MEETING OF MARCH 25, 2004
By Wyatt AllenEditor: Dick Blanding
The meeting started with a robust Pledge of Allegiance, but we stumbled with the lyrics of “I’m Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover” that JOHN SYLVESTER attempted to lead us through. There was a greater amount of humming in the middle of the song than usually warranted. After all, St. Patrick’s Day was only a week ago!
IRENE PRESTON led our recovery from lyric stumbling, with a story about a third grader who learned how to deal with frustrations and disappointments. Life is much easier if you can learn how to say “Oh Well!” when things happen you cannot control or influence. Some of us are still trying to learn that one hint to a happier life.
MEMBER NEWS:
Past President GEORGE PERHAM has successfully undergone open heart surgery at Sequoia Hospital and has been released. He is recuperating at his home on a vineyard near Paso Robles. We wish him a speedy and comfortable recovery.
Announced by SAM PESNER, member GEORGE DAI also had successful surgery recently to repair kidney blockage and he is home recuperating as well. Good luck to GEORGE, too!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Pres. AL TRAFICANTI informed us that our attendance at weekly meetings has improved at least somewhat lately. Please encourage other members you know and who have not been attending regularly to come to meetings more often. It would be nice to see more of our members and for us to enjoy their fellowship.
IRENE PRESTON is looking for Rotarian volunteers to deliver food to the other volunteers who are working at the RotaCare Clinic at the El Camino YMCA location.
Let IRENE know if you can help support the valuable volunteers of this wonder clinic.
Pres. AL provided a brief description of the Alpha-Omega Program our club supports (standing in for TRACIE MURRAY). This program is sponsored by the Community Services Agency (CSA), seventeen local churches and a number of service organizations. It is a 90-day program for individuals who have recovered from drug or alcohol addiction that are preparing themselves to get back into the workforce. Our club provides one hot meal each month to these folks in support of the program. Sign up to provide a dinner and stay and talk with the folks to provide encouragement and support. There is more information about Alpha-Omega in your club handbook.
SAM PESNER commandeered the podium for multiple announcements:
· The District Conference is April 15-18 at Doubletree Hotel in San Jose. There are a number of great speakers, including two past Rotary international presidents, and Sam encourages us to sign up for speakers and/or informational sessions.
· Art Show signups are in the works. About half the club has signed up (wouldn’t you know it! the beer and wine booth jobs have been taken already!). He encourages you to sign up now or be willing to do take on some of the less desirable jobs that are remaining to be filled. To create a successful “Fine Art in the Park,” it takes all of us, and many more, to make it happen. Encourage your friends and neighbors to help as well. Contact JOHN CARDOZA, SAM PESNER, or VAL CARPENTER with your availability to work at the art show. Let’s make the 2004 show the most successful ever! Our community benefits.
STEVE YARBROUGH answered the question why former Rotarians, even prior members of our club, are required to go through the Red Badge steps. The answer was “Because that’s the rule!” STEVE provided further explanation that the purpose is to become familiar with all the members of our club and begin the networking process that makes you feel connected to our club. Since membership of larger clubs is always in a state of flux, this is a way of assuring a new member will become an involved member.
JERRY TOMANEK informed the club that a committee has been formed to look at the efficiency and cost of providing a club handbook to each member as well as what other alternatives might be available in its place. The committee is chaired by DICK HASENPFLUG and other members include MARLENE COWAN, STEVE GRUBER, MIKE HARRIGAN, BRNDA NIEDERT, and PAUL NYBERG. If you have any ideas that might help, please share them with a member of this committee.
JIM COCHRAN, Rotarian from Mountain View, presented a plague commemorating our clubs commitment to support the RotaCare Clinic located at the El Camino YMCA. Our club (along with the Mountain View and Sunnyvale Rotary Clubs) has provided funds to help make this valuable community resource a success. There is a great demand to expand the hours of operations to make the clinic available those that now have to be turned away. He asked any of us who knows a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, interpreter, social worker or person with medical office experience to encourage them to consider volunteering at the RotaCare Clinic. The clinic can be open only as long as there are capable volunteers to provide medical services. Many potential patients are turned away due to limited hours. With more volunteers, the clinic can be open more hours and serve a greater good. If interested in helping, or anyone you know that may be interested in lending a valuable hand, call GLENDA CRESPO, (650) 988-7603.
JACK KELLY, our speech contest chair, announced (after the meeting) that the winner of our recent speech contest, Vivian Thorne, won the Area speech contest March 26th. We all wish her continued success as she competes March 30th at the Campbell-San Jose West Club. If she's successful there, you can see her competing at the District Conference on Sunday morning, April 18th. Good luck, Vivian, we’re all rooting for you!
“Going once!, going twice!., sold!” Those words were uttered numerous times today as DICK HENNING led the live auction, and he indeed kept it very lively. An itch of the ear or a reach for the water pitcher would easily have made you the purchaser of one of the many fine items auctioned off for the Red Badgers’ auction this day. Instead of raising a few hundred dollars for our club this week, our task was to raise a much greater sum for a much needed international project.
This year, the Red Badgers chose as their cause “Operation Rainbow.” Using a power point presentation, MIKE HARRIGAN informed those assembled that “Operation Rainbow” was an effort by experienced medical volunteers to provide reconstructive surgery to children and adults who could otherwise never afford the benefit of needed surgery. The particular effort this auction was to support is a trip in July to Nicaragua to provide reconstructive surgery for approximately 40 patients. Slides showed examples of the extreme cases that benefit from these volunteer efforts. Those individuals who benefit from this project are able to proudly lead normal, productive lives, where without the surgery, they would be dependent upon others for their survival.
A great big “Thank You” goes to the generosity of many Rotarians and a few local businesses that donated items for the silent and live auctions. The goal was to raise enough funds through the auction to offset the $7,000 cost for medical supplies that will be needed by the medical volunteers for the July project in Nicaragua. Well folks, thanks to your generosity we exceeded the $7,000 goal in the live auction alone! The results of the silent auction will only improve those results. In our own small way, we will greatly impact the life of each individual the project in Nicaragua is able to benefit.
Several wondered why DICK HENNING used so many examples of aging and old age to promote some of the auction items. The answer may have come from another Rotarian who noted that DICK has a birthday coming in early April, so he must be more cognizant of the aging process than normal. Come to think of it, aren’t we all?!?!
Hope to see you at the District Conference. Remember, you don’t have to attend the entire event. Pick a speaker and/or informational session (forum) and sign up at www.rotary5170.org. There is a cost for any of the meals, but everything else is free!
Programs and Events
April
April 1st - Liz KnissApril 7: Dinner at Chef Chu's
April 8th - Mountain View High School Madrigal Singers- Spring Program
April 15th - Michael Marlaire, NASA Ames- Development of the Research Park at NASA Ames
April 22nd -
May
May 6th -May 7: Golf Tournament
May 13th -
May 15 and 16: Rotary Fine Art Show
May 27th - Rotary Scholarships
JuneJune 3rd - Partners for New Generations Recognition Luncheon
June 10th - LAREF Annual Meeting/ Art Show Recognition
June 17th - Rotary Aids Project- Update
June 24th - End of Rotary Year Celebration
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