MEETING OF JUNE 14, 2001 By Mary Prochnow
JULIE ROSE began by honoring the 224th birthday of our United States Flag. The Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes for the national flag in 1777. Flag Day was first celebrated in 1877. George Washington and two other members of the Continental Congress asked Betsy Ross to sew the American Flag in 1776 when she was 24 years old. Only in Pennsylvania is Flag Day a State holiday.
The LAREF election was held and DICK HENNING and SAM PESNER were elected to serve. Congratulations and thank you's to these two gentlemen.
President GINNY'S kickout is coming. You will be charged $45.00 regardless of your attendance so don't miss this opportunity to honor GINNY'S year of service to the Club and welcome FIROOZ to the position.
Today's meeting was the Annual Meeting of LAREF (Los Altos Rotary Endowment Fund). As President Jane Reed made the introductions and provided Thank yous. LAREF was created in 1978 to fund charitable projects within our own community. This year an attractive brochure was created as well as an application form. Those individuals who served on the Board were STEVE ANDERSON, MARLENE COWAN, DICK DUHRING, CHUCK HESS, JANE REED, JERRY TOMANEK, FIROOZ GHAFFARI, SAM HARDING AND GINNY LEAR. Non-Voting members were Treasurer Paul Conard and Roy Lave for World Community Service.
This year $81,025 was distributed this year! (It is not that long ago that the entire fund did not amount to that one-year distribution number!).
The high grant was $10,000 to RotaCare and the low was $250.00 to local singing groups. Scholarships to High School seniors amounted to $10,600.
JANE REED mentioned that one of the rewards of involvement in LAREF is being able to read all of the thank you notes. Sample notes from Hidden Villa and OICW were shared with the group.ROY LAVE did a presentation on World Community Service. He stated that the committee favors projects that create jobs or build community rather than the more common health issues. It is believed that this is the best way to improve the lot of those being assisted. (Learn how to fish versus eating a fish taco).ROY gave examples of projects as varied as Reforestation in El Salvador, Potato processing in Kenya & reproduction education in India.MARLENE COWAN talked about her work with the scholarship committee and the rewards of hearing the impact that these grants have on young lives.
CHUCK HESS represented the investment committee. The portfolio had been kept in a conservative asset allocation of stocks and bonds and consequently suffered only a 10% loss in value while many surrounding funds suffered much greater losses in this last challenging economic year.
When all was said and done, our members seemed proud to see the widespread positive influence that their LAREF contributions were making both locally and globally under the skillful and dedicated management of the LAREF volunteers.GINNY LEAR had the pleasure of bestowing her $5000.00 Presidential gift to Foothill College's EXCEL 2001 program. This program is designed to reach out to underachieving sophomore or junior high school students in the hopes of helping them learn to perform to the level of their ability. (GINNY is beginning to get that relaxed, "the end is near" look about her.)
President's Message
My thanks to Jane Reed, to members of the LAREF Board, and to Roy Lave, retiring Chair of World Community Service for their presentations to us during the annual LAREF meeting on Thursday.We have "Created Awareness and Taken Action" this year not only with personal service, but also with contributions from our club, to our community and to our world. The efforts we put forth for the art show each year are multiplied many times over by the resulting financial support we are able to give to other non-profit institutions working on behalf of improving people's lives and opportunities.
Congratulations to Sam Pesner and Dick Henning for their election to the LAREF Board, and our thanks to all who were willing to serve.
Next Thursday is the longest day of the year. Summer arrives, and you need things to do on the weekends. I will be offering for purchase, 8 Tickets to THE TECH Museum & IMAX Theater. A speaker donated these tickets to us last December, and I've never done anything with them. With my short time left at the podium, now's your chance to bid and take a first look at this amazing place, or go back for a visit. Check your calendar. Like me, they will be going, going…..
See you Thursday,
GinnyPrograms
June
June 15 - Bruce Babbitt Celebrity Forum Talk, 8 p.m. and Rotary Reception, 9:30 p.m.
June 21 – Bob Hoffman, Cleaned up Mt. Everest
June 28 – Ginny's Kick-out, part 1
June 29 - LARC Kick-out, Dinner/Dance, Fremont Hills Country ClubJuly
July 5 - No meeting
"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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