Boeing Choir Concert to Benefit Highline Music4Life

For more information about Highline Music4Life, please visit http://highlinemusic4life.org/

Poverty Bay Wine Festival Tickets on Sale Now!

Get your tickets now for the hottest event in town! 

The Rotary Club of Des Moines invites you to attend the Eight Annual Poverty Bay Wine Festival located in the historic and grand setting of the Landmark Event Center in Des Moines. Enjoy two and half full days of live musical entertainment while tasting wines from over twenty Washington State wineries and sampling delicacies from local food merchants. 100% of the net revenues generated by this event are used to fund the charitable activities of the Des Moines Rotary Club. Free parking and a free shuttle service will run from the Des Moines Marina to Landmark Event Center all three days of the festival.

Wine Festival Tickets: $25.00 includes ten tasting tokens (tastings range from 1 - 3 tokens), $30.00 at the door. Additional tasting tokens available for $1.00.

Must be 21 or over to attend.

Dates & Times: Friday, March 2nd: 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Saturday, March 3rd: 12:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Sunday, March 4th: 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Tickets for the Poverty Bay Wine Festival Can be purchased online, at Corky Cellars (206) 824-9462 or Des Moines Drug (206) 878-2345 and through the Rotary Club of Des Moines.

For more information about the Rotary Club of Des Moines, please visit www.dmrotary.org.

Rotary Club of Des Moines Gets Their Paint On!

Coordinators Glenn Bishop and Steve Swank

The Rotary Club of Des Moines spent Saturday, November 19th, working on the Family Shelter Unit Project funded by the Rotary District 5030 Homelessness Grant.  The Homelessness grant was instituted earlier this year and the Rotary Club of Des Moines applied for the grant and was approved.  The club then partnered with the Federal Way Multi-Service Center (MSC), which runs a transitional housing shelter for homeless families in Des Moines with the goal of helping them get off the street and eventually into more permanent housing.  The Federal Way MSC places families into these shelters for 90 days until more permanent housing can be found.  The shelter serves over 800 people each year and has a waiting year  list of 1,400.  With the rapid turnover of families moving in and out of the shelter, there is a need to completely repaint the units and replace furniture.  The Rotary Club of Des Moines was able to paint an entire home on Saturday and plans to do five more in January.  For more information about the Family Shelter Unit Project, please visit the Rotary Club of Des Moines website.

Members of Rotary Club of Des Moines and Volunteers

President Mark Rusnak

Admiring each others calluses?

Lisa Meinecke painting the wall and herself!

Maniac with a brush, Eleanor Bishop!

Hot Cocoa Break

Tony Hettler

Jim Polhamus

Dr. Michael Brown

Future Rotarians?

Photos courtesy of Lisa Meinecke.

Marvin Hamlisch, Gerard Schwarz To Lead Music4Life Youth Peace Program

Composer Marvin Hamlisch and Gerard Schwarz, Conductor Laureate of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, have agreed to serve as Honorary Co-Chairs of the Music4Life Peace Initiative. The initiative is an annual Seattle-based program to foster international peace through youth music activities.“We’re absolutely thrilled about Marvin and Jerry’s commitments to the program,” said David Endicott, who chairs the initiative’s advisory board. “Everyone understands that there is disharmony among cultures throughout the world. These are two prominent people who agree that something must – and can – be done about it.The Music4Life Peace Initiative is a Rotary-inspired annual event that brings three or four young musicians from each of two traditionally antogonistic cultures to Seattle. The youngsters participate in a summer music camp program, learn that they can work together cooperatively through the inter-national language of music and then take those lessons home with them.

The Music4Life Peace Initiative is working with the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra to place the student-musicians at SYSO’s summertime Marrowstone youth music camp. Marrowstone is comprised of an intensive two-week program for older musicians at Western Washington University, as well as a less intense half-day program for younger musicians located in Seattle. “Our intention is to work with young musicians whose attitudes and prejudices are not yet fully ingrained in them,” Endicott added.

The initiative is one activity of Music4Life, a four-year-old program to acquire musical instruments for low income young musicians in public schools. The program began working with Seattle Public Schools and has recently been expanded to serve young musicians in the Highline School System. Music4Life will receive the “Friend of Music” award by the Washington Music Educators Association next February at its biennial statewide conference in Yakima.
Excerpts from the BTown Blog, - Sunday, Novemeber 6, 2011.


The Rotary Club of Des Moines is a partner with Music4Life and has helped create Highline Music4Life along with the Rotary Clubs of Burien and SeaTac and the Highline School District.  For more information, please visit the Rotary Club of Des Moines or Highline Music4Life websites.

Coats For Kids

Beginning November 1st, the Rotary  Club of Des Moines is partnering with the Highline School District to collect winter coats for the students of Midway Elementary and other individuals within the community of Des Moines. Every child in our community deserves to be warm this winter and we want to make that a reality!  Please help us in this endeavor by checking your closets for gently used coats or watch the ads and pick up a new one for a deserving youngster. 

Donations of coats may be dropped off at Corky Cellars in Des Moines.  To support this drive, Ric Jacobson, Rotarian and owner of Corky Cellars, is sponsoring three wine tastings (November 4th, November 11th and November 18th from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm).   A donation of a coat or monetary contribution will provide an individual with three wine tastings.  

Last year, the members of the Des Moines Rotary Club and the citizens of Des Moines contributed a total of 85 coats and $950 in cash, which greatly benefited both the students at Midway Elementary School and other residents in our community.  

Please join us in making a difference.  There is a limited time to participate in this event as the coat drive is scheduled to end on November 18^th.  For more information about the Coats  For Kids Drive, please contact Community Service Chair, Steve Swank, at sfsaustin@comcast.net.  To learn more about the Rotary Club of Des Moines, please visit www.dmrotary.org .