Meeting Recap - March 22, 2016
President Dave Cohen opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and thanking John Hamlyn for donating the wine for the wine reception, thanking Kevin Williams (KVIE) and Aaron French (Zanker Road Resource Management) for the introductory musical interlude, audio/visual director JD Dannenfelser (JD Enterprises) for his efforts, and Set Up Crew Bob Miller (First US Community Credit Union) and Chuck Brasfeild (Boy Scouts of America).
President Dave took a moment to observe the terror attacks that occurred earlier in the day in Brussels, Belgium, and asked for a moment of silence in honor of the dead and injured.
Kathe Nathan (The Merchants National Bank) then mounted the podium to offer the Thought for the Day, a meditation on the value of teamwork and its importance to Rotary in which she admonished those gathered to “find a group or a team and that excites you, join it, and make things happen!”
After the Pledge of Allegiance, President Dave then introduced the head table: PDG and Past President Fred Teichert (Teichert Foundation), our speaker Bob Mutchler, meeting sponsor Leo McFarland (Volunteers for America), Linda Geery (Gilbert & Associates), and Len Simpson (20/20 Financial Advisors of Sacramento).
Sargent-at-Arms John McIntyre (Mercy Foundation) then introduced our Guests, Prospective Members and Visiting Rotarians.
He was followed by meeting sponsor Leo McFarland. Volunteers for America is a national organization originally founded in 1898, the Sacramento chapter in existence since 1911. Its goal is “to end homelessness, support the most vulnerable populations and transform our community into a safer, healthier place.” Its focus areas include housing services, employment services, veteran services, community re-entry, former foster youth, treatment & recovery services, and affordable housing. Leo made particular mention of the recent renovation of the Bell Street apartments composed of 12 units intended for veterans, as well as the Mather Community Campus which aims to help formerly homeless individuals and families successfully transition into self-sufficiency.
President Dave then called RCOS Foundation President Doug Crumley (Crumley & Associates) to bestow some milestones and recognitions for especially generous members: Bill Badham received his first Eddie Mulligan, Bob Rosenberg (Inve$tnet) his third Paul Harris, David McKee his third Eddie Mulligan and his fourth Paul Harris, Bill Hirschfeldt his second Eddie Mulligan and his fifth Paul Harris, and Horace Wulff received his 6th Eddie Mulligan and his 8th Paul Harris. Congratulations and thanks to all for your exemplary generosity!
It was announcement time which included Past President John Snyder (Snyder Commercial Real Estate) reading from a book of hilarious but sincere thank you letters from a third grade class who received dictionaries from the RCOS. It’s a great program and so nice to hear from the ultimate recipients. Another important announcement came from Bob Daly (Financial Network Wealth Advisors) regarding the upcoming inaugural Pony Express Marathon occurring on May 1. John Swentowsky (Swentowsky Photography) made a plea for volunteers for upcoming slots at Loaves and Fishes, and Linda Geery announced the good news that the upcoming RYLA camp was filled. Roy Alexander (Sacramento Children’s Home) made a plug for the Rotary Theater Night on May 28 which will be the musical Motown. Finally, Past President Frank Poelman (Poelman Company) came forward to report that the recent ski trip on a 1 – 10 scale was a 15, and to do the raffle. There were two prizes, a set of skis donated by Bill Proffit (Land Park Ski & Sports) and a Paul Harris donation. Jeanne Reaves (Jeanne Reaves Consulting) was the proud winner of the skis and Nian Roberts of the Paul Harris donation. Congratulations!
The generous mood continued with a little (and actually not a little) wallet lightening. Jim Streng rose to report that the recent ski trip was actually a 20, and to honor Frank Poelman’s generous and hard work in making it such a success by donating $1,000 for Frank’s Paul Harris. All your reporter can say is, “wow.”
President Dave then asked Past President John Frisch (Cornish & Carey Commercial) to rise to recognize him for winning, for the fifth time, the Trainor Fairbrook Humanitarian of the Year Award. Though President Dave made it clear he wasn’t being fined, Past President John offered $250 towards his Eddie Mulligan anyway. An astounding achievement for a truly remarkable Rotarian.
Finally, Bob Rosenberg rose to announce that his son Josh Rosenberg, CEO of Accent Food Services in Texas, was awarded the 2016 Industry Person of the Year by the National Automatic Merchandisers Association, and donated $100 towards his Eddie Mulligan. Josh, you’ve done your dad proud!
There were others chomping at the bit to give more but it was time to invite PDG/PP Fred Teichert (Teichert Foundation) to introduce our speaker, Bob Mutchler. Before doing so however, PDG Fred attended to some unfinished business by presenting both Bob and his wife Patty with Major Donor Pins for having complete the equivalent of 50 Paul Harris’s. We’ll see how they did that in a minute.
PDG Fred then introduced Bob, also known as “Motorcycle Bob”, noting that he has been a Rotarian since 1970 and has been one of the most potent driving forces behind Polio Plus.
Bob mounted the podium and gave us some of his history. He contracted polio as an infant where he grew up in Pittsburg. There was a lot of misunderstanding about how someone contracts polio and he was shunned by other children whose parents were afraid to let their children play with him lest they contract the disease from him. Because of that he told people his disabilities were the result of a car accident or some other reason. He was forced into denial about his disease.
In 1985 he came down with Post-Polio Syndrome and was told by three doctors that he had two productive years left before he would be bedridden or at best in a wheelchair. He responded by buying a motorcycle and doing a 7,000 mile ride in seven days. 1985 was also the year Rotary International announced it would raise $120 million to be pledged to the United Nations to eradicate polio worldwide. Rotary also said it wanted a say in how the program was administered, and the UN hesitated until Rotary announced that it hadn’t raised $120 million but rather $247 million and Rotary has had a seat at the table ever since.
Even with his connection to Rotary, he still kept his distance from polio and spent a great deal of effort to support and promote other charities. He had continued to do his endurance motorcycle rides breaking a number of world records. In 1998 he decided to visit every state capital in the continental United States in 30 days and he wanted to tie it to a charitable effort and decided it should be Polio Plus. He wanted to have substantial press coverage at at least five of the state capitals to promote his ride and Polio Plus, and ended up with much more than that. The biggest was a press conference at the capitol in Washington DC which was not only picked up by the Washington Post; it resulted in a full front page story.
By 2000 he was feeling the physical effects of those rides and told his wife Patty that he was going to hang it up. However, soon thereafter he had his “Rotary Moment.” He participated in a Polio Immunization Day in Ghana where 90,000 volunteers immunized 8 million children. At one point he was holding an infant baby girl and he felt someone tugging at his pant leg. He looked down and there was a 12 year old boy on the ground with an enormous smile whose legs were tucked under him. He said to Bob, “thank you for helping my baby sister so she will not get polio like I did.” He then knew that he couldn’t stop doing what he could to end polio, and he vowed to not stop riding until it is finally eradicated. The only places we know it still exists are in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and many people providing vaccinations have been killed trying to do so.
Recently Bob wrote a memoir with the assistance of Lynda Lahman titled From Iron Lung to Iron Butt. All net proceeds go to Polio Plus. Each book costs him $5 to produce and he sells them for $20, so $15 per book goes to Polio Plus. In addition, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation chips in $30 per book sold so that a total of $45 per book goes to Polio Plus. For books purchased at the meeting PDG Fred agreed to pay for half the book, which means for $10, a total of $45 goes to Polio Plus. And each one is signed by Bob. In addition, Bob had one copy signed not only by himself but by Past Rotary International President Cliff Dochterman who wrote the forward which was being offered for $1,000. During the question and answer time Paul Bystrowski (John O Bronson) rose to say that as a child he contracted polio but was one of the lucky ones, he had no lasting effects. He went on to live a productive and happy life and said he would be honored to purchase the book for $1,000.
Truly one of the most amazing speakers in a year that has featured so many great ones.
With that, President Dave dismissed everyone wishing them a good week!