Mark Ward is our president for 2024-25. Here are his thoughts for this year:
I’m proud to be serving as the 2024-25 President of the Rotary Club of West Seattle. Our West Seattle Club, one of more than 50 Rotary clubs in the Seattle metropolitan area, was founded in 1947 and today meets at the West Seattle Golf Course clubhouse every Tuesday at noon. Our diverse and inclusive group of about 50 members work together with low ego and high integrity – and we know how to have fun while doing it.
From maintaining the Rotary Viewpoint Park and Totem Pole on 35th Avenue SW that our club established in 1976, to our annual sponsorship of the West Seattle Grand Parade, our club has deep roots in the West Seattle community. We provide tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships every year to West Seattle students, run the annual Pencil Me in For Kids program, organize quarterly street cleanups on Delridge Way with Seattle’s Adopt-A-Street program, and provide senior yard cleanups with the Center for Active Living (formerly the Seattle Senior Center). And our annual fundraisers, the Festival of Trees in December and Rainbow Bingo in March, are just around the corner.
Internationally, we’re leading service projects in Guatemala to provide safe cooking stoves to impoverished households, in Costa Rica to provide economic stimulus for small-scale coffee farmers, and we regularly contribute to the Rotary-adjacent humanitarian disaster-relief program ShelterBox that provides emergency shelter to families around the world who’ve lost their homes to disaster or conflict.
As Mother Theresa said, “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” If you’re interested in working with us to create positive, lasting change, and network with your West Seattle neighbors in the process, we’d love you to have you join us for lunch some Tuesday!