MEETING OF NOVEMBER 20, 2003

Rotator Writer:  Cindy Luedtke
Editor:  Dick Blanding
 

FOR OPENERS,

SETH MANNING led the group in a patriotic song, God Bless America.

As our thought for the day, JOAN ROSSELLE recited the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

PRESIDENT AL began by announcing that the next board meeting will be held December 3^rd at Bank of Los Altos,  369 San Antonio Road in the Community Room starting at 7:30 AM.  This will be the last board meeting of the calendar year.

 

FOR THE CONNOISSEURS OF THE GROUP…

There is a clipboard being passed around for those of us who are of the elite group of connoisseurs.  President Al would like to have your choice of either wine or a box of delectable chocolates.  Choose wisely.

 

WHO IS THIS YEAR’S VOLUNTEER?

The Cities of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills will be holding the annual Community Volunteer Award Luncheon on December 5^th   beginning at 11:45.  It will be held at the Los Altos Youth Center.  JOHN MOSS announced that there will be a recipient who is a Los Altos Rotarian.  And if that’s not enough to get you there, a Kiwanian has also been chosen this year to receive an award.  There were invitations on each table, but if you missed that, all you need to do is send in your reservations with a check for $20.00 per person to: 

 

Los Altos/Los Altos Hills Joint Community Volunteer Awards Committee

P.O. Box 1851

Los Altos, CA  94023-1851

 

Checks should be made payable to Volunteer Awards Committee.  Call Virginia Roberts at (650) 941-1697 if you have questions.

 

EVERYTHING SOCIAL

JOANNE BYRNE announced that the next mini-social wine tasting party will be held at the Lears’ residence.   Attendees should bring their favorite Sauvignon Blanc.  A clipboard will be distributed shortly for 2004 wine parties, the upcoming Holiday Party to be held on Wednesday, December 17th, and the progressive dinner scheduled for January 31^st.  Right now the Social Committee is looking for members interested in being a host home for the progressive dinner.  Signups for the Progressive Dinner will start on Dec. 4.  Bring a check for $30 per person.

 

CALLING ALL PAST PRESIDENTS

MARY PROCHNOW announced there will be a meeting of the past presidents on December 11^th at 8:00 AM.   It is time to decide who will succeed Cindy as President in 2005-2006.   The meeting place is to be announced, but please plan on attending. 

 

SHOW YOU CARE ABOUT ROTACARE

IRENE PRESTON announced that she is now looking for Rotarians to take their turn delivering dinners to the RotaCare volunteers.  She needs to fill 3 weeks in December and January.  If you haven’t had a chance to take a delivery yet, please either sign in on the clipboard or contact Irene directly.

 

STAND FOR RED-The Los Altos Rotary Club officially welcomed KATHY BERRY to the fold.  GINNY LEAR, her sponsor, was able to present Kathy with her membership pin.  Please be sure to introduce yourselves to Kathy when you get a chance. 

 

SIT FOR BLUE -JOE LOCONTE was awarded his blue badge today.  Congratulations Joe.  You are a model for blue badge obtainment. 

 

PHIL IN FIVE

Phil Rose was born and raised in San Jose.  He went to San Jose State as a business major and eventually obtained his MBA at San Jose State.  On his first day of business school, he took advantage of the opportunity to get work experience in the business field by working as an administrative intern for the City of Mountain View.  Little did he realize at the time, what impact this job would have on his career path.  This part-time position converted into a full-time position.    During his long tenure with the city, he worked on such projects as Shoreline Amphitheatre and Golf Course.  His last four years were spent on the new City Hall Center and the rebuilding of Downtown Mountain View, which was quite controversial at the time.   Phil began his work with Mountain View at the age of 22 and left at the age of 40.

 

After leaving, Phil spent six years as a commercial real estate agent with two different firms.  He then came to realize he missed city management, and spent 3 years as City Manager of Placerville until the opportunity to be City Manager of Los Altos came open.  He has now been City Manager of Los Altos for six years.  He feels fortunate to be working with the same city council during that period of time.  Other aspirations Phil has been able to fulfill include obtaining his law degree and most recently bicycling through Europe and following the same route as the Tour De’ France.

 

THE ROTARY FOUNDATION NEEDS US ALL

WYATT ALLEN reminded us that November is Rotary Foundation month and he is surprised to see that at this point there is less than 50% participation so far.  There is still time to get this year’s donation to Wyatt.  Please remember that your donation this year will determine what matching funds we will have available as matching funds in the future to support some very worthwhile projects that our club funds internationally and now also locally with the club opportunity grants.    Congratulations to the following members who received their double sustaining pins;   MARY PROCHNOW, JOHN MCDONNELL, IRENE PRESTON, ROY LAVE, MONA ARMISTEAD, AND JOHN BOGART.  Additionally, somehow in the past it escaped the group that ROY LAVE received his double sapphire pin, a symbol of a significant commitment to the Rotary Foundation.   Congratulations, Roy.

 

THE FINE ART OF FINING

JOHN SYLVESTER displayed seemingly effortless fining today.  All material was original with free flowing confessions from SETH MANNING, who paid 250 pesos for yoga in Mexico, CHRIS CASTO, for advertising four vacancies on city commissions and her final week as mayor, STEVE ANDERSON, for four blissful years of marriage, MARLENE COWAN, who admitted to drinking too many beers in Prague, JERRY MOISON, who raised over $8000 for CityTeam Ministries this year, and CAREW MCFALL, who just got back from visiting 11 cities in China over a 25-day period.   Then, a most unusual thing happened for a Thursday before a Big Game.  IRENE PRESTON, an avid Cal-Berkeley fan, challenged the Stanford contingency to meet or beat her $10.00 fine of confidence.  There were no takers in the room. 

 

GOOD WORKS AT HESPERIAN

DUDE ANGIUS introduced today’s guest speaker, Christie Keith from the Hesperian Foundation.  The mission of the non-profit Hesperian Foundation is to publish books and other educational materials that enable poor communities to take greater control over their health and their lives.  Their publications are used by millions of families worldwide who have little or no access to medical care, and have been translated and distributed in more than 80 languages around the globe.  Written in simple words with many explanatory drawings, Hesperian’s books teach local health workers life-saving skills, and describe how people can diagnose, treat, and prevent most common health problems, as well as organize to address the root causes of poor health. 

 

Hesperian works with hundreds of groups from around the world to create and distribute their health materials.  They maintain an open copyright policy that enables any of their partners and other international organizations to copy, adapt and translate the books—as long as they also do their work on a not-for-profit basis.  A shining example of their work is their collaboration with the Rotary AIDS Project and the distribution of HIV, Health and your Community.  Another edition of this book is in the plans. 

Programs and Events

November

Nov. 27:  Thanksgiving - no meeting

December

Dec. 4:  San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales
Dec. 11:  Rob Chang, the Everest Peace Project
Dec. 17: Holiday Party, Jesuit Retreat House
Dec. 18:  Community School of Music and Arts - Holiday Program
Dec. 25:  Christmas - no meeting

January

Jan. 1:  New Years Day - no meeting
Jan. 8:  Club Assembly
Jan. 15:  Dr. Robert Siegel - AIDS update
Jan. 16:  Fellowship Night
Jan. 22:  Joe Simitian
Jan. 29:  Maxine Goodman - Palo Alto Philharmonic
Jan. 31:  Progressive Dinner

February

Feb. 5:  World Community Service
Feb. 12:  Alliance for Community Care - Workshop on Stigma
Feb. 19:  Los Altos Rotary Speech Contest
Feb. 20:  Fellowship Night
Feb. 26:  To be announced
Feb. 27: Cioppino Feed, Garden House

March

March 4:  Trish Bubenik - American Red Cross, Be Prepared for the Unexpected
March 11:  Carl Guardino - Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, Economic Outlook
March 26:  Fellowship Night

April

April 7: Celebrate Spring at Chef Chu's
April 8:  Mountain View High School Madrigal Singers Spring Program

May

May 7: Golf Tournament
May 21:  Fellowship Night

June

June 25: Kickout Dinner

OTHER ROTARY CLUB MEETING PLACES

On-line Meeting:  www.rotaryeclubone.org

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.
East Palo Alto Bayshore: Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula, 2031 Pulgas Avenue, East Palo Alto, 12:15 p.m.
FRIDAY
Palo Alto University: Sheraton, El Camino, Palo Alto, 7:30 a.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

Home            Member Services            Partners            Art Show