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Los Altos Rotary ClubJuly 26th, 2007 |
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Writer: Clyde Noel Photographer: Sam Pesner Editor: Cindy Luedtke This Thursday's Program: Richard Lee-Crucial ConversationsUpcoming Events: Handbook Pictures taken this Thursday! Be there.
To see Neighboring Club meetings go to Clubs To our Website 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                
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As you walk
into the Garden House and pick up your Los Altos Rotary Club
badge, the first people you meet are KEN GRAHAM and JOHN
SYLVESTER (two more) who shake your hand and welcome you to
the day’s Rotary events. Then the oldest member of the club, BILLY RUSSELL asks you to follow him with the pledge to the flag followed by  KURT HUEG
bellowing out the old baseball favorite “Take Me Out to the
Ball Game” only it’s “Take Me Out to the Giant’s game.” For
the thought of the day, JOANNE BYRNE recited an “Irish
Truism” ditty. Guest Rotarians were presented from the four local Rotary Clubs from Cupertino, Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Sunnyvale. Each guest is part of the today’s program and will speak later on what their club is doing. Of significance was the introduction of Mark Campbell, by KEN GRAHAM. In 1984, after seeing homeless patients at Our KEN GRAHAM was the first Executive Director of RotaCare and as clinics were formed they realized that to sustain a clinic over time they had to recruit a large pool of volunteers. Among the announcements, LEE LYNCH was proud to be a great-grandmother and is still “with it” enough to take 7th grade girls to the science math exhibit at JERRY TOMANEK is taking pictures for the handbook, both today and next week. All Red Badgers and prospective Rotary Club members should have their picture taken next week at the latest.  DICK HASENPFLUG
provides the results from last week’s survey on the handbook.
He was extremely happy with the results because he received
72 responses in one week, which is a 46 percent return.
The most popular choice is to place all handbook information on the club’s website, and print a small membership directory with contact information only. The least popular choice was to place all handbook information on the club’s website and discontinue a printed version. The most controversial choice is to continue printing the current handbook with many members providing strong comments supporting this option. So the suggestion is to get the handbook out sooner, but that means the earliest is October. A smaller brochure can be available by August and that is the current plan. It could be revised once or twice a year since it is easier and cheaper to produce. SAM PESNER is proposing a “Partners for Elder Generations” program that would resemble the Partners for New Generations program except to recruit volunteers to spend time with the elderly. Sam is looking to begin a companionship program at Pilgrim Haven. As the program develops, Bridge Point and The Forum will be included along with other home-bound individuals. The first meeting will be held next Wednesday (Aug.1), 9:00 AM at Pilgrim Haven. Anyone interested in participating is welcome to attend and learn more. Following through with the “Assembly of Services,” COETA CHAMBERS described the International Service programs and KENDRA GJERSETH discussed the Fellowship program.  COETA
presented the International Service Committee with ROLAND
PAYNE chairing and assuming the World Community Service
program. The program provides leadership in identifying, and
establishing projects designed to promote community
development and goodwill on a worldwide basis. Presently
there is $60,000 available of which ½ is from out club and ½
from Rotary International match grants. The “Rotary Foundation” will continue with SAM HARDING, Chair and WYATT ALLEN as Treasurer. As well as we did last year, COETA expects the program to improve with increased donations to the Foundation. Other assignments include DICK HENNING in the International Exchange; Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarships with SHIV SHASTRI as chair; Youth Exchange with HUGH RIDDELL, chair and MARY PROCHNOW as chair of General International Service.  KENDRA
GJERSETH will chair the Fellowship Program and she discussed
the programs under this activity. The first fellowship meeting of the year will be held
August 1 from 6:00 to 7:00 PM at her house. See recent
email that went to the members. KENDRA said the social committee organizes two social events per quarter to offer members opportunities to attend. The idea is to build friendship and provide a valuable social perspective to Rotary. The poker night is definitely on this year as are other family oriented events. PAUL SCHUTZ will chair the weekly greeters that meet you at the door. GINNY LEAR will chair the Sunshine program to keep members informed of family illnesses, deaths or other general issues where a card or a kind word is needed to cheer up one of our members. DENNIS YOUNG will be in charge of the Fine Master program to build up the coffers for operations and at the same time provide recognition of members. ALAN LAMBERT will be the song leader to lead the members in song. COETA CHAMBERS will continue as “Thought of the Day” chair and KENDRA said this year, we actually mean a “thought” and not a dissertation. CINDY DAY will chair and continue as the LARRY CHU, Jr. will continue leading the illustrious softball program and STEVE SHEPHERD will keep the fairway open for golf tournaments.  When it came to the fine master section of the meeting, JOHN SYLVESTER had nothing to do. Everybody jumped up and started talking about how proud they were of their family and wanted to immediately join the President’s Club (Star). LEE LYNCH joined the club because she was proud of her great grand daughter (WOW) and the great grandchild before that one.  STEVE YARBROUGH
joined the club because he has a son and a daughter in the
legal field as attorneys plus other family members with
accomplishments too numerous to go into, not to mention 15
years of living in sin. MARY PROCHNOW
provided a $20 fine for the advancement of women in the
Rotary over recent years marked by the inclusion of a woman
on the Rotary International Board.
 JOANNE BYRNE
joined he President’s Club because she is proud of her 2
brothers’ achievements.
“It’s great to watch the people you love as they
achieve their goals,” Joanne said.
COETA
CHAMBERS joined the President’s Club because she wanted to
and is not too particularly good at trivia.If you are interested in seeing the 2007-2008 club budget, click here. Direct any questions to our treasurer, SANDIE WHIPPLE. Also if you haven't paid your dues or your Kickout bill, please do so ASAP. There is a credit card form on the web. In fact there is a button on our web navigation that will take you to both the budget and the credit card form. How much easier could it be? The second half of the program was designed to have members of other Rotary Clubs in the local area speak about their respective programs. Featured in the program were six Rotary Clubs, all located within five miles of the Los Altos Rotary Club. Keep that in mind when its time to do a make up.  JUDY HANNEMANN
represented the Mountain View Rotary Club. In her words, “We have
47 members and the average size of a club in Rotary is 37. We get to know
everybody in the club and the club has 100 percent Paul
Harris Fellows.”“We were the first club to be known as “Working with Youth.” Our big event is the crab feed where we make between $12,000 and $15,000 net. We have a partnership with RotaCare and work closely with the Mountain View Police Department.” “My passion is community service and every three months I take a big bag to Community Services Agency.”  DIANA DREWS is the
president of the Sunnyvale Rotary Club. They have 67 members
in the club and hope to raise it to 75 this year. Our last
four members are in their 30s. In her words:“I came here to steal some ideas to take to our club. I was sponsored to the Rotary by one of your member’s husband, Arley Marley (husband of MARY MARLEY and most recent past president of the Sunnyvale Club)I joined the Rotary because there is nothing like being able to change a person’s life for the better and that is why I was part of the Ghana Immunization Day program.  STEVE KING is
president-elect of the Cupertino Rotary Club. He also said he
came here to learn from the Los Altos Club and their
different activities in the club. In his words: “I joined the
Rotary because I believe in “Involvement and Collaboration”
and working well amongst ourselves and other clubs.”
“In
our membership, 14 percent are less than 30 years old and
only seven percent are over 70 years of age. Thirty-two percent are
female and 68 percent are male. Thirty-one members are Asian
Americans.
According to Steve, “The diversity of the community is a
challenge for membership, but we are holding our own.”
 ART STAUFFER
represented the Palo Alto Rotary Club. The club has a lot of
tradition since it was founded in 1922. There are 150 members
and many are community leaders. Seventy percent are men and
30 percent are women. Eight
percent are minority and the club is getting younger because
we have gone from an average age of 65 down to 60.
In his
words: “Our dues
are $285 a year and members want more activities to
participate in. The club is close to  With all the
palaver that covered an hour and 15 minutes, the program was
over at exactly 1:30 p.m. Nice
going, PRES. JOHN MOSS.
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