Weekly Program

Jeb Wyman – Stories from Veterans since 9/11

Weekly Program, January 21st. Jeb Wyman an instructor at Seattle Central College has made use of his position to deal with the unique area of latter day veterans’ needs and concerns. In fact, he is publishing a book, “What They Signed Up For“.  It concerns true stories by ordinary soldiers; The proceeds will go entirely for the benefit of veterans.

He spoke of the baggage borne by those deployed in Iraq and adjacent states. In that his classes contain dozens of veterans, he had gotten close to many. In a world of scorching sun, hidden explosive devices, and deaths of close friends, many later retained deep disturbances, feelings of isolation, thoughts of suicide (at times carried out), tendencies for reckless behavior, familial ineptitude, loss of trust, and other symptoms. As was readily surmised, the grass has not grown too verdantly over their grief. All of these bespeak of demons within and come under the heading of PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Many cannot express their feelings until they meet someone like Jeb Wyman. He has been able to listen to their stories and act as an ameliorating agent.

The doctrine, “To remain silent keeps you from coming home“, has become axiomatic. Wyman’s anecdotes of the experiences and disturbances of the veterans were riveting.

Comment: These poignant episodes are yet another of the enduring harvest of an injudicious and unnecessary war. But for this reckless adventure, there would be no PTSD nor need for stricken ones to gravitate to the healing presence of a Jeb Wyman.  

Pamela Banks: Candidate for City Council District 3

On September 17th, we heard from Pamela Banks, aspirant for District 3 of the City Council.  She gave a moving history of family struggles in her Portland childhood and her family’s dedication to community service.

Pamela Banks and Steve Barton
Pamela Banks and Steve Barton
Pamela Banks and Past President Mike Madden
Pamela Banks and Past President Mike Madden

A graduate of the UW, she is President and CEO of the Seattle Urban League. In that capacity she has done fund raising, food drives for the poor, and much more. She rescued the Urban League from financial ruin in 2009-2010. It now flourishes with a staff of 14. She has served for 30 years, under 5 mayors, and has been a community organizer for southeast Seattle. Her focus is on the community; she shuns federal involvement.

Her goals:

  1. To connect citizens to local city goals and to deliver more local services, especially for those of low income and the homeless.
  2. Light Rail liaison with the community, considering the impact of the Light Rail on businesses and property owners during construction.
  3. In general, support for small businesses.
  4. An education and employment program, which obviates much crime.
  5. Problem solving as regards transportation and safety.
  6. The housing crisis must be addressed with a view toward preservation of the single family home.
  7. Gun violence is increasing. More education and jobs are needed to reverse it.
  8. A career bridge for women. Funds are in place for this.
  9. Housing affordability. Must build 20-50 thousand apartments.
  10. Homelessness pervades not only Seattle but all the surrounding communities. The problem is huge. There is much work to be done.
  11. Transportation, i.e., getting people to work, must be improved.
  12. Early reading for children. If kids cannot read at a third grade level when reaching that grade, dropouts and other bad consequences occur.
  13. Many construction and transportation jobs are unfilled. Federal grants are in place for teaching these skills. Teachers must also be trained.
  14. To get people out of cars, mass transportation must be improved. The matter of dwelling construction without provision for parking remains an unsolved enigma.

Observation: A tough job awaits anyone who attains office. Sparring with colleagues must be added to the abovementioned labors.

Jenny Martin and Conscious Capitalism

Leo Durocher’s statement, “Nice guys finish last”, as applied to the business world, must have had a degree of accuracy in days gone by. In recent years, as asserted by Jennifer Martin, this concept has been undergoing modification.

Jenny was present at the creation of the first local chapter of Conscious Capitalism. While there is a national chapter, attended by CEOs in high places, there are many that anyone can join. Conscious Capitalism (henceforth CC) has a stated principle of marketing strategies to benefit humanity and the environment.

The points made by Jenny include: –The aging population has cast a buffering effect upon the tempestuousness of youth. –More wisdom, as imparted by more grandparents than have heretofore existed, is influencing the younger generation. –Born from this shift in values has arisen CC. with its concept of treating  people, specifically employees, in a good manner. –CC bases its business principles on four pillars, to wit,

  1. A higher purpose than just making money,
  2. How best to treat one’s workers
  3. Conscientious leadership, in which the mindset of the leader affects all others
  4. Stakeholder orientation, an idea that it is not altogether necessary to dominate the market.

In short, the goal is to do well by doing good. This also extends to treatment of vendors and even perhaps collaborating with the competition. –It now seems that CC companies are outperforming others and the S&P –Surveys show that people shun companies known to be irresponsible and would change to those that align with their values. Consumers find out about these things. –The huge discrepancies between executive and employee salaries are being addressed with a view to placing a ceiling on this ratio. –Paying employees well inspires loyalty. It offers them autonomy and a purpose. –Decentralization of power vs. the old hierarchical method has merit.

Summarizing: Good will, while not tangible, is worth its aureus weight

Phill Briscoe with Jenny Martin
Phill Briscoe with Jenny Martin

Ezra Teshome: Africa and Polio Plus Update

IMG_5840 IMG_5827 IMG_5826

This Thursday, August 27th, was a laudable coincidence that compressed Past District Governor Ezra Teshome’s PolioPlus update with the ROTARIAN magazine’s front cover ultimatum to the disease.

Ezra began with a bit of history concerning this scourge–

–It has been associated with poor hygiene, ie., tainted water, sewage, and the like, since 1400 B.C.
–Rotary’s role in its eradication has been in force since 1985.
–The original commitment was for 125 countries, entailing $120 million.
–The Gates Foundation has gotten involved with large stipends.

More progress:

  • Drops, costing 20 cents per dose, have supplanted injections for which refrigeration is essential, and difficult in torrid places, requiring thermos containers…
  • Polio eradication is now down to three remaining countries…
  • Africa is on the verge of being polio-free…
  • The region is highly unstable, but Nigeria has recently been declared free of it…
  • Two more years is the estimate for Africa…The last outbreak was in a Somali refugee camp in Ethiopia…
  • As for Ethiopia, immunizations are given in a stay home or go to the center basis…
  • Somali nomads are difficult to track down, but are successfully followed…
  • Health workers operate at or near mosques with accommodating imams an asset to the vaccinators. Challenges exist in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Rumors have circulated that the workers are either CIA agents or sterilizers of women. Some workers have tragically been shot as a result.
Rotarians see other avenues of health, to wit, water purification, sanitary facilities, and immunization vs. other diseases. There can be no complacency. With continuation of the effort, some two years remain for a polio-free world. The Boko Haram, a legion of aggressors, has even been slowly coming around. The leaders have begun to accept the value of immunizations. The Gates Foundation now matches the effort with $2 for each $1 contributed.
Ezra, to everyone’s accolade and to nobody’s surprise, is set to go to Africa to administer vaccines. Godspeed.

Vicki Christopherson: Initiative 502 for Legal Marijuana

August 6th, our speaker Vicki Christopherson, a government relations specialist and lobbyist for the marijuana industry,  gave a short summary about Initiative 502.

Here is a description of the bill:   Initiative 502 defined and legalized small amounts of marijuana-related products for adults 21 and over, taxes them, and designates the revenue for health care and substance abuse prevention and education. Cannabis is still classified as a schedule I controlled substance under federal law. Possession by anyone under 21, possession of larger amounts, and growing of unlicensed or unregulated marijuana remains illegal under state law.

Prior to the initiative’s 2012 passage, certain evils existed. Among them were licenses granted for marijuana’s medicinal use that degenerated into commercial abuse. The Initiative caused honest purveyors to have to compete with the black market. On the one hand were those highly regulated and taxed and on the other, the opportunistic non-taxed. Legislation has thus decreed that, by 7/16, all medical marijuana will be regulated by the Department of Health and the Liquor Control Board. No longer will it be legal to set up shops and issue cards for sales of the substance. Retail stores will have to be licensed. There is to be a crackdown on loopholes and sales to minors. To be sure, there is opposition from those making lots of money. The DOH will determine that which is medical. No sales tax will be charged to genuine patients. Payroll tax consideration will accrue to taxpaying, honest, licensed dealers.

However, unintended tax obstacles were in place, including a 25% tax on producer, processor, and retailer. Then there is are taxes on gross receipts, business and occupancy, and tax on the client. (Can a business sustain this?). This is to be replaced by a single 37% tax (still high). Also, a requirement that one use one’s own vehicle for transport and disclosure of the route has evolved. There seem to be creative ways to get around these. Add to this the idea that a trail vehicle may harbor guns when the transport vehicle may not.

Other impediments: The public and financial record issues involving disclosure; wild variation as to what revenue should be; difficulties in creation of a safe adult market; to legalize or not to legalize; whether the federal government should change marijuana from a schedule 1 to a schedule 3.

Comment: As Churchill would say, “A riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”

Chris Rivera, Chairman of the Council of State Biosciences Associations

With Washington outstanding in many endeavors, Chris Rivera, Chairman of the Council of State Biosciences Associations, gave us a view into yet another. His organization has given rise to more than 200 companies in the biosciences field. Life sciences, aka human health care, is a burgeoning enterprise, with Washington already its global leader.

His address, plus video, provided a kaleidoscope of industries, products, and procedures already in place in the state, or in the process of development, i.e.,Perkins-Cole…defibrillation…bone marrow transplant…Immunex…Amgen…Hutchinson/UW/WSU…Abbott…Lilly…Global Health Fund…Phillips…Arthritis Foundation…Samsung, NEA, and many more.

Beginning in 2009, the mission of the biotechnology industry is to save lives and secondarily to create jobs and improve the economy. Some impressive numbers were given regarding the funding of the industry and the number of employees in all aspects of biotechnology. Aid to CEOs in building businesses is accorded. To this end, capital is raised by investments including the venture capital of “angels”. There are some 100 start-ups per year. Pro bono mentors guide new entrepreneurs.

Comment: A happy marriage of aiding the sick and the economy simultaneously—and not a bad field in which to build careers.

Joe Gruber, Exec Director, University District Food Bank

foodbankLast week’s program was an occasion to make one feel good all over. A $15,003 check was presented to Joe Gruber, Executive Director of the University District Food Bank. It is our charity of choice, benefiting from Debuts and Discoveries. The bulk of the proceeds is destined for Packs for Kids, ensuring good weekend nutrition for school children in need of it.

Packs for Kids was begun at Eckstein Middle School where it was estimated that one in five children had to struggle with hunger, impairing, among other things, their capacity to study. It expanded to other schools.

A healthy diet is the norm in these packs, to wit, fresh fruit, a healthy drink, and items of that variety. Packs are taken home on Friday. An average pack, whose container is reusable, costs $4.25. Work is afoot to bring it down to $3.50.Last year $30,000 was budgeted. Now the cost is $42,000.

Our support last year was seed money for the current year. As this relatively new program expands, more awareness and thus more funds are in the offing. There seems to be plenty of support. Eight schools are now in the program, meaning that the number of packs increases each year. Sandpoint elementary is soon to be included.

Sunrise Rotary is the foundation of support. Packs for siblings is now included. It stands to reason that, if a child requires this type of support, siblings are in the same situation. There are not just a few homeless students. Others are being sought and made recipients.  Joe recalled a few anecdotes in which such help has made heartwarming differences.

Comment: Afterwards, someone told him, “Bless you for what you do.”

His answer was that he feels privileged to do it.

Need more be said?

Tim Burgess, Seattle City Council President

Tim Burgess, Seattle City Council President, quickly piqued the collective interest when he proposed a remedy for poverty. He advanced several factors in its perpetuation which are axiomatic, to wit:
–It is race-based.
–Children raised in poverty are likely as adults to remain poor, less educated, and more likely to encounter early parenthood.
–Persistent poverty tears at our social fabric. It weakens the city via the costs of remedial education, crime, and the support of indigent families.
–The single most important step to preclude the above is to invest in children and to do this early by means of home visitation.

There are three proven methods in place to give children a fair start in life, i.e.:
I. The Nurse-Family partnership, wherein twice-a-week visits are aimed at effective parenting. Providing parents and kids with higher self-esteem leads to better school performance, higher graduation rates, lower crime statistics, and a likelihood to escape poverty.
II. The Parent-Child Home Program. A trained reader visits a low income family and includes both mother and child in readings. A book is left behind. A toy at the next visit is related to the story recently read. Result: children do well in prekindergarten, require less special education, and have a 55% higher high school graduation rate than those not benefited by such help. NYC reports an ultimate saving of $210,000 per child as a consequence of the program. The one in Seattle reaches half of the families in need of it.
III. The Preschool Home Program. This readies children for kindergarten. It raises the standard found in low-quality prekindergarten classes, crowded classrooms, and poor reading fundamentals. It is predictable that a child not reading at the third grade level–and one-fourth of Seattle’s children cannot–will not be graduated from high school. This program has made inroads into these dismal statistics.

Tim Burgess has laid down the principles. Further implementation of them seems imperative.

Comment: In his excellent focus on the prevention of future poverty, Mr. Burgess did not address existing poverty, evidences of which we see daily, inflicted upon youths and adults. It is an enduring concern. For even as he spoke, the rain was falling on the homeless.

District Governer John Enger Visits

DG

In his sweep through the district’s clubs, DG John Enger alit chez nous.


His address began with the exhortation that a 30 year old club should do something celebratory. He then celebrated the Beals administration by presenting the Presidential Citation for the good events on Hal’s watch. 
His other remarks included: A question to Nancy about the Frog Award…Merrill to take on the web site…An occurrence in Kenya showing how a selfless gesture by a boy changed his life through education…The Candle is an instrument to unite and connect the district’s clubs…A pitch for attendance at the Tulalip District Conference, 5/15-5/17…Rotary’s President’s encouragement for family members to join the clubs…Foundation’s thanks for our contribution. $600K was raised in the district, putting us fifth. We came in at $306 per member…North American Rotaries has had a net loss of 51,000 members per year. He urges keeping members engaged, contacting absentees, and giving jobs to RINOs.

Mike, for his part, had words to utter and slides to show. He named officers, committees, and the current activities of each. He reported 12 new members last year; UW Rotaract; the newsletter; The great programs and activities, to wit: Block Party…Books for the World…Dictionaries to the third graders…El Centro de la Raza…Food Bank…Holiday Lighting (and more)…Urban Rest Stop…Food Lifeline…Rotaract Food Harvest.
To come: Tree-planting…Continued holiday lighting…Debuts and Discoveries (and the story of its explosive evolution)…U District Food Bank….Priorities include:  Debuts and Discoveries; an international service project; and a monthly community service event.