It was a glorious spring day when President Todd Koolakian gaveled in the April 11 meeting of the Rotary Club of Sacramento.
Jim Culleton’s Thought for the Day was an excerpt from a wartime Woodrow Wilson speech, a passage harkening both today’s speaker and our upcoming Armed Forces Day (May 21), which both engage with the question of freedom – who earns it, and how.
Meeting sponsor Elfrena Foord promoting Habitat for Humanity’s upcoming Rock the Block, taking place May 3-4 in Oak Park and October 11-12 in the Bryte/Broderick neighborhood. Learn more about how you can participate here.
President Todd shared photos of the Rotary Ski Trip last weekend; a good time was had by all! (And evidently, an excellent lunch as well).
Club announcements:
- Golf For Kids - Diane Mizell appealed for tee sponsors, and Megan Masten called for item donations for the Golf 4 Kids silent auction that’s part of the post-golf dinner at Fairytale Town
- Fireside – the next Fireside evening is scheduled for April 18, 5:30pm-7:30pm at Hacienda Miklaus
- Sac Century – registration opens May 1, and Susan Sheridan seeks your help distributing promotional rack cards around town.
President Todd reminded us all that Golf 4 Kids and the Sac Century are the two major club fundraisers, where all club members are expected to support these events in some way. Please mark your calendars and make plans to participate.
Let’s go Skiing!
- Surender Singal gave in honor of his daughter's progress coping with the difficult loss of her mother
- Dennis Godby made a gift in advance of his impending cardiac surgery on May 3
- PP Wesley Yee made gifts in honor of his recently arrived second grandchild and his daughter’s recent ascendancy to partner at the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson
- Liz McClatchy celebrated her return home from a five-week South Pacific cruise and time in Monterey
- Elke von Schlosser honored the value of the Rotary network and community.
Speaker of the Day:
Reporter and author James D. Richardson joined us to talk about his second book, “The Abolitionist's Journal: The Memories of an American Antislavery Family."
Richardson had a notable journalism career before quitting The Sacramento Bee to become an Episcopal priest (ultimately retiring as Dean of Trinity Cathedral). While suffering second thoughts in the month before starting seminary, his father presented him The Journal – a 324-page autobiography handwritten by George Richardson, his grandfather’s grandfather.
George was an abolitionist and minister who managed a stop on the Underground Railroad before the Civil War, served as chaplain for a Black regiment during the Civil War, and then started a college for the previously enslaved now known as Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, TX. Despite his ancestors’ laudable lives, Richardson’s family had not discussed their abolitionist roots – as other families grafted onto their family tree, so had white supremacy, and so this story had been willfully forgotten. As James Richardson said, it matters that we remember our history.
James Richardson’s book can be found here.
Our greeters were Megan Masten, Danielle McGarrity and Bryan Murray. PP Diane Woodruff was the meeting photographer. Forrest Junod was joined by Andis Winery as today’s wine sponsor, and Megan Wygant was your hapless Pulse reporter.
Next week, we’re hearing from two of our own: Brad Schmidt and Ruth Tesar will share The Power of PET/CT: a Revolutionary Technology. We will see you here, but until then, get out there and be good Rotarians!
Photos Courtesy of Past President Diane Woodruff