Rotary Meeting: April 20, 2021
After a bit of virtual mingling, PRESIDENT KEVIN SMITH-FAGAN (Executive Director of Fairytale Town) brought the meeting to order and welcomed everyone! ALLISON CAGLEY (Sergeant in Arms) (Executive Director of Friends of Sacramento Arts) encouraged any guests of the week to chip in briefly and allow us to meet them. CHRISTIE HOLDEREGGER (V/P Chief Development Officer at Volunteers of America) enthusiastically announced the presence of her own guest and colleague, ANA BANKERT (Director of Development at Volunteers of America). BOB ROSENBERG (Inve$tnet Inc.) skillfully lead everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance while concurrently attending two meetings at once –‘Twas an impressive juggling act indeed!
Thought for the Day
PAST PRESIDENT DAN MCVEIGH (Downey Brand LLP) shared his Thought for the Day. To celebrate National Poetry Month in combination with our awesome guest speaker of the week INDIGO MOOR, he recited a series of quotes about poetry derived from famous poets such as W.H. Auden, Carl Sandburg, Rita Dove and Dylan Thomas.
Meeting Sponsor
A big thank you to Volunteers of America (VOA) for sponsoring our meeting this week. The VOA Development Director, ANA BANKERT was introduced by LEO MCFARLAND (President/CEO at Volunteers of America) from a mysteriously remote location somewhere between here and Reno. Established in 1911, VOA moves individuals to independence in loving and compassionate ways, providing shelter and more to families, seniors, veterans and others in the homeless community. ANA was excited to share that they are holding their first virtual Homeless Summit and we are all invited to join. The panel discussing is coming up April 28 at noon via Zoom. The topic is: Understanding Homelessness. Hear the inspirational tales from real, successful individuals that have graduated from VOA’s program and eradicated homelessness out of their personal lives.
CLICK HERE to join the Volunteers of America panel discussion on Understanding Homelessness.
The Passing of a fellow Rotarian
PRESIDENT KEVIN spoke gravely when he announced the passing of PAST PRESIDENT HERB RODEBAUGH. HERB was a member of our club for 50 years, our Club’s President in 1984, and the proud and honorable founder of our former signature fundraiser “Bids for Kids”. We will remember his incredibly full 100 years of life more properly in a future meeting.
Club Announcements
- Golf 4 Kids – CALLEE SETZER (Sales at Setzer Forest Products) announced that there are still 2 sponsorships up for grabs, the Title Sponsor and the Longest Drive sponsor. If you were considering donating to our online auction, the good news is that we will be accepting donations until May 5th! Registration is still open for you to help us reach our goal of 100 golfers! If you aren’t much into golfing, you can eat your heart out in one (or four) lunch servings of our Nash & Proper food truck! Our event beneficiaries will be in attendance, we hope you can make it out and mingle with everyone.
- Loaves & Fishes – JOHN SWENTOWSKY (Owner of Swentowsky Photography) discussed the upcoming volunteer opportunity regarding serving lunch at Loaves & Fishes on Thursday, April 29th – he is still short three more volunteers for the morning shift and six for the lunch shift. Please contact JOHN to offer your service.
- Mother’s Day/Young Professionals Fundraiser – JAMIE FURLONG (Securitized Real Estate Specialist at Bangerter Financial Services) gave us the 411 on the Young Professionals (YP) next fundraising event, which will be just in time for Mother’s Day. The event will take place at Sweet Mabel’s Urban Flower Farm in West Sacramento Saturday, May 8th. The Rotary Rockers will provide live acoustic entertainment, Starbucks will provide caffeine and pastries, and a professional photographer will be onsite to take memorable family photos good enough to frame! Limited tickets are available due to the site’s maximum capacity restriction, so sign up soon. Lastly, a flower delivery to the special mother in your life will also be available.
CLICK HERE to learn more about the YP’s Mother’s Day event.
- Rotary Survey on In-Person Meetings – PRESIDENT KEVIN, our first leader to preside completely online (with the occasional socially distanced, unofficial happy hours), presented the results of a recent survey polling members about returning to meetings in person. The results indicate we really miss each other. Over 95% of us would present proof of vaccination to be present, 88.1% of us would wear masks, over 73% would attend an indoor meeting and 78% would attend an outdoor meeting. The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church is keen to have us back when we are able and ready to do so.
- District 5180 Conference and Derby Car Race – PAST PRESIDENT PETER DANNENFELSER II (President of Architectural Arts) followed up on the preparation of our pinewood Derby race car for our District race that is in conjunction with the upcoming annual District 5180 virtual conference. The conference will be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 22nd and 23rd, from 10 a.m. till noon each day. The pinewood Derby car will be ranked on Appearance and Performance, and we are going to kick some b-u-t-t in both categories!
- Park Cleanup – PRESIDENT KEVIN told a story about the most recent Rotary Trash pickup along the American River Parkway, including a series of pictures… long story short, PRESIDENT KEVIN struck a victory in removing the ominous River raft that had been stuck in the river, but suffered a short-term loss in the dynamic battle between PRESIDENT KEVIN vs. PRESIDENT KEVIN’s hat. As if he hadn’t already been mocked by Mother Nature enough, PRESIDENT KEVIN also temporarily lost his glasses! Eventually, PRESIDENT KEVIN found his glasses and hat… he is still on the search to recover his dignity. Come to the next trash pickup for so much drama and excitement, it’s like your very own reality TV show.
Rotary Good News
- TODD KOOLAKIAN (Director of Philanthropy at Sacramento Children’s Home) was celebrating his sister’s wedding in New Orleans!
- TODD ANDREWS (President of Andrews Construction, Inc.) gave thanks to his nephew attending his first Rotary meeting with him today!
- NANCY SMITH FAGAN (International Bird Rescue) celebrated her new job at the International Bird Rescue
- PAST PRESIDENT DAN MCVEIGH celebrated NANCY’s hard work at Christian Brothers (CB)… and spoke on behalf of all the CB staff when he said that she will greatly be missed.
Chair of the Day
RIVKAH SASS (CEO of Sacramento Public Library) was thrilled to hold the honor of introducing our guest speaker, INDIGO MOOR. Coincidentally, she just happened to serve on the panel when guest speaker applied to be a poet laureate emeritus of Sacramento. Indigo Moor is a multi-genre, award-winning writer and teacher. His second book of poetry, Through the Stonecutter’s Window, won the Northwestern University Press’s Cave Canem prize. His first book, Tap-Root, was published as part of Main Street Rag’s Editor’s Select Poetry Series. His stageplay, Live! at the Excelsior, was a finalist for the Images Theatre Playwright Award. Indigo is a graduate of the Stonecoast MFA Program—where he studied poetry, fiction, and scriptwriting—and a graduate member of the Artist's Residency Institute for Teaching Artists. A musician and photographer, Indigo's collaborations include the Artists Embassy International Dancing Poetry Festival, the Livermore Ekphrastic Project, and the Davis Jazz Arts Festival.
Guest Speaker: Indigo Moor
Joining us from Mendocino, where he is staying after a recent corporate assignment with Micron, Indigo shared a graduate-level short course in how to use poetry as a tool to “empathize in essence,” a social contract in both our lives and relationships. Whether on the flight deck of the USS Ranger, in a classroom or a corporate boardroom, Indigo has employed poetry as a social contract with the reader.
He read to us My Father’s Letters by Yusef Komunyakaa, twice. First to hear the words, and then to feel them. Responding to a question about rioting, he asked “Are they rioting or protesting?” and referred to My Father as a Guitar by Martin Espada, a poem exploring poverty and employment in the immigrant community.
He urged us to take on social contracts in our work together. Rotarians basically commit to form social contracts with everyone that they meet. If you are always looking for what it takes to be a Rotarian, you will always know what to say to those people when you come into contact with them.
Indigo did not read any of his own poetry. To overcome this humble stance, let’s all check out his latest book and add it to our poetry collections.
CLICK HERE to purchase Indigo Moor’s most recent book, Everybody's Jonesin' for Something.
CLICK HERE to view Indigo Moor’s entire speech and Q&A.
Next Week
ALLISON CAGLEY (Sergeant in Arms) (Executive Director of Friends of Sacramento Arts) reminded us our next meeting will be Tuesday April 27, and will feature DR. MARGOT KUSHEL speaking on the ever timely topic of homelessness.