Foundation Day!
 

Posted by John McIntyre on Dec 07, 2017
WELCOME: President John Lemmon (Knox, Lemmon & Anapolsky, LLP) called the meeting to order at 12:15pm and thanked Dave Higdon (California Moving Systems) for sponsoring today’s wine reception. He further thanked Dr. Dick Wertz and Paul Stone for their piano artistry, and our greeters, John Wood (McGee & Thielen Insurance Brokers), Clayton Lee (C.K.L. Trust) and Michael Gilligan.  President John also thanked John Swentowsky (Swentowsky Photography) for his leadership of our service at Loaves & Fishes last Thursday.
 
INVOCATION: The Thought for the Day was offered by Jim Leet (Boutin Jones Inc.), who beautifully channeled his inner St. Francis.  Following the Pledge of Allegiance, President John noted that we had no guests today, making it light duty for Sergeant-At-Arms Callee Setzer (Setzer Forest Products).
 
NEW MEMBER INTRODUCTION: Tina Reynolds was introduced by sponsor Jeanne Reaves (Jeanne Reaves Consulting) (and Margo Fowkes - OnTarget Consulting, Inc.) and announced by President John as the newest member of the Rotary universe and given our traditional standing-ovation welcome, which she immediately captured in a photo for social media.
 
President John also thanked several new members who have stepped immediately into leadership roles.   These included Ed Wright (Martensen Wright PC) who has been organizing our wine reception , Julie Sherry (Watson Companies, Inc.) and Jaena Nakagawa (Tri Counties Bank) who have served as Greeters,  Laurie Wright (Tri Counties Bank) who began working on the Sacramento Century and Golf 4 Kids even before becoming a member, Margo Fowkes who is working with Jeff Stone to recruit Meeting Sponsors, and Carol Christie (Lyon Real Estate) for her moxie for arranging a meeting with new Sacramento Police Chief Dan Hahn to explain about our Club’s long history of working in the Sacramento community and to invite Chief Hahn to both to speak at the club and to join as an honorary member; he assented to both!
 
President John explained that ballots were mailed out two days late and asked members for a one-time waiver of the late mailing. Amin Elmallah made a motion to that effect which was seconded by Walter Dahl (Dahl & Dahl Attorneys). The motion was approved by unanimous voice vote.
 
Prior to some member fellowship, President John acknowledged that it was Diane Woodruff’s birthday which was celebrated in song.
 
ANNOUNCEMENTS: President John announced that the next Networking Night would be on Dec. 13th at 5:30pm at Hot Italian (1627 16thStreet).  Bob Miller (First US Community Credit Union) announced that Bowling Green School, which we support through Golf 4 Kids, will be hosting its annual Holiday Play on December 20th. Bob says it is usually around 9am with details to follow. He urged Rotarians to attend to see how these remarkable kids overcome their challenges to perform – often using tools supplied by proceeds from Golf 4 Kids.
 
PRESENTATION: FOUNDATION DAY!  President Jeanne Reaves led a wonderful presentation, with each Foundation Trustee offering insights. Much of the content in their presentations is available in the RCOS Foundation Annual Report, and so will only be referenced here in brief – read the Annual Report!
 
Becki Roberts (Central Valley Community Bank) addressed the early years of Rotary, including its founding in Chicago in 1905 by Paul Harris.  She further noted that the Rotary International Foundation started in 1917, and has since expended more than $3 billion to make the world a better place. Our club, #97 in the Rotary pantheon, was started in 1914 and the RCOS Foundation started in 1971. 
 
Steve Heath (Capitol Health Network) confirmed that the RCOS Foundation is solvent – and expended $233,000 in 2016 to do good works in our region and internationally.
 
Larry Gilzean (Spare Time Fitness) shared additional facts about the RCOS Foundation, which was started in 1971 through the efforts of Mead Kibbey and George Basye. It was founded to pursue four goals:
 
  1. To accept tax deductible gifts (or ‘fines’ or other contributions)
  2. To accept endowment gifts
  3. To make prudent investments to grow the corpus and extend its purchasing power
  4. To inform Rotary members and the community about the foundation.
As of 2017, the foundation had more than $3.2 million and, over time, has granted more than $4 million in benefits to the community.
 
Rick Davis described the many areas where our club has taken action internationally and shared information about World Community Service and its six global areas of focus:
 
  1. Water and sanitation
  2. Maternal/child health
  3. Literacy
  4. Disease prevention
  5. Development
  6. Conflict Resolution
Shirlee Tully (Capital Public Radio) honored “The Immortals” – those who have left an estate gift, which became their legacy at the time of their passing. The names of these amazing people ran across the screen with many of the attendees remembering each fondly.
 
Dennis Smith (Tsakopoulos Management Company, LLC) shared a preview of the new Rotary website, which was funded with a grant from the RCOS Foundation’s Bill & Millie Stone fund.
Becki Roberts shared a short but touching video about the San Francisco School in Costa Rica, which received a grant from our Foundation to build a new library in partnership with the Peace Corps.
 
Rick Osen (Sutter Builders, Inc.) described our two largest fundraisers – Golf 4 Kids and the Sacramento Century Ride. He lauded each, but then took no prisoners in insisting that we as club members step up to keep these events going, lest we fall down in our ability to support the worthy charitable ends supported by these events!
 
 
Elfrena Foord (Foord, Van Bruggen, & Pajak) described the difference between (and history behind) the Paul Harris and Eddie Mulligan Awards. Paul Harris Awards acknowledge a contribution of $1,000 to the Rotary International Foundation; Eddie Mulligan awards recognize a similar contribution to our club’s Foundation. Elfrena and Len McCandliss then recognized several members who ponied up to reach their next Paul Harris and/or Eddie Mulligan Kelley Moran (Moran & Associates) was specially noted as the proud possessor of 14 Eddie Mulligans!
CONCLUSION: President John thanked everyone involved with the RCOS Foundation, as well as the members who provide support of it. He then called on Sergeant-At- Arms Callee Setzer who announced that our next meeting at the Greek Orthodox Church will be our Club’s Annual Assembly!  President John gaveled the meeting to a close at 1:30pm.
 
Thank you John Swentowsky (Swentowsky Photography) for the photos!