Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show April 23, 2009

 President SETH MANNING chimed a full-house meeting to order promptly at 12:15 p.m.. Arriving Rotarians had been met by greeters, BEVERLY TUCKER, MARV PETERSON, and FRANK VERLOT.
Past-President STEVE ANDERSON led the Pledge of Allegiance.  CRES MCFALL gave us the following thoughts on changing the world:

• Anne Frank: How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
• George Bernard Shaw:  Some men see things as they are and say, "Why?" I dream of things that never were and say, "Why not?"
• Harriet Tubman: Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars and change the world.
• James Yorke: The most successful people are those who are good at plan B.
• Margaret Mead:  Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
• Mitsugi Saotome:  If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life, it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth.
• Pablo Picasso: I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it.
• Robert F. Kennedy:  Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.
• Anonymous: Change is inevitable unless you’re dealing with a vending machine.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

1. KENDRA GJERSETH announced that the progressive dinner is a sellout and will be take place on the evening of April 25, starting at DICK BLANDING’S for some wine and cheese and progressing throughout town the entire evening.
2. KAREN GESSERT let us know that DUDE ANGIUS is feeling low with radiation treatment for his condition, and she passed around a card for club members to sign.
3. DAVE BERGMAN announced that there were still 22 shifts open for the Art Show, and he needed a few people to fill in, even if they have two other shifts.  A clipboard was passed on this.  Contact DAVE to help fill the void.
4. JEANNE MACVICAR announced that Partners for New Generations is hosting an information booth at the Art Show, and we still need a few people to work at that booth.
5. BOB ADAMS added his personal pledge for the Partners Booth, and also announced that our club is a site sponsor for the May 3 “Keep Children Safe” bike ride.  We need volunteers to help distribute water to riders.  The location is the Chamber of Commerce lot, and the time is 9-1 that Saturday.
6. DAVID SMITH announced that we all needed to gather Saturday April 25 for “Rotarians at Work Day,” We will be painting the gazebo in Lincoln Park just prior to our May Art Show.  LARRY CHU will be bringing some of Chef Chu’s renowned cuisine for the workers.  In addition, CSA (Community Service Agency) is way down in food donations, and we need a few more volunteers to go to the different supermarkets in town to greet shoppers on their way in and encourage them to buy something extra to donate to CSA on the way out.
7. CRES MCFALL announced that we are trying a new plan to get people to come to the Art Show right after the Pet Parade the first day.  We will have 3-4 volunteers walking at the tail end of the parade to hand out invites that the patron can match at the Art Show booth for a small prize.  CRES needs some volunteers to walk with him around 9:30 AM at the Parade.
8. And CLARI NOLET announced that the posters for the Art Show are now available, and can be picked up at SAM PESNER’s office for early distribution.
9. FRANK VERLOT announced that the World Community Service Committee will be meeting on Wednesday at 8 a.m. for an hour at First Republic Bank.
10. GREG DABB gave us his final “Green Tip” for the month.

Progressive Dinner: (byline PP LARRY MADSEN)

The enjoyment meter registered pretty darn high Saturday night at the Progressive Dinner arranged by KENDRA GJERSETH. Starting with appetizers and beverages at PP DICK and Linda BLANDING's home continuing for Italian dinners at SHELLY POTVIN's, JANE Reed's, COETA CHAMBER's, SANDIE WHIPPLE's, and Al TRAFICANTI's. The dessert was tirimisu and coffee at PP SAM and Janet HARDING's. Yet another special social get-together with people you sit next to every week, but would like to get to know a little better.

ROTARIANS IN SERVICE  This past weekend Los Altos Rotarians were busy helping improve the community by participating in Rotary International's "Rotarians at Work Day."  The purpose was for Rotarians, world wide, to participate in doing what Rotarians do best: Community Service.  Our Community Service Director is DAVE SMITH.  Dave organized two events: repainting the Gazebo in Lincoln Park, and a food drive to benefit Community Service Agency (CSA) in Mountain View.  Here are pictures of the Gazebo painting.  The CSA pictures were not available at publication time.  

SPECIAL: THE DISTRICT 5170 ROTARIAN OF THE YEAR
DICK HENNING stepped to the podium to announce that for the first time, a member of our club had been selected as the District 5170 Rotarian of the Year.  This honor was bestowed on DUDE ANGIUS at the District Conference (Celebration) on April 18.  DICK read the tribute that he had given to DUDE at the Conference. 

As we all know, DUDE, inspired us to join him in taking action when he was informed of his son Stephen having contracted AIDS.  That is when the Rotary AIDS Project began.  This occurred In 1989, when most Rotarians as well as the world around us, either did not know about AIDS, or pretended it did not exist.  DUDE worked tirelessly to promote AIDS awareness among Rotarians. 

DUDE and the RAP (The Rotary Aids Project) developed and produced “The Los Altos Story” (winner of a Peabody Award) and distributed it to every Rotary District in the world.  In 1992, DUDE was the keynote speaker at the RI convention in Orlando Florida.  His moving speech changed forever the relationship of Rotary to AIDS.
 

RECOGNITION:
Past President, SAM HARDING, stepped up to bestow a bit of recognition.  SAM noted we only needed a bit, because 2/3 of the club had already reached membership in the President’s Club.  SAM’s approach was to ask questions about “current events” (like those that happened in the 6 hours before the meeting).  MARY PROCHNOW stunned Sam by knowing the details of the big SUN-ORACLE merger (she was fined $10 anyway).  STEVE SHEPHERD got hit for $20 because he did not know FaceBook had replaced its CEO.  JEAN NEWTON knew the local theatre production (Distraction).  JEAN MORDO and MATT CABOT got hit $30 each because they did not know President Obama had met that morning with credit card companies (COETA CHAMBERS did know this).  MIKE STADLEN got fined for not knowing that Zito pitched for the Giants the prior evening.  SAM then fined ALAN LAMBERT and JOANNA MEDIN for not knowing the time the sun came up.  MARGE SENTOUS did know this (amazingly) but got fined anyhow.  SAM PESNER accepted a fine to compliment STEVE ANDERSON for the great work on the Hospitality Suite at the District Celebration.  SAM H then fined STEVE ANDERSON, and hit BILL PALMER for good measure.  WYATT ALLEN paid a fine to announce his 11 year-old daughter had played on the softball team that came in second in the national finals.
  

THE WEEKLY PROGRAM: PORCELAIN TREASURES OF THE HERMITAGE MUSEUM IN ST. PETERSBURG.
Tina Khmelnitskaya, a curator at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, presented a beautiful slide show of the many treasures of this famous Museum.  Beginning in the 17th Century Russian artisans mastered the intricate art of creating porcelain.  Tina showed us many of the most prized of these intricate works of art.
 
After this slide show, President SETH chimed the meeting to a close at 1:30 PM.

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