Recap of Oct. 25th Meeting
as the gathered throng was reminded of why the Rotary community must remain ever fervent to eradicate Polio from the last four countries that it still terrorizes.
After the lovely Elfrena (man am I glad I bought stock in) Foord tickled the ivories during the wine reception, President Scot kicked off the meeting with his “Pumpkin Prayer” (where he prayed to become a pumpkin [or maybe I wasn’t listening close enough?]), and then we welcomed back to the club former member, Steve (where for art thou) Romeo.
After welcoming Steve back, we turned next to the also lovely Susan (I’m staying at the) Sheridan, who introduced us to our latest Sacramento Rotary Fellow, Mr. Dave McKie (for you newer members, the Sacramento Rotary Fellow is the highest honor bestowed by the club). No slacker to be sure, Dave graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, and then from the Harvard Business School, and also served in the Navy during Vietnam. He’s a lucky bloke, too, as he met his future bride one fateful night when she knocked on the wrong door and he opened it. Congratulations, Dave!
From our resident navy man to our resident fly boy, Scot Sorensen yielded the floor next to Past President Tim Pinkney. Now, when Top Gun Tim gets the mic, two things are certain – his allotted speaking time is merely a suggestion, and the club is going to be richer when he stops talking. True to form, TGT had Scot revising the agenda as he spoke, and then he gave a whopping $3,500 to the club, snagging his 14th Eddie along the way (14th!), in honor of his recent venture to New York City, where he was nominated for a national Community Service Award from the trade mag, Investment News (Tim runs other people’s money, when not giving his to the club). Thanks, Tim, for your always generous ways!
Can you believe those scoundrels from Point West Rotary are actually calling our beloved Leslie Botos and chastising her about how far behind them we are in the current blood drive contest? That’s unacceptable! We should round ‘em up and make ‘em bleed! (wait, that would just put them further ahead). Change of plans -- we need to round ourselves up and make us bleed! Everyone get down to a local BloodSource, give a gallon or two, and let’s stop the crank calls to Leslie (who, as she well knows, is one of this author’s faves).
Turning to our polio theme for the day, Prez Scot showed a short film called “The Last Hurdle” (which you can check out on YouTube), and then he welcomed our guest speaker, Paulette Bergonous, who captivated us with her touching story.
A polio survivor herself, Paulette enlightened us on three aspects of Polio that are not well known – the emotional wounds of abandonment and isolation that can occur to young children (often, not realized until decades later) when they are stricken with polio and must be removed from their nurturing parents at a vulnerable age and quarantined in some scary hospital full of strangers; the stigmatization they must endure after they recover; and “Post Polio Syndrome”, in which polio survivors, years after their acute contraction, are again afflicted with deterioration in muscles and joints that were not originally harmed by the disease. Each of these issues is part of Paulette’s story, which she shared with courage and compassion. She also encouraged everyone to take a look at a 38-minute, Academy award-nominated short documentary entitled “The Last Inch” which, among other topics, tells the story of polio-survivor Martha Mason, who spent 61 years in an iron lung (snippets also available on YouTube).
Scot convened the meeting with a plea to the members in attendance to give from what they had in their wallets and purses to the current polio drive, with his wish being filled by many (if you’d like to join the cause, cut a check to the “Rotary Foundation”, put “Polio Plus” in the memo line, and join your Rotary brethren who did the same today). JBW