MEETING OF JANUARY 11, 2001 By Pat Millar
The meeting opened with JOHN MCALISTER leading the pledge of allegiance and WES OLSON providing the Thought for the Day. BRUCE CANN not only played nostalgic music before the meeting, he also led us in singing "The Star Spangled Banner" which was enhanced by ALAN LAMBERT'S impressive harmony. BRUCE provided copies of the words but not a single patriotic Rotarian had need of them.
Meanwhile, in an adjoining room, those members willing to be considered as donors for bone marrow transplants were providing blood samples for laboratory tests. After analysis the potential donors will be listed in a national registry. If a match occurs, the donor will be contacted with all the necessary information. Anyone who would like to participate in this life-saving program should contact SAM HARDING as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the cut off age for donors is 60, which eliminates a few members of our Club.
It was reported that DAN O"DONNELL gave a private lesson to CINDY DAY as to how to properly pin on the new badges without an accident. Unfortunately, during today's meeting DAN managed to stick himself with his own badge with blood on the attendance sheets to prove it.
PRESIDENT GINNY announced that five members of Rotary have been appointed to the Nominating Committee. Members are MARGE BRUNO, ROY LAVE, FIROOZ GHAFFARI, MARY PROCHNOW, and GINNY. The Committee's task is to provide at least six candidates for the three Director positions. Criteria include membership in Rotary for a minimum of two years and a 60% or better attendance record. Candidates will be presented at the next meeting on January 18th. During the subsequent two meetings, nominations from the floor will be accepted and the election will be held on February 8. The Directors provide the organizational basis for LARC and their selection is an important responsibility of the membership.
GINNY reminded us that Salute to the Mayors gala is scheduled for January 27 at the University Club. Coincidentally, King Lear will be honored as Mayor of Los Altos along with Steve Finn who holds the same office in Los Altos Hills. Further information may be obtained from the Chamber of Commerce.
GARY ROSS was awarded a double sustainer pin which means that he contributed at least $200 to the Rotary International Foundation during the current fund drive. GARY joins 25 other LARC members who are double-sustainers, and GINNY announced that 80% of the Club has contributed to the Foundation. There's still time for the remaining 20% to help us achieve a perfect record.
GINNY read a letter of thanks from the father of one of our scholarship recipients. Megan McArthur received a scholarship in 1989 and she went on to graduate from the University of California at Los Angeles. She subsequently enrolled in a doctoral program at UC-San Diego and then applied to the NASA training program for astronauts. She is currently one of three women accepted into the program. Her father thanked us for assisting Megan with her college education which has led to such an impressive career path.
PRESIDENT-ELECT FIROOZ introduced guests and visiting Rotarians who included PAUL SANDIS, past District Governor and former Director of Rotary International. We were honored to have such a distinguished member visit us.
HARRIET HEEBINK admitted to never having attended a Celebrity Forum and her reward was tickets to Friday night's event featuring former Senator and Ambassador George Mitchell. The tickets were donated by JERRY TOMANEK and JOHN MOSS.
Additional tickets, these for "Tallulah" playing in San Francisco, were donated by DUDE ANGIUS who is recovering from a hip replacement. JANE REED won the prize with a bid of $110. Proceeds from the auction go to the Rotary Aids Project.
JEAN NEWTON announced that she will celebrate a "big" birthday on Saturday but her most exciting news is that of her engagement to Steve Farguglia, who proposed on Christmas Eve in Ely, South Dakota, where JEAN's parents live and temperatures hover at 20 degrees. JEAN was happy to join the President's Club, as was KRIS CASTO both of whom have now contributed at least $100 to the Club's treasury through fines. KRIS was celebrating her birthday, which was November 14th and a Council meeting that didn't go past midnight.
BAIDRE PROCHNOW made a contribution in honor of friends' birthdays, and SHELLEY POTVIN also made a donation to celebrate her fund drive for battered women. She has now collected more than 900 used cell phones which convert into money for this worthy cause. SHELLEY'S picture with an accompanying article appeared in last Sunday's Mercury News.
DAN O'DONNELL asked that all committee chairmen send the minutes of their meetings to him, including the members present. In this way committee members are given attendance credit for each meeting.they attend. DAN'S e-mail address is: danpat@silcon.com.
GINNY received a letter from the Community Services Agency thanking us for the bicycle helmets and locks as well as all the additional Christmas gifts that we sent to the Agency. Many local children spent a happier holiday day due to Rotarian generosity.
FIROOZ introduced our guest speaker ALAN FRUMPKIN, who has held numerous offices and made significant contributions to Rotary over the years. ALAN warmed up the audience by congratulating JEAN in stentorian tones on her engagement and describing how lawyers (he's one) apply various shades of truth to the Four-Way-Test. He then gave examples of politically incorrect jokes dealing with women, Polish people and floppy disks.
However, the main part of ALAN'S talk dealt with the miracle of Rotary -- the miracle of love, the miracle of a world without borders, the miracle of service, and the miracle of sharing. ALAN spoke of our Rotary pin which makes us all brothers and sisters. And he described Rotarians as those "who build houses they never dwell in, who make walkers from crawlers, who plant trees that they never sit under, and who restore vision for those they never see.". He chose those in the audience who had touched his life and honored PRESIDENT GINNY for her competence and professionalism, DICK HENNING for his inspirational speeches, and PAUL SANGIS as mentor and friend. ALAN encouraged us to share the miracle of Rotary by increasing our membership (only ten percent of members bring in new members), and by contributing to the Rotary International Foundation.
He concluded by reading "A Prayer for Children" by Ina Hughes. The message is for all Rotarians who extend their hand, heart, and love to those in need. An excerpt is as follows:
"We pray for children who want to be carried and for those who must,
For those we never give up on and those who don't get a second chance,
For those we smother...and for those who will grab the hand
of anyone kind enough to offer it."
President's Message January is "Rotary Awareness Month" and we have a perfect way to make someone new aware of the Los Altos Rotary Club. I encourage you to bring a potential member, a spouse or friend with you to next week's Rotary meeting. In one of the benefits of membership in Rotary, we are very pleased to have Lee Domanico, the new CEO of El Camino Hospital as our speaker. He is coming on short notice, and we thank Victoria Emmons for arranging this. Victoria says Mr. Domanico is a former Rotarian, so he knows we are well regarded as a club of community leaders. Therefore, as the new leader of a vital community institution, it is a fine opportunity for him to meet with us. We'll be sure to leave time for questions.
See you Thursday,
Ginny
Programs
January
Jan 18 - Lee Domanico, CEO of El Camino Hospital
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 - Successful Brand Management - Moving Toward a Customer-Concentric Focus
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 2001 The Los Altos Rotary Club
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