Los Altos Rotary Club

Rotator for June 21, 2007

Writer:	Jack Kelly
Photographer:	Jerry Tomanek
Editor:	Matt Cabot

This Thursday's Program:

President Sam's ROAST

Upcoming Events:

Friday, June 29th, President Sam's Kickout and President John Moss' WELCOME - Los Altos Country Club 6:30pm
Dress: CC Casual.

Website search:

See our Calendar for all of the important dates.

To see Neighboring Club meetings go to Clubs

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To District 5170

ROTACARE FREE CLINIC The following restaurants continually donate food for the staff at our RotaCare Free Clinic.

Please thank them by frequenting their restaurants

The Summer Solstice. The summer solstice marks the beginning of the end. That is, it's almost the end of the reign of the Grand Poobah himself, PRESIDENT SAM PESNER.

His greeters today were RICH and PAUL (CASEY and SCHUTZ). We pledged our allegiance to the flag (located on the wrong side of the room), led by PP DICK BLANDING. Our celebrity song-leader was JOHN MCDONNELL, visiting us from beautiful downtown Los Altos. Standing arm-in-arm with PRESIDENT SAM, JOHN led us in a lovely rendition of 'Side by Side' in honor of something he did last week (he said that).

Thought provoking quotations regarding the character of man were presented by PP MEL KAHN. PP BO BUE, masquerading as world-traveler PE JOHN MOSS, at the International Convention in Salt Lake City, introduced a visiting Rotarian to introduce visiting Rotarians. Dr. Bob Bratman, former LARC member and current member (and Past President) of the Rotary Club of Wales, had an easy job since he was the only visiting Rotarian.

Guests of the club were then introduced by JULIE ROSE and PAT FARRELL.
PRESIDENT SAM, donning the official Rotary Relay for Life t-shirt, introduced event co-chair KENDRA GJERSETH. Obviously, Kendra' s true calling is that of salesman/auctioneer. Seems she commissioned a few famous local artists to create some hand-made luminaria for the Relay for Life (as one of her donations) and auctioned them to club members willing to part with some cash for a good cause. Good job, Rotarians (and Kendra).

Last call from the treasurer: if you've got receipts for expenses and wish to be reimbursed, get 'em to SANDIE WHIPPLE ASAP. Otherwise, enter them in the donations column on your tax return.

JOANNE BYRNE invites one and all to the picnic in the park on July 4th, from 11:00 to 2:30. More details to follow.

DICK HENNING is finding success as a wine peddler. If you' re interested in any of the fine French wine from the Art Show, see DICK or LOUIS BOREL soon. They' re selling it at wholesale prices (believe it or not, from the trunk of a car) and it won't last long; they're either drinking it or returning it. An email expressing interest will do, you don't even need a check. See last week's Rotator for a (then current) list of available wines.

SANDY BOZICH, sounding remarkably like PP MARLENE COWAN, reminds you all to RSVP to the GRAND POOBAH's kick-out dinner on June 29th at Los Altos Country Club. Here's the deal: it's fifty bucks a head whether you go or not, so why not grab your significant other, head for the country club and have a good time. Email Sandy at: Kickout@losaltosrotary.org if you haven't already.

This next segment might appropriately be called JOHN MCALISTER's LAST HURRAH (ALMOST). John was the fine master today and upon securing complete control of the microphone, announced this was his last time as 'Fine-Master Coordinator.' I had no idea there was such a thing; I wonder who the next one will be. Oh, the good news is that John will continue to be a fine-master, just not the coordinator. He named all the current fine masters and they actually received a smattering of applause. John then very sincerely said that being the FMC was the best time he had in the club and truly enjoyed the role.

As you can imagine, trying to record what goes on with John at the mic is virtually impossible. However, one fine levied on MIKE SPENCE stands out because your humble scribe had to do some higher math to understand it. Mike was recognized for his 25th anniversary (congratulations Mike) and offered to pay five dollars 'for all the good years' which as I figured out, was one dollar for each five-year periods. Isn't that right, Mike?

Here's a bit of club trivia. Did you know that the fine-master extracts an average of eighty two dollars per member per year? So the question were you above or below average? That's straight from the Fine-Master Coordinator, himself.

THE PROGRAM - In the words of ROY LAVE, 'I don't know how we can go from what just happened to what's next, but here we go.' ROY then introduced Mr. Bruce Rogers and Ms. Leslie Lodestro.

Mr. Rogers spoke of the tragic and untimely death of his teenage son, Chase, from an overdose of cocaine. Ms. Lodestro told the story of her drug and alcohol abusing son and the trials and tribulations each family had been through and are still going through. As a result of their respective situations, the 'C.H.A.S.E. Program' was founded earlier this year.

This program is a memorial to Chase Rogers and his family who have been so open and sharing about their tragedy. The program supports Los Altos and Mountain View teenagers by providing sober events and educational programs, all created and directed by teenagers. The Chase teens are also involved in a new educational program focusing on drug awareness targeted toward middle school students. Included will be teen-to-teen dialogue evolving around peer pressure and risky behavior.

The Chase Program receives part of its funding from the City of Los Altos, the Town of Los Altos Hills and your very own LOS ALTOS ROTARY CLUB. This is certainly one of the most profound programs I've heard since I've been in Rotary and goes well beyond just being interested to the point of becoming involved. Their website is currently under construction; however, anyone interested in more information about the CHASE program may contact Leslie Lodestro at llode@aol.com or 650-776-1041.

The audience participation portion of the program caused the meeting to run long by a moment or two and our President closed the meeting in a most professional, dignified and emotional manner. Kudos to Mr. Rogers and Ms. Lodestro for the program and to ROY and SAM for the introduction and conclusion.

Los Altos Rotary Club

Rotator for June 21, 2007

{Copyright � 2008 Los Altos Rotary Club. All rights reserved}