 |
||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||
|
Chartered March 9, 1961 |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
WEEKLY BULLETIN FEATURED JULY 5, 2005
Sally J. Gray
A graduate of the District 5030 Leadership Academy, Sally has served three years as an Assistant Governor with responsibility for five clubs: Bellevue, Bellevue Sunrise, Mill Creek, Redmond and Seattle #4. She is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow and a member of the Bequest Society of The Rotary Foundation. Sally is a charter member of District 5030’s Cascade Fleet of the IYFR (International Yachting Fellowship of Rotarians) and has served on numerous District committees, including the District Governor Nominating Committee. She has attended three Rotary International Conventions and hosted Group Study Exchange team members. Sally holds the classification of stockbroker and has been a Vice President/Financial Consultant with RBC Dain Rauscher for 17 years. She has been an active volunteer in her community, having served as Chair of Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, President of Bellevue Community College Foundation Board, Board Director of Advance Bellevue, Board Director of Overlake Hospital Medical Center, Board Director of United Way of King County, and Board Director of KidsQuest Children’s Museum. In 1993 she was honored as Eastside Woman of the Year. Sally and Jim have been married for 40 years and have one son and two grandchildren. Both alums of the University of Washington, Sally and Jim enjoy PAC-10 football and attending Husky football games. They enjoy boating and the time spent aboard Gray Dolphin in the beautiful cruising waters of the Pacific Northwest. Sally’s hobbies include reading and international travel and Jim enjoys skiing and the mountains, especially the beauty of Yosemite National Park, to which he has traveled twice a year for the past 20 years. Both are enthusiastic about Rotary and the difference we are making throughout the world. Online Sign-Up is now available for the Seattle Times Article on Camp Goodtimes The Seattle Times recently featured an article on Camp Goodtimes. The Bellevue Rotary Club is a long-time supporter of the camp and raised funds to endow a cabin. Our volunteers help staff the annual carnival held at the camp each year. CLICK HERE to read this article on on the Seattle Times website.
Dear Rotarian Readers, I thought I’d give you the inside scoop on my recent interview during the Rotary International Convention. Like last year’s C4W computer trip to Nepal, my interview had drama, excitement, thrills, spills and much more! After an uneventful arrival in Chicago, I caught the Rotary shuttle to the McCormick Convention Center, picked up my registration packet and marveled at how many Rotarians there were in the building. The logistics in just getting them to the proper meeting rooms, let alone around the city of Chicago much have been a huge challenge — 45,000 Rotarians in one building and only two Starbucks cafés! The agony of it all!!!
I can honestly admit that from Friday, when I arrived in Chicago, until Monday afternoon when my rehearsal was scheduled, my mind was constantly preoccupied, plugging away on possible responses to the questions for the interview. These questions had been emailed to me a week earlier. I started working on them in earnest once I had arrived and settled in. I mean, who wants to give a boring, uninspiring answer to 10-20,000 inquiring Rotarians? I can do this, I thought, and worked diligently in the evenings, awaiting my wife Gina’s arrival on Sunday morning. When Gina arrived, I had much of what I wanted to say worked out and had her read me the questions again and again until I was comfortable that I’d be able to appear natural and at least somewhat spontaneous during the actual interview. The pressure and practice was exhausting and on Sunday evening I was ready for a good night’s sleep, my rehearsal being the following afternoon. One small problem: I couldn’t get to sleep! I kept going over the questions and answers again and again in my mind ... they wouldn’t stop! I think I got about two hours of sleep that night. I skipped the second plenary session that morning and slept in. At the appointed hour, I tried to find the rehearsal room, only to discover that it wasn’t actually on any map! It was a secret room, so stars like me and Ted Turner wouldn’t be able to be seen (too many autograph hunters, I expect)! Finally, we figured out where to go and I met Roger Climpson, famous Australian interviewer and moderator for the entire event. He immediately threw out the questions I had studied so hard to prepare for and we worked out new ones! I wasn’t that excited about those original questions anyhow. That’s showbiz, right? After the interview, Gina and I were going to take Kate Slattery from the Rotary Foundation out to dinner. She is the Nepal matching grant coordinator and has been very helpful in my project work. So we waited by the Metra train booth until she arrived. I was feeling tired and thought I would lean up against a wall that appeared to be behind me. However, there wasn’t any wall behind me; it was a 4’x8’ Metra train schedule foam-core board that had been turned around so it was all white ... like a wall. I fell backwards and folded up in two, like the board behind me, an auspicious moment, to be sure. Gina and I completely broke up in laughter, and with tears running down our cheeks, I felt like a weight had been lifted, the clouds of tension fell. Kate arrived and we had a wonderful dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant. Thankfully, I slept on Monday night and was up early Tuesday morning. We arrived at the appointed time and were ushered to the “green room," which was actually brown, where all of the speakers were preparing. Five or six other international projects were being highlighted and I had the chance to meet the other presenters. I was so impressed with the scope and impact of their projects. Rotary is such a fantastic vehicle for positive change in this world, and I know that my project is one of thousands being done in our world every year. About 15 minutes prior to my presentation, I was taken backstage to get my microphone attached — one end to my ear, the other to my pants! I sat just off stage and waited. I felt so ready to do this. I focused on who my projects had helped and why I was here to inform and inspire. A descriptive video was being shown about the project, with interviews and more. Bellevue, Seattle and Nepal were all featured. I was then ushered to just behind the stage where Roger, the moderator, was introducing me. When I was given the green light to go out there, I had to hold myself back from running, or skipping out to greet the Roger. I was feeling very light and springy! The interview started out normal enough, but after one or two questions, Roger’s mike malfunctioned and a hand-held mike was run out by a stagehand. However, then it became difficult to hear Roger’s questions as they reverberated around that cavernous room! But you know what? It really didn’t throw me at all. It broke the ice as we scooted our chairs closer together so we could hear better and I felt good about the words that flowed out of me, that I was so ready to impart. In a flash it was over and as I strode offstage I held my hands together in “Namaste,” the traditional Nepali greeting of respect and honor. When I went up on stage for my interview, I carried with me a simple, small book: a diary that had been recently given to me by a blind Nepali girl by the name of Nirmala Gyawali. Nirmala had recently arrived to visit my family here in Bellevue after receiving a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study at Colorado State University. In that diary, I wrote my thoughts, feelings, ideas and impressions of my convention experience. For inspiration I needed only to hold that small diary and reflect on Nirmala’s journey, where she had been and what she has achieved, with so much adversity, so many difficult barriers and challenges that she’s had to overcome. Many Rotarians from around the world came up to me over the next few days and honored me with their words of appreciation. My hope is always to inspire others (as I am constantly inspired), to enhance their lives by giving back and helping others through Rotary. GSE To France
Next year we'll be sending a team to Bavaria. Look for Rotarians who might be our team leader and non-Rotarians who might be team members to Germany and Austria. * * * THE GSE REPORTS ARE COMING IN. PLEASE CHECK THE SITE REGULARLY FOR NEW ARTICLES AND PHOTOS!
|
 |
||||||
|
Next Meeting * * * NEWEST RED BADGERS
* * *
Will Bevens, 07/01 Ross McIvor, 07/04 Regina Glenn, 07/05 Harry Weiner, 07/06 Larry Morris, 07/10 John Shaw, 07/10 Jeff West, 07/11 Jerry Henry, 07/14 Wright Arnold, 07/15 Jim Hogue, 07/15 Mike Green, 07/18 Patrick Duff, 07/19 Ken Graham, 07/20 Rick Taylor, 07/20 Chuck Doland, 07/21 Brad Hunt, 07/21 Sarah Langton, 07/22 Doug Whalen, 07/23 Rodney Tom, 07/25 Dean Rebhuhn, 07/26 Norm Beck, 07/28 Margaret Doman, 07/28 Mike Hendrickson, 07/28 Betty Nokes, 07/28 Bill Lagen, 07/29 Gail Romero, 07/31
* * * * Award Winning! * * * * Are you receiving The Rotarian Magazine? If not, contact Laurie Larson or email The Rotarian Magazine. * * * * The permanent mailing address for Bellevue Rotary is: Laurie Larson |
|||||||
|
HOME | SPEAKER SCHEDULE | UPCOMING EVENTS | MEETING INFORMATION | OFFICERS & DIRECTORS | COMMITTEES | SERVICE OVERVIEW 2003-04 | SERVICE PROJECTS 2002-03 | GRANT RECIPIENTS | CLUB HISTORY | MEMBERSHIP BROCHURE (PDF) | CURRENT ISSUE | BULLETIN ARCHIV | District 5030 Website & Newsletter | Rotary International EClub | Rotary Graphics | MEETING MAKE-UP FORM | SET UP USER INFORMATION | FORGOT USER INFORMATION | CHANGE USER INFORMATION | MEMBER DIRECTORY INFO FORM | MEMBER PROPOSAL FORM | GRANT REQUEST FOR | MEMBER DIRECTORY | SHORT DIRECTORY (PDF) | MEMBER PROPOSAL FORM (PDF) DISTRICT 5030 CLUB INFORMATION AUCTION 2005: CONTACT US: |
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
