Come supportTeen Feedand check out Seattle’s newest breweries, cideries, wineries and distilleries!
Figurehead Brewing Company is located in Seattle and was just founded in 2016. They pride themselves on providing honest, simple, straightforward, quality beer.
Last week, David Williams, author of “Too High and Too Steep”, discoursed on Seattle’s topography. It boggled the mind overall, how, in the early 1900s and even farther back, did they accomplish what they did? There were no bulldozers, graders, hydrologists, nor cranes. And yet they juggled with water levels, obliterated high mounds, and leveled the landscape. All of this molded the city to the extent that business and residency were enabled. At the start (1854) it was decided someday to utilize smallish Lake Union to connect the salt water of Puget Sound to the fresh water of Lake Washington. Fast forward 69 years, when a ship canal was envisioned. Lake Washington was 29′ above sea level, Lake Union 20′. Salmon Bay was a tidal salt water inlet. A feat of engineering for that time took place. It involved coffer dams, gates, pumping, blasting, and at times redoing. Ultimately, boats could go from the salt water of Puget Sound, through locks, into Lake Washington. In the process, the waters of Portage Bay flowed into the Montlake Cut. The landscape underwent change with the filling in of the tidal flats, creating 24 acres of new land between Beacon Hill and West Seattle.
A series of mounds, Denny Regrade being the most iconic. had to be obliterated. The soft earth was removed in huge volumes with the use of water cannons and dynamite. In the process, houses had to be relocated. Elevated on pallets, they were brought down by a technique of “stairstepping.”
The author gives praise to pioneers from the east who did all that was necessary to create the city they wanted, from such a challenging landscape.
Our first speaker of the year was Luke Timmerman, biographer of Lee Hood. Many biographers have to rely on archives, old newspapers, relatives, and much more. Others have the advantage of a living and compliant subject for firsthand information. Luke Timmerman, in his biography of Lee Hood, entitled “Hood“, enjoyed the latter situation.
Hood’s evolution stemmed from an association with a high school teacher, a Caltech alumnus, who, seeing potential, steered the young man to that institution. Hood soon made his name in Immunology and in genetics as applied to it. This entailed the DNA sequence and the shuffling of genes to evolve elements of the immune system. Thus arose the Biotech industry, investors therein, and AMGEN, the leading company in the field. Hood sat atop an empire. However, he clashed with the CalTech administration and his colleagues. CalTech discontinued genome research. Hood was ousted.
His next opportunity came at UW, to which he was recruited by Roger Perlmutter and financed by Bill Gates. In the beginning, it was rosy. Hood brought CalTech recruits, $, prominence to UW. But ultimately he ran into difficulties. The issue was that of Systems Biology, a collaboration with other disciplines. UW did not go for this. He headed the Genome Department, but encountered managerial issues. He was again out on his own.
His contributions to biology are recognized worldwide. His many awards have not included the Nobel Prize. This, according to the author, is tragic.
A reminder that we are taking a break for the Holidays this week; there is no breakfast meeting on Thursday. Our regular meetings will resume in 2017 on January 5th. The January Board Meeting will be Wednesday January 11th (delayed a week) and we have our Club Fireside on Friday January 20th.
Debuts & Discoveries Early Bird Tickets
Just a few days left to get your Debuts & Discoveries tickets at the early bird price of $30.00. Visit usrotary.org and click on the Debuts & Discoveries link on the top right.
One hundred years ago, RI President Arch Klumph proposed an endowment that would “do good in the world.” The Rotary Foundation was born! ~ So… how are we doing in that “doing good” business? In a word, magnificent!
A recent Global Grant Worldwide Report, lists 1,112 Global Grants (min. budget of $30,000) approved in the last 14 months… an average of 17 Global Grants per week, year after year, after year. Imagine what that means! Rotarians around the globe are working wonders every week! Clubs working together accomplish community- based, and sustainable humanitarian projects; assemble and dispatch Volunteer Training Teams and recruit Rotary Peace fellows every week, year after year. Add to that Rotarians’ District Grant projects and Polio Eradication efforts, and you’ve got a magnificent track record of doing good in the world – brought to you by The Rotary Foundation! Be proud of that!
Remember… Every Rotarian Every Year! Use “Rotary Direct” … consider $20/mo.
Teen Feed was chosen by our Club as the 2017 Debuts & Discoveries Grant Recipient. A big “Thank you” to all the organizations and their sponsors that submitted applications this year, and the efforts of the Grant Recipient Selection Committee led by Colleen Johnson and Tim Linehan.
On Monday, October 3, we will be volunteering with TeenFeed–a non-profit organization that provides warm meals, basic needs items, and supportive connections to homeless youth in Seattle. From 5:30-8:30 that evening, we will be at the University Lutheran Church, preparing and serving dinner to the homeless youth.
Come support our international service partner, TINFA at their annual fundraiser, this week. This year it is a breakfast, on Friday Sept. 30th starting at 7:15am at the Montlake Community Center 1618 East Calhoun Street, Seattle, WA. One of the teachers from Guatemala, Marleny Sanchez, will join us. She will tell us about the program and we hope to be able to connect through Skype with her classroom in Retahuleu, Guatemala.
The breakfast is free and a donation is encouraged (any donation level is welcomed). Let Mike Madden know (mikeminseattle@gmail.com) if you can join the University Sunrise table, Or if you prefer, go to tinfa.org and click on “Sign me up here.”
Bereft of a workable projector, Kristi Martin, Senior Adviser of the Office of Health Reform, reverted solely to verbiage without missing a beat.
She was inspired early, when health coverage was weak and poorly distributed, to get it for those who needed it. To get it off the ground, she worked through several levels up to the federal. An anecdote was given for illustration.
Ultimately health care reform was passed, with Medicare and Medicaid created in 1964. The Consumer Assistance Plan was developed to help individuals contend with denied claims from insurance companies. This struggle resulted in two favorable Supreme Court decisions. The Affordable Care Act, following the Massachusetts model, followed. This is admittedly not perfect, but is a start, creating coverage for 20 million people. In addition, adult children up to age 26 are included under parents’ policies. There is now also free coverage for screening services, benefiting 137 million. Clinical trials have shown that this is economically feasible.
In that partnership has been needed, the YMCA in Seattle and elsewhere has been a logical choice. All of this proactive activity has saved Medicare money. Attention has now targeted the malnourished. Delivery of healthful meals to the home is a program known as Feeding America. Each food box costs $13. People are being empowered to control their health, i.e., in managing cardiovascular and diabetic situations. Trials in Ohio. California, and Texas have proved encouraging. Politics aside, all of this has shown success.
Comment: Is this the forerunner of single-payer universal health care? The other industrialized nations might be consulted on this concept.
On a gorgeous July morning, Tai Ji practitioner Phill Briscoe, leads his “charges” in Qi Gong exercises at Gasworks Park after a US Rotary meeting. Phill’s students are Susie Jamieson, Hal Beals, Betsy Conklin, Scott Jamieson, and the photographer, Ron Espiritu.