Club Meeting Information
 
Service Above Self
In general, we meet the second and fourth Thursday evenings of the month at 7:00pm, Scopazzi's restaurant, Boulder Creek; and the first and third Wednesday mornings of each month at 8:00am at the SLV USD District Office Multi-Purpose Room at 325 Marion Ave, Ben Lomond.  However, there are exceptions, especially in the months with major holidays (I'm looking at you Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's & Fourth-of-July), so be sure to check the Club meeting calendar via the link above if there's any doubt.  
 
Contact us via the above "Contact Us" link or via USPS at
PO Box 294, Felton,  CA  95018
Home Page Stories

Meetings for September
Posted by Ken Macy on Sep 04, 2024

In general, we meet the second and fourth Thursday evenings of the month at 7:00pm, Scopazzi's restaurant, Boulder Creek; and the first and third Wednesday mornings of each month at 8:00am at the SLV USD District Office Multi-Purpose Room at 325 Marion Ave, Ben Lomond.  However, there are exceptions, especially in the months with major holidays (I'm looking at you Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's & Fourth-of-July), so be sure to check the Club meeting calendar via the link above if there's any doubt.  I try to keep the calendar accurate for the current Rotary year.  Of course you can always contact our club secretary, Tiffanie Meschi, for more information.  Also, there is usually an informal social time amongst members & guests for 20 to 30 minutes before the bell.
 
  • Thursday, September 12, 7:00pm, Scopazzi's Restaurant, Speaker Ron Sekkel, PDG, Who is Paul Harris?
  • Wednesday, September 18, 8:00am, SLV USD Offices, Speaker Rebecca Yarr, Owner The Grove Diner
  • Thursday, September 26, 5:30pm, Scopazzi's Restaurant, Club Board Meeting
  • Thursday, September 26, 7:00pm, Scopazzi's Restaurant, Speaker Rod Diridon, Emeritus, Mineta Institute
 
Speakers in July
Posted by Kenneth Macy on Aug 21, 2024
 
  

Kathryn Pagliaro

7/17
Registered Nurse Kathryn Pagliaro is the speaker today.  Katy is from the Katz Cancer Resource Center, which was founded in 2000 to serve Santa Cruz County residents.
 
There are 13 separate building surrounding Dominican Hospital which house Oncology facilities or other offices of Katz.  The Bennett & Suzy Katz Cancer Resource Center at Dominican Hospital offers patients and their loved ones a place to get the support they need while providing access to information and services related to all aspects of cancer care. The Katz staff includes oncology certified nurses and patient navigators to help answer questions, coordinate care, and provide references to support services. Every program and service offered is free of charge.
 
 

Julie Horner

7/11

The speaker today was Julie Horner, editor and publisher of the San Lorenzo Valley Post newspaper.  For about ten years now, Julie has been putting out the Post, an independent, local women-led, community supported online news and event resource for the San Lorenzo Valley and the Santa Cruz Mountains.
 
Considered and curated content, balanced local reporting, robust community calendaring, dedicated information sharing. Co-founded by Julie and Mary Andersen with support from a team of writers, editors, graphic designers, and community advocates in the Santa Cruz Mountains in collaboration with the people and organizations of the San Lorenzo Valley, we are “The Valley’s Voice.”  The Post is currently recruiting volunteers for the Board of Directors in order to qualify as a 501(c)3 non-profit entity.  Julie also now has a weekly half-hour program on KBCZ featuring Celtic music and culture.
 
Dues for 2024/2025
Posted by Ken Macy

DUES are Due

The new Rotary Year has officially begun with new President Michelle and new District 5170 Governor Jill Duerig.  Also it's that time of year when our Club Dues are due. 
Treasurer Ed has appealed to all members to promptly submit your dues payment.  Ed can accept all forms of payment ranging from cash, personal check, credit card, Paypal, even electronic funds transfer (EFT) is possible.  To use cash, check or card please contact Ed directly in person at a meeting to arrange.  To set up for EFT, also contact Ed, he will get you the details of how to arrange this.  For Paypal, just use the yellow button over on the left side of this Home Page and follow the directions, give the amount $300 when prompted.  Note there is a service charge associated with the Paypal method and Ed will appreciate if you "gross up" your payment to $315, if possible.
 
Guest Speakers in May & June 2024
Posted by Kenneth Macy on Jul 09, 2024
Liz Taylor-Selling
May 8
Liz has been active with the SLV Emergency Network (SLVEN) almost since its inception in 1987 as the Valley Emergency Preparedness Network. She and her husband moved to Felton Grove in time for the 1982 storms which caused severe flooding in her neighborhood.
 
She currently serves on the SLVEN Board of Directors.  In 2008 Liz, acting as the Mountain Community Resource (MCR) organization's Emergency Preparedness coordinator, combined the Mountain Neighbor Network and our local CERT program to form SLV Emergency Network.  SLVEN was established in the San Lorenzo Valley in order to offer some coordination of CERT and neighborhoods and establish a relationship with the county’s emergency first responders. This was in collaboration with the Mountain Neighbors Network, a non-profit organization created by Mountain Community Resources and its parent organization of Community Bridges. SLVEN was incorporated October 14, 2015, as an independent 501c3 organization to allow fund raising and grants to support SLVEN activities within the scope of its mission.
New Club Inductees
May 30
 
This evening, with the help of PDG Ron Sekkel, two new members were inducted, sponsored by Scott Tucker.  They are Harry Max and Tina Noland.
 
Charles Pasternak
June 5
 
This morning our speaker was Charles Pasternak.  He is currently Artistic Director of Santa Cruz Shakespeare. 
 
He began his remarks with a dramatic recitation of the famous soliloquy from Hamlet "To be or not to be...".  Hamlet is currently in production there and will debut July 31, a thrilling tale of murder, revenge, madness, and betrayal, with Charles playing Hamlet and former Artistic Director Mike Ryan as Claudius.  Don't miss it!

Andrea Hart

June 13

This evening, Andrea Hart, Artistic Director at Crocker Theater, Cabrillo College spoke about the upcoming production there of In The Heights.  A new play from Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Hamilton.   
 
Andrea was our guest last July 2023 when Disney's musical version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame was put on at Cabrillo under her.  She earned an MFA degree at the University of Texas at Austin. Before graduate school, she lived in the Berkeley area for 20 years, where she was co-founder and member of several small theater companies.  Hart is the first woman to lead Cabrillo Stage in its 40-year history.  Her first project at Cabrillo was The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Now she is about to open In The Heights.

Harry Max

June 27
Harry Max is one of the club's newest members.  And he agreed to pitch in as guest speaker due to a last minute unavoidable cancellation of the scheduled speaker. Harry is an executive coach by profession and has recently published a book on the importance of prioritization in business and life in general.  It is titled Managing Priorities: How to Create Better Plans and Make Smarter Decisions.  
Harry is an executive player-coach who helps leaders realize their visions, build great teams, and zero in on pragmatic solutions to complex challenges.  His experience includes having been a founder/CEO, operational leader, and consultant with start-ups, innovators, and global brands, including Apple, Adobe, DreamWorks, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Informatica, ITHAKA, Microsoft, PayPal, Rackspace, SGI, and others.  He has been an invited speaker at over 20 major conferences/meetings including TEDx, SXSW, AARP & COMDEX.
 
 
Guest Speakers In April 2024
Posted by Kenneth Macy on May 04, 2024

Beth Thaxton Gemeny

4/25
Club member Beth Gemeny holds the CISSP certification in Cyber Security, administered by the ISC2 organization.  Beth started out in the cyber security field at Hewlett-Packard Company where she worked on several Public Key Infrastructure projects implemented in HP computing systems.  She moved from there through several other tech companies in Silicon Valley and is now an independent consultant in this area.  Tonight she led a discussion on the various types of online scams, security threats and personal information threats that all of us face today.  
Heather Goode
4/17
Heather Goode is the Co-Founder, Executive Director and Pastor at the Arukah Project.  The Arukah Project is dedicated to Restore, Renew and Rebuild the lives of survivors of sex trafficking in Santa Cruz County and beyond.  Arukah's integrated approach engages and empowers the local church, businesses, government agencies, and community stakeholders to collaborate to bring wholeness and freedom to survivors.​
 
Scot Smithee
4/11
Scot Smithee, Rotary Club of Gilroy and former Police Chief of Gilroy updated the club on Youth Protection Guidelines.  Rotary District 5170 is committed to doing the hard work necessary to keep our young people, volunteers, and members safe.  For us this includes Club Certification for every club, individual certification for all volunteers who have more than casual contact with youth, training for all volunteers, and the Rotary Statement of Conduct for Working with Youth.  
In order to make compliance as simple as possible, a roadmap has been for each type of volunteer in Rotary Youth Protection Programs. 
  • Club President
  • Club Youth Protection Officer / Youth Services Chair
  • Any Rotarian requiring Full Youth Protection Certification
The Livescan protocol is key to all volunteer types and is available at numerous locales now in addition to the Santa Cruz Sheriff's department for 5170.  This is not the case for all Rotary Districts though.
 
 
Banners Re-united With Club
Posted on Apr 04, 2024
 
After a 5-year absence and after several attempts at finding the club’s Trading Banners collection, along with several binders of photos, news clippings and documents from the 80s, 90s & 2000s and our Flags of Nations centerpiece, they were all discovered earlier this month (March).  The banners were last seen at Gil Gunn’s 100th birthday party celebration in 2019 at Mount Hermon. 
Read more...
Service Opportunities
Plan ahead to participate in an upcoming SLV Rotary Service Project.  Here are a few, contact Wendy Harris for more information.
 
September 22
River & Road Cleanup
October 12
Mountain Parks Foundation Lobster Feed
December TBA
Kids Christmas Shopping
Contact Wendy Harris
Dues & Donations
Pay your dues, detective fines, general fines or other donations to the club here.
 
 

Site Pages

 
Rotary Links
 
Speakers
Ron Sekkel, PDG District 5170
Sep 12, 2024 7:00 PM
Paul Harris. Who is he?
Rebecca Yarr, The Grove Cafe & Bakery
Sep 18, 2024 8:00 AM
Growing a Small Business
Rod Diridon, Emeritus Mineta Institute
Sep 26, 2024 7:00 PM
EVs & Preservation of Environmental Future
Dr Steven Lieb
Oct 02, 2024 8:00 AM
TBA
Michelle Peters & Eugenio Grapa
Oct 10, 2024 7:00 PM
Voces y Manos
Orrin Mahoney, PDG District 5170
Oct 16, 2024 8:00 AM
EREY Rotary Foundation
Gail Pellerin, State Assembly
Oct 24, 2024 7:00 PM
Update on District 28, California State Assembly
View entire list...
 
Interested in Rotary?
Are you interested in learning more about Rotary?  Perhaps attending one of our weekly  meetings?  Want to contribute directly to the San Lorenzo Valley communities?  Call Michelle Peters, SLV Rotary Membership Chair at (408) 508-9423 or email michypeters@gmail.com.  Or even easier, click the "Contact Us" link at the top of this home page.  We look forward to hearing from you.
 
Home Page Download Files
Photo Albums