Los Altos Rotary Club eNewsletter "Rotator"

Los Altos Rotary Club

Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show

January 28 2010

Writer: David Casas - Photographer: Randy Gard - Editor: Cindy Luedtke

This Thursday's Program: Feb 4 2010 Kent Downing The Centennial of the Boy Scouts

This past Thursday, as January was coming to a close, LARC Members and their guests gathered for lunch in the Garden House at Shoupe Park. Greeting members and guests were STEVE BIANCHI, CINDY LUEDTKE, ALLART LIGTENBERG. Our very own handy-dandy WYATT ALLEN was once again the money man. STEVE POMEROY and MIKE ABRAMS amiably served as our Sergeant-at-Arms.

As TRACIE MURRAY readied the room for our start time of 12:15pm, she looked around and then liberally used her gavel to call the meeting to order. Today was a special day. Students were in the room, ready to share their thoughts about future of Rotary. (more on that later). As the bell was rung, our celebrated President extended her traditional “Good Afternoon Los Altos Rotary” salutation. She then led the room in the Pledge of Allegiance, before handing the mic over to ROY LAVE for the thought of the day. Multi-tasker CINDY LUEDTKE led the Club in singing “Smile”. Afterwards, all of the frowns had been turned upside down.

Visiting Rotarians included ALLEN GOODMAN (Mountain View), NICK LEON (San Jose East/Evergreen), and RUTHIE ASHFORD (San Jose East/Evergreen).

Members with guests included MIKE ABRAMS (Ted Sorenson), BAIDRA MURPHY (Cammie Brodie), and JULIE ROSE (Jan Meyer).

ANNOUNCEMENTS

TRACIE MURRAY began the announcement segment of the meeting with the news that LARC received Los Altos Chamber’s Community Partner Award the previous night.
She highlighted that, in addition to the nice plaque the club received, both Liz Kniss (Santa Clara County Supervisor) and Ira Ruskin (CA State Assembly) issued declarations of congratulations. Clearly, there was a lot of love flowing LARC’s way, for a job well done this past year.
Next, RICH CASEY highlighted that LARC would have a booth at the Rotary International Convention in Montréal, Québec, Canada (June 20-23). Anyone interested in volunteering could receive a partial offset of their travel expenses.
JERRY MOISON encouraged everyone to sign up for Cioppino Night on March 12. The event will be held at the Garden House in Shoupe Park (most of you should be familiar with the location). Jerry wanted to ensure that everyone knew that guests are more than welcome to help LARC support the End Polio Now campaign. Donation is $70/person. If you’re not a seafood fan, lasagna will also be served.
JOHN SYLVESTER announced that a sign up board was making the rounds for the next Wine and Cheese Party. The event is scheduled for February 26th at STEVE ANDERSON’s home.
BAIDRA MURPHY announced that two separate cards were making their rounds. One card was for MARY MARLEY; the other was for DAN DUTTON. All were invited to send their well wishes for a speedy recovery to both of them.
JEAN HOLLANDS announced that she was helping to coordinate mock interviewers for Alta Vista High School students on Friday, January 29. Those interested, were encouraged to contact her to help the students interview for positions at Starbuck’s.
ALAN GOODMAN (Mountain View) announced that their Club is set to hold its Crab Feast on January 30, 2010. He offered a humorous analogy. In the end, LARC Members provided well wishes on the event.
Finally, FRANK VERLOT and STEVE WU stepped up to the podium in support of World Community Service, as a call to action for Haiti. FRANK announced the Club was collecting donations to send Shelter Boxes to Haiti. STEVE announced that he was looking for people to help develop and launch technology tools to aid the people of Haiti.

Red Badge Induction
JOHN CARDOZA led this segment of the meeting, and provided the following testament:

“I have the pleasure today of introducing KAREN GREGURAS, who is being sponsored by VAL CARPENTER.

KAREN, welcome to the Los Altos Rotary Club. You are now a member of the world’s largest humanitarian service organization, which is comprised of over 1.2 million members. You can be justifiably proud to belong to an organization, which has accomplished so much good over its 105-year lifespan.

Our Club consists of a group of over 160 business, professional, and community minded men and women. Some of the projects our club undertakes are to recruit mentors and tutors in local schools; volunteer to deliver dinners to the RotaCare medical clinic; serve as Child Advocates; raise funds for AIDS awareness – among other projects both locally and internationally. The proceeds from our annual Rotary “Fine Art in the Park” event support many local charities and non-profit organizations … such as CHAC, CSA, scholarships to high school students, and many other deserving organizations and projects.

Karen is a native Californian, born in Camp Pendleton, into a US Marine military family. Her grandfather was a Rotarian. Karen has an MS in Education from the University of Nebraska and has taught English in the Foothill / De Anza colleges for the past twenty years. She has been involved with the Los Altos PTA, the Civic Center Task Force, and is a member, and past chair, of the Parks Arts and Recreation Commission. About five years ago, in order to learn more about sustainable building, she received a Real Estate license and became one of the early Green Certified Realtors in California and Colorado.

Karen likes hiking, jogging, traveling, music, theater, and reading historical non-fiction and biographies. She is currently taking tap dancing lessons.”

As everyone stood in support, applauding her induction as a Red Badger, Val CARPENTER provided her with her badge and Rotary pin.

RECOGNITION
As a result of his 1) leaving his cell phone on the podium, and 2) leaving his phone in ring mode, and 3) having the phone ring while TRACIE MURRAY was beginning the meeting … JACK KELLY was fined $20.

ROTARY SPEECH CONTEST

Next up, JACK KELLY introduced our program for the day: the Richard D. King Annual Youth Speech Contest. For background, each of the fifty-eight Clubs in District 5170 is eligible to hold a speech contest drawing contestants from private and public high schools. At each Club, the first place winner is selected to participate at the Area Level competition. The finalists will be awarded a first place prize of $100, second place prize of $50, and a third place prize of $25.

Over the next three months, the successive winners will navigate from the Area to Regional to the District Level … culminating in the District Competition scheduled for April 7th at the Double Tree Hotel in San Jose.

For the January 28th LARC lunch, we were honored to have five student speakers. They were: Akshay Shrivastava (Mountain View HS); Oliwia Baney (Mountain View HS); Nathalie Vu (Piedmont HS); Susmita Sridhar (Mountain View HS); and Rylan Schaeffer (Mountain View HS).

Each student chose a topic, which they individually weaved into the theme of this year’s contest: “The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands”. Each speaker had to incorporate at least one of the principles of the Rotary 4-Way Test. The three winners were: First Place … Akshay Shrivastava (Mountain View HS); Second Place … Susmita Sridhar (Mountain View HS); and Third Place … Oliwia Baney (Mountain View HS).

Here are the speaking notes by LARC’s First Place student …

“Extend a Hand” – Akshay Shrivastava

“January 18th. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Three women stand over a hot stove, stirring a pot of beans, rice, coconut, spices, and lime juice – what little is left in the pantry. Following the catastrophic earthquake, the women often serve more than one hundred before midday, and in spite of the burden, they remain smiling and proud. For Ms. Guerline Dorleen and her two good friends were among the first to step up for their own communities, before the arrival of any aid groups. What the three women demonstrate is the epitome of humanity – the disadvantaged aiding the disadvantaged. Amidst a disaster scene that has cost a small nation more than 150,000 men, women, and children, that…means something.

When Paul Percy Harris founded the Rotary institution, he did so for a purpose – to help those in need. Indeed, the Rotary clubs have upheld this legacy, and exceeded it. But who else has a hand in the Rotary of tomorrow? I believe that the Rotary International will prosper, if it can extend membership in foreign countries, especially to those who have been hurt by poverty, starvation, or disaster – the very same we have sought to help. Skeptics may question whether these prospect members become real proponents of humanitarianism. But if we listen to the story of Rotarian Budi Soehardi, the answer is a resounding “yes”.

Soehardi, like many children of Central Java, grew up impoverished, hardly able to afford school. With hard work and perseverance, Soehardi learned to stand on his own two feet. He then turned an eye to the same destitute children with whom he’d shared a past and started the Roslin Orphanage in West Timor. In 2004, following the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Soehardi found a strong ally in his humanitarian efforts – Rotary International. With their help, he donated more than 130 tons of medical supplies, food, and clothes to victims. Soehardi’s story demonstrates what insight the experience of helplessness can give one who seeks to help others.

To capture this resolute spirit in the Rotary of tomorrow, membership should be extended to those who have already seen hardships first-hand. But secondly, this policy embodies fairness – not only with the Rotary, but in an extension of fairness to the rest of the world. Humanitarian benefactors are commonplace in this country, but sadly, charity recipients in Somalia, Sudan, and Haiti, only receive the basics of survival, with little means of deciding their own futures. But say, for instance, poor families in Ghana are given the opportunity to become Rotarians. What they can now do, is set up their own schools, their own houses, their own water systems, and help their fellow villagers do the same.

When we place people’s futures in those same people’s hands, this is the very essence of fairness. Of course, the effort only has meaning through cooperative effort. In the world of humanitarianism, no man or woman stands alone. Consider the communal water system project of Lamba, of which villagers themselves took upon the labor of constructing. Working day and night they produced what is now an inexpensive yet effective water system. Cooperation is the key, and of course, it is this very cooperation that fosters friendships and goodwill, not just among locals, but with experienced Rotarians as well. And as we all know, camaraderie and goodwill are key tenets of the Rotary international.

So we know that this policy of extended membership is truthful, fair, and builds friendships; but who does it benefit? Ultimately, everyone involved. The Lamba villages, for instance, saw their inclusion in the process realized as a clean water system that benefits everyone. The Rotarians who extend membership will build insight and friendships as well, aiding in personal growth. In such a mutually symbiotic relationship, everyone – the benefactors, and the recipients, stand to benefit. I believe this is Rotary’s promise for tomorrow. But the seeds of progress can be small – a coordinated effort amongst Rotarians overseas, to recruit more in their area. Or even simpler; a Rotarian hands a young teen in a third world country a boxed meal for the day, and with it, a pamphlet for the Rotary. No words are uttered, but his actions say it all; “The future of Rotary is in your hands.”

CLOSING
As we awaited the results from the Speech Contest, JEANNE MACVICAR announced the upcoming “Relay for Life” kick-off event, scheduled for February 10 at the Foothills Congregational Church in Los Altos. She also announced that the event this year would be held for 24 hours from June 12-13, at Egan Jr. High (vs. Los Altos HS).

Following the announcement of the winners of the Speech Contest, TRACIE MURRAY thanked our guest speakers, and then closed the meeting at 1:37pm.