Almost started on time...

Someone famous once said, "Into every life a little rain must fall..."  I believe it was the same guy who invented Club Assembly.  Luckily the meeting started late so it limited the punishment, but to be truthful about the whole affair, it was well run and timely, since our Crab Feed is coming up in just a few months and we need to get a head start on putting on our biggest fundraiser of the Rotary year.  To start off, we were warmly greeted by Jerry Smuts' greeter stand-in, Navin Naik, since Jerry was pulling duty as Treasurer wannabe at the door in Pat Orelli's absence.  

 

 

 

 

Good job, door crew...:-)   At the President's request Merlin Mauk got us started off on the Pledge.  President Sean then asked Neil Orchard to lead the song, a job Neil takes to like Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell stuck in an elevator together, and then after the usual awkward standing moment and a quote from Teddy Roosevelt (something along the lines of , "Who's your daddy?") we were all allowed to sit and have conversations and victuals.  The lovely Jan provided us with chicken and pasta, accompanied by salad, rolls, drinks and the oh so delicious chocolate chip cookies.

 

 

Naturally this pleasant state of affairs couldn't last, and sure enough the prez stepped into the void and threw down some announcements.  Here's the gist of several of them:

 

     1. Along with a number of other volunteer groups, a bunch of our guys stepped up to the plate, so to speak, and helped out with the Thanksgiving food distribution project at the Cordova Food Locker on the 21st.

 

 

 Thanks go out to Ross Johnson and all the folks who showed up to help.

 

     2. Christmas tree lighting ceremony went off on a somewhat muddy pitch on the 27th and we had folks there as well. 

 

     3. December 16 is going to see the Club Christmas party at the Johnsons.  IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE: Don't forget to RSVP to said Johnsons so they know how many to prepare for.  Rumor is you can bring your own wine to the affair.

 

     4. December 19 is the Christmas Food Basket project over at the Cordova Food Locker and again we're all invited to go help out.

 

     5. Jan 3 John Germ (that's Mr President to you neophytes) will be speaking in San Jose.  You're all invited to go.

 

     6. Jan 28 is going to be the date of our annual Charter Night celebration (58 years in business in R.C.... woo hoo!!!)  Location details to follow...

 

     7. February 18 is our 23rd Annual Crab Feed and it is going to require all of us to pitch in and help out in one capacity or another.

 

     8. In an unscheduled announcement, Brud Dufficy highlighted the state of the dictionaries (they're not here yet, but have been paid for , so they could arrive any time. Be ready and be flexible.)

 

     9. B Street Theater play writing workshops in the schools are in progress.  This is a hoot: if you can attend one of the workshops and just observe, you'll see the energy that the actors bring to the project and to the kids.

 

Well, that seemed to wrap up the announcing so we went directly to the weekly drawing and since Ray was not in attendance, it was a foregone conclusion that whoever got their name picked would go home no richer than when they arrived.  Well it was Bob McBee whose number got punched and sadly (for Bob anyway) the $96 survived to fight another day.  Hard cheese, Robert.

 

Next Sgt Ross came up, again replacing Sgt Beth,and began by nailing the lates: President Sean's meeting start, Chase, Mel and the Sarge himself.  Chase garnered some extra attention for the Food Locker project and then the Sarge noted that he had received a $1000 donation from the daughter of one of our Rotarians, Paul Schubert.  Paul's daughter, Misty, surprised a lot of people by her very generous gift to the food locker.  One might surmise that Paul and Donna raised her right...:-)  Next Neil paid for a trip to the Pajaro Dunes where the Orchards celebrated Thanksgiving.

 

That was it for the Sarge, so the President smoothly transitioned to the meat of our Club Assembly: talking about our upcoming Crab Feed.  After a brief membership report by Secretary Tracy (27 and holding... for the moment)

 

 

and an abbreviated treasurer's report (in Pat Orelli's absence) and a delightfully delivered membership recruiting report by our Past President, it was on to the meat of the assembly.  First on the agenda was a discussion led by Crab Feed Chair, Paul Schubert on whether we should outsource the kitchen to St John's and have Linda Condon do all the food ordering and preparation (and kitchen cleanup.) 

 

 

After lively discussion, the Club voted to go ahead with it.  Next item was pricing and again after some spirited discussion, it was voted on and decided to raise the ticket price from last year's $45 to $50 this year.  Tom Redmon said he would get on the Grapevine to see about getting ad space for the event, and finally chairman Paul mentioned that not all committee chairs had been filled yet, so come ready to next week's meeting prepared to sign up for your work detail of choice.

 

We were already over our allotted time, so when the prez adjourned the meeting, the room cleared as if Typhoid Mary had just arrived.  Good meeting.