CROW’S CALL – September 27, 2018
By: Gary Sloan
President John “Copy Cat” Milich brought us to order. Greeter Judy Lewis offered us a Thought for the Day from Dr. Seuss about climbing and falling but at least trying. Judy’s new interest is collecting Seuss memorabilia. After the Salute to the Flag, Mike Thelan led us in “God Bless America.” There were no visiting Rotarians.
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Announcements:
Dennis Harvey reported that the Rotary booth at the Business Expo last week had gone well with a number of potential contacts. He said that we needed a few volunteers for the Rotary booth at the upcoming Run for Education. Contact him if you have a few hours to help.
Jerry Marrs says we need lots more items for the Auction. This coming Tuesday night we will hold an Input Party at Marie Galbo’s home to enter the items we have online. If you can help and would like some pizza, contact Jerry.
Ana Dominguez announced that the funding for the Bolivian Water Project is complete. We will celebrate next Friday night with a party at a Bolivian restaurant in the City. Let her know if you would like to join the group.
Guy Greco revealed that the next golf tournament will be on Thursday, October 18 at Crow Canyon. There are two foursomes so far. Contact Guy if you wish to be part of the merriment.
Brent Tucker declared that the Holiday Party will be Friday, December 14 at the Tuckers. He promised new adventures in their upstairs game room where you can play air hockey or cards.
Recognitions:
This Correspondent, Dr. Bill, was recognized for his recent 80th birthday which he said made him an “Uber-Geezer.”
Edgardo Carillo recently celebrated his 30th anniversary of becoming a Rotarian; he plans to commemorate the occasion by doing wheelies on a cycle.
Fred Nevarez marked his marriage to Valerie back on September 3. Members wondered what she might get as an anniversary present.
For the second week in a row Marv Remmich was recognized for something: either an anniversary or the great job he does with the programs. Anyway, he paid.
Fine-Free Good News:
Jerry Marrs’ son, Scott, just finished the grueling “Crucible” week of his training successfully and is now officially a Marine: “Semper Fi.”
Gary Sloan asked for a veteran to make a presentation to a group of Cub Scouts about duty. He got six volunteers and thanked the club.
Program:
The purpose of the club assembly today was to discuss the future of the Rotary Christmas Tree lot as a fund-raiser for the club. After 24 years John Tatum is retiring and has sold Pioneer Packaging which has been Rotary’s partner in running the lot. Gary Sloan as past-president and head of the Rotary Foundation had been asked by President Milich to head up the small group tasked with coming up with options. Gary began by reminding us that the Club’s three principal fund-raisers are the Art and Wind Festival which raises $4,000 to 7,000 in wine and beer sales. The Tree Lot raises $25,000 to 40,000. The Run for Education on-line auction raises about $100,000. Each of these projects allocates the money raised in different configurations for our partners and priorities.
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In the 20 years that Rotary has been involved with John he has provided contacts with the grower, delivery of the trees, the full-time work force and his expertise in managing and planning. With his retirement we would have to assume all of these tasks if we were to continue the endeavor. Of particular concern we would have to hire the skilled work staff for the lot and cover the workmen’s comp for them. We would have to arrange and pay for the delivery. We would be responsible for the
storage and equipping of the support trailer for the lot. In recent years the number of trees we have sold has declined from 800 to 500. Without more aggressive marketing the trend is toward fewer sales.
Gary then introduced John who received a standing ovation for his work for the Club. John explained how the idea for the lot grew out of his efforts to provide work for his employees in the wood shop who were usually idle in December. Over the years the lot has been successful by emphasizing great service, including delivery and set-up. However, John observed that buyers today are less interested in large, quality trees; they are impatient about immediate purchase. Finally John believes our current location is not advantageous. He warns that large retailers, like Amazon, are threatening to muscle in on sales. He then itemized some specific challenges. In the last several years John’s employee, Brandon, has been the on-site manager of the lot. Brandon received $2,000 for the assignment, but now he has a new job and is expecting a baby. It is not realistic to expect him to continue with the lot. Chris Gayler observed that about 80% of all the work is done by the manager and the crew from Pioneer. In addition, John’s wood shop has relocated up to Lathrop where many of the workers have moved; many of the older, experienced crew members have retired and so may not be available. The overall trend in the tree business is a steady decline of at least 10% a year. We are already two weeks late in ordering trees for this year. John’s advice is to dump the lot and walk away.
Chris observed that it was difficult to get more than 8 -10 volunteers to work at the lot. He is willing to continue coordinating between the club and the lot, but he can’t spend all his time there. He characterized it as a pain in the ass. Several people said that if we wanted to proceed we could borrow money for this year’s tree order from the Foundation. A discussion pursued about how sales for this year would provide funding for next year’s grants. Others observed that Steve Wilcox and Jeff Disch had raised substantial funds from the golf tournaments they sponsored.
The sense of the group was overwhelming that we should discontinue the lot and look for a new fund-raiser, perhaps two to cover the money we need. In the 30 + years I have been in the club, this was one of the most carefully organized and thoroughly documented assemblies I have ever attended. Congratulations to all.
Dennis Harvey won some wine. Edgardo Carillo drew blue.