Meeting Recap for May 20, 2013
It was just another day of generosity at this week’s Rotary meeting, starting with the wine reception -- the vino donated yet again by Dave Higdon, while the lovely Elfrena (I make Bruce drive the) Foord tickled the ivories for us -- and ending with the generous public works being done by our guest speaker, Aimee Rutledge of the Sacramento Valley Conservancy.
Before Aimee, we had the usual and customaries, with Sergeant-at-Arms, Rick Davis, handling the guest introductions, Lev Kaganovich offering the thought of the day (featuring the thoughts of Russian kids who had some pretty astute questions and suggestions for the almighty), and Dick (Golden Pipes) Osen leading us in a boisterous rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, in anticipation of the rollicking good time planned for the June 17th Son’s Day Luncheon.
Now about that lunch: Grab a son, a grandson, a nephew, or just come by yourself, but plan on attending on the 17th, as it will be a full-on San Francisco Giants baseball theme that day. The young lads are encouraged to wear their baseball jerseys to the meeting, and they’ll be the Big Men on Campus when they show off their picture taken with an actual S.F. Giants World Series ring. Other baseball surprises are in store, so round those little rascals up and get them to the meeting.
Switching from sports to studies, Bobby (I’ll trade you for three Ty) Cobbs educated us on the Rotary Scholarships that were awarded recently to six impressive young people from the Sacramento, C.K. McClatchy, and Rio Americano high schools. Bobby advises that it was an arduous task for the committee to pick six recipients out of the 22 deserving applicants, but the final half-dozen will each take a $2,000 Rotary scholarship off to college with them.
It was an apparently flammable situation at the meeting this week, as several Rotarians had money burning a hole in their pocket, but President Peter, first-responder that he is, was quick to quell the smoke by way of some Rotary tithing. By the time you read this, Robyn DeLong will be off to Ireland and England with a gang of 35 in tow, and was so happy she offered up a couple of C-Notes in celebration. Steve Huffman also offered up $200 – a Benjamin for each of his newborn twin grandsons that arrived recently (neither of which is named Benjamin), and just in time for Son's Day. Next up was Past President (and bankruptcy attorney extraordinaire) Walter (if you’ve lost it all, give me a call) Dahl, who ponied up another deuce for his very bright daughter, who just graduated from St. Francis and is headed off to Tulane University to make her papa proud. Gary McDonald lightened his wallet, in honor of the 25 Rotarians who helped him and his Senior Gleaner troops process 33,000 pounds of food during the recent Rotarian's At Work Day, and Jim Phillips offered $100 (more like bought airtime) during the speaker Q&A session so that he could tell a story about Vic's Ice Cream [Aimee Rutledge's famous Land Park family business] and the five quarts he lugged 10,300 feet up who-knows-where in Yosemite (they don’t call him “Yosemite Jim Jim” for nothing!).
After the windfall, President Peter welcomed to the podium Past President Dan Cole, who introduced Aimee Rutledge, who updated us on the good works going on at the Sacramento Valley Conservancy. If you’re unfamiliar with the SVC, they’re not an environmental advocacy group, but an economic one – or, as Aimee described it, “Developers of Open Space”, with that open space purchased, preserved, and managed for all of us to enjoy. Just two examples that Aimee cited were the recently purchased 11 acres at Camp Pollock that are being restored and improved for the public’s benefit, and the 4,500 acres of open land available for the enjoyment of all in nearby Deer Creek Hills. If you’d like to learn more about the noble work being done by Aimee and her gang at the SVC, visit her on the web at www.sacramentovalleyconservancy.org.
No meeting next week, so we’ll see you all on the 3rd! JBW