This Week's Program: 
WCS Presentation -Allart Lightenberg and David Smith
 

Upcoming Events:
June 9th:  Golf Tournament
June 15th: Meeting: (EOC)  Dolores Davison   Exploring Eastern Europe 
 

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To District 5170

Greeters JACK KELLY and MICHAEL STADLEN met their fellow Rotarians at the door, giving a hug or a handshake to all.  President MARLENE COWAN, coming into the home stretch of a year’s flawless time management, opened the meeting promptly at 12:15 p.m.  BRUCE CANN led us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and RICK GLAZE got us through a lively rendition of “You Are My Sunshine.”  RICH FISCHER provided the Thought for the Day, quoting from that well-known philosopher, Kermit the Frog.

President-elect SAM PESNER presided over the introduction of guests.  We had one visiting Rotarian, David Hammer from Weaverville, who is a lawyer specializing in senior law, as well as District 5160 RYLA chair.  JEAN MORDO’s guest was Walter Wilson, a retired manufacturer’s representative, and newly-moved to Los Altos Hills.   RICH FISCHER introduced BARRY GROVES, the soon to be new Superintendent of the Los Altos Mountain View High School District.

The announcements portion of our program was kicked off by KENDRA GJERSETH, with a moving plea for more support for our Relay for Life event later this month.  So far, less than 40 percent of LARC members have signed up to support the effort, and fund raising is way behind schedule.  To support this effort, just go to the LARC website, and you’ll find it easy to sign up to participate or pledge your donation.

President MARLENE COWAN had a number of announcements to make.  Here they are, in short form;

• The dedication of Cann Quad at Eastside College Preparatory School is slated for July 13 at 5:30 p.m., 1041 Myrtle Street, East Palo Alto.  For a number of years, BRUCE CANN has been making gifts to the school in memory of his late wife, Shelagh.  He recently made a larger gift to celebrate his newly extended lease-on-life, and invites his fellow Rotarians to join him in the celebration on July 13th.
• The retirement party for RICH FISCHER is slated for June 7^th from 4 – 7 p.m in Cuesta Park, Mountain View.  Dinner will be provided by Armadillo Willy’s, with wine/bartending from LARC and the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce.  The dinner is free, but those who want to attend should please r.s.v.p. in advance to Mary Moore at 940-4669.  The School District has set up a scholarship fund to honor Rich, and contributions may be sent to the Los Altos Community Foundation, 183 Hillview Ave., Los Altos 94022.
• News from the District 5170 Cabinet meeting of May 31 includes: 

a)  John Moss’s new volunteer job at the reception table for district cabinet meetings
b) LARC’s receipt of a Presidential Citation for its membership growth, as well as District and Zone Literacy Awards
c) Cindy Luedtke’s current role on the District 5170 Membership Committee (a token of appreciation from District Governor Arlene Greenberg was awarded)
d) Rotary Day at the A’s is slated for July 29, and $6 of each ticket purchased goes to RYLA camperships
e) The Foundation cruise raised $35,000.

• Free passes to six Bus Barn painters are still available for the production of “John & Jen,” which is running through June 10.
• New Explorers are encouraged to pick up their jotters
• A recognition banner with the names of those who contribute to the Los Altos Rotary Endowment Fund (LAREF) and Rotary International’s Foundation (TRF) will soon be ordered to post on a permanent felt banner.  One of LARC’s Endowment Fund goals is to grow our corpus so that interest earned each year will supplement the funds our club can contribute to worthy non-profit organizations. This will be especially important in rainy or uncertain years when Art Show income could be affected.  The list of donor titles comes from the Club Handbook. Please check to see if the acronyms next to your own name are correct and complete. If missing or incorrect, please contact Marlene immediately, because the special badge order will be placed next week.  Levels of funding are as follows:
  • LARL  - Los Altos Rotary Legacy – those designating a bequest or memorial gift from their will or estate to the Los Altos Rotary Endowment Fund Corpus Account. (There are already 3 LARL’s in our club)   
  • LAF - Los Altos Fellow – a donation has been made in the name of the person so designated to LAREF Corpus Account in the amount of $5000 or more. (1 LAF)
  • GSF - Guy Shoup Fellow - a donation has been made in the name of the person to LAREF Corpus Account in the amount of $1000 or more (but less than $5000). (12 GSF’s)
  • REN - Rotary Benefactor– those designating a bequest or memorial gift from their will or estate to The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. (2 REN’s in our club)
  • PHF - Paul Harris Fellow - a donation has been made in the name of the person to The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International in the amount of $1000 or more. (92 PHF’s in our club at last count)

A Service Above Self award was given to SHAYNE CORNWELL, who in his brief time of membership in LARC has done a number of important services, including coaching Alta Vista’s soccer team twice a week for the month of May. 

Finemaster, DENNIS YOUNG had a healthy impact on the club’s coffers, as he rounded up a number of folks who were on their way to the Explorers’ Club but hadn’t yet reached it.  With the helpful prodding of our finemaster, 15 people joined the Explorers’ Club on June 1.  President MARLENE COWAN reminded new Explorers to pick up their Los Altos Rotary jotters.




Ballots were passed for an election for a new member of the Los Altos Rotary Endowment Fund (LAREF) Board of Trustees, and LEE LYNCH was elected.  Congratulations, Lee! 

The program part of our meeting had two sessions.  The first was a report from HERB MARSHALL on the 23^rd annual Los Altos Rotary Fine Art in the Park show.  Herb showed photos of Rotarians in action and thanked everyone for their hard work.  Final show receipts won’t be known for a couple of weeks, after which Herb will let us know how much money we made. 
GINNY LEAR read some of the notes artists had written her.  The general themes were gratitude for the hospitality we show toward the artists and general appreciation for the classiness of the show.  KATIE NUTTER received the baton as “grand poobah” for the 2007 show, and wondered aloud what the female equivalent of that word is. 

The second part of our program was a report by LAREF president, MARY MARLEY.  Some summary information:

• LAREF Board of Directors for 2005-2006 were:  MARY MARLEY (president), BELLA BERLY (Investment Committee), TRACY MURRAY (Secretary), DENNIS YOUNG (Treasurer, Contributions Committee), FIROOZ GHAFFARI (succeeded by LEE LYNCH in ’06), SETH MANNING (Contributions Committee), CINDY LUEDTKE (past LARC president), MARLENE COWAN (current LARC president), SAM PESNER, (LARC president-elect), and MIKE SPENCE (non-voting, accountant). 
• LAREF income for the 2005-2006 fiscal year, as of 4/28/06, was $72,356.  Of that, $64,900 was from the art show. 
• LAREF grants for the same period totaled $43,450.  Of that, 54.4 percent went to the community, 4.1 percent to the Rotary AIDS Project, 19.7 percent to World Community Service, and 21.8 percent to scholarships.  These proportions reflect LARC members’ priorities identified earlier in the year.
• LAREF’s corpus, which is the base of assets that are invested to provide income for LAREF, stands at $422,181 as of May 5, 2006.  This compares to $377,407 on June 5, 2005. 
• Members are encouraged to include LAREF in their wills or estate planning.