Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show July 28 2011

Greeters MARGE SENTOUS, JARRETT FISHPAW, and SCOTT RICHES were waiting in the foyer to welcome anxious and loyal Rotarians to the day’s meeting. As they entered the big room, they were surprised by the large pile of 2011-2012 Rotary Handbooks ready and waiting to be handed out to each member.

KAREN OWEN, PP SAM PESNER, and JERRY TOMANEK outdid themselves with the new handbook for President MONA ARMISTEAD’S year. Karen offered a handbook to each Rotarian with their name pasted on the back. Everyone was so happy to see the new handbook. “You’re so organized this year,” numerous members said, as they quickly opened their handbook to see their own personal Rotary resume’. 

“When they picked up their book, there wasn’t a negative comment this year,” said KAREN OWEN. “And, it was on time.”

President MONA ARMISTEAD opened the meeting at 12:15 p.m. as PP CINDY LUEDTKE provided assistance and direction for our salute to the U.S. Flag, followed by JOHN HAMMERSCHMIDT providing inspiration over the Federal Budget fiasco with a comment by Michael Jordan on not always making the game winning shot. “I tried over and over again, failed a lot, and that is why I succeeded.” BONNIE BURDETT had us singing different versions of “If you’re happy and you know it: Clap your hands.” “If you’re happy and you know it, rub your belly…give a hug…blow a kiss” leaving the whole group and BONNIE sat down smiling.

President Elect JOHN SYLVESTER felt dejected since there was no visiting Rotarian to introduce, but the following Rotarians had guests to introduce;  PAT GRAY, GARY MAGGARD, GARY WALDECK, BAIDRA MURPHY, JOHN MCDONNELL and ABBY AHRENS. 

President MONA had several general observations to make regarding the wine and cheese event to be held at her house Friday July 29. “Just bring a bottle of your favorite drink, a dish to pass, park on the street, and walk to the house.”

MONA also mentioned forming a project for military veterans. Duncan MacVicar will be the advisor for the group; PAUL SCHUTZ will be organizer with KAREN GREGURAS acting as scribe.

DAN O’DONNELL has several openings for delivering dinner for RotaCare and wished the open slots would be filled.  A clipboard was passed around to accomplish this goal.

PE JOHN SYLVESTER mentioned the Program Committee would meet at First Republic Bank, Monday August 1, at 11:45 a.m.

KENDRA GJERSETH mentioned she was acting as Club Treasurer for the day and if there were any moneys to be paid, give the geld to her so she can get it to SANDIE WHIPPLE.

Past President DENNIS YOUNG mentioned President MONA ARMISTEAD wants to bring back vocation to the Rotary the way PAUL HARRIS originally formed the club. Rotarians would then know each other’s business and if the need for a service occurred, the Rotary Club was the first place to look. Originally the organization only allowed one vocation or service oriented person in the club, but that expanded to numerous members with the same classification like we have today.

PP DENNIS YOUNG became the first Blue Badger with a vocational talk. Being a CPA he discussed his firm Young, Craig + Co., LLP, for the members.

Originally the firm was started in 1977 in San Carlos but moved to Los Altos in 1980.  There are 17 members in the firm who perform private client services. “We feel we can make a difference as a 3rd party contributor. We like to add value and be an advisor and not just a preparer for our clients. We are strong on communication,” said DENNIS.

The fine master for the day was JEANNE MacVICAR eager to show she can augment the Rotarian coffers. Her theme consisted of asking Red Badgers their worst or best vacation but other Rotary members were dinged for their negative or positive answers. After PP JOE RENATI (paid his $100 in advance not to be called on again this year) and RICH CASEY (joined the growing ranks of Medicare recipients) joined the president’s club, the ten and fifteen dollar donations started depending on the answers.
 STEVE POMEROY, ABBY AHRENS, MARLENE COWAN, BAIDRA MURPHY, JEAN NEWTON FRAGUGLIA, VAL CARPENTER, DICK DUHRING, JARRETT FISHPAW, KAREN OWEN, JOHN HAMMERSCHMIDT, JACK KELLY, JOAN ROSSELLE, JOHN BOGART, MARY MARLEY, and PE JOHN SYLVESTER were the day’s contributors.    

ABBY AHRENS introduced the speaker for the day, Nicole Elovitz, the director of marketing for Clear Edge Power of Hillsboro,Oregon. ABBY, owner of the Abigail Company is one of the believers that people need to implement change. Her most recent change is the development of Hotel Enchante’ on the 6,000 square foot lot in downtown Los Altos.
Taking the podium, Nicole introduced the change her company is making. Not relying on wind or sun to produce electricity, energy servers made from fuel cells may be the next new source of green energy. With her rapid delivery, Nicole said there are several types of fuel cell energy savers but her company’s energy savers provide distributed power generations at the same place where the power is consumed.  Generating power on site eliminates the cost and inefficiencies associated with transmission and distribution.

Configured much like a battery, a fuel cell is a device that uses a fuel source— in this case natural gas—to create electricity through an electrochemical process.

With a family Rotary background, Nicole said fuel cells are meant to empower you as the business owner. “Power is the breath of business and that leads to saving on the bottom line. Because fuel cells always run and provide a consistent base of power load, they are best for sites that have the need for continuous power loads.”

A Clear Edge Power fuel cell is a combined heat and power 5-kilowatt stationary fuel cell that uses a chemical process to convert natural gas into electricity and heat. A significant percentage of heat produced by fuel cells can be captured and used to provide heat and hot water.

With over 100 successful installations in California Clear Edge fuel cells reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 40 percent compared to traditional combustion technology and reduces other typical pollutants such as 37 percent reduction in CO2.

In the question and answer session one person in the audience asked the cost to homeowners. Nicole answered Clear Edge has sold more than 200 units and retail for about $56,000 to homeowners in California. The system works best for homes in excess of 5000 sq ft.  They are also eligible for a rebate from PG&E and a $5000 federal tax credit. 
Besides the practical examples of how Fuel cell technology is used in vehicles such as buses and forklift, it lends itself to use by larger institutions such as hospitals, schools, larger homes, hotels, and many other large buildings.  ABBY is aware of her potential savings from fuel cell usage in her yet undeveloped Hotel Enchante’ where she expects a 4 to 6 year projected pay back. The enthusiastic delivery by Nicole confirmed Abby’s need for fuel cells as her building’s future energy source.

THIS THURSDAY'S PROGRAM:

  Sonja Palmer, Executive Director, Music for Minors
 
What happened to school music programs?
 
Many, many years ago schools had music teachers who taught children music and how to play an instrument.   Those days are long gone.  However, Music for Minors (MFM) was conceived as a stopgap solution to keep music programs from disappearing in local schools. Today, MFM serves thousands of children each year-- and, for many of them, this is the only music education they will ever receive.    Sonja Palmer, Executive Director of MFM, will tell us about MFM and how it is filling this gap in schools throughout San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. 
 
Sonja seeks work that is challenging, fulfilling, and inspiring.  She approaches her work with energy, enthusiasm, charm, with a strong work ethic and a drive to inspire. Her life’s ambition is to keep music alive in schools and communities and eventually create a revolution in the arts. Sonja makes her home in San Carlos, CA with her husband Olin, a medical device engineer and business executive, their four year old daughter, Lena, and two year old son, Karsten
 
Sonja received her Bachelor of Music degree from Bethany College and Masters degree from Wichita State University.  She was a professional singer at the San Francisco Symphony.  She has held positions of leadership with the American Guild of Musical Artists and the San Francisco Chapter of the National Recording Academy (the Grammy’s).
 
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