Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show December 17th 2009

 
President TRACIE began the meeting promptly at 12:15pm with a resounding and cheerful Happy Holidays Los Altos Rotary!  TATYANA KANZAVELI lead the pledge, RICK GLAZE did the thought for the day, and JOHN SYLVESTER lead the group in song (White Christmas).  PAT GRAY, SCOTT RICHES, and MIKE ABRAMS were greeters.
 
Just a reminder; that we will be dark for the next two weeks. Please contact PP ROY LAVE or LARRY CHU for information about meeting at Chef Chu’s. We will resume normal meetings on Thursday, January 7, 2010.     

 
INTRODUCTIONS:
PE DENNIS YOUNG asked for visiting Rotarians to stand. PP GEORGE, who was President the year P TRACIE MURRAY joined Rotary, is now living in Paso Robles and owns a vineyard.  Many Rotarians brought guests: PE DENNIS YOUNG brought his wife Roberta, VAL CARPENTER brought Karen G., who is a prospective member, JOAN ROSSELLE brought her mother Alberta, PEE MONA ARMISTEAD, brought her husband, Bob.  PP DICK HENNING brought Judy Minor, President of Foothill College, RANDY GARD brought his wife, Lara Pai, ROY JONES brought his wife Maureen, BUD OLIVER brought Ann, his wife of 53 years, PP DON HULL brought Von Packard, and MIKE ABRAMS brought Robert Freeman, the Los Altos High School Teacher who started the ODFL ($1 for Life) program.
 

• PP SETH MANNING announced the PP’s choice for the President Elect Elect….MONA ARMISTEAD!!  PEE MONA accepted the honor with shock and awe. She is very grateful and looks forward to a great year!
• President TRACIE wanted to offer special thanks to
  • DAVE SNOW for creating the Asante website
  • PP MARLENE COWEN for getting Rotary in the Town Crier on a weekly basis
  • MATT CABOT for maintaining the Rotary website.
  • CORRECTION:  Last week, we unfortunately got the web site wrong for purchase of Ruthann Richter and Karen Ande's book. It should be: www.FaceToFaceAfrica.com .  Sorry for the confusion.

• DWIGHT MATTHEWS presented PP BOB ADAMS with a $1000 check from State Farm for Partners for New Generations.  Alta Vista, Mountain View High School, and Los Altos High School students, mentors, and tutors all benefit from this program.
• Robert Freeman gave an update on the $1 for Life Program, which helps to build schools in third world countries. He also piloted Wheels for Wonder, which collected 452 bikes in three hours. Their new program is Laptops for Life. Collected laptops will help to build electronic bulletin boards for farmers to share information. They are hoping to collect 100 laptops.
• NANCY SIMON is collecting money and gifts for the Community Service Agency Holiday Drive. Please deliver all donations to her by Friday, December 18th. Distributions of gifts will occur December 19th and 20th.
• SANDY WHIPPLE reminded everybody about the Christmas Party on Sunday, December 20th at the Jesuit Retreat Center at 6pm. If you have signed up you are committed to pay. It is $55 per person.
• FRANK VERLOT announced the World Community Service meeting on Tuesday, December 22nd at 8am at 1st Republic Bank.
• JOHN CARDOZA announced that the RotaCare Clinic will be offering the Swine Flu Vaccine for all interested. The Vaccine will be offered at the RotaCare Facility on Thursday and Monday from 5-7pm and Friday and Tuesday from 9-11am.
• JOANNA  MEDIN and President TRACIE MURRAY are seeking donations for Asante. All donations are tax deductible and need to be turned in by January 21st.
• MATT CABOT would like
  • all Rotarians who are not receiving the weekly Rotator to please let him know
  • He would also like someone to help him update the online calendar weekly. Please let him know if you are interested.
  • He is also looking for a Rotator writer to replace KAREN GESSERT while she is gone. Please contact him if you are interested.
• PAUL NYBERG announced the Town Crier Holiday Fund Drive which gives donations to small organizations who would normally not receive help.
• PAUL SCHUTZ of CHAC gave a testimonial about how beneficial this fundraiser is to the organizations like his and all donations are matched!
• President TRACIE announced the news that JEAN and BARBARA MORDO were named Los Altans of the Year!!

PP GEORGE’S 10 Minute Talk:
PP GEORGE PERHAM was President of the Rotary Club in 1998. While at President’s Training he was given two conflicting messages: ‘If your club isn’t broken, don’t fix it,’ and, ‘It is your year, do what you want’. He decided he liked the second message best. He had a great year and the theme of his year was Year of the Cowboy. He originally wanted to use "The Building Inspector" but after some singing from his grandchildren, he decided on the Cowboys.
 

• JEAN MORDO was first up. He is overjoyed and humbled at receiving the Los Altan of the Year Award and will give $100 to LAREF since he is already a member of the President’s Club.
• Next up was PE DENNIS YOUNG. As of January 31st he will be moving his office back to Mountain View and it will operate independently. He is joining the President’s Club for this good news.

• DON WITT was asked how fast wild turkeys run. He guessed incorrectly at 40mph, it is really 20mph and he paid $20.
• PP DICK DUHRING was asked what sound a female turkey made and he responded with “What did she say?”. He guessed ‘gobble’ but it is ‘cluck’, so he also gave $20.
• MARV PATTERSON was challenged with the name of a female turkey.  He got it correct when he guessed hen and gave $10.
• STEVE FICK answered correctly when he named Ben Franklin as the American statesman who lobbied to make the turkey our national bird. He donated $10 for his correct answer.
• BUD OLIVER provided some comic relief when asked what the name of male turkey is. He guessed cock, but it is a tom; $20 for a wrong answer.
• JOHN SYLVESTER paid $10 for his correct answer of 86 pounds – this is the heaviest turkey ever raised.
• JOANNA MEDIN and FRANK VERLOT finished off recognition by volunteering fines.  JOANNA  won’t leave a shopping cart in the middle of the parking lot because of an anecdote learned while GEORGE was president.
• FRANK spent 6 weeks in Texas because of a new grandchild and Stanford is playing in a bowl game.

PROGRAM:
This week’s program was an amazing performance by the Mountain View Madrigals. They sang several Holiday songs as well as old time favorites.