Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show July 1, 2010

JAN MINERS, MIKE ABRAMS and KAREN FOX greeted Rotarians after they picked up their badges, and paid lunch money to the dual takers of fast money LARRY CHU Jr. and CINDY LUEDTKE.  Then most members walked to their left and picked up that long lost, highly informative Los Altos Rotary Handbook. JOE CORRAL and KAREN OWEN were busy attaching a Rotarian’s name on 200 handbooks that arrived for July 1 distribution.

It was changing of the guard time and Pres DENNIS YOUNG called the meeting to order and immediately said, “How many people opened up the handbook and looked for your picture first?” There was affirmative applause.

PP TRACIE MURRAY led the salute to the flag, ABBY AHRENS provided the thought for the day and the Song Meister had us all sing God Bless America. What a wonderful way to start the 2010-2011 regime.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

PE MONA ARMISTEAD commented that on her first day of duty she was a failure because there were no visiting Rotarians. However, MARY MARLEY, BOB ADAMS, PAT FARRELL, and DENNIS YOUNG had guests to introduce and that kept her smiling.

PP SAM HARDING continued with awards from last Friday night by presenting the gold boot to PP TRACIE MURRAY. The boot is a tradition that was started when SAM was president. Former Rotarian Hardy Jones made the boot and presented it to the Los Altos Rotary Club.

STEVE SHEPHERD, the president of Rotary golf, said we made money on golf this year and provided several awards. The best golfer in the club with low gross score was JERRY MOISON. Best ladies low score was given to CINDY LUEDTKE whose score was lower than last year.

Two new awards were given this year. Ladies low net championship went to JEAN NEWTON FRAGUGLIA and for Men’s Low Net Championship MEL KAHN. BAIDRA MURPHY was awarded the “Official Photographer” for the Rotary golfing event.

Mentioned again, as “Rotarian of The Year” was KENDRA GJERSETH.

At announcement time MATT CABOT said he e-mailed 40 Rotarians and not one responded. He is looking for several new Rotator writers so hone your mind and become literate. RANDY GARD is also looking for a new photographer.

KAREN FOX is looking for relief to tend a booth at the upcoming Art and Wine Show.

KAREN also mentioned CSA Hometown Heroes has a strong Rotarian influence this year. The breakfast event is September 17 and starts at 7:30 a.m.  At breakfast, The Los Altos Community Foundation will be honored, as the hometown organization to receive the award, while Liz and PAUL NYBERG will receive their hero award for individual contributions to the community.

Subbing for JOHN SYLVESTER, KENDRA’S enterprising social info reminded us to not miss the wine and cheese social at DICK BLANDING’S house at 6 p.m. July 23. The address is 21 Marvin Ave. in Los Altos.

JACK HIGGINS was in a New Orleans tie shop recently and ran across a yellow tie for accountants. He purchased it and gave it to P DENNIS YOUNG.  There was no comment from DENNIS since accountants do not like to be tied up to a bottom line.

DENNIS then gave MONA ARMISTEAD a registration form for next year’s International Convention and Mardi Grais beads to go with it because the location is New Orleans.

PRESIDENT DENNIS' PROGRAM FOR 2010

DENNIS announced his program for the coming year.  Going along with Rotary International’s “Building Communities/Bridging Continents,” DENNIS said his theme will be baseball and when you join the President’s Club you will receive a royal blue colored baseball cap with the gold Rotary Logo on front and Los Altos Rotary Club in gold print on the back. 

He will also initiate a Rotarian of the Month to celebrate our club’s success. He then introduced the players on his team. KAREN FOX (First Base), BONNIE BURDETT (second base), MARY MARLEY(third base), CHUCK LINDAUER (left fielder) and CLYDE NOEL (short stop) with MONA ARMISTEAD in right field.

Catcher will be PP TRACIE MURRAY and starting pitcher President DENNIS YOUNG. First base coach is SANDY WHIPPLE and third base coach is KENDRA GJERSETH. Today was batter up as the home field took the field.  As a side remark to draw our attention, DENNIS said that 20 percent of the club is made up of Red Badgers. Many are still sitting on the bench.

FINING

JERRY MOISON was fine master for the day and stirred up the spectators.  “It’s not about the money. You got to buy the hat to make the team.” So sweeping out any past errors and starting with a clean slate, JERRY went to work.

CHUCK LINDAUER was first up and bought the hat visor for $50 because it was his 44th anniversary. In honor of her sponsor DENNIS, BAIDRA MURPHY paid $20. JOHN McDONNELL celebrated his 32nd anniversary while MEL KAHN paid $20.  KENDRA GJERSETH complained about her handbook mistakes and paid $50. BOB ADAMS and CINDY LUEDTKE each paid a fine for sharing the same birthday (June 29th). 

JACK HIGGINS was the first to buy a hat and he made the team. The following bought pieces of the hat by answering a baseball trivia question.  RANDY GARD, STEPHEN WU, MONA ARMISTEAD, CLYDE NOEL, SAM PESNER, CAREW MCFALL, and DAVID CASAS.

DIRECTORS PRESENTATIONS

KAREN FOX: Director of Community Service
Our club has an outstanding record for Service Above Self, which includes service to children and youth, international projects, Rotary AIDS Project and Partners for New Generations.

Community Service is the central element of Rotary’s commitment and there is room for every member of the club to take part. A new and growing committee this year is the Partners for Elder Generations and they could use help getting the program off the ground. .

KAREN said there is a role for everyone in the club and she invites you to jump in and get involved, especially if you are new to the club. Community service is a great way to meet fellow Rotarians and learn more about your community.

MARY MARLEY: Director of International Service                                                   
The International Service is responsible for all activities that involve any international service. MARY spoke about Rotary Scholarships and Ambassadorial Scholarships for overseas study. The Rotary Aids Project is continuing its outreach to other clubs for their participation in preventing mother-to-child transference of Aids. 

She spoke about the Vocational Training Team and the Vision Plan where Rotary is going in the long term. With a reference to sustaining projects, these are “forever-impactful” projects where currently, we are helping to build a community center in Haiti.

A firm believer in volunteering, we can make a difference if we get involved, especially when you volunteer on the International level.

CLYDE NOEL Membership Director
Reported on various comments from Rotary Clubs at District 5170 meeting in May where the theme was retention of members in the club.

The question is: Does a club want to get bigger by adding new members or should they cultivate current members to become good community helpers?  A lot of Rotary Clubs don’t know what to do with new members and that’s the stuff that governs whether you retain good members or they leave the club.

It all goes back to how members and non-members perceive their club. The focus is on demographics and does the club look like the community where it is located.

To keep members, get them involved when they are Red Badgers and give them a committee to check out or a task force to get them involved.

DENNIS YOUNG for JOHN SYLVESTER: Fellowship Director
DENNIS said the main thing is “have fun”.  We are having a Wine and Cheese party monthly, The Holiday Party will again be at the Jesuit Retreat House, Chef Chu’s dinner will be held on February 2, and the Ciappino feed this year will take place in early spring as a fund-raiser to benefit the “End Polio Now” campaign.

DENNIS said, “The main theme is have fun and celebrate each other.”

CHUCK LINDAUER:  New Generations and Vocational Service Director
His time was short and DENNIS was pushing CHUCK so he said it looks like an easy job as you support the team and pitch in where necessary.

He did mention the Interact Club is doing great and we need new people for the Rotary Scholarships next year.

CHUCK spent more time on PNG (Partners for New Generations) because they are becoming a 501 (C) 3 next month and are looking to have more mentors and tutors for the high school this year.  

For his first official presidential duty, DENNIS closed the meeting without banging the bell at 1:31 p.m.