Program Summary: Lynda Greene, Southeast Seattle Senior Center, June 10, 2021

Many of us received our Covid vaccinations through the work of the Southeast Seattle Senior Center with the City of Seattle. In addition, the Club has donated $5,000 to the Center for an elevator project.

Lynda Greene is the Executive Director of the Southeast Seattle Senior Center.

For over 51 years, Southeast Seattle Senior Center, fondly known as SESSC,  located in the Rainier Valley, has been a neighborhood activity center that addresses the social, educational, and health needs of aging adults and the community at large.  Over 600 seniors living on Beacon Hill, Skyway, Rainier Valley, Renton and the Central Area are active participants at the Center.  Activities are designed to include all physical stages of aging such as exercise programs, computer classes, weaving and quilting classes, card clubs, line dance classes, Spanish classes, recreational trips, and much more.

She has over four years experience heading up the Resource Development Department at a non profit organization in Seattle. Prior to that, she worked in the hospitality industry as Senior Sales Manager and finally as director of Sales at a boutique hotel.

She left the hospitality industry because she felt a strong pull toward the mission oriented work of the non-profit sector. Lynda continues to impress with her people skills, confidence, warmth and cultural competency. She is often described as the go to person, grounded, unflappable and skilled at building teams with volunteers and staff to pull off projects of all kinds.

Father Full Families Virtual Banquet, June 12, 2021

Marvin Charles of DADS was a speaker at our club last summer.

 
ONE WEEK AWAY!
Father-Full Families
2021 DADS Fatherhood Virtual Event  
Launch June 12, 2021, 5:00pm, look out for the link in your inbox on June 12th.
JOIN THE FUN OF OUR CREATIVE RAFFLE
     
You can win a $100 gift card to Top of The Hill Produce and a swag bag!  There will be two opportunities to win.  Look for more details in your confirmation page or contact Rosa TODAY.     We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, June 12th, where you will hear stories about Father-Full Families during the week leading up to your own Father’s Day celebration!  

VERY IMPORTANT! – If you are a Watch Party Host, make sure your friends and family watching with you REGISTER for this event as a watch party guest – remember it’s FREE– click the link NOW www.aboutdads.org. By registering, you’ll be signed up to receive details to the RAFFLE and the private video link when we launch.   

HOW TO HOST A WATCH PARTY:  CALL ROSA NOW! IT’S NOT TO LATE (206) 949-1219

Sincerely,    Rosa Nicole Booker 206-949-1219 info@aboutdads.org  
P.S.   Cost: FREE!    
Several sponsorship levels are still available.   Call or email for Registration and Sponsorship questions.          
Helpful Links   Register as: An Individual, Watch Party Guest, or Watch Party Host   Register as a Virtual Event Sponsor   Donate   Questions

Address postal inquiries to:

Divine Alternatives for Dads Services

5709 Rainier Ave S
Seattle, WA 98118-2703

Tiny House Building Project, May 31, 2021

Volunteers from the University Sunrise Rotary Club spend 2021 Memorial Day building Tiny Houses for the homeless. Participants included Ed Bronsdon, Michael Bronsdon, Dan Byrne, Walker LaFleur, Michelle Lee, Mike Madden, Lee Raaen, and Tom Ranken. Friends that participated included Cathy Bronsdon, Steve Fawthrop, Tremain Kentop and Evan Kentop.

Arriving at 9 a.m., we kept plugging away until the middle of the afternoon with a break for lunch. The club made great progress on three homes.

We were able to name one of the homes. The protocol required that we come up with a name that started with the letter “F,” so our home is named the “Four-Way Home.”

The day closed at the nearby Two Beer Brewery.

Our team leader, Michael Bronsdon received the following email:

Hi Michael,

Kudos to your Rotary Club for a wonderful day!  You really made a difference!

Thanks again.

Barb and the rest of the Team Leaders:  Tom, Mark, Anne and Carol

Continue reading

Program Summary: Dr. Andrew Holman, “Stress and the Immune System,” May 27, 2021

Andrew J. Holman MD

As  Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington and a private rheumatologist in Renton for 20 years, Dr. Andrew Holman was able to help define a new concept in medicine called immuno-autonomics: How stress flares immune activity.

Find Dr. Holman’s Slide Deck here.

In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Seattle-based Inmedix validated stress as the primary reason immunosuppressive treatments fail. 

Inmedix suspects it could to do the same for COVID-19: assess and control how fight-or-flight stress drives the disease to cytokine storm, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), ventilator support and death.  More important, mitigating fight-or-flight stress in COVID-19 might reduce the overwhelming immune activation, just as it did in untreatable rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Holman told us that “It comes down to stress.”  There is a growing body of evidence that stress has a big impact on health–particularly with regard to immune system regulation and the treatment of of autoimmune disease.  Some of these stress reactions are hard wired into humans.  

Increased stress seems to weaken treatment and is often the primary reason that treatment fails in patients.

Dr. Holman’s company, Inmedix is developing very sensitive tests that measure the heart rates.  These tests measure beat-to-beat changes.  These changes are indications of the impact of stress.  The new technology is able to measure these changes accurately to 1/1000 of a second.  The goal is replace blood testing–in some cases–with math–and greatly improved the treatment of disease.

Notes From Hal Beals:

Scientific data shows that stress is strongly linked to autoimmune diseases like Rheumatoid Arthritis, Psoriatic Arthritis, Lupus and Fibromyalgia. 

Dr. Holman’s research is to measure the biochemistry of stress to predict therapy effectiveness through his company-Immedix. Today there is evidence that Heart Rate Variability is associated with stress which triggers the well known “flight or fight” responses that increases stress. The brain can trigger this response in1/1000 second.  The average heartbeat takes 1/2 a second.   But useful measurements of Heart Rate Variability, measurements must be accurate to 1/1000 second. Immedix is getting close to this level of accuracy.  

75% of patients with autoimmune diseases do not improve with standard treatments.  Dr. Homan believes that with more accurate measurement of stress levels, more effective drug treatment, combined with changes in diet, exercise, sleep and meditation will reduce stress and greatly improve the quality of life for patients. And new research indicates that stress is related to certain cancers.  

Program Summary: Dr. Wilson Edward Reed, “Mississippi to Seattle,” June 3, 2021

Note: A program summary is on the way! Doc did a great job telling the story of his impressive journey from a young boy in Jim Crow’s Mississippi to becoming a Seattle University professor with four degrees! We are grateful to have him as a member.

Doc Reed

Wilson “Doc” Reed was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, into a family of farmers. He grew up in the small town of Redwood, which became the home of International Paper Company after buying up many of the small farms in the area.

Doc lived his early life during the Jim Crow era of the South that was regulated by twenty-two laws regarding race relationships.  Because of this strife nearly six million Americans fled the south and migrated to the north and the midwest.  He attended racially segregated schools. 

Doc’s mother died at age 36 from cancer and his family pretty much fell apart.  In 1969, he boarded a bus and traveled 2,600 miles, arriving in Seattle to live with his father’s family.  He attended the University of Washington and earned four degrees. 

He taught at Seattle University for seventeen years before retiring.  He is currently writing a book on poverty to Ph.D. and lives in Shoreline. He is a single Dad to a 21 year old son.

Education:

  • Ph.D., Political Science, Northern Arizona University
  • M.A., Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Albany
  • M.A., Political Science, University of Washington
  • B.A., Political Science / African American Studies, University of Washington

Visit Dr. Reed’s Website here.

Eric Ramsing’s Notes:

  1. Ranken introduced the Speaker, Dr. Wilson “Doc” Reed. Also known by the sobriquet “June Bug”.
    1. Born and raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi on a family farm
    2. Reed spoke of the Jim Crow laws growing up in Mississippi while showing family photos of youth.
    3. Talked of how life under the harsh rule of segregation and uneven interpretation of the rule of law, and of unspoken “law”, resulted in a feeling of self-inferiority.
    4. Imparted his historic support system composed of Leaders, Teachers, Parents and Clergy.
    5. Four degress:
      1. University of Washington, BA and a MA in Political Science
      2. Masters degree in Criminal Justice from the State University of New York-Albany
      3. Ph.D. in Political Science at Northern Arizona University
  1. “Vicksburg to Seattle” in 1969 by bus.

Program Summary: Bud Ransom, Ravenna Brewing, May 20,2021

May be an image of drink

Bud Ransom grew up in Bellingham, WA before moving to Seattle to attend Cornish College as a music composition major. Through college and after graduating he worked as a craft cocktail bartender, until 2016 when he founded Ravenna Brewing Company with his sister and brother-in-law. As owner and operations manager he’s guided their growth from a tiny nanobrewery into the award-winning distribution microbrewery and taproom they are today.

Key Points Summary by Michelle Lee

Bud did bartending while going to Cornish College.  He and his sister, Elise, had been thinking about starting some sort of eatery like a café, while his brother-in-law, Tommy, was a home brewer accumulating recipes and winning awards…… thus the three of them founded a brewery.

They found a location in the Ravenna neighborhood.  The space was in rough condition and no plumbing, but it was cheap.  They did not have any cash flow and basically did the tenant improvement themselves through watching YouTube videos.  Bud and his dad did the drawing themselves with an architectural scale ruler to apply for permit.  During construction, Bud made sure he would stop and talk to anybody who came by, showed them the progress and talked about what beer were being brewed.  This interrupted the progress but helped build neighborhood support that growlers were filled even before the official opening.   

Thanks to a post on Seattle Reddit, the line went out the door and around the block on the grand opening date April 15, 2016.  The brewery only opened from Thursday to Sunday in the beginning, then added Wednesday in August and then had its first trivia Tuesday in January 2017.  After the first year build out and six months in operation, Bud, Elise and Tommy finally got their first paychecks.

In mid-2018, their landlord told them the next door space was available.  They might not be ready to expand and they also knew that they had to take over the space which might not be available again.  The extra space could also help solve the capacity problem, they could not brew fast enough especially for the very busy summer.  In August 2019, their expansion was completed.  Their fermentation capacity increased almost 3 times from 868 gallons to 2,263 gallons.  They thought that they would have a smooth and easy summer in 2020.

Then it same the pandemic shutdown on March 15, 2020.  They knew that they needed to continue the momentum and served their customers.  They did not shut down for one day and kept working on the growler machine. With the loyal neighborhood support, they had beer-to-go.  To survive the pandemic, they did not rest and stayed aggressive.  In August and October 2020, they further increased their fermentation capacity to 3,441 gallons and added automatic canning line to meet the pandemic induced demand for to-go beer and diversify to wholesale.

Again in November 2020, during the second big wave of pandemic, another next door space became available for sale, they knew that they needed to make it happen.  The additional space will serve as a brewing space, a private party space and office space, so that Bud and Elise do not need to work from their backpack anymore. The fermentation capacity will be 5,983 gallon, almost 7 times the original capacity, when this expansion is completed in August 2021.

Why it worked:

  • Service at the forefront of everything – Bud is sensitive in cultivating a warm and welcoming atmosphere and in building the community.
  • Partnership with opposing strengths, but equal drive – Tommy and Bud are different people, “without Tommy, they could not open the brewery; without Bud and Elise, the brewery would have been burnt down by now”. 
  • Hire the person, not the resume – only 3 people quit in their 5-year history due to moving to Colorado or finding a full time job for what they went to college for.
  • Don’t be afraid to be trendy – they brew what people want and have not repeated a recipe.
  • Empower, reward, and retain talent – employee are allowed to have flexible working hours to go back to school or part time, can move to operation management or distribution if interested.

According to one review on Yelp:

Excellent beer, excellent people. This neighborhood brewery worked hard to spruce up a small shop into a great place to enjoy some beer. As of opening weekend they have come out with some inventive brews such as a Jalapeño Kölsch, a Peach Hefeweizen, and a Bourbon Vanilla Porter. Don’t let the fancy names scare you off though. Clean, balanced flavors and reasonable prices rule here; they pour both 16oz pints (around $5-6) and 5oz tasters (around $2-2.5). Growler fills coming soon; their supply needs to catch up with their overwhelming opening weekend demand.

While they don’t have a kitchen, they have partnered with food trucks who park right outside and serve their wares.

Come by, say hello, have a beer, and enjoy!

Big Taste Update

We are now planning to resume The Big Taste event in April 2022–after a two-year layoff.

To host a fun and fundraising community tasting event, best-matched for what we’ve successfully produced in the past at Hanger 30 at Magnuson Park, we’re agreeing to look for The Big Taste to occur next in 2022 – probably on a Saturday in April, but possibly early May or late March.

Our beneficiary is Outdoors for All. In support of that, here’s a photo of Milo and his parents. Club member and Outdoors for All Executive Director Ed Bronsdon met them recently at Magnuson Park as they were using one of the many adaptive cycles, a Duet Tandem, that Outdoors for All has in their fleet. Ed reported that, “Due to public health restrictions, it had been eighteen months since Milo and his family had last been able to be active with our Adaptive Cycling Center. Milo had fun – but his parents, Erik and Kim, I think were even more joyous in getting outdoors together as a family. They noted that they plan to be back regularly now that we are able to be back up and operational and really appreciated the ride with us. The Outdoors for All Staff were sure smiling, too!”

Six University Sunrise Rotarians Earn Recognition From Rotary Foundation

Image 1 - Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow PIN SET  SAPPHIRE Ruby LOT

This far, six members of the University Sunrise Rotary Club have earned addition recognition as donors to the Rotary Foundation.

The mission of The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

Since it was founded more than 100 years ago, the Foundation has spent more than $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects.

The mission of The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

Club Members have been awarded the following pins:

  • Colleen White (3 rubies)
  • Paul Weibel (4 sapphires)
  • Tom Ranken (1 ruby)
  • Ed Bronsdon (3 sapphires)
  • Eric Ramsing (3 sapphires)
  • Steve Barton (3 sapphires)

Recipient’s recognition amount level (Lifetime Giving)
US $2,000 to 2,999.99 – one sapphire
3,000 to 3,999.99 – two sapphires
4,000 to 4,999.99 – three sapphires
5,000 to 5,999.99 – four sapphires
6,000 to 6,999.99 – five sapphires
7,000 to 7,999.99 – one ruby
8,000 to 8,999.99 – two rubies
9,000 to 9,999.99 – three rubies