MEETING OF FEBRUARY 19, 2004
By Matt CabotEditor: Dick Blanding
The Pledge of Allegiance was lead by MIKE SCHNEIDER. SETH MANNING lead us in “She’ll be Coming Around the Mountain”, but upon hearing the first verse, decided that she came far enough around the mountain and stopped us mid -song.
DAN O’DONNELL shirt-tailed on Past President FIROOZ GHAFFARI’s “Rule #6”, remember Rule #6? “Don’t take yourself too seriously”. Dan brought us up-to-date with the first 5: #1 and #2. Time, #3 and #4 Walking, and #5 Crayons. Don’t blame me, I was writing as fast as I could. If you want to know the complete Rules, you should have been here.
Although not dressed (in the literal sense), Past President SAM HARDING tried to pawn himself on us as President Elect CINDY LUEDTHKE and announced the Visiting Rotarians and Guests. No Visiting Rotarians, unless you want to count GEORGE ESTILL and JEAN HOLLAND. It was good to see you both. Jean is back after a six month recuperative leave-of-absence, and looks and sounds great.
George is back from … George where are you back from? We were also delighted to see George’s wife, Jo. Most people have never seen George … in a tie, which was also a treat. He came today to accept a Paul Harris Fellow award, which was a culmination of his tireless work in behalf of the club over the years, his donations and the generosity of a fellow Rotarian who help honor George by boosting him to the PHF level.
ART SHOW COMMITTEE MEETS
This past week the Art Show Committee met to lay the groundwork for our annual Art Show. As most of you know, the Los Altos Fine Art Show is the single biggest event sponsored by Los Altos Rotary. It is by far the largest source of funds used by our club to make an impact on our community and the world. As such it deserves each and every one of us to contribute to its success by our labors, minds and donations.
JERRY MOISON has chaired this successful event for the past two years, and once again will chair the event. However there is a rumor that he is looking to pass this honor off to another deserving Rotarian.
ATTENDANCE DRIVE
If you haven’t come to a meeting in a while, don’t be surprised if the lunch will cost you an extra dollar. This is by no means a penalty to you personally. We all will be paying an extra dollar for the meetings. Come to see why it is worth a buck more.
SAY CHEESE: Pardon the juxtaposition, but mark your calendar for March 4, and try to make it. MIKE HARRIGAN has arranged for a professional photographer to take a Centennial Club Picture. This will be Los Altos Rotary’s HUNDREDTH YEAR picture. Unless you plan to make the next one, don’t miss this one.
CALLING ALL RED BADGERS: Take note. April 16 - 18 is our District Conference, and you need that to complete part of your Red Badge requirements. See newly elected Board Member, SAM PESNER for details.
SECOND HARVEST Last week you received an email from TRACIE MURRAY asking for donations for the Second Harvest food program be brought to Rotary Club meeting. This coming Thursday is the last day you can bring it to Rotary. After that you will have to seek her out at Los Altos Sub Acute and Rehab Center - soooo do yourself and the beneficiaries of Second Harvest a favor and bring your food donations to our next meeting. The drive is over at the end of the month. See her email for the types to food you should bring..
CHILDREN OF THE ANDES BUD OLIVER said that there was a pretty good response to the Children of the Andes request for sponsorship. If you are interested but have not yet reacted, now is the time. Call Bud, email Bud, or see Bud at our next meeting and I am sure he will let you help.
RED TO BLUE JOHN MCDONNALL was stripped of his Red Badge status and elevated to the Blue Badge status. John’s sponsor, Paul Nyberg wasn’t there, so President Al did the honors with Membership Chairman, Steve Yarbrough officiating. This solemn ceremony was greeted by a resounding seated ovation.
FINEMASTER FOR A DAY Past President STEVE ANDERSON took advantage of his time today, and extracted mucho buckos from a whole bunch of people. He garnered 4 President Club members: GUY FARTHING, JEAN HOLLAND (she was feeling better), BAIDRA MURPHY, and LOUIS BOREL. In addition he fined BILL MOISON for, get this, donating a car to the Los Altos Police department. Steve must have had a recent run-in with our LAPD, pun intended He also fined JOHN MCDONNALL, DON WITT (for admitting he makes his own wine, award winning I might add); and JAN SCHROEDER for chairing the Mid Peninsula YMCA.
ROTARY FOUNDATION RECOGNITION
I said earlier that the Los Altos Fine Art Show “is by far the largest source of funds used by our club to make an impact on our community and the world.” While not as large dollar wise, the donations that members make to Rotary International’s Rotary Foundation are more significant, at least to me. The funds from the Art Show are very important to our work locally. However the funds that we contribute to the Foundation really tell where our heart lies. They are personal, meaningful and significant.
Past President WYATT ALLEN recognized three Double Sustainers. Double Sustainers are individuals who have doubled the normal $100 per year voluntary donation. They are: BAIDRA MURPHY, MARGE GRATIOT, and LEM SUMMEY.
Wyatt also recognized GEORGE ESTILL JR for attaining his Paul Harris Fellow (PHF), LEM SUMMEY PHF +1, one sapphire, $2,000; HARRIET HEEBINK PHF + 2, two sapphires, $3,000 and DICK DUHRING PHF +4, four sapphires, $5,000.
TELL IT LIKE IT IS President Al redefined the word Cioppino, well at least the pronunciation. Not only is President Al our President, he is also of Italian descent, in the ancestral sense, not the falling down sense. SO, when he says Chee-O-Pino, (something like the Chee-a-pet) I had to wonder, like a number of members in our club if I had wasted my life by thinking it was Chuh-PEE-noh. Alas, after quick search on the web, and the Webster International Dictionary, I was right, and we all must have heard President Al wrong. But, I am sure we have not heard the last of this.
Anyway, the point of his message I am afraid was “Lost In Translation”. The Cioppino feed is NEXT Friday. Garden House 6:30 to 10 pm $40 per person Cancellation deadline: Feb 19, 2004 Contacts: Cindy and Dave Luedtke, Joanne Byrne
WEB/COMPUTER CHALLENGED people unite. The Club Mate portion of our website is for you. It gives you your attendance (very important as you might have guessed by now) your contributions to date (also important) and other interesting things about you.
If you are reading this on line, you are halfway there. Click on MEMBER SERVICE above, then click on the underlined portion of: To connect to the Clubmate website for information for members of the Los Altos Rotary Club, click here: https://ricas.rotary.org/ri-cas/?clubid=486
Then enter your name (find it in the dropdown box) and enter your password.
DON’T KNOW IT?, CLICK ON “FORGOT YOUR PASSWORD?” and your password will be emailed to you, automatically. Retrieve it from your email account and re-log on. That is it. I went in and updated my phone numbers, so it is a good thing to check once in a while.
PROGRAM OF THE DAY JACK KELLY chaired our Annual High School Speech Contest. We had 4 very impressive contestants, two from Los Altos High and two from St. Francis.
First Place was won by Vivian Thorne from St Francis High School. Her title was “Chaos in Six Letters.” Her prize was $100, and an opportunity to continue on at the District level.
Second Place was won by Katherine Zhang of Los Altos High School. Her title was “The Real American Dream.” Her prize was $50
Third Place was won by Laurel Lathrop of Los Altos High School. Her title was “The Seeds of Connection.” Her prize was $25
Fourth Place was one by Sashaun Wood of St. Francis High School. Her title was “The Storm.” Her prize, donated by DICK HENNING was two tickets to the CELIBRITY FORUM with Garrison Keillor of Prairie Home Companion Fame. By the way, Keillor is spelled both ways, Keeler, and Keillor on the web, so I don’t know which is correct. That’s one of the problems with the web: there are no gate-keepers. GIGO (Garbage-In-Garbage-Out)
See you Thursday, or be square
Programs and Events
February
Feb. 26: Melinda Cervantes, "Keep Our Library Strong"
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 15 and 16: Rotary Fine Art Show
May 21: Fellowship NightJune
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 2004 The Los Altos Rotary Club