The meeting was started off this Flag Day with the Pledge of Allegiance, led by DOMINIC NICOLI. Next on the mike was KAREN FOX with song and ROY LAVE with several thoughts about how much it would cost to save the world.  Not an impractical amount, by the way.

JOHN SINES' son, Cadet Charles Sines, urged our club to donate our frequent flyer miles, which aren't being put to use, to the soldiers fighting in Iraq. Operation Hero Miles gives family members of wounded servicemen and women free plane tickets to visit their loved ones recovering at military hospitals across the country. To donate, go to www.heromiles.org and click on Fisher House Foundation.

IRENE PRESTON is seeking more RotaCare meal delivery volunteers for July through September. Also, please note that the restaurants, which donate food to the clinic volunteers are being recognized with their logo in the Rotator. Note the column at the left.  Please patronize them and thank them for their generosity.

Irene also introduced Chris Washburn.  Chris presented a short yoga lesson in relaxation.  Her short yoga presentation dealt with coping with tension and stress as well as back strengthening.  Chris Washburn is a graduate of the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco and a student of Sanskrit.  She began teaching yoga in 1995 and has taught at yoga studios and health clubs throughout the south bay.  Certified for specialized work with students who have scoliosis, Chris currently teaches asana and meditation at the Yoga Explorations studio in Sunnyvale.

It was part of the LARC Health Committee's effort to make healthy habits and choices more accessible to our members.  Look for future presentations by the LARC Health committee, and information that will eventually makes its way onto our website. 

SANDY BOZICH is collecting money for the Kick Out Dinner. Please pay your $50 per person as soon as possible and RSVP to Sandy's email, so we know if you're attending. If you're not attending, please pay your $50 per member as soon as possible.

Yours truly announced that we have a week left before the Relay for Life on June 23-24 at Los Altos HS. During this time, we need to keep raising funds, sign up for the Survivor Lap, and turn in your donations to your captains (Sandy and me) in a big envelope so our team gets credit. And one final announcement you may have not heard on your way out (and the over the groans from Pres? joke) is that we need to borrow blenders. Rotary Ramblers /LACF is manning the smoothie booth this year, and could use more blenders and extension cords. Please email me at Kendra@birchfinepaper.com if you have those items to loan.

Cindy Luedtke, PP and Assistant District Governor, presented our club with a number of District, Area and Zone level awards for Excellence.  As members of LARC we all can be proud of all our award winning accomplishments as we help make our town, our community, and our world a better place to be.

 STEVE SHEPHERD presented to the club a very LARGE trophy that he, MEL KAHN, BILL and JERRY MOISON earned at the recent District 5170 Golf Tournament. Next week, we will hear the winners of the LARC annual golf tournament.

PP SAM HARDING was Fine Master today.  He created a whole bunch of new poobahs. 

Elections were held for three directors of LAREF.  Those elected were: JOANNE BYRNE, and HERB MARSHALL, (pictured below with current LAREF president, DENNIS YOUNG, and Rick Glaze.  

KATIE NUTTER, 2007 Art Show Chair deserves her own standing ovation. She summarized the successful art show as follows:

So far, the overall revenue generated is $162,138, which is up 11.4% from 2006.
Revenue from artists is at $113K, but no post-show commission receipts here, yet. Although there were fewer artists this year than last, they had greater sales per artist.

Revenue from food and wine totaled almost $28K, which is up 44% from previous year, 12% from ?05. Thanks to LOUIS BOREL's leadership, the food and wine was a huge success. Wine showed a 100% profit margin, and the food court had some great new additions.

Expenses this year were down 9% from last year. Major savings in the biggest expense categories
* PR/marketing (down $11K)
* Site Rentals (down $1,400)

Here is what one person said later about Katie's work as Art Show Director:

I congratulate Katie Nutter for the excellent job she did as Chair person of this year's Rotary Fine Art Show.  I enjoyed working with her on the new Wine-Tasting booth, which was her idea.  She did it all...set the vision, made the big decisions, followed through, did the small, detailed work when someone did not show up, which happened several times Saturday morning.  She did a stellar job.  I hope she does it next year.
DICK HENNING

Here's another from President (soon to be forgotten) SAM: 

On Thursday after our Art Show/LAREF reports, I went back to work. My first patient was new to the practice, an articulate woman of Vietnamese heritage who works at Los Altos High School. She looked at my Poobah pin and asked if I am in Rotary. I said yes, I'm the club president.
What she said next went something like this: "Oh, thank you! We love the Rotary Club. I work in the tutorial center and we just bought a new computer with the money you gave us. Thank you. Every year we use that money to buy new computers, because the ones we had were old, second-hand and very slow. Thank you.
The students squeal with delight when we install a new computer. Many of them don't have access to computers at home. Thank you. We really appreciate the Rotary Club's support. Thank you!" I'm still smiling. Thank you! 

The show's net income is currently up 36% from the previous year to $88,526. We need just $187 more to beat our best year, 2001. So please see LOUIS BOREL for more wine!

IN STOCK - COST PER CASE:

1 case $192 2004 Chardonnay Clos du Ch. Chardonnay (2 bottles) $16 a bottle
1 case $204 2001 Pouilly Fuisse Patriarche (0 bottle)
2 cases $360 2003 Meursault Ch. De Meursault +(10 bottles) $30 a bottle
3 cases $312 2003 Cevrey Chambertin Doudet Maudin + ( 6 bottles) $26 a bottle
1 case $252 2001 Chateauneuf-du-Pape Laurant Brotte
3 cases $192 2002 Bourgogne Pinot Noir Ch. Meursault
3 cases $240 2003 St. Emillion Clos de Menuts
2 cases $192 1996 Haut Medoc Ch.Maurac Major + (4 bottles) $16 a bottle
2 cases $156 2001 Graves Ch. Bel-Air
19 cases $60 Chardonnay
5 cases $60 Merlot
11 cases $63 Kritter Champagne (split) 24 bottles per case

RI  PRESIDENT ELECT COMING TO TOWN:
RI PE Wilf Wilkinson will be in San Jose August 17-18. The club will be paying for PE John and PEN Seth to go. PE John will respond and reserve two tables for our club. Please RSVP to PE John (john@moss.net) to reserve your place.

LAREF President, DENNIS YOUNG presented the activities our Los Altos Rotary Endowment Foundation (LAREF).  He presented a Powerpoint presentation that showed income, expenses and donations to the various charities.  Here are some highlights:

We only have so many more opportunities to hear PRES SAM's jokes, so please savor it :

Guy walks into a bar with a dog under his arm.
The bartender says: "You can't bring a dog in here."
Whereupon the guy says, "Wait a minute. This isn't just any dog. He's a talking dog. If I prove he can talk, can we stay?"
The bartender says if the dog can talk, they can stay.
So the guy asks the dog, "What's on top of a house?" The dog says, "Roof!"
The bartender says, "Any dog can say that."
So the guy asks the dog, "What is sandpaper?"
The dog says, "Rough!"
The bartender says, "Get out!"
The guy says, "Give him one more chance!  Who was the greatest baseball player?"
The dog says, "Ruth!"
Well, the bartenders had enough, grabs them by the scruff of their necks and throws them out into the street.
The dog looks up at the guy and says, "DiMaggio?"