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By: Hermann Welm President Terry “Showtime” Koehne opened the “hybrid” St. Petrick’s Day meeting at the San Ramon Community Center, with Maria Cooper, of Above and Beyond Productions, handling the ZOOM portion of the proceedings. Showtime noted that this year’s Rotary International President is Shekhar Mehta from India, whose theme for the year is “Serve to Change Lives.” This month’s Rotary focus is on Water and Sanitation. Our Greeter, Karen McNamara, gave us his Thought for the Day: “Whatever you are, be a good one!” She then led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Visiting Rotarians: Kathy Suvia, District 5160 Governor, and her husband Bill Suvia. Renee Matsumoto, Assistant District Governor for our area. Guests: Stewart Bambino, of San Ramon Chamber of Commerce; Danielle Lee and Numa Patel, of Cal High’s Interact Club. Icebreaker: Carolyn Degnan provided each table with a multiple-choice St. Patrick’s Day Quiz. There were 15 questions, many of which delved into pretty arcane details about the saint and his holiday. A couple of examples: (1) Where is the largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade held? (NOT Dublin, Ireland; it’s New York!) (2) The date represents which event in his life? (The day he died.) The various tables reported out their number of correct answers and the geniuses at this Scribe’s table had the most at 11. (No, Gallagher, we did NOT consult Wikipedia!) Announcements: DG Kathy Suvia and Bill will host a dinner for two Rotarians from the club bringing the most guests to their meeting the week of April 18. This is the Each One, Bring One week for the District! Showtime noted that on April 19 there will be a 6-Club Dinner, hosted by our Club and held at the Community Center. Please mark your calendars; let’s have a great showing by our members (and spouses or SOs)! The speaker will be Kevin Adler, a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. Stewart Bambino, President of the San Ramon Chamber of Commerce, was present to talk up the San Ramon Business Expo and Mixer to be held at Bridges Golf Club, Thursday, March 31st, from 5 to 7 pm. The Educator of the Year Awards lunch will be held at our Regular Meeting on April 21st. Nominations are starting to come in. Showtime noted that the Spring Rotary Assembly will be held on May 7th, in Fairfield. Sign-up will begin during the first week of April. PP Dennis Harvey is busy organizing this year’s Smoke Alarm Project, scheduled for April 30th. We’ll need a good turnout from our club to work with the Cal High Interactors. Patti Hennigan will be running for our Club’s Presidency for the Rotary Year, 2023/24. Please search out a good spot on your property for her yard signs! Danielle Lee and Numa Patel, Cal High Interactors, were in attendance to review their projects: Collected 7,111 pounds of soft-good items during Saver’s fundraiser and raised about $1,422. Fifty percent will go towards The Global Uplift Project (Save a Girl Initiative) to provide adolescent girls with sanitary menstrual kits so they can stay in school. Packaged 100 hygiene kits consisting of a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, socks, etc. which will be distributed to the homeless through Simply the Basics Raised about $200 through T4 fundraiser which will help cover supplies for Sight Words Painting Project. Opened the Application period for Board membership for the 2022/23 school year. Ten volunteers from our club will help package food to be sent as relief in developing nations thru Rise Against Hunger. There are several more events on their schedule; they are a very busy bunch! Recognitions: None Program: Showtime introduced our speaker Kathy Suvia, Past President of the Mt. Shasta Rotary Club and currently our District Governor. Before proceeding with her talk, she handled several “administrative” items. Kathy introduced the current Assistant District Governor, Rene Matsumoto and then informed us that the next ADG for this area will be Colette Lay! Kathy also asked that our club approve the District’s proposal to transfer $50,000 from the “District Designated Fund” to the newly-formed “The Rotary Foundation Disaster Response Fund” which can deal with issues like the humanitarian impacts caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A show of hands indicated Club support for this measure. She then presented a Blue Badge to our newest member, Chris Lafaso, after he successfully navigated the recitation of the 4-Way Test. Then, along with PP Glen Weber, she presented a Paul Harris Fellow Plus 8 pin to PP Dennis Harvey and a Paul Harris Fellow pin to Gobind Anand, who was in attendance via ZOOM. A thank you to both! Kathy next noted that Norbert Walz’s extraordinary efforts in leading the Online Auction for Education and the Arts and Wind Festival have earned him the “Back to the Future Award!” He was acknowledged by those present with a standing ovation! (He has earned it!) Having dispensed with these administrative tasks, DG Kathy Suvia proceeded with her talk about Rotary and its good works. She noted that as President of the Mt. Shasta club she was amazed at the response she received when a September 15, 2014 wildfire in her area destroyed over 200 homes and displaced 2,000 residents. Within hours of posting the need to help these folks she had received dozens of offers to temporarily house those impacted and a considerable amount of cash with which to further assist. She next noted that the COVID Pandemic has left many clubs more isolated and there is a need for more connection with and among clubs. Rotary successes very often depend on relationships! As for The Rotary Foundation, Kathy noted that this is the primary tool for international Good Works. The “Disaster Response Fund” for the people of Ukraine is a good example, as is the continuing effort to eradicate the last vestiges of wild Polio. In 2020 there were 140 new cases of Polio in the world, in 2021 there were only 6, and to date in 2022 there has only been 1. Also, Pakistan, one of the two problem areas (the other being Afghanistan) has been Polio-free for an entire year. While it takes three years for it to be officially declared Polio-free, this is certainly a very good sign. Lastly, she mentioned a new Rotary initiative meant to empower girls in impoverished areas. Because of not having access to, or being able to afford the cost of, sanitary products girls are very often unable to go to school more than three weeks in any one month. This sets them woefully behind in educational progress. The cost of kits to supply these products is about $10.00 and the District is providing $18,000 to this effort from its member clubs. Raffle: The Greeter’s Gift of $20 was won by Patti Hennigan. The chance to draw the Golden Marble for a $70 cash prize was also won by Patti and for the second week in a row it was indeed pulled from the black bag! Amazing! Next Week’s Program: Our speaker will be Mike Heller, who will discuss the latest from Habitat for Humanity. Our Greeter will be Kerry Richard. |
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