Rotary and Non-Rotary Guests
Karen Massing was the guest of Wayne Massing.
Donn Etherington, Chelan County Commissioner, District 1, was the guest of Jim Huffman.
Brian Campbell was also a club guest.
Announcements
-PJ Jones announced that there will be a BBQ at Tom Utigard's orchard 10 miles North of Wenatchee on Hwy. 97A, on Sunday, Aug. 18th from 1-4 pm. This is to welcome our new inbound exchange student Adele from Switzerland, and her Wenatchee host family. Attendees with names starting from A-L, please bring a salad; those with names M-Z, please bring a side dish.
-Sage Hills Church is looking for help with the Westside High
School back to school bash on Thursday, August 29 from 3-5. This is a fun event
for families and students. There will be food, games, and prizes. All three of
our Challenge Scholars this year are from Westside! Let’s show them some love.
Consider helping out with set up, clean up or staffing a booth. Contact Kelley
Kennedy at kelleyk@impactevents.com
or 509-387-1411.
-PJ Jones announced that last week he collected $450 in donations for the Saddle Rock Evangelical Presbyterian Church to clothe school children in the community this school year. For a $25 donation, the child receives a pair of pants, 2 shirts, socks and a pair of shoes. The Wenatchee Sunrise Rotary Board of Directors voted to match the $450 donation for a total of $900! That 36 students who will have new clothes for school this year!
-Kathleen McNalty invited the club to a Pony Party at the Alethea Center, 2170 Sleepy Hollow Heights, Wenatchee, on Tuesday, Sept. 24th at 5:30 pm.
Brags and Confessions
August Birthdays and anniversaries in the right hand column
Chris McDarment and his family vacationed a week on the coast with Erik Holmberg and his family.
Jim Huffman got mixed reviews on his latest Chuck Norris joke!
Robin DeRock said she got her husband Richard back after the Link Transit Proposition #1 passed. Her husband wrenched his back picking up an air compressor. Her nursing skills were tested!
Joel Banken announced that his son had arrived in Mumbai, India, and had met his next two host families already.
Milt Herman would like to collect used prescription and reading glasses, sun glasses, magnifiying glasses and unopened eye drops for his Guatemalan trip in October.
Kevin and Lynn Love attended the Seahawk Training Camp. They also drove their boat up to Stehekin on Lake Chelan, and spent the night moored to the dock for $7.50 (up from $5).
Bill McDowell regretted being gone from club meetings.
Erik Holmberg enjoyed time at the beach until his wife hurt her back. Today their cabin on Lake Chelan is being demolished to renovate it.
Sargeant-At-Arms
Erik Holmberg fined the greeters for not greeting, and for being late!
Erik also recognized Wayne Massing for working 6 shifts and his wife Karen for working 5 shifts over the 3 days at the Watershed Concert!
PJ Jones, one of the Sargeant-At-Arms, was fined for his confronting a woman at the Watershed Concert about her hair color!
Program
Lee De La Torre, from The Diamond Foundry, was the guest speaker. Lee is a manufacturing engineer and is the primary person responsible for the construction and installation of The Diamond Foundry in Wenatchee. He came to Wenatchee from the Bay Area of Calif.
Lee described the process of diamond making as "growing diamonds", since each diamond produces starts as a small slice of diamond. That slice gets carbon added to it in a proprietary process to make a grown diamond. They are 100% carbon.
By comparison, mined diamonds are from artisanal mines, mainly in Africa and Russia. About 250 ton of dirt must be moved for each 1 carat diamond unearthed. There are about 1 million miners working for about $1 per day.
Grown diamonds are produced in the USA. Their vertically integrated process has about 14 steps from the manufacturing process to being a piece of jewelry. The Diamond Foundry does many of these steps themselves, but has other help in the processes.
The basic process is described as a diamond seed or slice put into a "reactor", and is heated up to 10,000 degrees. It is bombarded with carbon gas and the carbon atoms attach themselves to the seed. The process to grow one diamond may take weeks, but many are "grown" at once.
Their diamond are serialized and grown to >9+ carats. The costs are typically between about 10-25% of the cost of mined diamond. Each grown diamond can be finished into one of 40 different cuts. Their production should start within 2 to 2 1/2 years. Sixty per cent of their employees are from the Wenatchee area, with many veterans being hired. New workers are trained on site.
Club President Taro Masuda said the club was donating a children's book to the North Central Washington Regional Library in Lee's name.
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Meeting was adjourned at 8 am.
