MEETING OF APRIL 11, 2002
By Dick Blanding
Webmaster - Steve Gruber"God Bless America" was led today by no less than that fabulous Bard of the Barony, Cres McFall. (For you newbies, Cres composed a beautiful poem, using only the names of our members, back in '93.)
Bud Oliver announced that the results of the Art Show wine tasting were to stick with our good tasting, good value J. Lohr Estate Chardonnay and their Cypress Merlot.
Joan Roselle has official LARC T-shirts for use at the Art Show for sale for $30. Older models have become much sought after collector's items, so get yours now.
Most-successful-Membership-Chairman-in-memory Alex Ng introduced four brand new Blue Badgers: congratulations to Lucy Rasmussen, Barbara Duncan and her sister Sandy Whipple, and long time LARC activist Matt Cabot.
More great news! Billy Russell is recovering nicely, and reported to be heading home in about a week. He enjoys our cards and notes, and will be joining some of us at Ron Incerpi's before next meeting. It'll be good to have you back, Billy.
Dr. Dick Henning was the obvious choice to announce a very prestigious award being presented today, for the first time ever. The first Rotary Community Award was created especially to honor our famous Lawrence Chu, aka Larry or , more often, just Chef Chu. During his thirty-two years as a restaurateur, Chef Chu has been a shining example of how to create a successful business, and how to give back to his community. His restaurant has been listed among America's top 100 restaurants of the 20th century. He was recognized early on, receiving the very first Los Altan of the Year award. His generosity in helping with not only LARC projects, but civic projects of all descriptions, is legend. His participatory, giving attitude has inspired many other folks to follow suit in supporting charitable functions, assuring that the effects of his good works will continue to multiply and be felt for generations to come. As Dick said, "Chef Chu is a Los Altos treasure."
With characteristic modesty, Chef Chu thanked the LARC Board and the club, and recalled the opportunities that Rotary offered for channeling his strong desire to serve his community. He said he would not retire from helping, even after being presented such a prestigious award, because "you must not spend time remembering what you have done before; instead, you should care about what it is you are going to do." He thanked all of our past presidents for being his mentors and role models, saying this award will inspire him to do more, as he picked up his pen and wrote a check for $200 to a church rebuilding fund, and another for $1000 for the club's Endowment Fund. He received a lengthy standing ovation from his fellow Rotarians.
Fines were meted out for a wide variety of infractions, from Rick Glaze's opening night singing to Larry Chu Jr.'s charge for the lessons his dad had just provided. (I think we should all chip in to pay that one!) Clyde Noel is celebrating 58 years of marital bliss this month. Dick Henning was featured in Gentry Magazine, and January Reed celebrated her one week anniversary as a Rotarian with a $100 fine, as several other newer members and older ones too, were also harshly dinged by the notorious fining of Steve Anderson.
You may have heard about the fire which destroyed a local church, the Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Redeemer, or seen the pictures in the Town Crier. Sam Harding reports a fund is being generated to help with the rebuilding. You can send donations to:
Church of the Redeemer Rebuilding Fund
C/o Bank of America
19376 Stevens Creek Blvd.
Cupertino, CA 95014
Checks should be directed to account #2476 205441Mike Spence introduced our speaker today, Lynda Gayden. She is a native Californian who received her B.A. and Teacher's Credential from Cal State University, taught elementary school, worked in Washington as the Director of Training for the National League of Cities, and is currently the Executive Director for the Child Abuse Prevention Center locally.
Lynda provided many statistics which frame the size of the local problem of child abuse. She said the overall costs of such abuse totals over 258 million dollars a day for the U.S., and that around 85% of all incarcerated people have some abuse in their background. In 1999, there were over 20,000 reports of child abuse in our county alone.The focus of her organization is to prevent abuse of kids, through school programs, training of teachers and others, home visits, resource referral, family to family counseling, and conflict resolution training. They also provide help and services to kids who are in the court system. They are funded by the counties, by corporate donations, and charitable foundations. Volunteers are welcome.
Programs and Events
April
April 18 - Bob Simon on "Fleeting Rhyme"
April 25 - Partners for New Generations appreciation day
April 26 -28 - District 5170 Conference, Lake Tahoe
May
May 2 - Dan Stober, San Jose Mercury News reporter and author of A Convenient Spy, on "Wen Ho Lee: Spy, Victim or Hero?"
May 3 - Golf tournament and barbeque, starts at noon at Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course, followed by the barbeque at the Adams' at 6:30 p.m.
May 9 - Rotacare
May 16 - Dr. Avis Begoun: "Identifying and Resolving Patterns of Conflict in Couple Relationships"
May 23 - Rotary Scholarships
May 30 - LAREF
"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 2002 The Los Altos Rotary Club
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