MEETING OF MAY 9, 2002
By Steve Yarbrough
Editor: Dick Blanding
Webmaster - Steve GruberRotarians were treated to a pre-meeting video of Lauren McFall, daughter of Cres and Paula McFall, and the Santa Clara Aquamaids performing their way to the team's 11th consecutive national title. Lauren is bound for the World Cup and then the Olympic trials.
Firooz got off to a late start - 2 minutes off schedule for the first time this year. No doubt he was bedazzled by the video.
But Dan O'Donnell picked up the tempo with a Ralph Waldo Emerson thought for the day - nine ways to measure a good life. Then, John Sylvester blessed us with a song, and we all joined in.
Mary Prochnow introduced visiting Rotarians Nancy Shardell from Gilroy, Bob Johnson from Mountain View and Harry Kalshian from Palo Alto. Rotarians with guests were too many to name all.
Sam Pesner, Art Show Personnel director extraordinaire, posted the latest update for work assignments. Very well organized project under Sam; he even asked Steve Gruber to email the spreadsheet to everyone!
Sam Harding promoted donations for the Church of the Redeemer after their disastrous Los Altos Hills fire.
John Moss invited everyone to the Los Altos and Mountain View High Schools opening for the new theaters. $50 per, donation to good cause.
Bob Adams announced that World community Service luncheon will be held at Chef Chu's on Friday, May 31, 2002. Red badgers are encouraged to attend.
Joan Roselle has LARC t-shirts. Get yours from Joan.
Alex Ng presented sponsor President Firooz's new member, Lou Becker, retired from high tech and six years on city council, and new blue badger Bill Palmer, sponsored by Billy Russell who apparently is on the mend from a broken leg and couldn't attend today.
Larry Madsen, chairman of the Golf and BBQ awarded the winner's trophy to Bill Moison.
Bill also took center stage for his 5-minute talk. That's when we all learned that he was the brother that started the company that has made them both famous! Bill is originally from Pittsburgh, MA. He
and wife Tracy have a 14-year old daughter, Lauren. Bill's been active in this community since first landing in the Bay Area in 1969.
Finemaster John Sines almost grinned at his own cleverness while picking the pockets of Dan, Lou, Jack, Dick, Boo and Larry for $20-30 each. He tried to trick them by asking an easy question - how many times does Rick King's photo appear in the last issue of the Rotarian magazine? Answer: 27.
Amy Chamberlin toted the fine bucket and did a better job than Sam Pesner.
Ben McGann introduced the program for the day: The Rotacare Free Clinic. LARC invests significantly in the clinic each year in both time and funds. Many of the club members are active volunteers in this project, which provides free medical screening and care services delivery to needy patients through the clinic at Castro Commons in Mountain View.
One of nine Rotacare clinics Bay Area wide, the Mountain View clinic reaches more than 3,000 patients annually.
The video about the clinic was directed by Dan O'Donnell and hosted by Dick Henning, who explained it in a classy and professional manner. Volunteer doctors, pharmacists and translators help provide needy patients the critical care they otherwise would not receive because they are uninsured. The Rotacare Free clinic needs all levels of volunteers from interpreters in Spanish and Chinese to administrators and board members on the advisory council.
Bob Johanson of the Rotacare Administrative Council informed the club that the partnership with
strong supporters such as El Camino hospital is the key element in whether the 9-clinic program will continue to expand into other communities, such as Oakland.
Nurse and volunteer Cheryl Canning noted that the benefits the clinic provides to the volunteers who do the work almost are surmounted by the good feelings of doing good work. She told the story of one young intern whose decision to continue in the medical field was influenced by his participation in Rotacare.
The clinic has an annual budget of $170,000, plus $1.2 million in volunteer time. During the question and answers following the presentation, Mel Kahn announced that he had received $1,000 in pledges for the Rotacare walk this weekend.
As always, President Firooz was back on track and ended the meeting precisely at 1:30 p.m.
Programs and Events
May
May 16 - Dr. Avis Begoun: "Identifying and Resolving Patterns of Conflict in Couple Relationships"
May 23 - Rotary Scholarships
May 30 - Rotary Aids Project
June
June 6 - LAREF - Annual meeting
June 13 - To be announced
June 20 - To be announced
June 27 - Kickout luncheon
June 28 - Kickout Dinner at the University Club in Palo Alto, with the theme "A World Class Kickout"
July
July 4 - No Meeting
July 18 - World Community Service
July 25 - Jay Manley, Drama Instructor, Foothill College, who will speak on "American Musical Theatre"
August
August 1 - John Hopkins, "The Rise and Fall of the Estate Tax"
"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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