Ladies and gentlemen, I salute you! Your tenacity and hard work have made this year's "Puttin' on the Ritz" our best yet. It looks like the Rotary Club of East Jefferson County's gala fundraiser netted more than $41,400 — nearly $15,000 more than last year!

"The support of the club is what makes the Ritz possible," said Don Young, our president-elect (aka Chief Ritz Organizer).

"We are also blessed with a club of leaders. They recognize when something is needed and step up and 'make it so'," Don added. "I would finally like to thank everyone for their kind words of encouragement and support throughout the planning phase and The Ritz itself. I was proud to represent a great group of people in such a worthy cause. Thank you all."

Included in that $41,400 is a hefty chunk of change we gained from raffling off one of our favorite dentists. Actually, Dr. Young's "Rotary Run for Education" netted about $9,000, half of which is a dollar-for-dollar match by Don. If you recall, the good doc is running the New York City Marathon on Nov. 2. The 26.2-mile run will take him on a tour of all five boroughs of New York City.

District 5020 Governor Bill McCarthy and his wife, Karen, joined our club for lunch last month.

When Assistant District Governor Larry Howland introduced Bill and Karen McCarthy, he summed up the pair's 45 years of combined service as Rotarians, "They not only talk the talk, they walk the walk."

"Rotary is what's happening right here in your club," said Bill, our District 5020 Governor. "Whether you're a large club or a small club, a hands-on club or a checkbook club, your club is making a positive impact."

During the last 10 years, Rotary clubs have lost as many members as they now have. To battle this, Bill encouraged us to invigorate our membership. It's one of the most powerful things a club can do.

"Involve them, include them and make them feel welcomed — and they will stay," Bill promised. "Make Rotary a family." Don't take Rotarians away from their families; include the families in our activities.

One of the true joys of living in this small community is the ability to watch children grow up.

Speaking before the club last month was Emmett Lalish, the son of Greg and Paula Lalish.

Emmett is a remarkable young man. He was remarkable as a tiny tyke, who believed he was a baby buffalo. He was remarkable as a pre-teen, who scored as high on his SATs as a college-bound senior, when he took the tests in seventh grade. Still remarkable, we all watched in awe as Emmett finished his last two years of high school as a Running Start college student.

Last June, he graduated form Chimacum High School and had earned his Associate of Arts degree from college. He was the recipient of a $1,000 scholarship from the Rotary Club of East Jefferson County.

For those of us in the Emmett Lalish Fan Club, it was a real treat to share the enthusiasm Emmett has for his future. He just entered the University of Washington's Aerospace Engineering Program as a junior.

After a summer spent working for NASA in a plasma physics lab (thanks to the NASA Space Grant Consortium), Emmett spoke excitedly about his work this summer "trying to make fusion happen".

Two million degrees hot, the fourth state of matter may have confounded most of the Rotarians present, but Emmett's enthusiasm captured us all.