MEETING OF JULY 8, 2004
By Dick Blanding
We surely honored the International part of Rotary International today, as we zoomed from Cabo to Katmandu then Bosnia to Azerbajian.
Our Pledge of Allegiance was led by Bill Stone, President of the Los Altos Sunset Club, and was followed by Seth and Sammy Kahn's old favorite, Smile. It was nice to have the lyrics up on the screen, so all of our newest Rotarians could learn the words without having to struggle for a year or two. Kirt Hueg provided the thoughts for the day, with a Scandinavian slant. I think the last one was something like, "If bad times go to worse, the old bad times change to looking pretty good."
President-elect Marlene introduced visiting Rotarians and guests. In the former category was President Cindy's very own sponsor Tom Mooney, who is now President-elect of the Los Altos Sunset Club.
Tracie Murray presented a pin, in lieu of a banner or flag, from a club she visited in Cabo San Lucas recently. Bella Berlly reminded us that the first wine and cheese party of the new regime will be held at Cindy's house, at 7 p.m. on July 16th. Sign up soon!
Cindy encouraged all to attend some of the Rotary seminars coming soon:
Rotary Foundation- Tuesday, July 27th in Hayward
Thursday, July 29th in San Jose at the Doubletree, 6:00-8:30 PM
Membership - Tuesday, July 20th in Hayward, or
Thursday, July 22nd 6:00-8:30 PM in San Jose at the Double Tree
All related Directors, committee chairs, and committee members should attend. Contact Sam Pesner or Ginny Lear for Foundation and Larry Chu for Membership
Bob Adams introduced recent high school graduate Amy Lippe, who had participated in a group project in Nepal. Our club had provided part of the funding for this fine project of improving and adding to a school in a small town near Katmandu. Amy described her travels in a country which is beset by an ongoing Communist insurrection which actually affected their trip, and her pictures of the school project were fascinating.
Dick Blanding provided a Cheesehead Moment from his recent trip visit to the Midwest, followed by a little insight into how things went during the early days of bringing women into Rotary for the first time.
Finemaster Dan O'Donnell was reminded by Cindy that the President's Club this year meant becoming a Big Cheese, not a cheesehead. Lucy Rasmussen will celebrate her birthday this year by becoming the former, and Marty Spangler contributed $49 to honor his 49 years of wedded bliss.
Marlene recognized several members of our club for their work with the Rotacare Clinic, which is our club's Centennial project:
Dr. Ben McGann - sits our Clinic's Advisory Council which is composed of representatives from all three clubs: MV, Sunnyvale, and LARC.
Dan O'Donnell - also sits on Advisory Council
Dr. Jack Higgins, regularly volunteers his medical skills and also sits on the Board of Directors of RotaCare Bay Area, the umbrella organization for all 9 RotaCare Clinics. Jack is also Medical Director for RotaCare Bay Area.
Irene Preston - manages volunteers to deliver food twice a week Mon & Wed. to the Clinic. (She wants to recognize the 20 local restaurants donating this food. She needs more restaurant contributors, as well as volunteers to transport the food.)
Marlene then asked Julie Rose to present our check for $15,000--the third and final payment to complete our $50,000 gift to Rotacare --to the Chairman of the Advisory Council, Jim Cochran of Mt. View Rotary Club. This clinic is now located at El Camino Hospital, and is supported by three Rotary Clubs: Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Los Altos.
Following this presentation, Julie, who is the new Chair of LAREF, introduced the remaining members of the Board of Trustees:
Firooz Ghaffari, Vice President
Sam Pesner, Secretary
Bella Berlly, Treasurer and Investment Committee
Mary Marley, Contributions Committee chair
Marian Tavenner
Marlene Cowan, Cindy Luedtke, Al Traficanti
Julie also thanked Paul Conard for providing accounting for LAREF. And Steve Anderson, for his having served as last year's chair of LAREF.
Dick Henning introduced our speaker for the day, Gloria Duffy. She is president and CEO of the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, and has served as Deputy Assistant Sec'y. of Defense in the Clinton administration. She holds a PhD and two master's degrees from Columbia University, and was the recipient of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service. Her specialty is in the area of arms control and weapons agreements, and her recent tour of several countries with 45 other civilians was the subject of her talk today. Dr. Duffy described the changeover our military from the old WW II format required for fighting large standing armies, to the new format we are implementing in order to meet the threat of international terrorism on a worldwide basis. Her slides of the group as it toured various airbases and special forces units showed some of the methods and processes which are changing in order to bring the new format to the field. They had been scheduled to visit Baghdad as well, but the recent spate of attacks on civilians there led to alternative destinations, which included Western Europe, Bosnia, and Azerbaijan.
Reminder from President Cindy:
CELEBRATE ROTARY THIS WEEK
Do some serious work, and by all means have fun and find joy in doing it!
Programs and Events
July
July 15 - Don McDonald, History of Los Altos
July 16 - Wine and cheese at the Luedtke's, 6:30 p.m.July 22 - Sam Bishop, Rotary Flying Fellowship
July 29 - Rick Salazar, Therapy Pets
August
August 5 - Bernadine Fong, New Developments at Foothill College
August 12 -
August 19 - Steve Gruber, Rotary on the Web, at Foothill College’s Krause Center for Innovation (not at Garden House)
August 26 - Ron Sekkel, District Governor’s Visit
September
Sept. 2 - Richard Walker, Expanding Market in China
Sept. 9 -
Sept. 16 - Mary Alice Rathbun, RotaPlast
Sept. 23 - David Sloss, West Bay Opera in our Community
Sept. 30 - Larry Rinsky, Operation Rainbow in Nicaragua
OTHER ROTARY CLUB MEETING PLACES
On-line Meeting: www.rotaryeclubone.org
MONDAY
Palo Alto: Rickey's Hyatt House, 12:15 p.m.
TUESDAY
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