lamp project at the primary school across the road from the Gashanda clinic. This was the result of our investigation into why so few Gashanda-area students were going to secondary school. A major factor was that they scored poorly on their national exams and were therefore not qualified to go on. Why poor scores? Their reading competencies were very low. Why so low? They spent little time reading -- no schoolbooks, no library, and no time to read. We found that most students would like to read more but that the only time they had to read was after dinner when it was dark -- fetching water from a source a few miles away, gathering firewood, helping in the fields, watching younger kids, and tending the family cow or goats gave them no time to read during daytime hours. A few families could afford kerosene so the kids could read at night but the health impact (eyes and lungs) of kerosene made this a bad alternative. So, we have been distributing solar study lamps to Primary 5 & 6 students for the past five years and have seen significant improvement in reading scores in their classes and on national exams. Each student has to "earn" their lamp by planting, shading, fertilizing, watering and weeding their tree in the "school orchard" we established next to the school. They can also checkout books (300 from HFC in collaboration with Trees for Life) that are in the new school library. We wouldn't be working with that school had you not funded the Gashanda clinic.

The Skagit Rotary Club is pleased to announce it has awarded $60,200 in scholarship funds to 32 Skagit Valley High School seniors from the Class of 2016. The following outstanding students were awarded scholarships.

Jim Stewart Memorial Scholarship Recipient:

Emily Gard, Mount Vernon High School, attending George Fox University

Bernadette Roozen-Miller Memorial Scholarship Recipients:

Carly Methner, Mount Vernon High School, attending WSU

Christina Rodriguez, Mount Vernon High School, attending WWU

Wallace Sigmar Memorial Scholarship Recipient:

Thor Knutzen, Burlington Edison High School, attending SVC

In addition, the following graduates received scholarships from the Skagit/Mount Vernon Rotary Club.

Anacortes High School Recipients: Zachary Bowman Hannah Kaleel Olivia White	LaConner High School Recipients: Nolan Duckworth Nicole Henrickson LeAnne Swan
Mount Vernon Christian School Recipients: Thomas LeClair	Sedro Woolley High School Recipients: Diana Hernandez Iva Martinson
Burlington Edison High School Recipients: Abigail Atkinson Drew Dysktra Anna Ingram Nicole Sciumbato Courtney Stokes Carly Watson	Mount Vernon High School Recipients: Elizabeth Covarrubias Paityn Cyr Alina Gis Madeline Holmberg Peri Kirkpatrick Nyla Lee Eden Mayfield Ryan McLaughlin Lyubov Murza Alyssa Nelson Johanna Ocampo Xitlalit Sanchez Anna Strom Daniel Sullivan Garrett Yeo

The Skagit/Mount Vernon Rotary wishes to thank all of the attendees of its 28^th Annual Seafood & Wild Game Dinner & Auction that was held on January 30, 2016 at St. Joseph Center in Mount Vernon, Washington. These scholarships would not have been possible without the generous donations of those in attendance.

We wish all of our 2016 scholarship recipients the best of luck as they begin their college careers.

Not So Right Golf Tournament

Calling all lefties! The Not So Right Golf Tournament needs your help to attack hunger in Skagit Valley! Join us on Saturday, September 27th at Eaglemont Golf Course at 9 AM for a day of great fun and a celebration of southpaws! Cost is $65 per player or $260 per team of four and each team MUST include at least one left-handed player. Proceeds benefit Skagit Valley Neighbors in Need Food Bank. Questions? Contact Rotarian Roger Valentine at roger.valentine@comcast.net.

Skagit Rotary Gives $59,300 in Local Scholarships

Rotarian Bruce Lisser with MVHS graduates and recipients of Skagit Rotary Scholarships.

Rotarian Tim Reichert with B-EHS graduates and recipients of Skagit Rotary Scholarships

Thanks to the support of the community at our 2014 Seafood & Wild Game Dinner & Auction, Skagit Rotary has awarded $59,300 in scholarships to local graduating seniors from several Skagit high schools. Congratulations, graduates!

Four Year Scholarship Recipients:

Joshua Serrano		MVHS
Juan Zavaleta		MVHS
Waleed Faruqi		MVHS
Shelby Haupt		MVHS
Angel Flores-Cruz		MVHS
Shelby Burkhart	Bernadette Roozen Scholarship	MVHS
Ruth Gordillo-Favela		MVHS
Lucia Vivanco		BEHS
Jesse Flores		MVHS
Sarah Ney		MVHS
Lindsay McCue		SWHS
Brooke Emory		MVHS
Miriam Creelman		BEHS
Mariah Kelley		BEHS

Skagit Valley College Two Year Scholarship Recipients:

Chayan Sanchez		MVHS
Darby Hewitt	Wally Sigmar Scholarship	MVHS
Melissa Torres-Flores		BEHS
Janet Solano Cruz		Emerson
Ian Mazzarella		MVHS

Technical College Scholarship Recipient:

Lydia Kreiser

BEHS

AVID Scholarship Recipients:

Joshua Serrano			MVHS
Lucia Vivanco			BEHS
Shelby Haupt			MVHS
Angel Flores-Cruz			MVHS
Ruth Gordillo-Favela			MVHS
Jesse Flores			MVHS
Melissa Torres-Flores			BEHS
Chayan Sanchez			MVHS

2014 Seafood & Wild Game Auction a Huge Success!

What an amazing turnout for our 26th Annual Seafood & Wild Game Dinner & Auction: Uncorked on February 8 at Saint Joseph Center in Mount Vernon! The food was incredible, the beer and wine plentiful, the auction an uncontested success, and the company, well, you were fantastic! We have such wonderful community support in Skagit County, and we know it is because you trust us to invest your kind donations into deserving and responsible programs and people.

The live auction grossed nearly $52,000, while the annual Raise the Paddle for Youth Scholarships raised an astounding $34,950! We'll be able to give lots of scholarships to worthy graduating seniors in Skagit County this year! The silent auction raised nearly $9000. Ticket sales, centerpiece auctions, raffles, and other miscellaneous fundraising at the event netted us $105,000! Can you believe it? All of that money will go right back into our community to directly benefit youth programs and scholarships.

Skagit Rotary is so proud to be a part of the legacy of giving in this community. We hope that you had a wonderful time at our auction. Mark your calendars for next year: February 7, 2015 - you won't want to miss the 27th Annual Seafood & Wild Game Dinner & Auction!

October is Coats for Kids Month!

Maybe you bought nice, new winter coats this year for your family. Maybe your kids outgrew their old winter coats. Maybe you just have too many coats in your closets. Donate your old, dirty coats to Coats for Kids and the Skagit Rotary Club will launder them (thanks, Modern Cleaners!) and distribute them to Skagit families in need. We'll happily take coats, sweatshirts, scarves, hats, and gloves of ALL sizes. You can help keep others warm this winter, and it will warm your heart, too.

Drop off your used outerwear at Modern Cleaners, Skagit Valley Hospital and Skagit Regional Clinics (all of them!), The Skagit Valley Family YMCA, Skagit State Bank, or Max Dale's Steak and Chop House through October 31st.

District Governor Denis Boyd Visits Club

On Wednesday, October 2, wehad the good fortune of hearing from Rotary District 5050 Governor Denis Boyd about his commitment to Rotary. He challenged us to think about how we can engage with youth and international products and live up to the motto "Service Above Self." Denis presented new member Susie DeVries with her Rotary pin and awarded the "Unsung Hero" award to both Paul Pickering and Bob Taylor. Dave Ryberg was named awarded as the "Heart of the Club" and president Gary Shand was commemorated for being in the "First Class Class."

Governor Boyd encouraged our club to send one or two members to the District Conference in Whistler BC May 2-4, 2014. Information can be found at www.district5050.org.

Busy Time for Skagit Rotary...

Regular meetings in May 2014 are; 14th, 21st, and 28th @ 7am at Max Dale's Restaurant. Board meeting is Tuesday, the 3rd at 5:30pm.

In June 2014 our regular meetings are; 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th @ 7am at Max Dale's Restaurant. Board meeting is Tuesday, the 7th at 5:30pm.

For information (dates and times) on the Charitable Foundation, contact Foundation Chair Joe Lindquist.

Mark your calendars!

Rotary.org Facelift

Have you checked out www.rotary.org lately? The newly redesigned website is live and waiting for you to interact! There are fantastic features about the challanges facing polio eradication, clean water projects, and life-changing aid given by Rotarians throughout the world. You can find a club to visit, a project to sponsor, and learn about leadership opportunities. Click on over today!

27th Annual Installation Banquet

Posted by Jerry Dodd

The Rotary Club of Skagit announced their new officers for Rotary year 2013-2014 on Monday, June 17, 2013 at their 27th Annual Installation Banquet at the Skagit Golf and Country Club.

After a very nice dinner and wonderful fellowship, the new officers were sworn in by Skagit County Superior Court Judge Dave Needy: President, Gary Shand; President-Elect, Dan Berard; Secretary, Bob Masterman; Treasurer, Brad Pickett; Community Service, Paul Pickering; Club Services, Kyle Reep; International Services, Bruce Lisser; Vocational Services, Stan Olson; Scholarships, Jodi Stodola; Public Relations, Amelia Cook; as well as included Auction Chair Bob Taylor and Foundation Chair Joe Lindquist.

(Past) President Dave Ryberg honored club members for 100% attendance, and a variety of other club contribution awards. Charlie Wend was awarded the Rotarian of the Year, and KarenSue Wend, Tom Verge, Roger Ragusa, Gary Shand, and Amelia Cook were honored as Paul Harris Fellows. The evening finished off with (New President) Gary’s words of wisdom and club fellowship. It’s going to be another great year for Skagit Rotary!!!

2012-2013 President Dave Ryberg with Rotarian of the Year Charlie Wend.

Boys & Girls Club BBQ

Posted by Amelia Cook

It was a lovely summer evening for several Skagit Rotarians to flip burgers and provide salads for the Boys & Girls Club in Mount Vernon. As a part of a county-wide effort by all Skagit Rotary Clubs to show support to the Boys & Girls Club, Skagit Rotary, along with the Mount Vernon Noon Club, provided funding for burgers and hot dogs and prepared salads. Best of all, Skagit Rotarians showed kids and their parents that we care about youth in our community!

Posted by Amelia Cook

The Skagit Rotary website is an important communication portal both within and without the club. Please take the time to login and make sure all of your contact information is up to date. Simply visit www.skagitrotary.com and click "login" in the upper right-hand corner. Your login is Firstname.Lastname and your password... well, if you have forgotten it, follow the link for "forgot my password" and we'll email it to you. Unless you don't have a valid email in the system. Then, you can talk to Amelia or Jerry at a Wednesday meeting and we'll figure it out.

If you do not have a real photo of yourself uploaded to your profile, please do so. This is an immense help to our new members, who like to be able to associate names and faces in their new club. Remember, we only have to learn one new name, but they have to learn 65+. Let's give them a break.

Lastly, if you have participated in an event related to Rotary or have good information for our Rotarians, please let Amelia know so that we can get it on the website, on FaceBook, and in the monthly bulletin (yes, there will be a monthly bulletin!), especially if you have photos. Bob Taylor may say, "Participation is good," but Amelia Cook says, "Communication is better. Or at least just as good." We need to let everyone know how AMAZING our club is!

Group Study Exchange from New Zealand

Our club was pleased to host the Group Study Exchange from New Zealand this week. The group of 6 men and women have been in our District of Washington and Canada (District 5050) for 5 weeks, and we are their last stop prior to them joining the District conference in Vancouver, BC and heading back home. Members of our club were happy to host them in their homes and accompany them on various sight seeing tours around the Skagit Valley, including zip lining in Camano Island followed by a beachside barbeque at Kyle and Kelly Reep's home on Camano Island, Deception Pass tour, RoozenGarde, and a tour of the North Cascades.

25th Seafood & Wild Game Dinner and Auction

Posted by Jerry Dodd

Everyone's hard work has again paid off this year! Our 2013 Seafood & Wild Game Dinner and Auction was a great success, generating money for our community and youth beneficiaries! Thanks to all involved for making this year's event such a success! Especially, Auction Chair Charlie Wend, Roger Ragusa, Amelia Cook, KarenSue Wend, Gary Shand, Thomas Palmer, Paul and Danny Pickering, and many others for their many hours coordinating this year's event.

The Mount Vernon High School Cheerleaders, under the watchful eye of Wendy Ragusa did a fantastic job serving our guests too. We had 31 wonderful live auction items, including several trips. Amelia organized more than100 silent auction items. We can't thank ALL of you enough! The event was perfect!

For 25 years now, we and businesses and professionals have teamed up to make the annual auction a very successful event. This was our first time at the St. Joseph Center, feedback was very positive. We are now gearing up for next year's auction.

Our next Seafood & Wild Game Dinner and Auction is Saturday, February 8, 2014 at the St. Joseph’s Center, we will see you there!

Again, thank you!

Helping the Homeless in Skagit County

Posted by Jerry Dodd

Under the leadership of our Charitable Foundation Chair Joe Lindquist, we challenged other area clubs to match our contribution to help those who are homeless in Skagit County. Local Rotary clubs included; Burlington and La Conner. Thank you Joe for taking the lead on this very important community issue!

Learn About Rotary International...

Posted by Jerry Dodd

What would it take to change the world? Rotary International is the world's first service club organization, with more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace, and eradicate polio under the motto Service Above Self.

Club Welcomes New Member

Posted by Jerry Dodd

At our Wednesday, December 5^th morning meeting we added one more family member to our club. President Dave introduced Lynn Murphy to the membership as the clubs newest member. Lynn works for Puget Sound Energy. President Dave Ryberg (her sponsor) said that she will be a great addition to our club and is very excited about her being a part of Skagit Rotary.

The membership and Board of Directors know she will bring many "good" things to the club. Welcome Lynn!

Skagit Rotary Facebook

Skagit Rotary has an active and vibrant FaceBook page! Click here to see it. If you are on FaceBook, "like" Skagit Rotary's page and you'll receive all sorts of club updates and news, and maybe even see yourself in a photo or two at some of our events! Another great way to spread the word about our amazing contributions to our community is to "share" photos and status updates with your own friends on FaceBook. Simply click "share" under Skagit Rotary's status update or photo, write your own comment, and publish it to your wall.

25th Wild Game & Seafood Dinner and Auction

Join the FUN! Come join us at the St. Joseph Center in Mount Vernon on Saturday, February 2, 2013 for our 25th Wild Game & Seafood Dinner & Auction. This is our first auction at the St. Joseph Center, we are really excited!

We have several new items this year! Dress is professional/formal and come prepared to bid often. Tickets are available for $90 per person. Special price for filling a table too! Doors open at 5:30pm, seating for dinner is at 7:00 pm and live auction begins at 8:00 pm. We have many new and exciting live and silent auction items this year. For tickets or more information, contact Auction Chair Charlie Wend.

Please join us, have a GREAT time and know that your financial support is truly appreciated. See you there!

Club Annouces New Member

Posted by Jerry Dodd

At our Wednesday, October 31, 2012, morning meeting we added one more family member to our club. President Dave and member Kyle Reep (sponsor) introduced Ray Horak to the membership as the clubs newest member. Kyle added that Ray is committed and is very excited about him being a part of Skagit Rotary.

Ray was a former Rotarian in the Dallas/Fort Worth Club.

The membership and Board of Directors know he will bring many "good" things to the club.

Welcome Ray!

26th Annual Installation Banquet

Posted by Jerry Dodd

The Rotary Club of Skagit announced their new officers for Rotary year 2012-2013 on Monday, June 11, 2012 at their 26^th Annual Installation Banquet at the Skagit Golf and Country Club.

After a very nice dinner and wonderful fellowship, the new officers were sworn-in by Skagit County Superior Court Judge Dave Needy; to include: President, Dave Ryberg; President-Elect, Gary Shand; Secretary, Bob Masterman; Treasurer, Brad Pickett; Community Service, Paul Pickering; Club Services, Kyle Reep; International Services, Bruce Lisser and Amelia Cook; Vocational Services, Jodi Stodola, and included Auction Chair Charlie Wend; Foundation Chair Joe Lundquist and Website Administrator Jerry Dodd.

(Past) President Duane Henson honored club members for 100% attendance, and a variety of other club contribution awards. Dave Ryberg was awarded the Rotarian of the Year, and Rod Cann, Roger Ragusa and Susie Crawford were honored as Paul Harris Fellows. The evening finished off with (New President) Dave's words of wisdom and club fellowship.

The next installation bandquet is Monday, June 10, 2013.

MVHS Scholarship Winners Announced

Posted by Jerry Dodd

Skagit Rotary announced the names of the scholarship winners at the Mount Vernon High School Senior Awards and Scholarship Night. On Wednesday, May 30, 2012, Skagit Rotarian Bruce Lisser presented each recipient with their awards.

This year’s scholarship recipients are (left to right): Adrian Santiago-Flores, Rosa Torres-Zamora (Wally Sigmar Rotary Scholarship), Madisen Schorno, Griffin Berger, Emily Minton-Mattson (Bernadette Roozen Rotary Scholarship), and Tyler Johnson.

Each year a scholarship committee chooses the Rotary scholarship winners. The awards are determined on the basis of financial need, community involvement, academic achievement, and leadership potential.

Skagit Rotary congratulates all the scholarship recipients and wishes them the greatest success as they continue in their educational adventures. Congratulations!!!

100% Attendance for Rotary year 2011-2012

Posted by Jerry Dodd

The following club members had 100% attendance for Rotary year 2011-2012:

Dan Berard
Boyd Bode
Rod Cann
Jerry Dodd
Duane Henson

Joe Lindquist
Bruce Lisser
Bob Masterman
Paul Pickering
Brad Pickett
Dale Ragan

Roger Ragusa
Tim Reichert
Dave Ryberg
Gary Shand
Heather Shand
Bob Shrumm
Charlie Wend

Congratulations to each of you!!!