Meeting Recap for October 21, 2013
Generosity was in abundant supply at this week's Rotary meeting, as we had Rotarians giving on behalf of other Rotarians in copious amounts. It all started with the pre-gavel meet-and-greet, where that fine gentleman, Bill Hirschfelt, donated this week's wine, and Dick (for better or) Wertz tickled the ivories, while Tanya Kravchuk and Gabriel Gendron greeted the gathering throng.
President Thom then called the meeting to order and provided a brief memorial for our recently departed Rotarians Henry Teichert, Elmer Haskin, and Alex Allen (with longtime Rotary Rooters’ band leader, Red Clark, remembered by hizzoner, Larry Marvin, a bit later in the meeting).
After the pledge, and a song by our maestro, Dick (Golden Pipes) Osen, Sergeant-At-Arms, Susan Drack took care of the introduction chores before Past President Walter (if you’ve lost it all, give me a call) Dahl took over to honor our special guest of the day, retiring Executive Director Hal Shipley.
With his usual eloquence, Walter shared a bit of Hal’s history with us, including his 61 years of marriage to his darling bride Lona (who joined us for lunch), his service in Japan during World War II, where he spent his days clearing out land mines for the troops (a job that he was obviously good at, given his attendance at this week’s meeting), his years with IBM (1958-74), his years owning his own business (Builder’s Control Services, 1974-92), and his 37 years as a Rotarian, including a stint as our District Governor in 2002, and his “temporary” gig as our Executive Director for the past three years. A fine example of why they call it the greatest generation, we thank you for your service, Hal.
In tribute to Hal, Steve Ruland donated (in absentia from Hawaii, where he and Twila are celebrating their anniversary) a C-Note to his Eddie Mulligan – whereupon a good 20 to 30 additional Rotarians did the same instantly at the meeting, in honor of The Talented Mr. Shipley.
But the Rotarian-to-Rotarian giving didn’t stop there. Lev Kaganovich donated on behalf of Henry Teichert (who filled in for Fred and introduced Lev to the club in 2005), Jim Craig donated on behalf of Tom Engle (for the impressive airport he’s running out there in the tules), and Virginia Wade donated on behalf of Dan (Nat King) Cole, for the fine job Dan and his crew did finding a new home for Ginny’s SAFE Credit Union (Rotarians doing business with Rotarians –that’s how we roll).
Want some more Rotarian giving? An anonymous Rotarian paid $300 and donated a Meeting Sponsorship to David Ballard, who advised that his Children’s Receiving Home turns 70 next year. And who founded the Children’s Receiving Home? Why, it was our own Rotary Club of course, in collaboration with the Junior League of Sacramento. That’s the sixth meeting sponsorship that has been donated anonymously to a fellow Rotarian – just more Rotary giving for you.
Kathryn (Kathy) Herrfeldt, classification: Home Care Services, is our newest Rotarian, sponsored into the club by our resident dynamo, the lovely Oleta Lambert and Rita Gibson. Welcome to the club, Kathy!
Besides the above-mentioned givers, Bob Gaines rang Thom’s bell to celebrate his 88th trip around the sun, Bill Knowlton lightened his wallet in thanks for the overwhelming amount of business wear that Rotarians donated last week, Judge Marvin shared some more Rotary Rooters gig money, Ed Grebitus bestowed a Benjamin, and Tom Engle gave five of them in celebration of his 30 years in Rotary.
On the announcement front, John Swentowsky needs 10 more volunteers (5 for the morning shift, 5 for the lunch shift) at Loaves & Fishes next Tuesday (10/29), so ring John up if you can help, and Randy (The Admiral) Friedman is looking for a Rotarian who would like to donate $200 to sponsor the November 4th Rotary Mixer at The Rind restaurant. Give Randy a jingle if that Rotarian is you.
With about $50,000 raised so far during the meeting (give or take), President Thom closed the teller window and beckoned Bob Rosenberg to the mike, who introduced our guest speaker of the day, Sacramento City Manager John Shirey. John was quite informative about the financial progress made at City Hall lately (e.g. revenues are up for the first time in 6 years, the city workforce has been shrunk by 25%, the antiquated, 50-year old zoning code has been rewritten and modernized, and the 70-page application required to do business with the city has been shrunk to 7 pages). Refreshingly, Mr. Shirey was also candid about the progress that still needs to be made, including his “streamline Sacramento” initiative to make our fair city more business friendly, and the financial challenges posed by the significant unfunded pension and retiree healthcare liabilities. He also shared his opinion on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (i.e. the “tunnel plan”) – encouraging us to instead look more closely at the comprehensive water plan recently put forth by the ACWA consortium. I think all in attendance would agree that we have quite competent management at the helm with John Shirey.