CROW’S CALL - SEPT 26, 2019

By: Priya Jhingan

Lady Grizzly, a.k.a. President Colette Lay, kicked off the meeting by introducing our greeter, Jerry Marrs, who mentioned that his thought of the day on compassion was inspired by me (Priya) and Gary Sloan. (It turns out Gary does share words of wisdom from time to time - who would’ve thought??). Jerry’s thought was from His Holiness the Dalai Lama: “I believe compassion to be one of the few things we can practice that will bring immediate and long-term happiness to our lives. I’m not talking about the short-term gratification of pleasures like sex, drugs or gambling (though I’m not knocking them), but something that will bring true and lasting happiness. The kind that sticks.” 

After Don Jones led us through God Bless America, Jerry gave us a glimpse into his bustling life. He’s married to Dana, and his son, who is in the Marines, just got married, so now he has a wonderful daughter-in-law as well. Jerry keeps busy as an attorney, but he likes helping so much that sometimes he doesn’t charge for his services. (Let’s hope this doesn’t lead to him drinking some of that liquor stored at his house for the Auction). And Jerry inspired us all with his final note that the quote from the Dalai Lama reminds him of his fellow Rotarians and our focus on “service above self”.

We had no visiting Rotarians, but we did have a guest; Joel Goldstein has lived in San Ramon for six years, and originally hails from New Jersey. He’s been married for 30 years, and recently shipped his kid to the University of Wisconsin, so he’s suddenly a Badgers fan. Welcome, Joel!

Announcements

Lady Grizzly announced the upcoming 6 club dinner on October 23 and passed around a signup sheet, as well as the official District Governor visit on October 10.

Ray Giles taught us about Rotary International’s foundation for polio. Rotary is known worldwide for its work to eradicate polio. Although 2.5 billion people worldwide have been vaccinated and there are only 33 new cases of polio in the entire world, we still have work to do. As long as there is one active case, we have to vaccinate 450,000 unvaccinated people.

Rotary is committed to a 4-year program, where the Rotary Foundation is going to raise and donate $150 million/year towards this final push to eradicate polio, and the Gates Foundation is matching this. If interested in contributing towards this final push, ask Ray how you can participate, and he will be happy to meet with you 1:1.

Ray also rewarded and recognized Dennis Harvey with a Paul Harris Fellow +7 pin. We are so lucky to have both Dennis and Ray in our club!!!

Program - Storywalk Grant in Central Park

Although today’s lunch was a committee and fellowship lunch, Colette Lay walked us through a presentation on the Storywalk grant that she championed on behalf of our club for Central Park. She applied for the grant this year, and had to go through a slew of meetings and approvals. The Storywalk is well underway and will feature stories for children ages 4-8, and be spread across 20 stations that will guide visitors through the park while reading the book. Some stories will not require all stations, and leftover stations will be used by partners for promoting city events, Rotary events, and more. Partners include San Ramon Rotary, San Ramon Library Foundation, City of San Ramon, and Contra Costa County Library.

Story themes will address topics including nature, diversity, family, culture, and seasons, and the San Ramon Library’s childrens’ librarians will be responsible for maintaining and updating the stories quarterly, with each story being approved by the library’s advisory committee.

We will keep our eyes and ears open for the unveiling celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony, tentatively being planned for November. Congratulations to our President, Colette Lay, for bringing together this wonderful project for our city so quickly and making use of our Rotary funds for community benefit!

Raffle and ending announcements

Jerry Marrs talked about our upcoming Online Auction for Education  -- please bring your items!! This is our chance to live up to our experience as the largest donor to the Education Foundation and show that we’re an integral part of the community. Jerry is storing auction items at his house, particularly the alcohol. Anything and everything helps! Even bottles of wine and liquor. Also, don’t forget to sign up for the Run for Education that happens on Sunday, October 13 - you don’t actually have to run, and you can wear a Rotary shirt and hang out to represent!

Edgardo Carillo recognized new member Steven Porschet as well as Gary Sloan, Ana Dominguez, and Priya Jhingan for not wearing our pins to lunch. (“Recognized” = giving a hard time in Edgardo’s case). Fortunately, Edgardo himself was also recognized by Chris Gallagher for incorrectly using the word “nailed” in a few instances. As if Edgardo did not already have enough time in the spotlight, he also recognized Gobind Anand for being a terrific newer Rotarian, and really making an effort to learn everyone’s name.