Meeting Speakers

Stretch presents, S.E.R.V.S. which is the Prince William Sound Escort Response Rescue Vessel System. Stretch is a long time Girdwood resident; Ron’s neighbor and master of the vessel.

2008 - 2009 Rotary Year
Meeting Date	Speaker	Subject	Sponsor
May 8, 2008	District Conference	5010 District Conference in Soldotna	DG Maynard Gross
May 15, 2008	Alaskans Against the Mining Shutdown	The group “Alaskans Against the Mining Shutdown” will explain some of the incongruities in the logic of shutting off mining in our resource rich state.	Lana Johnson
May 22, 2008	Larry Snider, Consumer Credit Counseling Service	Larry Snider, a charter member and past president of Anchorage South, will present on the Consumer Credit Counseling Service	CeCe Mendonsa
May 29, 2008	Jonnie Lazarus, Parks & Recs	Jonnie will explain the need for a skateboard park, what is going on right now and what we hope to achieve.	Jody Liddicoat
June 5, 2008	Becky Germain, Polaris School Teacher	Becky Germain will show photos and talk about their adventures on a recent trip to Africa with her students	Ron Burson
June 12, 2008	David Alexander, President of Nine Star Enterprises & Member of the Mayor’s Anti-gang and Youth Violence Task Force	David will provide an update on what has worked successfully in Anchorage and other national hot spots to reduce youth violence. David has been working on youth violence reduction with the tri-borough committee (Mat-Su and Kenai).	David Alexander
June 19, 2008	Jim Barnett, Attorney, Historian & President of the Cook Inlet Historical Society	Jim will talk about and show slides on Captain Cook in Alaska and the North Pacific, the title of his new book.	Tom Yeager
June 26, 2008	Dr. George Stewart	George discusses his recent very interesting travel to Liberia. That country has seen civil war in recent years. About 3.5 million people live there.	George McCoy
June 28-29, 2008	Annual Playground Maintenance	Playground clean-up and repair begins at 9 A.M. on Saturday June 28. Bring a rake and a hammer as we will be smoothing wood chips and straightening boards. This is an event where everyone can lend a hand. Your participation in the playground annual maintenance & improvements is needed and welcome – 9 am June 28th & 29th	Larry Daniels
July 3, 2008	District Governor Clyde Boyer	District Governor Clyde Boyer and wife Vivian Finley will visit our club for our Change of Officers, Awards and new member inductions. Clyde will talk about District 5010 and Rotary International plans for the coming year and RI President D. K. Lee and Make Dreams Real.	Clyde Boyer
July 10, 2008	Claude Mabudu and wife Kayissan Avajon	Claude Mabudu is Married to Kayissan Avajon. They have 5 children, 2 boys, 3 girls. They join us from their native Togo where they had to leave their jobs when threatened with death by government supporters. Claude worked for 20 years as a high school librarian and 10 years as a French teacher in Togo. He organized and led a small political opposition party until he and his family fled the country around 2001 to Mali. In Mali he published a school newspaper (covering world news drawn from TV, radio, internet) and broadcast a radio program on literature. He started an NGO in Mali for education. After a period of time they were granted political refugee status, enabling them to come to the United States where they were asked to locate in Anchorage. He's completed high school and 2 additional years in library science. They are currently furthering their education at Nine Star and live in Mountain View.	David Alexander
July 17, 2008	Barbara Jacobs and Robin Bronen	On July 24th, Barbara Jacobs and Robin Bronen will talk about the Language Interpretation Service recently begun in the Anchorage area and the need for it in today’s society. They run the Alaska Immigration Justice Project. Barb is the program manager for the Alaska Language Interpreter Center, a public/private partnership dedicated to institutionalizing an interpreter training program in Alaska for foreign and Alaska Native Languages and a referral service for agencies and businesses needing interpreters. Robin is the executive director.	David Alexander
July 24, 2008	Mark and Shirley Kirchen	Mark and Shirley spent 10 months in Thailand working at a children’s home. Mark is a retired telephone executive and Shirley is a retired psychiatric nurse. They are working at Nine Star for the summer. They have slides and stories from the Thai activities, and have agreed to share with Girdwood Rotary on the 24^th.	David Alexander
July 26, 2008	Seward Highway Cleanup	As Community Service Our club will clean trash from a section of the Seward Highway. We will meet at 9 am in the parking lot behind the Tesoro station at the intersection of Seward and Alyeska Highways. The cleanup will take about two hours. Hungry trash cleanup volunteerswill then adjourn to a local restaurant for brunch.	Larry Daniels
July 31, 2008	Kate Mohatt from USFS	Here on the last day of the month, our meeting will feature Girdwood’s newest event- something of which we are aware but maybe don’t know much about- fungus.	Jody Liddicoat
August 7, 2008	Nate York - Solace International - Potluck at George & Kathy Stewart's home	Nate York joins George Stewart on a program featuring international service with photos and details not covered in previous programs. This program will be at the home of Kathy and George Stewart.	George Stewart
August 14, 2008	Club Service	We will hold our very own sewing festival to get some of the flags up we’ve received from other clubs and repair the banners which get jostled about in the hotel storage room.	Ron Burson
August 15-16, 2008	Thai Friendship Exchange - Kathleen Madden/Anchorage East	On the 15^th and 16^th, the Thai visitors on the Friendship exchange will be in Girdwood for a Tram ride (Thanks, Larry), the 26 Glacier Cruise, and a barbeque under the direction of Kathleen Madden from Rotary East. They will be staying with some of us and looking forward to meeting Girdwood Rotarians as time and events allow.	Kathleen Madden
August 21, 2008	Ellen Twiname	Glacier Valley Stage Line (Ellen & Co.) How is the operation going? What’s coming in the future (it really is called the “Stage” Line per Larry. Ellen will give us the scoop on what makes Girdwood’s stage line run - its not money, but it ought to be! Maybe we can get our fellow Girdwoodians to pay fares more willingly. A dollar a ride ain’t too bad.	David Alexander
August 23-24	Girdwood Rotary Club	Claude Mabudu and his family will be our guests August 23-24, for the weekend.	David Alexander
August 28, 2008	Thalia Wilkinson, Katy and Sarah Cronk	Thalia, Katy and Sarah will talk about the GCVA Arts Camp. They will have pictures and conduct a discussion about current issues confronting the Arts Camp	David Alexander
September 4, 2008	Club Social/Assembly	Dinner social at Jack Sprat for Members, Friends of Rotary and potential new members
September 5-7, 2008	Fungus Fair	The Fungus Fair is coming to Girdwood September 5-7 in the new community room	Jody Liddicoat
September 11, 2008	Ed O’Neill, VP, Brown Jug & Silvia Villamides, E.D. Anchorage CHARR	Ed has an interesting story to tell about the tons of garbage the Brown Jug staff collects when they clean up the vagrant camps. He wants to establish a “clean camp” which is policed and would take some city money to create. Sylvia Villamides, ARBRA Executive Director, will also speak.	David Alexander
September 18, 2008	Kathy Recken	Kathy will talk about the plans for the Girdwood School	David Alexander
September 20, 2008	Seward Highway Cleanup	As Community Service Our club will clean trash from a section of the Seward Highway. We will meet at 9 am in the parking lot behind the Tesoro station at the intersection of Seward and Alyeska Highways. The cleanup will take about two hours. Hungry trash cleanup volunteers will then adjourn to a local restaurant for brunch.	Larry Daniels
September 25, 2008	Bijak Deng and Toor Han	Bijak Dang and Toor Han are speaking on behalf of the Southern Sudanese-American Community Association.	David Alexander
October 2, 2008	Meeting Canceled due to to VP debates
October 4, 2008	Girdwood Health Fair	Girdwood Health Fair will be held at the New Community Center next to the Library	Diana, Livingston
October 9, 2008	Ken Hatch	Ken will talk about the current climate in the financial markets covering the overall questions about the market today and what does it mean?	David Alexander
October 16, 2008	Member Vocational Talks	John Hickox, Mike Wilson, George Stewart and Ron Burson will tell us about their respective vocations. Girdwood School students will be invited to listen	David Alexander
October 23, 2008	Mike Hawker	Representative Mike Hawker will update us on activities in the State Legislature	Tom Yeager
October 30, 2008	George Stewart, CeCe Mendonsa & Hank Hosford	Tonight, we continue with Vocational Month with short talks from George, Hank and CeCe
November 6, 2008	Club Social/Assembly/Potluck
November 13, 2008	Girdwood Fire Chief Bill Chadwick	Bill has been our fire chief since 1998 and will talk about his history and that of the Girdwood Fire Department.
November 20, 2008	Stretch Gillum	Stretch presents, S.E.R.V.S. which is the Prince William Sound Escort Response Rescue Vessel System. Stretch is a long time Girdwood resident; Ron’s neighbor and master of the vessel.
November 27, 2008	Meeting danceled due to holiday conflict
December 4, 2008	Annual Meeting	Election of Officers, etc
December 11, 2008	Rachel Drinkard, Administrative Assistant to Assembly Person Jennifer Johnston	Rachel explained the opportunity to Girdwood, if the Renewable Energy and Sustainable Economic Development Initiative prospers. This presentation will bring us an opportunity to think about Girdwood as a sustainable community.
December 18, 2008	Christmas Fireside at the Wingard/Hatch's	Our annual time to cherish and enjoy each others company in a casual setting
December 25, 2008	Meeting canceled due to holiday conflict
January 1, 2009	Meeting canceled due to holiday conflict
January 8, 2009	Amy Kirn-Leist, ASD Recycling Coordinator	Amy will tell us about Anchorage School District’s Recycling Program. The recycling program is supported by a grant to cover supplies, but not for the dumpster fees. Amy hopes to encourage support from local businesses so that the school’s recycling effort does not fail.
January 15, 2009	District 501 Governor Clyde Boyer & Brooke Edwards	Brooke will show pictures and tell us about her recent trip to Africa. District Governor Clyde Boyer and First Lady Vivian Finlay will talk about their recent travels visiting Rotary Clubs in Russia’s Far East.
January 22, 2009	Frans A. Weits (father of our member, Frans R. Weits)	Frans will tell us about his life in the Netherlands, how he came to the United States and his work as an educator in the United States and overseas.
January 29, 2009	Jay Wenger, Center for Disease Control, Anchorage	Girdwood’s Jay Wenger works for the Centers for Disease Control in the Anchorage office and has some observations on the cost and manageability of creating and sustaining pure water systems in rural Alaska.
February 5, 2009	Club Social/Assembly - Bruce Bustamante, NW Cruise Ship Association	Bruce will give us an update on the cruise and tour industry in Alaska and how the new regulations are impacting both.
February 12, 2009	Hank Hickox, CEO of Brandon Dunes Resort	Hank, who is John Hickox' brother, will tell us all about his travels and his experiences running some of the premier resorts and hotels around the world
February 19, 2009	Stefani Flynn & The Beetles	Stefani has the scoop on how her daughter Annika, Nick Crews, Christopher Scott, Max Durtschi and Gillean Szweda-Mittelstadt did it. They will be going to the national championships in Atlanta April 15-18 with a little help from their friends – that’s you and me and the rest of the community.
February 26, 2009	Greg Razo, VP CIRI & Jim Doepkin	Greg will tell us about CIRI plans and developments. Jim will talk about his community volunteer efforts.
March 5, 2009	Club Social/Assembly	Girdwood Club monthly social & fellowship - 7:00 pm at Jack Sprat's
March 12, 2009	Mike Wilson, President Elect	Mike Wilson on PETS	Mike Wilson
March 19, 2009	Scott Hickox, Anchorage School District	Scott Hickox on his trip to Washington DC for President Obama’s inauguration with a group of Anchorage school kids - their experiences and impressions.	John Hickox
March 25, 2009	Tom Yeager	Tom Yeager will moderate at this year’s Mayoral Candidate's Forum at the new Girdwood Community Center from 6:15 to 9:00 pm. The Turnagain Arm Community Council will join us.	Tom Yeager
March 26, 2009	Jeff Mow, Seward Rotary President	Club exchange - Jeff and other Seward Rotarians will join us. Jeff will talk about the Seward club and the Kenai Fjords National Park. Their Thai youth exchange student will tell us about his expereiences as well.	Ron Burson
March 28, 2009	Larry Daniels	US Nationals - Girdwood Rotary will provide escort service for athlete drug testing - canceled due to volcano eruption	Larry Daniels
March 29, 2009	Larry Daniels	US Nationals - Girdwood Rotary will provide escort service for athlete drug testing - canceled due to volcano eruption	Larry Daniels
April 2, 2009	Club Social/Assembly	Girdwood Club monthly social & fellowship
April 9, 2009	Dorn Van Dommelen , UAA Professor	Dorn will present on the service learning process that has emerged from Heifer International	David Alexander
April 16, 2009	Eve Van Dommelen (Dorn and Diane’s daughter and Lang’s sister)	Eve will tell us about her Rotary Exchange year in France	David Alexander
April 23, 2009	Matt Wedeking, Chugach State Park,	Matt will present information on the park plans and development for the near future	George Stewart
April 30, 2009	Michele Houlihan from the Red Cross	Michele will explain some of their activities to help Alaskans in distress as they are with our Sudanese friends.	David Alexander
May 1, 2009	Bike Path Bridge Project	Girdwood’s Rotary and Lions clubs are joining with Girdwood Parks and Rec and the Girdwood Trails Committee in mustering volunteers for this community service project. Please help with this project if you’re able. There will be something for everyone to do – even if it’s just making sure the rest of us are doing the job correctly - and having a lot of fun doing it. *For more information......*
May 2, 2009	Bike Path Bridge Project
May 3, 2009	Bike Path Bridge Project
May 7, 2009	Greg Razo, VP at CIRI / Club Social at Coat Pizza	Greg will discuss Cook Inlet Region, Inc (CIRI) current development and growth plans. This will be a Club Social at the newly renovated Coast Pizza	David Alexander
May 8, 2009	Bike Path Bridge Project	Girdwood’s Rotary and Lions clubs are joining with Girdwood Parks and Rec and the Girdwood Trails Committee in mustering volunteers for this community service project. Please help with this project if you’re able. There will be something for everyone to do – even if it’s just making sure the rest of us are doing the job correctly - and having a lot of fun doing it. *For more information......*
May 9, 2009	Bike Path Bridge Project
May 10, 2009	Bike Path Bridge Project
May 14, 2009	Nathan Lucas, DDS	Will have a presentation on his recent Dentistry trip to Viet Nam this January. Some of the dentists who accompanied him were from Rotadent and there are Rotary signs from the Calgary club.
May 21, 2009	Curtis W. Thayer	Curtis will talk about the bullet line and gas supply in SC Alaska	Lana Johnson
May 28, 2009	Mary Ann Pease, Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority	Mary Ann will tell our group all about propane distribution in South Central Alaska - delivering propane to communities along the pipeline corridor and via rivers to bush Alaska	Lana Johnson
June 4, 2009	Club Social	Chair 5 beginning at 7 pm
June 6, 2009	Seward Highway Cleanup	As Community Service Our club will clean trash from a section of the Seward Highway. We will meet at 9 am in the parking lot behind the Tesoro station at the intersection of Seward and Alyeska Highways. The cleanup will take about two hours. Hungry trash cleanup volunteers will then adjourn to a local restaurant for brunch.	Larry Daniels
June 11, 2009	Ryan Stencel	Ryan Stencel, Operations Manager for the Anchorage Soil and Water District, will speak on composting.
June 18, 2009	Kathleen Madden, Anchorage East Rotary	June 18 - Kathleen Madden, East Rotarian, on the volunteer activities in Northern Thailand as a result of the GSE here in Anch & Gird last year.	David Alexander
June 25, 2009	Club Assembly	NEW Officer induction & Awards Ceremony
July 2, 2009	DG Bill Hopper / Club Social	Our brand new District Governor will update us on his plans for 2009-2010. This meeting will be at Jack Sprat	Mike Wilson
July 9, 2009	Kevin Fryslie, Anchorage FBI Office Director	Kevin will speak on some of the ways to avoid being a victim of crime (date tentative)	David Alexander
July 16, 2009
July 23, 2009
July 30, 2009
August 6, 2009
August 10, 2009	Wine Tasting at Double Musky	Wine Tasting Fundraiser at the Double Musky for the Eradication of Polio $60 (food included)	George Stewart & Justin Persons

Future Speakers and Programs