By:  Hermann Welm

 

Our new President, Colette Lay, opened her first meeting by announcing that the new R.I. President is Mark Daniel Maloney, of Decatur, Alabama, and his theme for the year is “Rotary Connects the World!”  Our Greeter, PP Dr. Bill Harlan, led us in the Salute to the Flag and presented the Thought for the Day, and Ode to Colette:

 

 

 

This Scribe then lead the group in the singing of the Patriotic Song, “My Country Tis of Thee!”

 

Visiting Rotarians:   Allen Mueller (Danville), Elizabeth Cline-Carrillo (Internet Club Galaxie), Gary Vilhauer (Danville), Leslie Vilhauer (Danville), Daniel Kodam (Danville/Sycamore) Peter Waldron (Alamo) and Tian Akins (Concord).

 

 

Other Visitors:  Phil Tucker (Congressman Eric Swalwell’s Office), Brad and Brennan Lay, Chaya Sandhu and Mary Greco.

 

 

Announcements: 

 

 

The first, and most important announcement was that President Colette’s name for the year will be “Lady Grizzly!”  A very appropriate choice based on her personality (disorder?) and her connection to California High School!  Congrats to the Team that came up with this!

 

Allen Mueller, of the Danville Rotary club, announced that their club will be sponsoring a “Rotary Night at the Eugene O’Neill Playhouse” on Thursday, September 26.  “A Long Days Journey Into Night” will be presented.  Tickets can be purchased at www.villagetheatreshows.com; use code ROTARY.

 

Phil Tucker noted that Congressman Swalwell is no longer running for President of the United States, and his office is available to assist residents having problems negotiating the corridors of the Washington Bureaucracy.

 

PP Gary Sloan announced that the Cal High Interact Club will have a summer vacation fundraiser on July 17, at T4, a “comfort food” outlet at 11020 Bollinger Canyon Road.  Purchases made between 11:00 am and 11:00 pm will create a financial benefit for the club.

 

Gary also noted that our Regular Meeting on July 25  will have presentations from this year’s Camp Venture and Camp Royal attendees.  These are always interesting, so plan on attending that meeting.

 

Danville Rotary is organizing a “SUPER 680 Day at the Ball Game” for the six local clubs for Sunday, August 25.  The game will be played in Oakland, between the A’s and the Giants. Tickets will be $50, plus $16 for parking.  A pre-game Tail Party will be part of the fun.  Email your RSVP to allen.mueller@cbnorcal.com; mail check to Danville Rotary Club, PO Box 224, Danville 94526.

 

Melanie Emig was asked to step forward to be awarded her Blue Badge.  Her sponsor, Glen Weber, joined her.  Melanie is the Membership Director for Crow Canyon Country Club.  She correctly recited the 4-Way Test as the final step in this transition.

 

 

 

PP Ray Giles asked all of the new Board member present to step forward:  Colette Lay, Chris Gallagher (as “President Elect;” how did this happen?), Garth Riopelle (Secretary), Jeff Disch (Treasurer, again!), Edgardo Carrillo (Sergeant-at-Arms; an excuse to wear his Marine Corps uniform to every meeting), John Milich (for surviving last year), Julie Fiedler (Club Administration), Guy Greco (International Service), Chris Gayler (Membership), Priya Jhingan (Public Relations), Karen McNamara (Service Projects), Patti Hennigan (Vocational Services) and last and least, Gary Sloan (Youth Services).

 

Ray then administered an Oath of Office, patterned after the one taken by Secret Service agents, where they swear allegiance to the Club and agree to follow its Constitution, AND to take a bullet for their beloved President, “without reservation!”  Very moving.

 

 

Recognitions:  None.

 

 

Good News/Fine Free:   None.

 

 

 

Lady Grizzly brought her son, Brennan, up to assist her with a slide presentation of her goals for the 2019-2010 Rotary Year, connecting in to the theme of “Rotary connects the World.”

 

At the June 1 thru 6 International Convention in Hamburg, Germany, she was one of 24,000 attendees from 130 countries.  The conference impressed upon her that Rotarians are from all over the world, working on a variety of projects to improve the lives of the less fortunate and foster world peace.  It was conservatively estimated that Rotarians volunteered more that 45,000,000 hours in the preceding twelve months.

 

Lady Grizzly noted that we can connect internationally by attending an International Convention (2020 in Honolulu; 2021 in Taipei; 2022 in Houston), by participating in the Polio Plus campaign, and by researching the feasibility of teaming up with a Sister Club.

 

As for District connections, there are events such as the SUPER 680 Baseball Game, District Conferences and District Assemblies.

 

Locally, there are opportunities for partnerships in the community. 

 

Her goals for the year are (1) service training for members, (2) replacing the Tree Lot fundraising void with another program, (3) applying for District Matching Grants, and to (4) to figure out a way to recognize service for our membership.

 

A District Grant for a “Story Walk” in Central Park is underway, which will include twenty “stations” dealing with literature as selected by a partnership with the San Ramon Library Foundation.

 

All-in-all, this Scribe was very pleased with the poise and (dry) humor demonstrated by Lady Grizzly; it might turn out to be a decent year after all!

 

 

Raffle:   The Greeter’s Gift of $20.00 was won by Leslie Vilhauer;  the chance of drawing the gold marble was won by Ed Duarte, whose failed to pull out the gold marble and had to settle for the $10.00 in cash!  Next week’s prize will be $280 and this Scribe is guessing that there can’t be more than one or two marbles in that dumb bag!

 

 

Next Week’s Program:   Brian Dunkel on “How to Build and Grow Your Business.”  The Greeter will be Dennis Harvey.