Meeting Recap for July 14, 2015
Posted by Mark Huffman
on Jul 16, 2015
President Dave Cohen opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and thanking Jim Craig for donating the wine for the wine reception. He then introduced Kathe Nathan who offered the Thought for the Day.
Sergeant-at-Arms John McIntyre proceeded to welcome our honored guests, including some past and present Rotary Youth Exchange participants who were warmly received. President Dave thanked our greeters for the day, Shelley Matthews the Club’s Executive Assistant and Tom Bacon of Bacon Commercial Real Estate. He then introduced the guests at the head table, including Past President Rob Scherer who was provided the Meeting Sponsor spot; Allison Cagley-Membership Chair, Dave DeRoos & Anne Ferguson-Scholarship Committee Co-chairs, and Pony Express Marathon Co-chairs Gabriel Gendron and Bob Daly.
President Dave then introduced Past President Rob Scherer of Dale Carnegie noting that for many years Rob has donated a class in speaking to incoming presidents. PP Rob indicated that he had been working with Dale Carnegie for 30 years and had worked with many of the Club’s members. He also noted that President Dave was actually paying for his Sponsorship of the Day to thank him for his generosity in offering the free speaking class to incoming presidents.
Next it was time for announcements and Past President Hal Bartholomew announced the annual BBQ at the home of PP Hal and PP Beverly Brautigam. Always fun! Golf-4-Kids coming up on August 10 and Past President Diane Mizell is looking for tee sponsors. The Second Annual Sacramento Century bicycle ride coming in October is getting off to a fast start. At this time last year there was nobody registered; compared to this year with 500 already registered.
President Dave then invited Rotary Club of Sacramento Foundation President Doug Crumley to come forward to help recognize members achieving Eddie Mulligans and Paul Harris Fellowships in the past year. These included: Roy Alexander a 12 year member of the Club who earned his first Paul Harris; Past President Jack Bowker a 50 year member of the Club who earned his 5th Eddie Mulligan; Bob Rosenberg an 11 year member of the Club who earned his second Paul Harris; Jim Streng a 22 year member of the Club who earned his second Paul Harris, and Diane Woodruff a nine year member of our Club (and a 23 year member of Rotary overall) for her 4th Eddie Mulligan. Congratulations to all!
President Dave then convened the Club Assembly. He noted that the Club has had assemblies in the past but not for many years, so this one is notable. The purpose of the day’s assembly was for President Dave to introduce the membership to some basics about the Club and some basics about how he sees his term unfolding. A copy of his presentation can be viewed by clicking on the link at the end of this recap. It covered the current leadership and staff, the Club Structure and its relationship to the Club’s Foundation, a chart tracking where our charitable funds go, the observation that in the past 10 years the Club has donated $2,272,000 to local charities and $250,000 to international projects, and a comprehensive committee chart.
President Dave also talked about what would be changing this year. He said there would be no political speeches or content and no religious content since those topics can often cause dissension. The piano music will be set aside this year in favor of a more diverse selection of music under the guidance of Musical Directors Aaron French and Kevin Williams. And the Club’s banners have a new look.
Another important change President Dave is instituting this year is to create more levels of giving, including those at lower levels. He said that many of our members are at a stage of their life where giving at higher levels isn’t feasible and so he wanted to provide an ability to participate. They are as follows:
- Starter Contribution - $25
- ½ Century Rider Contribution - $50
- Service Contribution - $100
- Eat-a-Bug Contribution - $250
- Merchants Contribution - $500
- Captain of Industry Contribution - $750
- Bell Ringer Contribution - $1,000
To further this effort, John Lemmon built President Dave a new lectern that does two things. The first thing is it allows a 5’ 8” person to see over the top of it. But second, and more astoundingly, it has a lever which when pushed opens at the front to reveal a number of bells, one for each giving level and which provide increasingly dulcet tones to match the gift. The assembled crowd was struck dumb with amazement.
With that, President Dave dismissed everyone wishing them a good week!