This Week's Program: 
3  - 10 Minute talks
 

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Life has its firsts: first steps, first car, first “real” job.   And now, it’s the first time writing the Rotator.  Bear with me!

  Upon the writer’s late arrival, the thought of the day was being said by HUGH RIDDELL.  During this thought(s), HUGH pointed out that Noah’s Ark was constructed by amateurs and The Titanic by professionals.

JOHN HAMBLIN, Membership Director, took the podium along with co-sponsors PP BOB ADAMS and PAUL NYBERG to induct our newest Red Badger, KEN GRAHAM into the club. John pointed out that, although we all have our reasons to join Rotary (curing polio, educating the world on AIDs, winning the district softball title, etc.,  KEN GRAHAM must have a very good reason, as it’s his fifth club to join!   Ken’s been working in his field of healthcare for over 35 years (point of reference: the writer’s age), and he was a co-founder of the current RotaCare program, now over 15-years-old.

PRESIDENT SAM led the way (get it, Lead the Way?) with announcements.

1) JANE REED is taking donations this week for the Rotary trip going to Mexico.  Please see JANE with your clothes, monetary donations, etc.
2) There is a 5170 leadership seminar: see PRES SAM.
3) Thursday 2/15, there is a program led by Linda Price at the Doubletree hotel, which instructs how to deal with personal & professional skills for conflict resolution.
4) TOM LISTON announced that the Poker tournament is on!  Get your mirrored sunglasses out, dust them off, and mark your calendars for Friday, March 9^th ,7-11pm at the Historic Adobe Building in Mt. View.
5) BAIDRA MURPHY (photographer this week) announced that you can now get your photos and equipment back from the once Los Altos Camera.
6) KATHY BERRY is still looking for Scholarship Committee members

POOBAH PESNER opened up the floor to the club for our Club Assembly, a free form discussion on the recent survey results on what we could do to improve LARC.  Among the responses were:

• better introductions to visiting Rotarians by just applauding them,

• inspiring new members as soon as possible,

• we should try to link up with corporate sponsors more often to build on our fundraising efforts.

PRES SAM mentioned in closing the meeting that Ramon Resa has put out a call for help for farm workers affected by the recent freeze. The request here is for individuals to assist as they see fit.  Please contact Phil Phil.Rose@ci.los-altos.ca.us who will coordinate your contributions. And, thank you for your generosity.

Fine Art Show Update  Hey!  As of Thursday, January 25, there are 84 days left until our May 19-20 “Fine Art in the Park” show.  But then again, who’s counting?  You probably want to know who’s doing what at the show, so here’s a quick rundown on who’s who.  There’s not room to list all the committee chairs.  So here’s just a quick list of folks you might want to contact in the near term, for your reference.

Art show director – KATIE NUTTER
Artists’ coordinator – COETA CHAMBERS
Art show staffing – MICHAEL STADLEN
Art show treasurer – JEAN MORDO
Food AND wine chair – LOUIS BOREL, ably assisted by DENNIS POTTER
Art show permits – SETH MANNING

We’re making some progress on marketing.  It sure takes a lot of folks to fill JEAN NUTON'S shoes!  KURT HUEG is doing the press releases/calendaring.  PP MARLENE COWAN is heading up advertising.  KATIE NUTTER has taken on the printed materials, with help from KENDRA GJERSETH.  STEVE GRUBER is doing e-marketing for us.  VICTORIA EMMONS will help us use our network of grant recipients – and all their newsletters – to advertise the show. PAT GRAY will coordinate our efforts to communicate to other Rotary Clubs.  And the ever-faithful PE JOHN MOSS will oversee our poster distribution. 

Fine Master, DENNIS POTTER, had the room captive with his ‘Name that Tune’ game.  Red Badger, STEVE FICK, donned the duck bucket well.  Of the reasons to be recognized this week, STEVE SHEPHERD took top billing as the 2007 recipient of the Singer Award for Business Person of the Year chosen by the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce.  GREAT JOB, STEVE!

Our program was introduced by DAN HOLDEN, as he has seen first-hand the impact that Kara has had on people in our community through his wife, Sally.  DAN introduced Jim Bronson, Director of Kara, and described him as the embodiment of Kara. Jim told the club that there is a natural grieving process, and Kara helps each individual go through that process on their own timeline and within their own comfort zone.

  Kama Fletcher, Kara Development Director also added that grieving takes longer than society tends to allow, and that “grief looks different in different people.” Kara recognizes these differences and tailors their services to the individual.  Student, Jae Hee Lee also spoke about Kara and how it helped her grieve the loss of her father.  Jae mentioned that the hardest part of grieving for her was forgetting the person.  With Kara, you can tell your stories to others, and then the departed is not forgotten.

And what would a meeting this year be without a joke from the POOBAH? SAM did not let us down.  Seeing that the Super Bowl is this upcoming weekend, he told a football joke;

An elementary teacher starts a new job at a school in San Francisco.  Trying to make a good impression on her first day, she explains to her class that she's a 49er’s fan.  She asks the class to raise their hands if they too are 49er’s fans.  Everyone in the class raises their hand except one little girl.  
The teacher looks at the girl with surprise and says: "Mary, why didn't you raise your hand?  "Because I'm not a 49er’s fan," she replied.  
The teacher asks: "Well, if you're not a 49er’s fan, then, whom do you support?"
"I'm a Chargers’ fan, and proud of it," Mary replied.  
The teacher could not believe her ears. "Well Mary, might you explain why you are a Chargers’ fan?"  
"Because my Mom and Dad are from San Diego and my Mom is a Chargers’ fan and my Dad is a Chargers’ fan, so I'm a Chargers’ fan, too!"  
"Well," said the teacher, "that's no reason for you to be a Chargers’ fan.  You don't have to be just like your parents all of the time.  What if your mom was bank robber and your dad was a car thief, what would you be then?"  
Mary said, "I'd be a RAIDERS’ fan."