Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show April 17th, 2008

    Greeters, PAUL SCHUTZ, PP WYATT ALLEN and FRANK VERLOT

 
“I can only give a thought if I can think,” said Rotary’s Great Thinker, JERRY MOISON.    Then he gave us this paraphrased thought: Perspective gives each of us a different point of view.  Think about it.
 
“Welcome to Rotary!” said our warm, friendly, and fuzzy greeters WYATT ALLEN, FRANK VERLOT and PAUL SCHUTZ, each extending a hand in welcome.  MARY PROCHNOW led the pledge and KENDRA GJERSETH warmed up the crowd with a birthday tribute to JOHN SYLVESTER, who smiled and purred like the Cheshire Cat.
 
President JOHN MOSS introduced President-Elect SETH MANNING who introduced visiting Rotarians from Granite Bay (BRENDA FORSTALL), Livermore and places afar.  He then introduced Rotarians who introduced guests, of whom there were many.
 

Announcements:  President John then announced announcements and proceeded to present one of his own: 30-plus club members attended the Rotary District Conference last weekend.  None, however, sat through every presentation and every program – except John, to whom a good idea came: honor the women pioneers of Rotary with a special 20-year pin!  So John presented the special doodads in order of female Rotary membership seniority in the club to MARY PROCHNOW, MARGE BRUNO, CINDY LUEDTKE and VICTORIA EMMONS, all who joined Rotary in 1988, the year when women were first allowed to join Rotary.
 
After his presentation, President John was not done: He announced that the recent Los Altos Town Crier has done a story about Jose Antonio Vargas, a mentee of RICH FISCHER’S in the Partners for New Generations Program.   Jose has just been honored with a Pulitzer Prize for work he did at the Washington Post.  Jose spoke at our club not long ago.  He was struggling in high school and with the help of his mentor Rotarian Rich, got himself on track, into college and then a job at one of the best newspapers in the country.  Now, he’s a Pulitzer winner for a story he did on the Virginia Tech shootings.  Rotary’s PNG rocks!
 
DAVID BERGMAN and GARY ROSS pleaded for help on the Art Show.  Only four weeks to the event. There are 52 jobs left open to claim.   If you have not signed up, prepare to be volunteered.
 
Party planner, SAM PESNER plans to plan the party for soon-to-be Past President JOHN MOSS and announced his plan to meet to plan the party following the next regular meeting.  See you there if you plan to help with the plans.
 

10-Minute Talk:  PP LUVAIN BUE, who you would not know unless he was referred to as BOO, didn’t not try to condense 86 years into 10 minutes.  Rather, he chose to tell us about a couple of people whose contact affected the direction of his life.  He explained how, when he least expected it, someone touched him in a way that made a difference.
 
For example, in 1939, BOO was a gangly 17-year-old junior in high school with the goal of becoming a court reporter to help support his mother and two siblings.  There were no thoughts of college or beyond.  It simply was not in the cards for a single mother to send her boys to college in that era.br />  
Then his friend Connie asked him if he got a job would his mother allow him to live at home for free while he went to college.  His mother agreed and Connie provided him with an application to be a clerk typist.  Then next thing he knew, he had passed the civil service exam and was working at the public library.  In 1940 he was accepted at the University after passing three days of exams required because he had not taken any college prep courses in high school.
 
By 1941, BOO was very interested in airplanes.  He could recognize the type of plane from the sound of the engines as they flew over head.  He could tell the difference from a B-17 and a B-47.   Gordie, another friend, recognized Boo’s love of flying and told him about the Civil Pilot Training Program, which BOO entered, passed and advanced.  When he later enlisted the U.S. Army Air Corps, he already had logged 100 hours of flying time.
 
In 1943, he received his Silver Wings as a fighter pilot.  But in the Army’s wisdom, he was sent to Cairo as a transport pilot, where he flew many missions to Calcutta, and Casablanca, including a trip to London, returning through Paris, in a B-26 bomber  he had never flown before.  He had to hitch a ride back from London, which made for a great story!
 
By 1982 he had been living in his Los Altos house for 45 years, when his friend Jerry, then a Rotarian, invited him into the Los Altos Rotary Club.  He’s been a member ever since.  BOO says his best friends are in our meeting room. 
 
The three people BOO mentioned touched his life in ways that re-directed his path through life.
We’re just glad that one of those re-directions was through Rotary’s front door!
 
BOO gave us a bit of advice: Think about someone in your life who has touched you and made an impact on your life.  Send that person a note to tell them how much impact they had on you.
 
“Thank you, and thanks for listening,” BOO concluded.
 
You’re welcome, our club responded with applause.

Recognition:  Rotary’s Great Thinker, JERRY MOISON collected minuscule sums, that added up to big bucks, from SCOTT RICHES, WYATT ALLEN, MIKE SPENCE, STEVE ANDERSON, LARRY CHU, DAN O’DONNELL, JOHN SINES, CHRIS ELLSON, MARY MARLEY, MICHAEL STADLEN, JOAN ROSSELLE, and JERRY MOISON himself!
 

Today’s Program:  Joseph Zeleke came to the United States in 1999 from Ethiopia.  Since then, he has helped establish two dental schools, many medical clinics and assisted to improve hospital health care in that struggling Sub-Saharan nation.
 
Joseph presented a brief video of the current situation in Ethiopia.  The country has 4.6 million orphans – more than any other country, in large part due to the HIV-AIDS virus.  Every day more than 600 Ethiopians die from AIDS.  One of every 22 persons in the county is infected.  Malaria accounts for the major cause of mortality in the country.  There is only one physician for every 26,500 people. 
 
A major cause of HIV transmission is non-sterilized dental and medical tools.    Joseph told of dentists and nurses who advised him that the clinics have so few supplies, and no sterilization equipment, that the supplies are often re-used between patients.  Many patients are housed in the same room.  He said one nurse told him that they protect from the spread of disease by hurriedly opening the windows in the morning.
 
Since he came to the U.S., he has been active in The World Family for Ethiopian Orphans and Medical Care.  The organization is a non-profit 501(c)(3) body that was formed to bring medical supplies and equipment to the country’s strapped health care and dental facilities.
 
Joseph advised that in 2006 he helped open and equip two new dental schools in Ethiopia and more than 10 health care clinics.  He is now working with an under-equipped hospital that serves 30,000 patients a year to provide them with sterilization machines and other supplies.  The hospital is trying to construct an additional 150-bed facility, but has run out of money to stock the facility.
 
At the conclusion of the presentation, Rotarians asked many questions about how we could help.  Thank you to Joseph for his commitment to the ideals of Rotary and for his informative and moving talk.
 
The World Family for Ethiopian Orphans and Medical Care can be reached at their South Bay Office, 391 Jacklin Road, Milpitas, CA 95035, (408) 594-1360.  Give them a call.

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

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