Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show September 8 2011

As numerous Rotarians came in the foyer, BARBARA SMALL in her pretty blue blouse, BEVERLY TUCKER, in her polka dot dress and ROY JONES in his checkered brown shirt stuck out their hands and welcomed the members to an informative and active program.

President MONA ARMISTEAD started the meeting promptly and said it was dedicated to the memory of 9/11 as PP TRACIE MURRAY led us in the pledge to the flag.

9/11 REMEMBRANCE
Instead of a thought for the day, MARY MARLEY dedicated a short remembrance for the 343 firefighters who were killed on that fateful day, and provided a memorial video of Firefighters for Firefighters that will not be seen on television. 

MARY’S sister-in-law is director of special events for the New York City Fire Department. Among her many responsibilities besides planning Fire Safety Days is the responsibility for funeral services for firefighters who die in the line of duty. 

History reminds us that firefighters were among the first responders when the planes struck the Twin Towers and 343 of them died as the Towers collapsed.
Since then, each fire station has created a Memorial for their fellow fighters. MARY’S sister-in-law created a memorial video by Firefighters for Firefighters. The video shows pictures of different fire stations in the boroughs with the memory of “Halfway to Heaven,” and “Brothers in Battle.” The video is a pictorial salute to the memory.

MARY reminded us that “ 9/11” is one more reminder of why ROTARY WAGES PEACE.

While Rotarians were still in awe from the video, JARRETT FISHPAW lead us in singing ‘GOD BLESS AMERICA.”

Elated President Elect JOHN SYLVESTER had increased responsibilities today when he announced two visiting Rotarians. Scott McDonall and Carolyn Schutz, our District TRF Chair.
Members with guests were: BOB ADAMS, GARY MAGGARD AND MARLIS McALLISTER.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
DAVID SMITH announced that PEG (Partner for Elder Generations) meets the first Monday of the every month at 1:00 p.m. at the First Republic Bank. You are welcome.

KAREN GESSERT said this month’s fellowship would be held on a Saturday evening at Lou & PP SAM PESNER’S home Sept. 17, 2011. The location is 573 Carla Court in Mountain View. Time is 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

PAUL SCHUTZ reported the Veteran’s Committee has 14 members and needs support for the veterans.

LEW FRASER said the Rotary Club needs a new computer. The old computer died and we are looking for a donation and it is tax deductable. A laptop is preferred.

Carolyn Schutz (Alameda Rotary)  complimented the Club for their superb performance in the Rotary Foundation participation.  In her second part, Carolyn announced the Coaniquem Burned Children’s Foundation annual fundraiser will be held Sept. 25 in the firehouse in the East Bay. More information on location will come later.

JOHN CARDOZA announced the Rotocare Clinic will hold their 15th anniversary October 6, in the Garden House.

BARBARA SMALL announced the Bike Ride for Leukemia would be held next Saturday Sept. 17 starting in Pierce Park. Cost is $25 for lunch and a T-shirt. The Bike Ride is an annual affair in memory of Bonnie Burdette’s husband and proceeds from the event go for leukemia research.

MARY MARLEY reminded us of the District’s Avenue of Service on Thursday October 20, 4:00 to 9:00 p.m. It will be held at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose.

JOHN MORDO, announced Lois and PP BOB ADAMS and Judy Hannemann will receive the Home Town Hero award from the Community Services Agency September 16.  Price is $50 to wake up early and get to the Crown Plaza by 7:30 a.m.

CRES MCFALL reminded us that after September 11, the world provided attribution to the U.S.  Even the Taliban offered condolences but did not send flowers.

An email from President Mona:

It is with sadness that I inform you of the death of our friend and fellow Rotarian, Michael Stadlen. Michael was at home, surrounded by his family, when he passed away Friday afternoon, September 10th. His son wrote a beautiful tribute, " A Tearful Farewell" on the Caring Bridge website (www.caringbridge.org/visit/michaelstadlen). Please keep Michael's family in your thoughts during this difficult time.

Arrangements for Shiva and a memorial service are pending. I will keep you informed.

Mona Armistead
Rotary Club of Los Altos

VOCATIONAL SPEAKER
President MONA announced we would have vocational talks during the year and the first speaker was JACK KELLY.

JACK started out telling us his two favorite hobbies were wine making and club (as in golf) making. They were mostly consuming, but also creative.

One of his creative endeavors was tasted at the Rotary Social event and it was called Chateau Garage. No one can remember the wine, but the label did win a creative award.
Club making is different because it exposes you to a different set of people and Jack wants you to know that he is a professional because Golf Smith pays him a wage.

He started his hobby when he took a golf club apart. It was a wood and he could have had a job with club making but times changed for Jack when he joined the Toast Masters Club.
His first speech was terrible and he wanted to hide under a rock, but as he improved with words of his understanding, he finally received a trophy for talking.

With encouragement from DICK HENNING and STEVE ANDERSON, JACK began recruiting high school students for the Rotary speech contest and became the speech coach for the High School debate team. Jack is now the District Youth Speech Counselor.

MAKING MONEY
Fine master PP MARY PROCHNOW asked for volunteers and numerous Rotarians spoke up.

• AL TRAFICANTI volunteered he was married 53 years and offered a $54 fine.
• PP TRACIE MURRAY said she was the proud mother of an Interactor and paid $50.
• KENDRA GJERSETH sashayed back and forth and finally paid $20.
• PP STEVE ANDERSON goofed on birthdays when he was fine master and paid $20
• PP MARLENE COWAN’S found badge cost her $20.
• ROLAND PAYNE’S 2 week-old grandson cost him $20.
• JERRY TOMANEK will march in the pet parade and paid $20.
• CRES McFall celebrated 45 years of marriage for $50.
• MARV PATTERSON never paid for a birthday so he joined the president’s club.

THE VISION PLAN
As a member of the facilitation team and organizing the vision for the future, Club Trainer, MARY

MARLEY started explaining the program through a slide show.
The basics in any plan are: we need to all pull in the same direction. It is the club’s vision we want and to get there everyone has to be involved.

In the planning phase we need to find out who we are? Where we are? Where do we want to be? AND, how will we know when we arrive?

President MONA took over the podium to explain the process undertook by those who met for the visioning session to convince Rotary International why the Rotary Club of Los Altos deserves the distinguished gold Medal as recognition for being the “best of the best.”   A culmination of those answers that met with consensus of the group, became the vision our club can achieve for itself five years from now.

The attributes of membership involve the Los Altos community and every member is engaged in club activities.

To achieve this, we need a broad range of fellowship activities and fellowship in community service events. MONA then mentioned club service of active and passive training to manage the Club’s many service opportunities. An outreach to corporation/business for sponsorship/membership and every member post the Four-Way Test at their business.

In addition we have community service projects, community service fund raising with the $100 LAREF donation per member per year to promote a Guy Shoup Award.

Mona continued with the prerequisites for International Service, 100 percent participation in The Rotary Foundation (TRF), and 80 percent of membership being in the double sustainer category.
One new item was the creation of Presidents Council: It contains 3 immediate Past Presidents, Current President, President Elect and President elect Nominee.

The next steps are to establish small groups or committees for each avenue, create a five-year strategic plan, develop first year goals and objectives and update membership periodically.
When Mary returned to the podium she provided the mission statement. She also said she will be the traffic cop to supervise the goals and objectives.  The mission statement:
“The Rotary Club of Los Altos Changes the World through Service”.
“I joined for the Business and Fellowship. I stayed to Change the World.”

Mary said as she departed the podium, “The Los Altos Rotary Club will be the Yo Yo Ma of Rotary.”
With no time for questions and answers, President MONA hit the gavel at 1:30 p.m. for our departure from a glorious meeting with national and civic pride.
Here is a link to Mary's slideshow in PPT format.

THIS THURSDAY'S PROGRAM:

 
How is someone, who has been incarcerated for 20 years in prison, exonerated for a crime he didn’t commit?  Come and hear Seth Flagsberg of the Innocence Project tell the story of Frank Carrillo, one of the many Innocence Project exonerees.
 
Seth has been a staff attorney at the Northern California Innocence Project (NCIP) for two years. In addition to his investigative work for NCIP, he teaches courses on the Innocence Project to Santa Clara Law School students. 
 
Before joining NCIP Seth spent over 20 years as a Santa Clara County Deputy Public Defender where he represented defendants in many serious criminal cases including numerous homicides. He has argued cases before the California Supreme Court and the 6th District Court of Appeal. Seth is originally from New York City and he is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and the Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco. Seth & his wife reside in Los Altos with their daughter, who is a student at Mountain View High School.