By: Dr. Bill Harlan
Our President, Can-Do Sandhu, decided to come back for today’s meeting after all. After reminding us that Ian Reisling is our RI President, he introduced our Greeter, Don Jones, who gave us a Charles Schultz definition of a “friend”: “A friend is someone who says something nice about you even when you’re not around.” He led us in the Salute and told us that he was figuring out how to turn his insurance business over to his kids. The Blackhawk Mafia (Jones, Welm. Disch) led us in “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” Lucky showed off his presidential wardrobe, an ugly plantation hat and a pair of pants that can only be called, charitably, “unusual.” Lucky credited his fashion advisor, Colette Lay, with his outfit. Discussion ensued as to how to make the hat and pants disappear and what excuse Lucky might use to explain their being missing. An anxious world awaits.
Auction Update:
Kathy Gailey warns that we need the items for the auction by August 15. She introduced the team who have been working shops in Danville getting items: Dennis Harvey, Guy Greco, Chris Gayler and Lucky Sandhu. They illustrated the different pitches that they use in their successful effort. We learned that there are about 40,000 students who are in the San Ramon Valley District and that about 15,000 potential customers visit the auction on-line. We are putting up the business logos of all donors right now on the auction site.
Good News (Fine-Free):
Colette Lay had her daughter here, McKenna, who had just returned from a world tournament where she competed in a form of martial arts that involves kicking people in the private parts. She did it so well again (she already has a gold medal!) that she was named to the US team.
Karen McNamara brought her daughter, Megan, who was just hired as a 911 dispatcher for the Danville-Alamo area.
Tom Port told us his son just signed a deal with a publisher for a book he has written on the careers of Les Paul and Leo Fender who ushered in the modern guitar era.
Don Jones announced that his daughter is producing a musical fundraiser for Alzheimer research on August 15 at the Danville Little Theater next to Bridges. Don has info on the tickets.
Marco Bronzini bragged that his 6’ 3” middle-schooler son Nick is a star player on the Tri-Valley Babe Ruth baseball team and is playing in the World Series in Mountain Home, Arkansas.
Lucky recognized Mike Thelan’s wedding anniversary, which was good news but not fine-free.
Program:
Lucky welcomed our speakers, Don and Linda Jenkins. Don has been a member of the Orinda Sunrise Rotary for 40 years. He and his wife described for us their trips to Vietnam and Peru on behalf of the
LN-4 Hand Project, an international effort to supply and fit artificial hands for people around the world. The hand was designed by a Rotarian from the Pleasant Hill Club, Michael Mendoca, who named it after his late daughter, Ellen. During Candy Pierce’s term as District Governor, Rotary adopted the program and even assembled some of the hands. (Full disclosure: the hands which this correspondent tried to put together all had to be redone by Robin Stevens’s daughter, Rachel.) Don and Linda took 500 hands to Vietnam, where they fitted 150 and left the remainder for other amputees. In Vietnam they worked with a Vietnamese Red Cross, which was a governmental agency; many of the people they saw had been injured during the war or in subsequent land mine explosions.
After their Vietnam mission the couple went to Peru. In that country one cannot join Rotary until he is 35 years old. Consequently, a lot of the Rotary projects are done by young professionals who belong to Rotoact. Don and Linda saw many people in need of hands who were also blind or crippled. One memorable fisherman had had both his forearms taken off by a line while fishing for tuna. He received two arms.
The hand was developed in our district and then taken over by a non-profit in Chico. The hands are assembled here, often as part of a volunteer effort. People are trained on how to fit them. The hands are fitted based on photos of the amputation. The amputees must have some part of their lower arm left for the fitting. Those who receive the hands do not have to pay at all; the prosthesis last about three years.
Rotary Moment:
Lucky shared a video clip which made the point that Rotarians “do a world of good. “ The latest numbers of vaccinations for polio stand at 420 million, an impressive achievement. Lucky concluded by saying that there are three kinds of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen an
d those who have no idea what is happening. We want to belong to the first group. At a future meeting we will have a further report on the recent international conference.
Raffle:
Edgardo Carrillo won the Greeter’s gift, which is about the third time in the last month. Marco Bronzini won the chance at the cumulative pot, but he insisted that Sergeant-at-Arms Naim Katiby take all the marbles out of the bag so he could test the structural integrity of the white marble by heating it with a cigarette lighter. Then the marbles were returned to the bag and Marco, against all odds, drew white, to the tears of his peers. The IRS has been notified that Marco won hundreds of dollars, including much of this correspondent’s retirement nest egg.
