Upcoming Events:

Next Week's Program: 
   7 July  -  President Marlene - Club Assembly
 

 12 July - LAREF 5:15 pm

14 July  - CACF Report

21 July  - Samina Faheem Sundas - Understanding Islam

28 July  - Ted Garrett - LAVA

See Programs for all of the important dates.

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We kicked off our meeting in high spirits today, as a helmeted, soon-to-be-ex-President CINDY prepared to meet her fate.  The future looked rosy, though, as new President Marlene led us in the salute to the flag, and the enthusiasm carried over to a lusty singing of Waltzing Matilda, led by our bona fide Aussie  BRUCE CANN on the piano. 

President Elect MARLENE pointed out that next week's meeting will be the first of the new century of Rotary.  JOAN ROSELLE provided a thought for the day that was just the opposite of "cheesy", our theme of the past year.  She passed along the observation that, "regardless of the standards of behavior popular at the time, if one person will stand up for ethical behavior, others will follow." 

Among our many distinguished guests were our DG Ron and his wife; Los Altos Mayor pro tem Ron Packard; and Dave, Matt, and Hannah Luedtke.

 JEANNE MACVICAR and JOHN MOSS reported the results of last weekend's Relay for Life.  Our LARC team had 24 walkers, 19 of which were members.   John said our team raised over $6500 so far, perhaps over $7000 when all is tallied.  He asked everyone in the room who had been on one team or another from church, scouts, school, Art Docents, companies, etc. to stand up, and about half the Rotarians in the room stood.  Jeanne then revealed that the local Relay for Life effort had produced over $430,000 so far, and may wind up exceeding half a million.  We are #1 in the nation in online contributions!  Congratulations to both of these leaders, and to all who participated.  We'll all benefit as cancer is conquered.

 LARRY CHU, classification 49er fan, introduced our 15th new member of the current year, AMELIA HO.  She is a former San Jose Rotarian who saw the light, and is now joining the top club in the world, thanks to Past President JACK HEIDMILLER, her sponsor. 

 Past President SAM HARDING offered the final opportunity to become a cheese head to all present, and incredibly, several folks volunteered.  Past President BOB ADAMS was honored for his birthday and 100% attendance, which he modestly attributed to always reporting the committee meetings he's in.  Bob has really spent a lot of time coaching basketball this year, frequently involving noon games.  Cindy also said that LEE LYNCH was tied with Past President GINNY LEAR, at a record of 190 consecutive meetings either attended or made up. 

Many other Rotarians were also recognized for their contributions to the success of Cindy's year.  She announced that Past President MEL KAHN is the new President of Rotacare.  JOE CORRAL was honored for his leadership in the club's efforts on behalf of victims of the Tsunami.

In her final official act as President Cindy, she introduced her son Matt (13) and her daughter Hannah (11), and in an emotional presentation, awarded each of them with a genuine Paul Harris Fellowship.  Cindy noted that Matt had begun his volunteer career as a toddler, helping at the Art Show that year, and is still helping.  This year he was the Senior Scout Leader of the large contingent of Troop 37 scouts who worked with us at the Art Show.  And Hannah, by selling bracelets, was instrumental in our club's raising of thousands of dollars to help victims of the Tsunami earlier this year.  There were hugs all around among the new Paul Harris Fellows and their mom.

Marlene provided a brief report of the fabulous experience of attending the 100th Anniversary Rotary International Convention in Chicago last week.  Two separate groups of LARC members traveled by train to the convention.  There were lots of excellent speakers and workshops, and Roy even arranged for a tour via the EL, the elevated railway for which the city is known. 

At this point, President Cindy donned her football helmet and prepared for the kickout festivities to begin. 

Past president AL TRAFICANTI called on DAVE LUEDTKE to show the 70 best slides of Cindy's year, gleaned from over 1000 reviewed.  President Elect, Elect SAM PESNER, soon to become just one President-elect, gave a stirring oratory, touching on all the wonderful attributes of "Super Cindy."  JOHN SINES offered a fascinating insight into Cindy's early years, feeding the goats at a young age so they'd make gouda cheesa, and later working in a huge cheese factory, far up on the cheese "cracker" stacks.  We often use crackers today in connection with cheeses. 

The earnest and diligent young Cindy would walk miles from her home to the factory for an eight hour shift.  Her personal preference was reported to be Velveeta, which of course isn't really a cheese at all, but there you have it.  A whole collection of remarks about Cindy's current employer, First Republic Bank, was prudently deleted from his presentation by John, since her boss was a visitor to our club today. 

MARLIS MCALLISTER delivered a wonderful scrapbook of Cindy's year, which she had assembled from over 600 photographs. 

And our District Governor Ron,   after making a short speech, had Cindy, Dave, Matt and Hannah join him in a quintet, to sing the praises of our outgoing president.  It was a moving experience for all in attendance. 

The final event of the day was provided by the Cheesehead Chorale, led by JOHN SYLVESTER, in stirring renditions of C-I-N-D-Y, sung to the tune of B-I-N-G-O, and other well known favorites like We Love You Cindy, and something to the tune of the Hokey Pokey. 

Al closed the meeting with the familiar admonition, to work hard at doing good things, and don't forget to have fun!