The University Sunrise Rotary Club was selected for the 2019-2020 Rotary Silver Presidential Citation as an elite Rotary 5030 District Club. Congratulations to Past President Steve Barton for his leadership in achieving this accomplishment. Fewer than a quarter of the clubs in District 5030, the greater Seattle region, achieved this distinction.
This award signifies the dedication of the members of the University Sunrise Rotary Club to support the strategic priorities of Rotary International by being people of action changing the lives of families and communities across the world.
Rotary is a global network of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves. Rotary’s people of action have used their passion, energy, and intelligence to take action on sustainable projects.
Clubs that are strong and making a positive difference in our communities achieve goals related to Rotary’s three strategic priorities: to support and strengthen clubs, focus and increase humanitarian service, and enhance Rotary’s public image and awareness.
Our program on September 17, 2020, featured Walker Lafleur of the Northwest Kidney Centers. Walker is an experienced Nurse Managerwith fourteen years working in the hospital and health care industry. He has a Bachelor of Science in Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse from Fortis College, Tampa, FL and is working on an MBA from Western Governors University. He came to Seattle in 2018 to be a manager at the Northwest Kidney Centers.
Founded in Seattle in 1962, Northwest Kidney Centers is the world’s first dialysis organization. They are the provider of choice because of “high quality services, community connections and generous donor support.” They provided 276,500 dialysis treatments last year, about a quarter of all dialysis treatments in the state, for nearly 1,800 patients who dialyze in one of their centers or at home with support.
Walker presented a really terrific program about kidney health–a topic important to all of us. Kidneys remove waste and excess water from the body and helps regulate blood pressure.
Walker told us that one in three Americans are at risk for kidney disease. It is estimated that 37 million Americans have kidney disease, but most don’t know that they do. Diabetes and high blood pressure are the leading causes. Other causes include cardiovascular disease, aging, urinary infections, HIV/AIDS, and IV drug use.
Particularly at risk are Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asians. African-Americans are three times more likely to have kidney disease. People over 65 are 38 percent more likely.
On September 24, 2020, the program for the University Sunrise Rotary Club featured Trish Millines Dziko.
Trish is the co-founder and Executive Director of TAF. She founded the Technology Access Foundation (TAF) in 1996 after spending fifteen years as a developer, designer and manager in the high tech industry. A native of New Jersey who attended Monmouth College (now Monmouth University) on a basketball scholarship, she graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science in 1979 at a time when few people of color and few women were entering the field. Her successful career brought her to Microsoft in the late-1980s, just as the pioneering software company was set to become a worldwide brand.
Over the next decade of tremendous growth, she saw very little change in the high tech industry: women and people of color remained grossly underrepresented. After careful research, she traced the root of the problem to the lack of access to rigorous, relevant technology training in our public schools, particularly those in traditionally underserved communities of color. Trish left Microsoft in 1996, the same year she founded TAF. More information about TAF is available at www.techaccess.org.
Trish has led the growth of TAF into a statewide leader in STEM education, operating TAF Academy (a 6th to 12th grade, award-winning public school that is co-managed by TAF and the Federal Way Public School District), increasing the number of teachers of color through the Martinez Fellowship, and partnering with public schools to transform them into academic environments that will promote the highest level of student learning.
In addition to her work at TAF, Trish remains a committed, proactive leader and serves on the boards of several organizations that focus on children and education.
Trish and her spouse live on Vashon Island and are the proud parents of four children.
Trish said that we need a new revolution in education. Our expectations of students is too low, she said. She was critical of over-reliance on standardized tests and said that we need more resources in education.
She stressed that the mission of TAF included the building of relationships with public education. Teacher training, increasing diversity in staff, expanding the role of the community in education, and educational context are important objectives. Community support included both resources and the provision of role models for students.
Our program on September 10, 2020 featured Emma Le Du and Mike Madden of TINFA (Technology and Information For All). The University Sunrise Rotary Club has a long standing relationship of support for TINFA and its mission to bring technology to rural student learning in Guatemala.
Emma Le Dû is the Exec. Director of TINFA. She has previously held positions at the Grameen Foundation as Senior Technical Program Manager. She has been in Information Technology for over 15 years, at Microsoft and Amazon.com in various positions in International and Program Management. Emma has spent two years in Lao P.D.R, as a computer consultant to the European Union and UNDP. She holds an Engineering degree in Robotics and Electronics (ESIGELEC in Rouen France) and a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School (Harvard University) with a focus on Leadership and International Development. Emma is TINFA’s co-founder.
Mike Madden is retired and lives in the Loyal Heights neighborhood of Seattle, just north of Ballard. He attended Western Washington University and completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, majoring in History and French. Mike taught at Meadowdale Junior High School for five years before joining Safeco Life Insurance Company, now known as Symetra Life Insurance. Mike retired from Symetra as Vice President and head of the Individual Product Line after a rewarding thirty-three year career there. Mike believes in volunteer service, having served several years as President of the Northwest Regional Board of Dollars for Scholars. He is a board member and Secretary of the University Sunrise Rotary Club. He is a volunteer with the Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas tutoring organization and is President of the Board of Bright Future Dollars for Scholars.
Over several years, the University Sunrise Rotary Club and Foundation have contributed $30,000 to TINFA. These gifts have been augmented by $20,000 from University Rotary and other local Rotary Clubs. In addition, the Rotary International Foundation matched these grants to raise the total to $149,000.
The program brings technology and training to teachers in rural schools in Guatemala. Thus far, forty-one teachers have been trained in the program. Each teacher receives 96 hours of training. Some of the teachers have no phone or most have no computers.
The schools are facing, of course, an additional challenge with closures due to COVID-19. To help, TINFA has coordinated with participating teachers to create workbooks to distribute to students at home. The program has been very successful with 94% of the workbooks completed and returned by the students.
In response to a question from the Club, Emma said one of the biggest impacts of the program is to introduce how technology can impact on people’s lives. This is life changing, as new doors are opened in poor rural areas of Guatemala that help students–and their families–realize and use previously unknown resources. The key, she said, is to open this door as it will change lives forever.
TINFA is having its annual fundraiser, Love of Learning, on October 3, 2020 – Saturday, – from 5:30 to 7:30. It will be virtual and Rotarians are hosting several virtual rooms. You are invited to join a virtual room with a smaller number of people and have a chance to chat. Then you will join the main program for information and inspiration. This is a great organization doing an amazing job.
The Keynote Speaker is Sonia Nazario. She is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist whose stories have tackled some of this country’s most intractable problems. She is best known for “Enrique’s Journey,” her report of a Honduran boy’s struggle to find his mother. It became a national bestseller.
To join one of the University Sunrise Rotary rooms, as a guest, please e-mail Pam Mushen at pdmushen@gmail.com , Lee Raaen at lee@raaen.com , or Mike Madden at mikeminseattle@gmail.com. Your hosts have paid the guest registration fee ($35) and are looking forward to having you join them.
Join the University Sunrise Rotary Club for our weekly programs. We meet via Zoom every Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. Pacific. The line opens at 7:15 a.m. Registration is not required. Login by clicking here.
Join us for TINFA’s annual fundraising dinner – virtual this time to support kids in rural Guatemala so that they get the education they deserve.
We are excited to have, as a keynote speaker, award winning journalist Sonia Nazario. We will also connect to one of our partner teachers and students in Guatemala to hear the impact our technology and curriculum are having in our partner schools.
World Polio Day is a time for Rotarians and Rotaractors across the globe to raise awareness about our work to eradicate polio for good. If we stay committed to making progress, polio will be the second human disease ever to be eradicated.
In our fight to end polio, we’ve used our collective strength to defeat this devastating disease in almost every part of the world. This year, the World Health Organization’s African region was certified free of wild poliovirus – showing that eradication is possible even in very difficult circumstances. Wild poliovirus still paralyzes children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and as long as polio exists anywhere, it remains a threat everywhere.
Let’s Take Action A polio-free world is possible, but we can achieve it only by taking action together. With the challenges to vaccination programs posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s even more crucial that Rotary continues to build awareness and raise funds for polio eradication.
Join the effort to vaccinate children and end polio by organizing a World Polio Day event for your community. In 2019, Rotary members held more than 5,900 events in 136 countries. This year, online events and activities will allow us to expand our reach even more and inspire others to join us.
Not sure how to take action for World Polio Day? From virtual event ideas to social media posts and photos, the World Polio Day Toolkit can help you start planning and promoting your activities now.
Join the University Sunrise Rotary Club for our weekly program. We meet via Zoom every Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. Pacific. The line opens at 7:15 a.m. Registration is not required. Login by clicking here.
The University Sunrise Rotary Club has a long standing relationship supporting TINFA (Technology and Information for All) bring technology to rural student learning in Guatemala. Our program will be a report on the progress of the effort. Speaking will be Emma Le Du, TINFA’s Director and Mike Madden, Secretary and a board member of the University Sunrise Rotary Club, as well as a board member of TINFA.
Mike will summarize the partnership with TINFA to date, and the status of our Rotary Global Grant projects, “Technology for Teachers in Rural Guatemala I & II.” Then, Emma will talk about the conditions in Guatemala now, what we are doing to adapt to the pandemic shut-down and plans for the rest of the current project.
Emma Le Dû is the Exec. Director of TINFA. She has previously held positions at the Grameen Foundation as Senior Technical Program Manager. She has been in Information Technology for over 15 years, at Microsoft and Amazon.com in various positions in International and Program Management. Emma has spent two years in Lao P.D.R, as a computer consultant to the European Union and UNDP. She holds an Engineering degree in Robotics and Electronics (ESIGELEC in Rouen France) and a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School (Harvard University) with a focus on Leadership and International Development. Emma is TINFA’s co-founder.
Mike Madden is retired and lives in the Loyal Heights neighborhood of Seattle, just north of Ballard. He attended Western Washington University and completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, majoring in History and French. Mike taught at Meadowdale Junior High School for five years before joining Safeco Life Insurance Company, now known as Symetra Life Insurance. Mike retired from Symetra as Vice President and head of the Individual Product Line after a rewarding thirty-three year career there. Mike believes in volunteer service, having served several years as President of the Northwest Regional Board of Dollars for Scholars. He is a board member and Secretary of the University Sunrise Rotary Club. He is a volunteers with the Seattle Bureau of Fearless Ideas tutoring organization and is President of the Board of Bright Future Dollars for Scholars.
Our program on September 3, 2020, featured Jamie Lee of SCIDpda. She isDirector of Community Initiatives at the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority. Jamie oversees community focused projects at the SCIDpda. Jamie joined SCIDpda in 2014. With senior leadership, she supports external relations of the organization, and oversees funding and operations of community initiatives and Hing Hay Coworks.
SCIDpda is a leading force for the economic health of Seattle’s Chinatown International District, implementing strategies that range from support for individual businesses to marketing the entire neighborhood’s lively retail and cultural environment. SCIDpda is an effective and informed advocate for our neighborhood’s residents and businesses, promoting community improvements and public safety and protecting our community from negative impacts. SCIDpda focuses its development efforts in a way that honors the rich character and history of the Chinatown International District.
Jamie addressed the issues that have been faced in the International District in the pandemic.
The pandemic began to hit the International District early in 2020. Businesses began to slow down as early as January, well before the March 16 shutdown. The Asian source of the coronavirus had an early and negative impact on the neighborhood. The impacts were broad and ranged from a reduction in business traffic from nervous consumers to incidents that may well have been racist.
Vulcan became an early hero with a donation of $100,000 to help create a business assistance relief fund. A total of $800,000 has been raised in the wake of the Vulcan initial gift.
Efforts to assist the community have included business relief efforts, helping to improve food security, and creating Internet access for resident children for online learning.
If you would like to help, Jamie provided us with the following information:
I wanted to just follow up with information for our upcoming virtual fundraiser for SCIDpda. Fun part about the event this year is that you can purchase “Neighborhood Boxes” and get goodies from the CID delivered to your home.
A the link to donate is here – you can also find information about how to RSVP for our virtual event and about the Neighborhood Boxes on that page too.
Jamie has over ten years in the nonprofit sector focusing on community engagement and nonprofit management, including working with individuals experiencing homelessness and launching a transitional housing program for homeless women. She also worked at the University of Washington’s Carlson Leadership and Public Service Center, networking with over 300 nonprofit organizations in the Seattle area and connecting them with undergraduate and graduate students looking to integrate service into their studies. Jamie has been active in the CID since 2005, with Chinese Information Service Center and the International District Chinatown Library in their after school programs, the International District Housing Alliance (now InterIm CDA) on their fund development committee, and the board of the Washington Asian Pacific Islander (WAPI) Community Services.
She currently serves on the board of Sanctuary Art Center, Historic South Downtown, the Chinatown International District Business Improvement Area, and the CID Public Safety Council. Jamie has Masters in Social Work and Public Administration from the University of Washington.
