MEETING OF October 21, 2004
Rotator Writer: Wyatt Allen
Editor: Dick Blanding
BEGINNINGS: BOB ADAMS initiated the proceedings by leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance and JOAN ROSSELLE followed by leading a round of “California Here I Come.” Several members commented that up until seeing the printed lyrics, they had been singing the wrong words to this old, familiar tune.
RICK GLAZE read a poem by Dillon Thomas that will make us think deeply (for a change?).
MARLENE COWAN introduced visiting Rotarians (including a visitor from Honduras and Jerry Fitzgerald from Santa Cruz Rotary) and guests (including JOANNA MEDIN’S mom and Joan Mcvickers (who, along with her husband, were behind the tremendously successful first year “Relay For Life”).
ANNOUNCEMENTS: MARLENE COWAN reminded us that Gloria Hom will make her (almost) annual visit to describe the various Propositions which will appear on your ballot Nov. 2nd. Bring your pencil, pad and shorthand to create your own crib notes. Pres. CINDY introduced several guest from the Los Altos Golf and Country Club and hinted that we may have some of our future meetings at the LAGCC, including Veterans’ Day November 11th.
BUD OLIVER, having returned from two months in Michigan, presented cheese from that distinguished state that he avers is better than cheese from Wisconsin. In fact, there were people spotted in line to buy Michigan cheese who were from Wisconsin.
JULIE ROSE announced that the annual Los Altos Chamber of Commerce Directory is available for distribution.
PAT GRAY announced an opportunity to support the Pathways Hospice Foundation and get a little early holiday shopping accomplished at the same time. Bloomingdales will make donations for every ticket presented and the shopper will receive 15% savings on purchases on Oct. 26th. Shop early and often! Everybody wins!
BEN McGANN reminded us that there will be flu shots for eligible members before the meeting of Oct. 28th. Shots should be available beginning at 11:30. Make checks payable to Rotacare Clinic and enter “donation” on the memo line. Because of the widespread shortage of flu vaccine, shots will be limited to the following candidates: 65 or older, or if under 65, those with any chronic disease, such as asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease or other at-risk groups. Make donation checks payable to “MV RotaCare Clinic.”
DENNIS POTTER reminded us that 2005 calendars illustrated by local Los Altos artists are on sale of $10 each.
BRUCE CANN reported on the reception held by COANQUEM where Los Altos Rotary accounted for $2,800 in contributions. Thanks to BRUCE CANN, LEE LYNCH and others for their generosity.
PAUL NYBERG asked for a clarification of our Veterans’ Day celebration. The rosters on the table were designed to identify everyone known to us that might have served in the armed forces, not just members of our Los Altos Rotary Club. We would like to invite as many local veterans of WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq War and other conflicts in which US service men and women have served.
Please respect Pres. CINDY’S efforts to plan out the meeting by contacting her a day or two before Thursday meetings if you need time for an announcement. Standard announcements should be kept to a minute or less. If you need additional time, consideration can be made for a “special announcement.” Let CINDY know in advance and she will do what she can to accommodate.
RECOGNITION: MONA ARMISTEAD, responding to a thunderous ovation (well, actually a hand clap or two from table #1) began by recognizing those Rotarians who had participated in the recent Follies for the Bus Barn Theater. ALAN LAMBERT, JOHN SYLVESTER and RICK GLAZE (even though it was his wife, NANCY, who performed this year) received appropriate attention and JOHN responded with a solo from that performance. If you haven’t attended a Follies event in the past, you’ve missed some good entertainment and great fun! Low carbohydrate dieters were the focus of the next fining topic and several ponied up for pounds lost. JULIE ROSE paid for having put on a dinner to raise money for the History House Museum, STEVE SHEPHERD for a reception through in his honor by his new employer (Northern Trust), and GINNY LEAR for her letter to the editor in the Town Crier encouraging more women to run for public office.
GINNY LEAR announced the first Rotary Foundation double sustainers ($200 or more) for the 2004-05 campaign: BOB ADAMS, KAREN FOX, MARY MARLEY and SAM PESNER received their recognition pins.
WYATT ALLEN presented LEE LYNCH with a Paul Harris Society pin for her generous contributions for the 2004-05 year.
CORRECTION TO LAST WEEK’S ROTATOR: It was reported last week that MATT CABOT will be the new liaison to the Alta Vista Interact Club. While Matt would love to do that, and is flattered that the Rotator Writer mistook him for his son, the actual person who will be the new liaison to Alta Vista Interact will in fact be Redbadger, MIKE CABOT.
FUN FELLOWSHIPS (added by Webmaster as late breaking news) Several weeks ago we had a speaker who talked about the innumerable “fellowship” clubs that Rotary sponsors to promote fellowship among its members. He was talking above one of the aviation fellowships. Another one, is the biking/cycling fellowship.
Here is a picture of JACK HEIDMILLER, DICK HASENPFLUG, and ED SOX as they participate in the 15th annual ride around Lake Tahoe on Friday, September 24th.
SPEAKER OF THE DAY: Our speaker today ventured all the way from South Africa to share his passions with us. Nick Phillips, current District Governor form District #9270, provided us with insights as to the extent of challenges faced by the Rotary Clubs of southern Africa. Rotary is thinly spread with a number of fairly small clubs attempting to accomplish a great deal of good in southern Africa.
He began by describing the continent of Africa with words such as opportunity and optimism. Southern Africa is heavily influenced by the Zulu population and a number of other native African tribes, numbering 14 million in all. Caucasians make up barely five percent of the total population. Other than major cities, such as the capital of Durban, and a few other small cities, much of the country is rural in nature. Weather and topography is not dissimilar to California's.
He related that since the numbers of Rotary clubs and Rotarians are relatively small, the service clubs focus much of their efforts in the areas of health issues, water quality, adult and child literacy, and growing the Rotary influence. The manner of assistance is typically in conjunction with other Rotary clubs around the world, including those in our District #5170.
When he speaks of health issues, they are many, varied, and massive in scope. The largest issue is one our Los Altos club can relate….the AIDS pandemic. It has been predicted that by 2010 there could be as many as 3Million AIDS orphans in South Africa. The pandemic is so great that it could affect as many as one in four or possibly one in three of the total population if unchecked. Everything is being done with tremendously limited resources to provide medical facilities, treatment and care to people not only inflicted with AIDS, but polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis, typhoid, cholera, yellow fever, etc. With parents dying of AIDS daily, the challenge is how to provide as close to a normal upbringing to these orphans as possible, using foster homes and other caring living environments. The capacity to assimilate literally millions of orphaned children is far beyond the capacity of the countries and the healthy population.
In many counties such as the United States, we can take the quality of our drinking water for granted (relatively speaking, of course!). In southern Africa, most of the population drinks untreated, polluted water, causing massive, widespread health problems. Rotary assists communities to build water storage tanks and safe drinking water for schools and communities at large, in attempts to reduce widespread sickness and death. Kids even play on water pumps designed to appear as playground equipment so everyone can get into the act and improve their living environment.
Literacy is a major problem facing southern Africa as well. The multitude of different languages makes communication difficult enough without considering the remoteness of many rural inhabitants. Building of school class rooms, provision of teaching supplies, special schools for mentally handicapped and self-help programs for adults, have been funded and initiated by Rotarians to help the people help themselves to a better existence. There is so much that needs to be done in order to make even slight improvements to the standard of living and state of health of much of the population of southern Africa. It appears few Rotarians have such daunting challenges, just to elevate the standard of living of their neighbors to that above the survival stage.
I can’t speak for the rest of you who attended the meeting, but I certainly don’t take as much for granted this week as I did before NICK PHILLIPS’ presentation. Southern Africa may share a similar climate and topography with California, but I’m glad the similarities end there. Could you imagine facing so many daunting challenges?
I had the pleasure of sitting beside AL LIGTENBERG who is about to set off again for the benefit of others. He is going to visit the children’s burn center near Santiago, Chile that our club has heard about recently. His mission is to introduce solar cooking to the region with the aim of greatly reducing the incidence of rehabilitating burns to young children from cooking and stove accidents in rural, economically challenged regions of South America. Perhaps a different part of the world but with a similar purpose. Help others to help themselves to improved living conditions. Great effort, AL!
Programs and Events
Note: Meetings of the board of directors are held at the Bank of Los Altos Community Room, 369 S. San Antonio Road.
Meetings of the LAREF board are held at the Masonic Lodge, 146 Main Street.
Note: Meetings of the board of directors are held at the Heritage Bank (Formally Bank of Los Altos)
Community Room, 369 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos.
Meetings of the LAREF board are held at the Masonic Lodge, 146 Main Street, Los Altos.
LARC Los Altos Rotary Club
LAREF Los Altos Rotary Endowment Foundation
PNG Partners for a New Generation
October
Oct. 21 - Nick Phillips, Foundation Drive: Partners in Service from South Africa
Oct. 28 - Propositions review by Gloria Hom
Oct. 29 - Friday Night Fellowship
November
Nov. 3 - PNG meeting, Heritage Bank Community Room, 8:15 a.m.
Nov. 4 - Stroke Alert by Bob Parsons
Nov. 4 - LAREF board, 5:15 p.m.
Nov. 10 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
Nov. 11 - Salute to WWII veterans at Los Altos Golf & Country Club
Nov. 18 - Lynne Satterwhite, new LAHS Principal and Rich Fischer, Superintendent of the MVLA High School DistrictNov. 19 - National Philanthropy Day Awards Luncheon, 11:30 am, San Jose Fairmont, $70 per person. Los Altos Rotary to be honored.
Nov. 25 -No LARC meeting
Nov. 26 - Thanksgiving holiday
Nov. 28 - Festival of Lights Parade and Party
December
Dec. 1 - PNG meeting, Heritage Bank Community Room, 8:15 a.m.
Dec. 2 - LAREF board, 5:15 p.m.
Dec. 2 - Dude Angius and Mary Prochnow - World AIDS Day
Dec. 8 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
Dec. 9 - Community Services Agency program
Dec. 15 - Holiday Party
Dec. 16 - Main Street Singers Holiday Program
Dec. 23 - No LARC meeting
Dec. 30 - No LARC meeting
January
Jan. 5 - PNG meeting, Heritage Bank Community Room, 8:15 a.m.
Jan. 6 - LAREF board, 5:15 p.m.
Jan. 6 - Symphony Silicon Valley by Andrew Bales, Director
Jan. 12 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
Jan. 12 - PNG Mentor Training, MVLA Board Room, Noon
Jan. 13 - Building Intuit by Tom Lefevre
Jan. 14 - Friday Night Fellowship
Jan. 20 - New Developments at Foothill College by Bernadine Fong, President Foothill College
February
Feb. 2 - PNG meeting, Heritage Bank Community Room, 8:15 a.m.
Feb. 3 - LAREF board, 5:15 p.m.
Feb. 9 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
Feb. 10 - Club Assembly
Feb. 14 - Speech Contest
Feb. 17 - Four Way Test Presentation (speech contest meeting)
Feb. 23 - Centennial anniversary of the founding of Rotary
March
Mar. 2 - PNG meeting, Heritage Bank Community Room, 8:15 a.m.
Mar. 3 - LAREF board, 5:15 p.m.
Mar. 4 - Cioppino Feed
Mar. 9 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
Mar. 10 - Decision-Making by Jeff Foran
Mar. 18 - Friday Night Fellowship
Mar. 23 - PNG Mentor Training, MVLA Board Room, Noon
April
Apr. 6 - PNG meeting, Heritage Bank Community Room, 8:15 a.m.
Apr. 7 - LAREF board, 5:15 p.m.
Apr. 13 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
Apr. 13 - Dinner at Chef Chu's
Apr. 29 - Golf Tourney
May
May 4 - PNG meeting, Heritage Bank Community Room, 8:15 a.m.
May 5 - LAREF board, 5:15 p.m.
May 5 - Cinco de Mayo Celebration by Russ Clark of Estrellita's
May 11 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
May 14-15 Rotary Fine Art Show, Lincoln Park
May 19 - District Golf Tourney
May 20-22 - District Conference
May 26 - Scholarship Awards
June
June 2 - LAREF board, 5:15 p.m.
June 2 - PNG Volunteer Luncheon, Garden House, Noon
June 2 - LAREF & Art Show reports
June 8 - Board of Directors, 7:30 a.m.
June 8 - PNG meeting, Heritage Bank Community Room, 8:15 a.m.
June 9 - Partners for New Generations - mentor appreciation
June 18 - 22 - Rotary International Convention in Chicago
July
July 1 - Kick-Out 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: China Shuttle, 22382 Homestead Road, Cupertino, 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
