MEETING OF DECEMBER 19, 2002
By Cindy Luedtke
Editor: Dick Blanding
Webmaster: Steve GruberA COWBOY’S CHRISTMAS
RICK GLAZE led the song with chestnuts roasting on an open fire. I don’t know what happened to the tiny tots, but it was nice anyway. This was followed by JOE CORRAL who delivered an appropriate message about how to distinguish between goodness and badness.
YES, ROTARY. THERE IS A SANTA CLAUS
BOB ADAMS reported that over 110 toys were delivered to Alta Vista for distribution to deserving children. Thank you to all who took the time to participate by bringing a toy. Thank you, BOB and LOIS ADAMS for taking the time and effort in coordinating this project this year as well as in the past.
NO FINES? BAAH HUMBUG!
BUE BOO teased us with possibly going easy on the recognition this week given the season and all, but pointed out some wonderful opportunities for people to “give”. MONA ARMISTEAD paid in $37.00 to commemorate her lovely Christmas Wedding which took place that many years ago. SETH MANNING most definitely dressed for the occasion in what I observed as the most festive holiday vest I have ever seen.
MIKE SPENCE described the psychological damage of being ripped off on his birthday (December 19) mostly because he would get to choose a Christmas present early as a birthday present. Then he would tend to pick out one of the “stupid” presents under the tree and get underwear or T-shirts for his Birthday. Mike. I’m worried about you. I hope you received a present that is specially-wrapped in “Happy Birthday” paper this year. MIKE snapped out of it and then remembered that his daughter was invited to try out for the State Olympic Volleyball Team in March. MIKE SCHNEIDER announced his daughter’s engagement. He paid for this opportunity and then presented an opportunity for his closest Rotary friends to contribute to the Wedding Fund in return. Congratulations, Mike, and good luck. DICK DUHRING was taxed just for being guilty. HARRIET HEEBINK brought her own tidings of comfort and joy by contributing $1000 to the Rotary Foundation and even shared further tidings after being recognized for it.
DON’T BE A CHRISTMAS GRINCH!
SHELLY POTVIN needs more people to host fellow Rotarians in their home for the upcoming progressive dinner. Don’t worry. It’s only for a couple of hours. Dave and I have been going to this event for years and we haven’t broken anything yet. MIKE SCHNEIDER would like to present a big “Thank-you” to our lunch servers at the first meeting of the New Year in January. If you weren’t at the meeting or didn’t contribute to the annual tipping fund, it’s not too late. Remember this is for their year-round consistent service to us every Thursday. JOAN ROSELLE is in need of one more person to assist in providing a meal for the Alpha Omega Shelter on January 14th. She needs two more volunteers for March 14th.
BRENDA NIEDERT was born is Waterloo, Iowa on May 27, 1966. She grew up in the nearby small town of Evansdale where she was raised with her three siblings. When she turned 20, she ventured to Minneapolis and worked as a human resource specialist. Like many of us Midwestern transplants, she visited a friend in the Bay Area and moved shortly after, at the age of 30. She has three nephews and looks forward to marriage and motherhood which she hopes isn’t too far off. She works as a broker specializing in health insurance at Brown Insurance located at 220 State Street. Welcome, Brenda.
Our Social Committee Chair, TRACIE MURRAY, joined forces with FR. BILL REWAK
to put on a fabulous party at the Jesuit Retreat House. The Jesuit Retreat House provided the use of their beautiful facility and covered the cost of all the beverages. Our $35.00 per person went for the wonderful food prepared by the Retreat House Chef. Any overage collected over the actual cost of the food went to LAREF. Thank you to all the bartenders- JOHN CARDOZA, DICK HENNING, LEE LYNCH, FIROOZ GHAFFARI, JOAN ROSSELLE, JOE CORRAL, STEVE SHEPHERD, JACK HIGGINS, DICK BLANDING, and ALEX NG. Our wonderful entertainment was provided by Bill Hocket and the Jazz ConneXion (The Rotary connection being JOHN SYLVESTER, of course!). JULIE ROSE AND DAVID DYE pitched in on name tags and checking in.
DICK HENNING has been very busy lately distributing pictures of the recipients of wheelchairs donated by the club. It was pointed out by President Mary that many of the recipients in South Africa were dying from AIDS. The chairs have since passed on to other AIDS victims and are being put to good use. This segued into a presentation of money from LAREF to the Rotary Aids Project.
SAM PESNER, President of LAREF, presented DUDE ANGIUS with a check for $3,000. The money will be used to distribute 5000 copies of the book entitled “HIV, Health and Your Community- A Guide for Action”, along with the educational DVD which is done in seven languages.
In February, 2003, JACK HIGGINS and DICK HASENPFLUG plan to attend an international health conference focusing on AIDS to be held in Nairobi. At the conference they plan to strengthen and expand the web of contacts already established by RAP’s prior years of international work.
PEACE ON EARTH…This is the last meeting of the Los Altos Rotary Club in the year 2002. President MARY PROCHNOW reminded us of our great fortune of being who we are and where we are as part of Rotary. She reminded us of an important message from Past International President, Rick King. Rotary is the largest non-religious, non-political organization in this World, and in being so, is the most powerful force to making World Peace a reality. …AND GOODWILL TO ALL MEN.
President-Elect, AL TRAFICANTI, introduced Mark Andrew Shaull and The Main Street Singers. The singers surrounded us with beautiful song as we have become accustomed. In case no one knew, the soloist in the final song, “The First Noel” was Blair Dematteis, the daughter of fellow-Rotarian, DAVE DEMATTEIS. He was the one sitting with his wife, gushing with pride during the performance.
GOD REST, YE MERRY GENTLEMAN …AND GENTLEWOMEN!
Due to the Christmas and New Year’s Holidays, there will be no meeting on Thursday, December 26th or Thursday, January 2nd.
BUT, LET NOTHING YOU DISMAY…. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, January 9th. HAPPY NEW YEAR AND GOD BLESS US, EVERYONE!
PROGRESSIVE DINNER UPDATE:
Saturday, Jan. 25 is the date for the progressive dinner, and there are only two meetings (Jan. 9 and 16) between now and the deadline for signing up. The deadline for payment is Jan. 17, about a week ahead of the event, because we need time to get things organized. The progressive dinner is the most complicated social event that we have, which may be the reason you don't see it every year. To help the social committee organize the best possible progressive dinner, we would appreciate it if you could do the following:
Sign up as soon as possible and send or give a check for $35 per person to Shelly Potvin. The check should be payable to LARC.
If you have any doubts about whether you can attend, please do not sign up until you are sure. There will be no refunds after Jan. 17 because the funds will be contractually committed to various vendors at that time.
Do not request assignment to a particular home because we will be making every attempt to assign you with people that you don't know. The purpose of this event is not just to consume gourmet food, the best wine and have a good time, but to meet other members of the club.
Encourage Red Badgers to sign up so we can get to know them.
The logistics of the dinner are that we will have two homes for the appetizers, approximately eight homes for the entree, and two homes for the dessert. All of the hosts for the entree course will meet at the same appetizer location and receive packages that will need to be warmed for about 25 minutes. The hosts will need to leave the first course early to start warming the entree. Wine will be delivered before the event to the homes for the first and second courses, and the dessert will be delivered before the event to the homes for the third course. If this sounds complicated, you're right. Members who ask for their money back at the last minute, or who don't show up, or who don't get to the next course on time will cause problems that will ripple through the entire event. But if everyone who signs up participates, keeps the schedule in mind, and uses a GPS to navigate to the next course (just kidding), we'll have a great time.
Steve Gruber
OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND IN THE NEW YEAR. Consider being a TUTOR OR MENTOR in 2003.
PARTNERS FOR NEW GENERATIONS is looking for volunteers interested in becoming involved in the next school semester beginning in January 2003.
HIGH SCHOOL- Mentor Orientation and Training for the coming semester is scheduled for Tuesday, January 14, 2003. It will be held from 12:00 to 1:30 PM at the Mountain View/Los Alts High School District Office located at 1299 Bryant Avenue in Mountain View. Lunch will be provided. To reserve your space, call mentor coordinator, Linda Waud at 650-691-2434 or
E-mail her at Linda.waud@MVLA.net. If you have thought of becoming a mentor in the past, this is a perfect time to become involved. With the expansion of the existing mentoring program into both Los Altos and Mountain View High Schools this year, the need for volunteers is great.
Tutors are wanted at Los Altos High School, in the specific areas of Math and Science. There is a need for tutors for Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry and in Science, particularly in Biology. If interested, please contact Lois Adams at 650-961-9329.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
For elementary schools, there are additional people needed at Monte Loma Elementary School (Alma Expressway & Rengstorff). This is one-on-one reading tutoring for grades 1-3.
There is also a need at Slater Elementary School (Middlefield & Whisman) for homework club and tutoring after school. Or else you could help with the Early Literacy Program as a reading tutor.
Loyola Elementary School (Foothill Expressway & Miramonte) would like volunteers for their homework club after school hours from 3:00 to 4:00 PM. The students in the homework club have been targeted as needing extra help.
To offer your help as a volunteer or to find out more information, call Nancy Traficanti at 650-941-5732 or email her at Nancytr@pacbell.net.
Check out the PARTNERS update to the Rotary Website at PARTNERS. Good work, JOHN CARDOZA and STEVE GRUBER.
SAVE THE DATE
The date for the Not Necessarily Annual Cioppino Feed will be March 7, 2003. This year’s theme is BYOK which stands for Bring Your Own Favorite Kiwaniian. We’ve actually made that easier by letting them know we would like to have the pleasure of their company that evening. But let us encourage them to come because some of them are really shy.
E-mail from Karen Fox in Russia:
I was at Alexei Krylov's apartment today and spent time with him, his mother, and grandmother before the New Year arrives--that's the biggest celebration here. Alexeigave me a copy of a photo taken on September 1, the first day of the new school year. In a charming tradition, throughout Russia, one of the students in the oldest grade (11th) carries one of the new first-graders to the front of the whole assembled student body, where the little one rings a bell to mark the beginning of the new school year.
Probably because he was (1) very well dressed (clothes I bought for him at Men's Warehouse in Los Altos for his participation in YMCA Youth and Government), and (2) the tallest student in his class (all that good food in California?), Alexei was selected.
Here is a great photo of Alexei with this little girl.
I'll be back in California for a brief time in January. I hope to see you all on Thursday, January 16.
Sincerely,
Karen
Programs and Events
January
January 2: No meeting
January 9: "Barge Cruising in the French Canals"; Diana and Kellogg Fleming
January 16: "The State of the Economy"; Economist Jeanette Garretty, Ph.D
January 23: California State Assembly Member Joe Simitian
January 25: Progressive Dinner
January 30: "Information Security: Electronic Commerce and Security Breaches"; Harvard Law School Graduate Stephen WuOTHER ROTARY CLUB MEETING PLACES
MONDAY
Palo Alto: Rickey's Hyatt House, 12:15 p.m.
TUESDAY
Los Altos Sunset: The Echo Restaurant, Los Altos, 7:15 p.m.
Sunnyvale: Ramada Inn, 12:15 p.m.
Mountain View: Adobe House, Moffett & Central, Mountain View, 12:15 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
Menlo Park: Menlo Park Recreation Center, Menlo Park, noon.
Woodside/Portola: Woodside Village Church, Woodside, 7:30 a.m.
Sunnyvale Sunrise: Wild Woodys Grill, Sunken Gardens Golf Course, 7 a.m.
Cupertino: Quinlan Community Center, 12:15 p.m.
THURSDAY
Palo Alto Sunrise: Scott's, Town & Country, Palo Alto, 7:15 a.m.
Yosemite: The Ahwahnee Hotel, Noon
FRIDAY
Palo Alto University: Sheraton, El Camino, Palo Alto, 7:30 a.m.
Lake Tahoe: Harvey's Hotel, 12:15 p.m.
"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 2003 The Los Altos Rotary Club
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