Los Altos Rotary Club Home of the Annual Rotary Fine Art Show January 31 2012

Club Assemblies are never as engaging as political dialog, or entertaining speakers, but today’s meeting took a step forward that brought it into the realm of “interesting” by the hard work of BEVERLY TUCKER who presented a powerpoint slide show that kept the program interesting, structured and on time.   

You’d think a half hour meeting about the health of our club, about the opportunities to serve, about the projects our club is involved in would be very interesting.  And, thanks in part to BEV and the other Directors, it was.

But I am getting ahead of myself.  The meeting began with the usual greeters, cashiers, sergeant-at-arms preparing our space for our meeting.  It seems that our musical interludes have taken the high road as well.  Under RON STAFANI’S able direction, last week we had a harmonica and home-made song (baseball morphed into Super bowl) by BONNIE BURDETT and HARN SOPER; a couple of weeks ago we had RON do a “Kate Smith preamble” of God Bless America, and the beat goes on. 

Today RON was back with a big ukulele, reminiscent of Tiny Tim, not Jake Shimabukuro whom I met on Molokai a couple of years ago.  RON’s partner today was PEN KENDRA GJERSETH who sang “Tiny Bubbles” made famous by Don Ho (whom I also met back in the 60’s.)

This singing of “Tiny Bubbles” brought some strangeness to the club that crept out during the meeting.  GREG DABB said that song was played at his honeymoon on Maui and I swore he said by a bunch of guys who took their clothes off, but then I am not all that great at hearing. 

Also during the meeting, and it may or may not have been because of the Tiny Bubbles song, someone said that PP DICK HENNING was in the park making out with CRYSTA KRAMES, or was it DICK just wished he was there, or something, I don’t know.  I do know that someone caught CRYSTA in the park.  What she was doing, or who she was with was lost to me.  But we can probably rule out PP DICK HENNING.

Boy do we have to get this PA system upgraded.  More on that later. 

The thought for the day was given by STEVE YARBROUGH, referring to the Boy Scouts of America retracting their position of gays in scouts, though leaving it to the local authorities for the final resolution.  He likened it to Thomas Jefferson’s quote:  “It is foolhardy to sacrifice real progress, however compromised, to the dreams of the idea.”

Members JEAN MORDO, STEVE SHEPHERD, SAM PESNER, KATHY BERRY, and ROY LAVE all brought guests.  Remember:  Members bringing guests generates new members; Without guests, no new members!  So when’s the last time you brought a guest?
 

ANNOUNCEMENTS
President JOHN SYLVESTER read an email from MARY MARLEY who has gone into hospice care.  In case you missed it, it is published on our website Here is the link. 

Before I continue with the announcements, let me reiterate my prior comments about announcements.  The protocol is to come to the mike prepared to make a brief announcement.  State your name, for new members and old alike.  Stand VERY CLOSE to the microphone.  As I said, the acoustics in this meeting hall are not all that great.  If we can’t hear you, then what’s the sense?

Also, those of you sitting near the Rotator writer, PLEASE be respectfully quiet. If he/she can’t hear the announcement, then it isn’t getting into the club newsletter accurately, or at all. Does anyone have problems hearing President JOHN SYLVESTER?  No.  Everyone uses the same sound system, but somehow, we all can hear JOHN.

If you don’t identify yourself, if you don’t speak up, if you aren’t concise, then don’t wonder why your message was not published.

My suggestions is to print out your announcement ahead of time, and then when you are finished, hand it to the Rotator writer, so it gets into the Rotator correctly. 

 KAREN FOX  announced that, thanks to some funding from the Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project (LARAP), and much volunteer time in both the US and Russia,  the Russian translation and adaptation of the handbook HIV, AIDS, and Your Community: A Guide to Action, is now available for free download at http://www.aidsmap.com/page/2116726

This translation is hosted by NAM, a London-based NGO that "supports people living and working with HIV by providing accurate, impartial, and up-to-date information about HIV/AIDS. We believe that, wherever you are in the world, accessing accurate information is vital in the global management of HIV."

Karen explained that the impetus for preparing this translation was the Los Altos Rotary AIDS Project purchase and distribution of 5,000 copies of the English-language edition to health workers abroad.  This Russian translation is important because of the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Russia and the dearth of practical information in Russian.

RON STEFANI is looking for volunteers to lead the music section of the agenda each week.  He is passing around a sign up sheet and he needs your cooperation. Sign up! Time has passed but you still can sign up.

 
Official Proclamation of Rotary Day, February 23rd!  All hands on deck…
 
ALLAN VARNI, with a “dovetail” announcement from CAROL GARSTEN highlighted the fact that the Cities of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills will be issuing an official proclamation that February 23rd is Rotary Day in the two cities.  The plan is for our Club members to be present in Downtown Los Altos.  There will be four to six tables set up for the purpose of our Club to be able to meet with the public and talk about our many worthwhile work both locally and internationally (PNG, CAP ,PEG, Welcome Home Veterans, Solar Cooking, etc.) as well as a recruitment table for membership to our club.   What we need are volunteers to man each table in two-hour shifts.  Please support this by setting some time aside on this date to be there.  Contact Allan at allan@varni.com or 650-279-0696 to get your time and table assignment. 
 
PAUL GONELLA mentioned that the prior Red Badge Committee group still has a number of the Resource cards available for distribution.  There were a number on each table.  Let’s put them all to good use in our community.

NANCY SIMON told the club that their goal of $25,000 fundraising effort was exceeded.  This was for benefit of the Los Altos High School Haiti relief project, where they had a silent auction fundraiser at the 1st and Main Sports Lounge last Sunday, Jan 27.  Thanks to all the participants. 

 
JEAN MORDO said he had two tickets to the Celebrity Forum for next (this coming 2/6) Friday.  Whether they were snatched up by the end of the meeting or not, I don’t know.  Please ask him if you are interested.

BONNIE BURDETT announced that the mock interview program held next week is sponsored by PNG.  By the time you get this newsletter, it will be a bit late to volunteer, but just in case, you might contact Doreen Bracamontes at doreen.bracamontes@mvla.net or call (650) 691-2433 and see if she needs more help.  The actual interviews will be held on Friday, February 8th.  If you missed the invitation to help, here is a link to last week’s Rotator.

PP ROY LAVE reiterated his comments about the monthly Satellite meeting, usually held at El Retiro, on the first Tuesday of the month at 8 AM.  Because space is limited, it is necessary to sign up.

Another PP, PP CYNTHIA LUEDTKE reminded us about the nearly annual Cioppino Feed that will be held this year on March 1st.  Here is an email from Dave Luedtke that went out to the club on January 16:

Hello,

You are invited to the Cioppino Feed 2013. To register for this event click on "Register Online" below. Or decline it and I promise not to send you anymore emails about this event. We have a band this year so it will be even more fun! (Editor’s note:  Go to their website to sign up.)
You can also book family and friends. Please sign up now and help this wonderful cause!
Event
Cioppino Feed 2013
Date
Mar 01, 2013 at 06:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Fee
$70.00
Location
Shoup Park - Garden House
View Map
400 University Avenue
Los Altos, CA 94022
United States
Details
Come to our Welcome Home Veterans Project fundraiser (see www.lacioppino.com) and be ready to taste the best Cioppino you will ever have! Crab, prawns, and clams in thick tomato gravy. Or have lasagna from Alloto’s Deli.  This is a great social event for a great cause.  $70 per person.
Go to the Los Altos Cioppino website for more information     http://www.lacioppino.com
Menu: Caesar salad, French bread, a bowl or two or three of Cioppino, and Lasagna.
Sangiovese and Pinot Grigio wines will also be served.
 Signup on the Los Altos Cioppino website, or email dave@serenogroup.com
 
PP Cynthia also talked about the money raised for the Rotary Foundation.  She said that last year our club raised $38,000.  This year, our club raised over $39,000, and qualified us as a Every Member, Every Year Club.  To top it off, the average donation was over $200 per member which is a huge accomplishment!  Congratulations, all.

FINEMASTER RON STEFANI, continuing his musical theme, extracted several hundred dollars, including at least one new President’s Club member.  Then it got a bit squarely again, PP PESNER PAYING for telling on CRYSTA, PP DICK HENNING, for something with CRYSTA, BONNIE BURDETT because she was proud of CRYSTA, etc. prompting RON to suggest a new way to raise money. 

CLUB ASSEMBLY

PE President Elect	Treasurer	Secretary  President Elect Nominee
Jack Kelly	Sandie Whipple	Kendra Gjerseth
Steve Pomeroy	Randy Gard	Paul Schutz
International Service	Membership	Community Service
Karen Greguras	Beverly Tucker	Crysta Krames
New Generations	Fellowship	Art Show

Each Director stood up and gave a very pithy account of their area of responsibility.  STEVE POMEROY stood up twice; once substituting for Club Service and Operations Director, CLARI NOLET and a second time as Director of International Services.  Here is a link to BEV’s work, both in powerpoint and pdf format, which, believe me, beats rehashing it here.  POWERPOINT or PDF. 

THIS THURSDAY'S PROGRAM: JACK KELLY - Area Speech Contest