Foundation Day!

Posted by Jay Lowden, Photos by: John Swentowsky on Dec 09, 2016
 
You know that Christmas must be just around the corner when Steve Ruland and the gang are welcoming Rotarians and collecting toys and cash before the start of a Rotary Meeting. Once inside President Dan McVeigh called the meeting to order and provided a brief history of the Feast of St. Nicolaus and how appropriate it is that the annual Rotary Foundation meeting is held on this day. Thanks were given to Kevin Williams (KVIE) was recognized for spinning the tunes and handling the AV chores; Clayton Lee (C.K.L. Trust) and Bob Rosenberg (Inve$tment Inc.) were thanked for serving as greeters for the day.
 
Becki Roberts (Central Valley Community Bank) provided the “Thought for the Day) that focused on philanthropy, followed by President Dan who led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.
 
 Tom Bacon (Kidder Mathews) introduced a variety of guests and two visiting Rotarians: Christopher Johnson from the Georgia Southern University Club, who exchanged a banner with President Dan, and Bob “Motorcycle” Mutchler from the Rotary Club of Folsom. The head table was then introduced which was filled with Trustees of the Rotary Foundation.
 
President Dan made a point of asking the volunteers from the Loaves & Fishes work day to stand and be recognized and thanked them for their efforts.
 
After some brief Rotary Fellowship, the meeting was turned over to Jim Leet (Boutin Jones Inc.), President of the Rotary Club of Sacramento Foundation. Jim provided a brief opening and introduced the Trustees of the Foundation and let us know that there was a lot of information coming our way over the next half hour, and that information started with Steve Heath (Capitol Health Network) who provided us with a very clear understanding of the differences between the Rotary International Foundation and our Club’s Foundation: “One is in Evanston, Illinois and the other is in Sacramento.” In addition, Steve pointed out that our Club’s Foundation was one of the 25 largest in the Rotary World. Up next was Larry Gilzean (Spare Time Clubs) who walked us through the 2015-2016 Annual Report which highlighted the activities, impact and legacies of the foundation during the past year. Larry was followed by Jeanne Reaves (Jeanne Reaves Consulting), Vice President of our Foundation and chair of the investment committee.
 
Jeanne thanked the members of the investment committee: Martin Camsey, Anker Christensen, Bob Daly (Financial Network Wealth Advisors), Steve Heath, Steve Zeller, Larry Gilzean and Jim Leet for their service and work during the past year and then assured us that our funds were being well managed and taken care of. Dennis Smith (AKT Investments) provided us with a flashback to 1971 and all of the historical moments of that time when the Foundation was formed. Probably most memorable moment for our members was the fact that Snoop Dog was born in 1971. The first meeting of the Foundation was held on May 11, 1971 and Dennis recognized Mead Kibbey who was in the room at that meeting and is still an active Rotarian today. Rick Davis (University of Phoenix/SVC) stepped to the podium and talked about the impact of the foundation through World Community Service and how we partner with other agencies and Rotary Clubs to make a positive impact throughout the world in the areas of Peace and Conflict Resolution, Disease prevention, water sanitation, education and literacy, children’s health and community development. He mentions three examples from the past year of projects in Brazil, Ethiopia and Cambodia and he thanked Clayton Lee for his leadership of our World Serve Committee. Shirlee Tully (Sacramento Region Community Foundation) talked about the importance of legacy giving for the Foundation and introduced her all-star team of experts that are willing and able to provide assistance to members in leaving a legacy to the Rotary Foundation. That all-star team is Allison Cagley, Elfrena Foord, Steve Horton, Todd Koolakian, John McIntyre, Julie Van Dooren and Kevin Smith-Fagan.
One of the big programs of the foundation is scholarships and we were fortunate to have a Rotary Global Scholar – Jessica Salomon – join us and provide a testimonial of the impact of the program as she was able to study criminology at the university of Cambridge. We also learned that Jessica and President Dan are kindred spirits having both received degrees in Rhetoric from UC Berkeley. Following Jessica, Jim Leet announced that the club has added a new scholarship program for community college students that will provide ten $500 scholarships annually.
 
Heading down the back stretch Elfrena Foord (Foord, Van Bruggen, & Pajakstepped) to the podium and brought in the bucks as she recognized and thanked the following individuals for completing their next Eddie Mulligans. Tom Bacon, Judy Kjelstrom (UC Davis), Becki Roberts, Roy Alexander (Sacramento Children's Home) Linda Geery (Gilbert Associates, Inc.) Jim Leet, John Wheaton (Mariposa Petroleum Company), Peter Dannenfelser (Architectural Arts), Eric Solis (Solis Financial Strategies Group of Wells Fargo Advisors), Jeannie Reaves, Judy Payne (Real Estate Forum), Jim Streng (Streng Bros Rentals, LLC), Rick Davis. Elfrena started out by making a gift to complete Paul Stone’s 1st Eddie Mulligan and by the time all was said and done Paul had received a second Eddie Mulligan thanks to gifts from Jeff Stone (John O Bronson Co/HUB Int'l), Brian VanCamp (ADR Services, Inc.), and Paul Bystowski (Hub International).
Elfrena then invited Bob Mutchler to step forward and receive a special Eddie Mulligan recognition from our club for his contribution of the Baby Grand Piano that he contributed to the club so we are able to have piano music in our new meeting location.
 
Final words of the day were offered by Jeanne Reaves, incoming President of the Foundation Trustees who reminded us of the Foundation’s mission and vision, thanked everyone for their support and encouraged them to continue supporting the foundation in futures years.
 
Meeting adjourned.