Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show January 15, 2009

Greeters, MIKE ABRAMS and PP (and Los Altosan of the Year) BOB ADAMS

“CAPTAIN KIRK, WE’RE OUT OF RANGE!”

That’s all your Intrepid Reporter could think of as he gamely tried to sing along with MICHAEL STADLEN’s conductorship of “The National Anthem”.  Once a year, every year, but maybe no more, please.     
 
MISCELLANEA
DICK HASENPFLUG returned from the Gobi Desert for the day.  Hello, DICK!  STEVE ANDERSON was absent while enjoying the early moments of life of a new grandchild.  STEVE, is this Numero Uno or Numero Dos? 

DENNIS YOUNG is recovering from a bout with the Big “C”. 

NANCY SIMON announced that we raised over $2,500 plus gifts for CSA’s Holiday Drive.  Congratulations, NANCY!  A 6th grade teacher at Santa Rita School needs help with the education of selected students – contact ROLAND PAYNE if you can help. 

GINNY LEAR announced that there are openings available on Rotary expeditions to Nigeria and India for Polio inoculation drives from March through May, at a price of $3,500 for 10 days of fulfilling experience.  Contact GINNY. 

ROLAND PAYNE spoke about a school built in Cuzco, Peru with Rotary funds.
 
THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
SAM PESNER presided over a Rotary Foundation Bacchanal with the assistance of District Governor GARY (“Lovepecks”) CITTI and designated LARC Foundationary, WYATT ALLEN.  Called out for kudos were:
            15  SUSTAINERS
            54  DOUBLE SUSTAINERS
             7  SUPERSUSTAINERS
            11 PAUL HARRIS SOCIETEERS
             5 PAUL HARRIS FELLOWS
             1 PAUL HARRIS PLUS ONE
             1 PAUL HARRIS PLUS TWO
             1 PAUL HARRIS PLUS THREE
             1 PAUL HARRIS PLUS FOUR
             1 PAUL HARRIS PLUS FIVE
                        And
             1 PAUL HARRIS PLUS EIGHT, in the form of DICK HENNING, (Hugger Extraordinaire).

“I’M A ROADRUNNER, BABY”
So goes the song by Junior Walker, but Junior was not thinking as altruistically as “Roadrunner” Bob, the volunteer driver of the El Camino Hospital Foundation Roadrunners, who provide 13,000 trips annually for 2,500 elderly residents of North County.  LARC has donated $10,000 toward the purchase of a Ford Fusion for the Roadrunners, with DAVE SMITH negotiating the final purchase, and ROY LAVE presiding over the entire event.  There are over 50 Roadrunners, who hang out on South Drive near the hospital, and they can always use more volunteers.  Roadrunner Bob is always available to tell you about life between Marfa and Fort Stockton.

 
TODAY’S PROGRAM
DAVE SMITH introduced Dennis Cima of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, founded by David Packard as the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group.  Your Intrepid Reporter was knocked unconscious early on by a powerful blast of noblesse oblige, so he had to resort to the Group’s website for data.  Member companies include our Borel Bank and Foothill-DeAnza Community College District, as well as Indian company-in-the-news Satyam.  The website states: “The Silicon Valley Leadership Group is organized to involve principal officers and senior managers of member companies in a cooperative effort with local, regional, state and federal governmental officials to address major public policy issues affecting the economic health and quality of life in Silicon Valley.”  The website also states: “Helping Business create a more sustainable corporate future.”  SVLG has been in the forefront of groups encouraging the generation of more and better science and math teachers and has also championed more affordable housing.
 
And SVLG is in the news.  The Mercury of January 17 has an article about Symantec CEO, John Thompson, under consideration to become Commerce Secretary in the Obama administration.  SVLG Carl Guardino is quoted as stating Thompson “would be a phenomenal choice both for Silicon Valley and our country.  John is a brilliant businessman as well as a compassionate community leader….”.
 
SVLG has no position on the issues of a living wage for Silicon Valley janitors, or the “five cent universal, renewable shopping bag.”  Cima expressed concern for the negative competitive effect on Silicon Valley companies if they paid their janitors well.  Some critics might suggest that SVLG should devote a bit more thought to the travails of, in the words of Leona Helmsley, “the little people.”

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