MEETING OF OCTOBER 12, 2000 By Dick Blanding
Following a rousing rendition of Four Leaf Clover (which appeared to be something of a learning experience for some of our younger members), a request was put to the club by Alex Ng: anyone have a spare overhead projector they'd like to donate, before we go out and buy one?
Our room was filled to overflowing today, with all the guests helping us celebrate Columbus Day. Our local emissary to Taipei, Erin Dawson, was among them, as was former Rotary Scholar Damon Schechter. Dick Blanding presented a Rotary Club banner from the Dona club in Budapest, Hungary to the club. He reported that Peter Bodor, first exchange student from behind the Iron Curtain, was doing well in Budapest. He and wife Thunde are raising twin 3 1/2 year old girls who talk constantly in fluent Hungarian, an amazing sight to see.
Congratulations and a standing ovation were conferred on three new Blue Badge recipients, Paul Conard, sponsored by Bruce Cann; Dave Dematteis, sponsored by Gary Ross; and Steve Yarbrough, sponsored by Guy Farthing.
Gary then gave his 4.5 minute talk. He was born in L.A., but grew up locally, attending Fremont High, Foothill College, and briefly San Jose State, where he was a water polo player in his spare time. Gary began studying Aeronautical Engineering, but when he found he could buy a house for $23,000, $900 down and $175/month mortgage payment, he switched to buying more of them and fixing them up for resale or rental. He later became a developer, mostly commercial projects, and even worked on his old high school, Fremont High. He remodeled the Quail Lodge near Carmel, and did a lot of interesting projects for the late Bill Harrah, including his Tahoe home, his private 727 jet, his yacht, and even the ranch house up in Idaho. In 1989, confirmed bachelor Gary met and married his wife Tracy ("the best thing I ever did…"). They have a boy who is 6 years old, and a girl who is 8 years old.
Ginny announced an offer of a free Master Charge card from Rotary International, which benefits the Rotary Foundation. Also the annual Avenues of Service event is coming up on October 25th. This is a great way for new members to find out what Rotary is really all about. Ten of us are signed up so far.
Our club's Progressive Dinner social event is on Friday, October 27. Sign up now, stay tuned for details. The new District Governor-elect is Brad Howard, of the Oakland Sunrise club. You can meet him and lots of other Rotarians at a big dinner on January 3rd, 2001, at the Doubletree, and hear the President of Rotary International speak at the same time. See Ginny now for reservations.
Two brand new Red Badgers began their Rotary careers today. Congratulations and welcome to Cindie Eberhardt, owner of Los Altos Card and Party; and Lowell Forte, Executive V.P. in Gary Ross's construction firm.
Dr. Ben McGann passed along the announcement of the grand opening of the new Rotacare facility in Mountain View, which is supported by our club, on October 20th. See Ben for details. Also, Rotacare volunteers will again provide flu shots before our meeting on November 9th. A small donation is requested.
Only one fine was levied today, that being a small contribution from John Sines, for having provided Steve Gruber with a Rotator disk infected with a virus.
President-elect Firooz then introduced our speaker for the day, Dr. Dick Henning, who gave one of the most stirring talks about service in Rotary, and in our club in particular, that one can possibly imagine. He extolled the virtues of President Ginny and several other past presidents, commenting that a good leader engenders reverence for that leader; a great one causes the followers to revere themselves for the work they do. He reminded us that Rotary clubs, like many other organizations, need to "change or die". He cited one hugely successful club which had not pursued new members, consequently had shrunk to only 38 Rotarians, and even had to resort to having one of its own members be the speaker for the day! Dick then talked about the achievements of three of our past presidents: Roy Lave, for his work in local and World Neighbors projects; Boo Bue, for leading our club's enormous contribution to Polio Plus, in eradicating that disease from the face of the earth; and Dude Angius, for creating the Rotary Aids Project and its subsequent worldwide distribution of the award-winning "Los Altos Story" film.
This was as inspiring a motivational talk about service in Rotary as you could ever hope to hear, and I'm sure it created a lot of new energy among LARC members, new and old. As Dick says, "you just never know when the Rotary spirit will catch fire in someone and change their life."
President's Message"Service Above Self" Thank you, Dick, for a special half hour. Those at our meeting on October 12, will long remember your very personal descriptions of how active participation in Rotary, both locally and worldwide, brings results far beyond our imaginations. We are fortunate, indeed, in the experiences of our fantastic Los Altos Rotary Club membership. I hope our members are continually inspired to put the opportunities of Rotary service to their best use.
PLEASE call or email me if you would like to atttend a dinner with RI President Frank Devlyn as the speaker on January 3, 2001, at the Double Tree in San Jose. This will sell out. It is being co-sponsored by three Rotary districts. I must make our reservations quickly and I need your check to do so. The cost is $42 per person. To reserve a table of ten I need your checks and the names of those attending. Let me know.
The Board of Directors of Rotary International (with the concurrence of the Trustees of The Rotary Foundation) recently approved a new credit card in the US that will bear the name and emblem of Rotary International. All royalties generated from purchases using this officially-approved credit card will go directly to The Rotary Foundation
Application forms are now available at the podium table. Additional information regarding the New Rotary International Credit Card Program can be found on page 12 of the October issue of The Rotarian Magazine.
Next week, two tickets will be auctioned for the sold out Celebrity Forum appearance of Mark Russell on Nov. 10. Come prepared to bid. Proceeds benefit LAREF. See you Thursday. Ginny
Programs
October
Oct. 19 - Supervisor Joe Simitian and Deborah Wilder
Oct. 24 - LARC Board meeting, 5 p.m., Bank of Los Altos Community Room
Oct. 26 - Rose Johnson, RotaCareNovember
Nov. 2 - Sharon Williams, Exec. Director, OICW
Nov. 9 - Dane Stark, Page Mill Winery - Flu shots available at meeting
Nov.16 - Partners for New Genarations program
Nov. 23 - Thanksgiving
Nov. 30 - World AIDS DayDecember
Dec. 7 - Wes Wenhardt, VP of IMAX
Dec. 14 - Susan Hammer
Dec. 21 - LA Main Street Singers
Dec. 28 - No meetingJanuary
Jan. 4 - Chris Bischoff, Founder of Eastside Prep High School
Jan 11 - Allan Frumkin, Why Rotary?
Jan 18 - Deborah Wilder - Raising the Reader
Jan. 25 - Club AssemblyFebruary
Feb. 1 - Judge Len Edwards, Helping One child At a Time
Feb. 8 - Steve Westly, eBay, Sr. VP
Feb. 15 - Suzanne Kushner - Branding - Moving to Customer Service
Feb. 22 - John Giovanola, Hansen Cement Mfg.March
March 1- Suzanne Pari, Author
March 8 - Marlene Cowan, The Donner Party"Information in this newsletter is intended for the exclusive use of the members of the Rotary Club of Los Altos to facilitate the work of the club and to promote club fellowship. It is not to be used for any commercial or outside, unrelated, non-profit purposes. No publication of material in this newsletter should occur without the express permission of the club President or the Editor of the Rotator."
Copyright 2000 The Los Altos Rotary Club
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