Opening: Lucky, “Can Do” Sandhu called the luncheon to order on a fine summer’s
day before a rather light crowd. “Ian Riseley Is President of Rotary International”.
otto is Rotary Making a Difference”Greeter: Judy Lewis, seemingly a fairly rare sight around the CCCC, greeted the attendees with a few chestnuts of wisdom which can be paraphrased as: “Optimism is the best way to happiness and success” and, “If you are having difficulty finding time for an escape why not set up a life that you don’t need to escape from?” Also Ghandi’s well known: “Be the change you want to see in the world”.
Judy updated the club on her life over the past year: Her father passed away and she has been busy remodeling her house..
Visiting Members: There were no visiting members.
Patriotic Song: Don Jones led us in “My country “tis of thee…”.
Video: “Can do” played a brief video on the Rotary Foundation to warm up the
audience.
Announcements:
Mark Hornstra offered an update on his son Ted’s condition following the horrific auto accident, It seems he is home and is expected to recover fully from his injuries. Mark also gave a brief report on his travels to Kenya and Uganda which included a visit to the Rotary club of Kampala. Kampala is the club that Sam Owori, who passed on suddenly in Texas, hailed from. Mark learned that Sam had really been the backbone of Rotary in East Africa. Mark also brought back a banner from the Rotary club of Mbarara.
On-Line Auction: Kathy Gailey advised we have only 60 items so far and need more. The need is even more critical as the auction comes two weeks earlier this year. Members should consider working in groups - especially if they feel reluctant to approach potential sponsors. Also, members are reminded to be sure to mention to prospective donors that their name will be seen by 50 thousand viewers to the on-line auction.
Golf: Steve Wilcox reported that the golf outing at the Falls Course at Blackhawk CC
was great fun even though some came late and some had to leave early. The next event will be August 23 at the Lakeside course at Blackhawk. Be sure to respond to Guy Greco’s emails so he can get a reliable list of attendees.
Main Event:
Malcolm Sher, Board Member of the “Court Appointed Special
Advocates” (CASA) of Contra Costa County gave a presentation. Mr. Sher had an active practice for 35 years as a litigator in Contra Costa County and now is a full time arbitrator. However, he is passionate about the need for competent representation of foster children and youth in the juvenile justice system. CASA is a non-profit organization that attempts to meet that need by fielding a group of trained volunteers who offer support and mentoring to children that have become “dependents” of the court as a result of abuse, neglect or abandonment.
“The children are not offenders”, he explained. They are in the system usually because, in the middle of the night, the county authorities have picked them up from homes in which they have been abused in some way so as to require intervention. The children and youth are represented not only at court appearances, but in other capacities such as at their schools or regarding their medical needs. In most cases the kids have no person of trust in their lives and often they have been bounced around from foster home to foster home. Volunteers are asked to make a minimum two year commitment so that they can offer the kind of stability the court’s dependents have not experienced.
In the last two years CASA has represented 144 kids, but the need is much greater as there are 1,100 children in foster care in contra Costa.
Mr. Sher hopes to see CASA expand to be able to handle 4000 kids by 2021 , but there is a great need for volunteers and also for financial support. The organization no longer has free rent from the county and now has to rent space at commercial rates.
The second Saturday on October they will have their annual meeting at Round Hill CC and they would love for anyone to buy a table for ten. More information can be found on their website: www.cccocasa.org.
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Raffle:
Steve Wilcox won the Greeter’s Gift. Brent Tucker won a chance at the Progressive, but drew the dreaded blue ball. Next week the prize will be worth $300.