Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show September 22 2011

GREG DABB, VAL CARPENTER, VON PACKARD, and PAT FARRELL greeted Rotarians as they made their way into the Garden House this week. DAVID CASAS was this week’s Treasurer. Our Sergeants at Arms are MIKE ABRAMS, FRANK VERLOT, LEW FRASER, and STEVE POMEROY.  

President MONA ARMISTEAD started the meeting promptly at 12:15 pm, with MIKE ABRAMS leading the pledge. LONNIE GARY, assisted by PE JOHN SYLVESTER, led the group in the song “Memories” with a SF Giants twist. Next up was STEVE WU with the Thought of the Day, inspired by the Past President of the Rotary E-Club: “become a master of your tools so your spirit and body survive”.
 
PE JOHN SYLVESTER called for visiting Rotarians but no one was visiting from other clubs. Several Rotarians had guests though: P MONA ARMISTEAD, PP BOB ADAMS, and PP SAM PESNER.    
 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• MARLIS MCALLISTER started by announcing the new Rotary Hiking Group meeting on Sat. Oct 22nd or Sun. Oct. 23rd. Please let Marlis know your preference when you sign up for the event.
• PP DENNIS YOUNG was next up announcing the Los Altos Sunset Club Area 9 Social taking place on Tues, Sept 27th at Los Charros on El Camino in Mountain View from 6:30 - 8:30 pm for $15 a person.
• KAILAS CHIDAMBARAM made his last announcement for the Coaniquem Burn Center, raffle tickets and donations are still being accepted.
• JOHN CARDOZA  made the following announcement:  The RotaCare Medical Clinic of Mountain View will be holding their annual Volunteer Appreciation Event, as well as celebrating their 15th anniversary, on Thursday, Oct. 6th from 6 to 9 pm at the Garden House.
  
  All Los Altos and Mtn. View Rotary Club members, RotaCare volunteers, and RotaCare supporters, and a guest, are invited.
  
  Come join the festivities!  There will be food, beverages, and the fabulous rock band, "Doc Roc and the Disorderlies."  Doc Roc's alias, by the way, is Dr. Kenneth Peters, a Rotacare volunteer.
  
  Please RSVP by registering on our website or by signing the clip board at Rotary.
  
• LEW FRASER announced that the club is looking for a new laptop, if you have one to donate then please contact STEVE POMEROY.
• Last one up was FRANK VERLOT to announce the World Community Service meeting on Tues. Sept 27th at 8:00 AM at First Republic Bank.
• OTHER:  A request has been made to include this announcement which was not made at the meeting.  Senator Joe Simitian has scheduled a constituent Town Hall for Tuesday, October 18th from 6-7:30pm in the Los Altos City Council Chambers. This is an opportunity for the public to ask him any questions they may have, tell him what’s on their minds, or get help with state agencies and services from staff who will be on hand that evening.  

MINI-PROGRAM:
Author and traveler, Dan Seddiqui, joined us to talk about his experiences and his book 50 Jobs in 50 States. Dan graduated from USC with an economics degree and had a very difficult time finding a job.
 
He failed 40 job interviews in 3 years, and after struggling came up with the idea of taking 50 different jobs in all 50 states. He chose jobs that reflected the economy and culture in each state.

Dan began by looking for sponsors which he was unable to find, so he took out a $5,000 loan from the bank. Dan began his journey in Utah because it was the first state to offer him a job. He spent one week in each state and spent the weekends driving, so it took him one year to complete his journey.

Again he faced a lot of rejection, about 100 No's per state but he kept trying until he succeeded. He held jobs like coal miner, cheese maker, logger, auto mechanic, football coach, surfing instructor, and many more.

In each state Dan found a host family to live with to further his experience. He learned perseverance, networking and gutsiness from his pursuit.  

EMAIL FROM KAILAS CHIDAMBARAM:

Dear President Mona,
With gratitude and pleasure, I am submitting the final donation figures from our club members to this admirable charity in Chile devoted to rehabilitating burned children.

1) Cash Received...........................$ 410.00

2) Checks Received (13)..................1,325.00

3) Direct Donation (Karen Fox)........... 100.00

Total Received & Donated..............$ 1,835.00

The above total was handed to PDG Carolyn Schuetz, Pres. COANIQUEM BCF on Sep 22, 2011 and will be acknowledged at the Foundation function at Pleasanton on Sep 25.

In addition, PDG Carolyn informed me the Rotary Club of Los Altos will receive Gold status for our contribution and support as one of the leading clubs in the District.

Respectfully submitted,

Kailas Chidambaram

RECOGNITION:
PP TRACIE MURRAY led recognition with week with new Rotarian ALISON SALISBURY taking care of the duck bucket.

Volunteers started off the recognitions, with:

• DAVID BERONIO joining the President’s Club because his son was honored for being in the top 1% of engineers at Cisco.
• PP SAM PESNER offered a fine for celebrating his 40th Anniversary as an Optometrist.
• Next up was JOHN EVANS who joined the President’s Club in honor of being a USC business school graduate. When he opened up his pen box from P MONA it was empty!!   If you have joined the President’s Club and received an empty pen box please let MONA know.

• ANNE ARJANI giving $55,
• LAUREN HERBSTMAN giving $30,
• PAT FARRELL $81 and
• ROY LAVE $20.

• GREG DABB joining the President’s Club
• and GARY WALDECK giving $25.
• JOHN SINES was called upon but had left the meeting early.

• SHELLY POTVIN,
• KAREN OWEN,
• LEM SUMMEY, and
• MIKE SPENCE who all paid $20.

PROGRAM:
Anne Ehresman, Executive Director of Project Cornerstone, joined Los Altos Rotary. Project Cornerstone was launched 10 years ago with the goal of studying personal behaviors of adult, children’s programs, and community policy and how it affects the lives of children in becoming successful and functioning adults. There are 170 schools partnering to help train parents to go into classrooms to connect caring adults with children. The program is currently running in English and Spanish.

Project Cornerstone studies what’s right with kids using a Developmental Assets Framework which has 4 main levels:

• External Assets
  • Support
  • Boundaries and Expectations
  • Empowerment
  • Constructive Use of Time
• Internal Assets
  • Commitment to Learning
  • Social Competencies
  • Positive Values
  • Positive Identity
• Thriving Behaviors
  • Good Health
  • Helps Others
  • Value Diversity
• Success

THIS THURSDAY'S PROGRAM:

Learn how Terma Foundation founder, Dr. Nancy Harris, developed programs over twenty years, to reverse life threatening health issues for nearly one million underserved Tibetan children. Initially, over a seven year period, she and her tri-cultural team of Tibetan, Chinese and Western health workers examined several thousands of children.

The resulting data showed that these children were not "short but healthy," as previously believed, but were in fact severely malnourished and chronically ill and at a high risk of death from easily preventable and treatable conditions.

As the founder and President of the Terma Foundation, Dr. Harris worked with local traditional elders, women, and villagers to develop child and community health programs.

These programs are implemented by local Tibetan staff with emphasis on health education. Spending six to eight months a year in the field, Nancy Harris continues her work to generate awareness and to direct resources to address this dire situation. Field programs, based in Lhasa, reach over 300,000 child and community beneficiaries per year.

Dr. Harris received her BS and MS degrees in biology from Yale University and her Doctor of Medicine from Stanford University. The Terma Foundation is located in Half Moon Bay, California.