Meeting Recap for June 16, 2015
Posted by Steve Heath
on Jun 18, 2015
Tempting as it might be to take the easy way out and use an old cliché to start this report, I’m not going to say that Rotary has gone to the dogs. In fact, the dogs have gone to Rotary—about a dozen of them.
Tuesday was Rotary Club of Sacramento’s Annual Son’s Day and other than the kids taking over meeting management, the highlight of the program was a demonstration by Canine Companions for Independence. The Santa Rosa-based organization “graduates” about 250 assistance dogs a year and provides them free to people with disabilities around the nation.
The Sacramento area has the largest contingent of people raising and training puppies for CCI in the country according to Kathy Zastrow, a local resident who is on the nonprofit’s Northwest Region board of directors and is raising her 23rd puppy.
Zastrow and several fellow volunteers from our area provided a demonstration of their dogs’ capabilities, much to the delight of the several dozen sons and grandsons in attendance at the uh…the hotel whose formal name is…well…you know the place I’m talking about.
Nancy Sawhney, a CCI national board member, had her “service dog” Becky show Rotarians how she can not only pull Sawhney around in her wheelchair but also retrieve items and deliver them to Nancy. (There are four kinds of assistance dogs. “Service dogs” assist adults with disabilities.)
Janel Edmiston brought Onalee with her. Onalee is a “hearing dog.” She is trained to alert someone like Janel to sounds she can’t hear—like timers, smoke detectors and telephones. The other kinds of assistance dogs are “skilled companions” (trained to work with adults and children with physical and cognitive challenges) and “facility dogs” (trained to do a variety of tasks and work with people who have challenges such as post-traumatic stress disorder).
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Willie Osen, son of Rick Osen and grandson of Dick Osen, was President for the Day, taking over from Susan Sheridan and doing an excellent job of running the meeting. Willie is a sophomore at Christian Brothers High School and his dog, Zazo, is a CCI puppy.
Willie was ably assisted by George Srabian, who provided the thought for the day, and Henry Srabian who led the pledge of allegiance. Both attend Our Lady of Assumption School. George will be a third grader in the fall and Henry a first-grader. The brothers are grandsons of Dave Murphy.
Another member of the Osen clan, Lars, took over his grandfather’s usual song-leading role and led the audience through all three verses of “How Much Is that Doggie in the Window?” Lars, who attends Silva Valley Elementary School, is Willie’s cousin.
Stephen Stone acted as Sgt. at Arms. An eighth grader who attend Del Dayo School in Carmichael, Stephen (who spells and pronounces his name correctly, unlike a certain pro basketball player) is the son of Jeff Stone, grandson of Paul Stone and nephew of Paul Bystrowski.
Greeters for the day were Robbie and Will Brasfeild, sons of Chuck Brasfeild. Both attend St. Mel’s Catholic School, where Robbie will be in the fifth grade and Will in the third grade next year. With them were their rescue dogs Jack and Jill. Also seated at the head table was another member of the Murphy clan, Anthony, and his Labrador retriever, Indie.