President Mark Anderson rang the bell and Carol Webster provided the invocation.  Chris Serface, Tacoma Little Theatre led us in the National Anthem and the 4 Way Test and President Mark announced our weekly meeting sponsor, Heather Faverman, Morgan Stanley.  Visiting Rotarians were invited to stand and introduce themselves followed by guests of Rotarians facilitated by Stacey Ogle, Cole Graphic Solutions  and Jace Dwinell, Heritage Bank.  We were pleased to have a number of guests and visiting Rotarians present.  President Mark then announced that anyone handing in a procurement form for the April 28^th Rotary #8 USO auction would be eligible for the drawing for a gift certificate at the end of the meeting.   

President Mark called forward Cindy Niemi to introduce our newest member Veronica Rollins who is with the Girl Scouts.  Veronica provided a self introduction providing details from her life including her Muslim upbringing, to her 17 years located in the Virgin Islands (jealous!!!), to her generous donation of time to underprivileged youth and golf, to her time at Amazon which lead her back to the service of others at the Girl Scouts.  Welcome Veronica and thank you Cindy!

President Mark called upon Kathryn Nelson to introduce our speaker, Dorothy Echodu.  Dorothy is part of a Christian organization formed in 2001 and which was approved for non-profit status in 2005.  They are focused on reducing the infection of both mosquitos and the human population to greatly reduce the incidence and infection of Malaria in Uganda.  Why they feel this is so important is because in the area they are focused, 50% of the children were infected.  This is a fairly poor community who has limited access to adequate healthcare and limited access to running water and electricity (even some of the hospitals function without running water and electricity!).  Unlike visitors who are given Malaria pills to help protect them, local residents can not take these medications long term.  They tested one area first with nets only, the second with nets and spraying and the third with nets, spraying and treatment of the humans.  Each had a sizable impact but the greatest being a 50% infection rate down to a 6% infection rate with two round of nets, spraying and treatments of humans.  They are working on Phase I with the treatments with the final round funded by a substantial grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Phase II will continue to monitor and treat to keep the infection rate from rising.  They have trained individuals who will be accountable for approximately 180 individuals in an area to look for signs of Malaria and those infected and treat them directly.  They invite you to come to Uganda and assist, please contact the office or Dorothy directly if you have interest in this amazing work they are doing in Africa.

President Mark introduced our meeting sponsor Heather Faverman, Morgan Stanley who provided a short overview of her work in wealth management which focuses on socially responsible investments.  Call Heather if you have any questions!

George Pilant helped celebrate one birthday attendee, Carolyn Else and mentioned the two not attending, Carroll Dickson and Rick Oldenburg.  Anniversaries acknowledged were; Heather Faverman, Chris Coates, Michael Wark, Jake Fey, Roger Lilley and Margaret McCormick

Announcements:

Carolyn Weyrick – Asked for procurements for our Auction with a drawing to be held at the end of the meeting!

Don Sheppard – invited us to sign up for our next offsite meeting on February 22 at the Salvation Army and invited everyone to stay after the meeting to tour their facility.

Linda Kaye Briggs – Reminded everyone to think about nominations for the Community Service Award.  The deadline for nominations is March 1.Forms were on the tables and are also online. 

Barry Benson – Gave us all an update on the timeline and finalists for the venue search. March 2 the  committee will meet to review prospective locations. They have considered over a dozen, and have visited with the top 10. The committee will rank and recommend the venues. On March 6 the Executive committee will review  the recommendations, and have selection committee members go back to the top choices to get proposed agreements. There will be continued discussion between the venue committee, the Board and Executive Committees during March, April and May with the final decision planned for May 21. Thanks to our Venue task force;  Barry Benson, Mark Anderson, Linda Kay Briggs, Jim Henderson, Rusty Hersey, Jeff Lovely, Larry Norvell, Stacey Ogle, George Pilant, and Christina Turner. 

Members who indulged in the cookies were fined by the President.  One dollar for one cookie or three dollars for three or more cookies!!

President Mark then thanked Dr. Echodu for an inspiring and informational presentation; Heather Faverman for being the meeting sponsor; Carol Webster for the reflection; Welcomed Veronica to the club and thanked her sponsor Cindy.  The social was to be held at Primo Grill.  President Mark then invited Carolyn back up to draw the winning procurement donor. Our winner was Michele Johnson.  Our next meeting will feature Lew Cox, from Victims of Violent Crimes talking about The Impact of Homicide on the Family We were then invited to go out and Live Rotary!