Meeting Recap for March 17, 2015

Posted by John Wood 
 
It was St. Patty’s day at ye olde Rotary Club this week, and you know what that means – Girl Scout Cookies!  Oh, and fish for lunch (?). 
            Before I explain (which I may or may not do, too early to tell), we had the usual pre-gavel meet-and-greet, with the wine pouring courtesy of Bill (man I wish it would snow so that I could make a) Profitt, with Randy (the Admiral) Friedman and Michael (you’ve got to grab the horns by the) Bullington teaming up on the 88 keys, while Tim Mattheis and Chuck Brasfeild greeted the gathering and green clad throng.
            After President Susan rang the meeting to order in her ever punctual way, we heard an Irish prayer from our invocator, Pam Saltenberger, and then Dick (Golden Pipes) Osen led us in a stirring rendition of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”, followed by a luxuriant 15 minutes of conversation time.
 
    Once back, President Susan doubled as our Meeting Sponsor of the Day, and donated her $300 and 3 (dollars and minutes) to Linda Farley, Executive Director of the Girl Scouts Heart of California, and purveyor of those addictive cookies (with her own troop of Girl Scouts in tow to push the product at the meeting).  If you’d like to sponsor an upcoming meeting – to promote your business, or a favorite charity, while benefitting the club with your three Benjamins – contact Sponsor of the Day Chair, Jeff Curcio.
            By the way, when Susan isn’t presiding over Rotary, or bungee jumping for money, or building Habitats for Humanity near and far, she’s serving as the Chairwoman of the Board for the Girl Scouts (which means that her hubby, Dr. Larry, is conscripted for no pay even more often than I thought!).
            And don’t mess with the Prez – when Susan discovered that fellow Rotarian and Boy Scouts Executive Director, Chuck Brasfeild (in cahoots with our Speaker of the Day, and Boy Scouts Board Chair, Kelly Brothers) had placed their pamphlets on the table on Girl Scouts day, she fined them each a case of Girl Scout cookies (and Kelly’s not even in the club!). 
            Now, who says the Rotary Club of Sacramento is just a knife-and-forker money club (who does say that, actually?) – we’ve got a ton of service-related events going on over the next two weeks, including: 1) the Habitat for Humanity home building day this Friday (3/20) and the Saturday after that (3/28) – see the Rotary website for details; 2) the Senior Gleaners volunteer day this Saturday (3/21) from 9 a.m. to noon – contact Diane Schachterle for details; and 3) Loaves and Fishes on Tuesday, March 31st (no meeting that day) – contact John Swentowsky to sign up for either the morning prep or lunch service shift.
            Not happy with just some cookie cases under her belt, President Susan went hunting for some cash tithers, and bagged Brian (it’s good to be the) King, whose Los Rios Community College District is celebrating 50 years in biz; new member Dean O’Brien (might as well indoctrinate the young ones early); Eric Solis (who is celebrating 20 years with Wells Fargo Advisors); and Brian Witherell (who ponied up after declaring that “Success does not come without a price” [great line, Brian]).  The common denominator here?  All of these gents were sighted in a recent edition of Comstock’s magazine (somebody cancel Susan’s subscription).  It should also be noted that at the meeting on March 10th, Past President Brian Van Camp donated $250 towards his next Paul Harris in honor of Bill Stone as a 40 year member of the club and John Bowker 50 years!
 
    With cookies out the door and cash in hand, Susan was temporarily satiated, and turned the mike over to President Elect-Elect, Dan McVeigh, who introduced our guest speaker -- familiar to all and no stranger to our club -- Kelly Brothers, who brought with him his satchel of fine Irish stories. 
            Included among them was the one about his Irish Granddad, who got out of explaining to his nine kids that they were too poor for Christmas gifts by driving them out to the cemetery and showing them Santa’s grave; or the guy down at the Guinness factory who fell into a vat of beer and died – three others jumped in to try and save him, but he fought them off bravely; and the time Kelly took his son to the bar.  First his son tasted the Guinness but didn’t like it, so Kelly drank it.  Then his son tasted the Irish whiskey but didn’t like it, so Kelly drank it.  Then his son tasted the Scotch but didn’t like that either, so Kelly drank it.  After that, Kelly was so drunk he could barely push the stroller home.
            By the way, check out Kelly’s new radio show, “The Business Exchange”, Thursday evenings at 7:00 on KFBK, where Kelly speaks with local business owners, and covers economic matters that impact our region.
            Next week is a joint meeting with the 20-30 clubs of Sacramento – Dave Higdon is in charge, so it should be a hoot!
 
**Photos by Swentowsky Photography