Anacortes Rotary Club Information
Anacortes

"Many Hands Make Light Work"

We meet In Person
Wednesdays at 12:00 PM
Majestic Inn & Spa
419 Commercial Ave
PO Box 94
Anacortes, WA 98221
United States of America
 
Rotarians pulled out all the stops this year to defend their "#1 float" crown, adding a live band and 77 year old rotating globe (recently uncovered in the Transit Shed catacombs after collecting dust for decades) to win the coveted title for the second year in a row.  1000 lollipops were handed out to eager little hands as Sea Level cranked up the crowd with Rotarized versions of "Proud Mary", "Twist & Shout", and "Keep on Rocking Me".  Approximately 25 members participated in the building of the float and the parade itself.  Fun was had by all!  Click here for many more photos.
 
Some projects are big, some are small.  They all matter and make our community special!
 
"Dear Rotary Members,
 
I wanted to thank you one more time for the $300 you gave us this year for Running Club shirts.  The students were SO excited and worked so hard to earn the shirts.  I wanted to send a couple of pictures of a few of the students who earned shirts this year.  Again, we appreciate you so much.  I hope you have a wonderful summer.
 
Jonna Dunham"
 
The Anacortes Rotary, with the generous support of Mark and Janette Lione, was pleased to offer a scholarship honoring award-winning Puget Sound artist Jennifer Bowman at the ASF Scholarship Ceremony on June 6, 2023. The scholarship is new this year and was offered as part of a live auction item during the club's  "Thriller" fall fundraiser. Jennifer has exhibited professionally for 30 years. Her works appear in private, public, and corporate collections, nationally and internationally, and in various publications and posters. Mark and Jennifer presented the award to Kayla Strandberg.   
 
Kayla's passion for learning led her to become a sailor (all four years of high school), an award-winning filmmaker, and a skier. Next year at Smith College, she hopes to combine her two loves -- film and architecture-- and design her own major. Art teacher Carl Dellutri says that Kayla seems to "tackle every challenge in life with the same drive she has for art. The more daunting the task, the more determined she becomes. And she always remains cheerful." 
John Muir's words rang true for club members, volunteers, and friends this month as they made improvements to Rotary and Cap Sante Parks. Nearly 70 hours of work party time was devoted to pulling weeds, removing invasive scotch broom and spurge plants, staining kiosks and trail wayfinding posts, trimming brush along trails and tackling other duties—all to improve park habitat and features so visitors have more fun.  Unlike during Mr Muir's famous treks, donuts & scones were provided to all!
 
Community volunteers included Terri Bawden, Mark McEathron, Maddy Mackenzie, Janette Lione, John Wilkinson, David Hansen, Chris Hansen, Will McClintock, Nancy Wong, Lisa Graham, Ethan Graham, Tom Haug, Angela Currie and Stuart Currie. Rotarians were Tim Garrison, Jim Poitras, Cheryl Poitras, Vicki Stasch (2 days), Tom Decker, Jeremy Graham, Jack Darnton (2 days), Mike McClintock, Jim Anderson, Mark Lione, Dick Warsinske and Bill Harris. Please thank them. 
 
Fifteen Rotarians turned out at the Rockfish to create gift bags for the Cap Sante High School 2023 graduating class.  The large, enthusiastic volunteer assembly quickly packaged 40 bags for the students, leaving ample time for fellowship and conviviality. A great time had by all.

Spring is here and Community Service Chair, Tim Garrison, has proudly announced club grants to 8 organizations that help make our community a great place to grow up. Thank you to all the donors and and members that make this possible.

  1. Seahawk Anacortes Boosters:   summer football scholarships
  2. Boys & Girls Club:  early learning center equipment
  3. Anacortes Community Disc Golfers:  golf course construction materials
  4. Fidalgo Elementary: books and STEM games
  5. Friends of the Forest: summer camp and hiking program
  6. Mt Erie Elementary: school T-shirts for Phys Ed
  7. Northwest Schooner Society: scout group transport to Burrows lighthouse
  8. Anacortes Middle School:  Camp Orkila scholarships and gear
 
One hundred and sixty three tickets sold and a butt in every seat, that was Anthony's on Wednesday. The service was flawless and so was the meal: fresh and bbq'd oysters on the half shell, coconut prawn skewers, ahi nacho bites, roasted red pepper bruschetta for starters, followed by dungeness crab salad, alder plank wild Alaskan King and blackberry cobbler ala mode to finish. Each course was paired with a different wine from their list.  We marveled at chef Mike Ludeman's ability to get everything out in such a timely and efficient way and also at GM and fellow Rotarian Kasey Baker's cool demeanor throughout. If there were any glitches it never showed, and that's the mark of true professionals.
 
The club awarded Anthony's President, Amy Burns, an honorary Paul Harris award.  Amazingly,  Anthony's donates ALL food and labor (not to mention giving up the entire restaurant all evening) for the annual event, which in turn allows Rotary to donate ALL proceeds from ticket sales to worthy community causes.  Over $27,000 was raised, plus additional donations from attendees for gratuities to thank the 50+ Anthony's staff that made the night so memorable. Many of this year's Rotary Grants recipients will fall into the category of "No Camper Left Behind" providing scholarships and enrichment activities to many organizations in our community.

Last weekend members participated in one our favorite fellowship events.  5 groups of Rotarians descended upon the homes of hosts representing Italy, Spain, Russia, Mexico, and Ireland with side dishes and aperitifs in hand for an evening of fun, conversation, and music. Fellowship Chair Sondra Peters organized things and hosted the Spain contingent where Rotarian husband, Skip, entertained with his piano playing and stories of his upcoming sailing expedition through the Northwest Passage.

Heated debate ensued at the following Wednesday meeting about which country had the MOST fun but proved inconclusive despite compelling evidence from each.  It was determined the only way to resolve is to do it again!

       
 
Under the leadership of Jack Curtis and Melissa Turnage, members donated toiletries and filled 60 "go bags" for the Anacortes Family Center. Executive Director Dustin Johnson updated the club on recent Family Center activities and described how the bags provide much needed supplies for individuals and families who find themselves in need. 
 
Aug 16- Dr Justin Irish previews the 2023-2024 ASD School year, and how Rotary grants/gifts are helping
 
Aug 23- Learn how Rachel’s Closet Challenge programs help Anacortes school kids and families
 
Aug 30- Friends & Family "BBQ on the Barge" at Cap Sante
 
Sep 6- Brock Ward discusses Emergency Preparedness and how the HAM radio community helps
 
Sep 13- Susan & Gary Follstad share their "Wreaths Across America" experiences
 
Sep 20- "Boys & Girls Club Early Learning Center at AFC" update with Andrew Flores & Dustin Johnson
 
Sep 27- Meredith McIlmoyle and Melissa Turnage discuss the Creative District, Anacortes Arts Festival, and Buxton's Art Center
Club Executives & Directors
President
President Elect
Vice President
Past President
Treasurer
Assistant Treasurer
Assistant Secretary
Club Service Chair
International Service Co-Chair
International Service Co-Chair
Membership Chair
Vocational Service Chair
Fundraising Chair
Centennial Project
Club Historian
Club Workforce Chair
Community Service Chair
Fellowship Chair
FInance Committee Chair
Grants Chair
Public Relations Chair
Rotary Foundation Chair

 Member  Spotlight 

Coal Miner's Daughter
 
 

Spend any time around Peggy Flynn and you KNOW she is high energy. It so happens she grew up in the energy industry, the daughter of a coal miner in the tiny company town of Isabella, PA, located at the end of a dead-end road. Or as Peggy says, a nice place to be from and get out of ASAP. As you already guessed, Peggy had her sights set on the wider world early on and determined a career in civil service was the way out!

While still in high school Peggy signed up for the federal Civil Service exam and quickly found herself the recipient of a “congratulations” letter from the Air Force Judge Advocate General's office inviting her to show up to the Pentagon for work a week after graduation. This was during the height of the race to the moon, and after rotating through a stint at the Department of Commerce, Peggy found herself on the IBM project team supporting NASA’s Goddard Space Center (the back-up to Houston) where she — and her visiting parents — witnessed Neal Armstrong step on the moon’s surface while seated in the NASA control room.

With the space program winding down, Peggy, never one to stand still for long, wanted to be where the action was and that was Congress, where laws were being made. Not having an obvious path to get there, she simply drove to Capitol Hill, found a parking space near the House of Representatives, went in and asked who to talk to about a job. She got one, as a staff assistant for the House Public Works Committee. After two years, Peggy wanted to work for one of her heroes, the highly-regarded Wisconsin Congressman Henry Reuss. The eight years she spent on Congressman Reuss’ staff as office manager and personal assistant were among the most satisfying of her career. It was during this time she entered the orbit of Washington Senator Warren Magnuson, which set her on the path to Seattle and ultimately, Anacortes.

During her trips to WA State Peggy fell in love with the Pacific Northwest Lifestyle. When the opportunity came up to become the third employee on the project team to design, construct and operate the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, she jumped on it and eventually rose to VP of Finance & Administration while simultaneously earning her MBA— more remarkable when one recalls that the girl from Isabella never went to college!

Upon opening of the Convention Center, Peggy switched gears, working as CFO for a bicycle components startup, taught classes at WSU’s Hotel and Restaurant School, provided consulting services for various startups and government-affiliated organizations, and eventually took a year off to travel the world.

Upon her return to Seattle, she found her way to Anacortes, graduated Leadership Skagit, and helped Island Hospital win support for a large expansion bond. She was a member of our Club for three years and temporarily found herself back in Seattle where she joined the 600+ member downtown Rotary Club #4. Missing the A-Town lifestyle, she returned full time to her home in Anacortes and transferred back to our Club eight years ago.

Since then, Peggy can be found adding her unique brand of energy to seemingly every event committee, in addition to official roles as Club Secretary and as part of the International and Fellowship Committees. Outside of Rotary she is passionate about exercise, her friends, her garden, and always looking for ways bring fun to the community. For several years she’s been a member the Twisted Pixies, whose sole purpose is to add excitement and energy to the 4th of July parade every year.  As we gear up for SS Love Boat you’re certain to see lots more of Peggy in action.

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