t was a big day at ye olde Rotary Club this week, as we crowned our next President Elect-Elect in the last of the President-Todd-led meetings of the year (but don't forget about Daughter's Day next week y'all!).
After the usual thank you’s for those that made this week's meeting tick -- including Maggie Hopkins, who bought the room a drink as wine sponsor, greeters Dee Hartzog, Clayton Lee, and Jim Henderson, and our resident shutter-bug, John Swentowsky -- President Todd acknowledged yet another club member who has turned 100 -- our Rotary bell.
With content provided by Past President Walter Dahl, Prez Todd gave us the history of our 100 year-old bell, which was donated to the club by Past President Ken Noack, Jr.'s forebearer Carl Noack; this brass bell is the Rotarian closest to Jim Phillips' perfect attendance record (coming up just short, as those scoundrels in the Active 20-30 Club have stolen it once or twice during the years). The bell is inscribed Xmas 1923.
Steve Shiflett gave us the Thought of the Day, a fine piece on the difference of being Thankful versus being Grateful (see Steve for his thoughts, but note that no band named the Thankful Dead ever made it big), while Megan Laurie was our Meeting Sponsor, catching us up on all of the good work being done at United Cerebral Palsy.
Thank you Meeting Sponsor, Megan Laurie.
Special kudos to President-Elect Bobby Reed, who brought about 250 guests to the club this week (although my count might be off just a tad). Bobby has been engaged in an obviously-successful LinkedIn invitation campaign, inviting members of the business community to be his guest at a meeting - a brilliant idea that he is licensing freely to all Rotarians (see what happens when you turn an MIT grad loose?). Well done, Bobby.
We had our usual slew of generous Rotarian tithers; John Swentowksy advised that our Rotary bell-ringers brought in 500 clams for the Salvation Army; and the Sacramento Children's Home Crisis Nursery was presented a check in the amount of $86,692 -- the net proceeds from another successful Sac Century event this year (well done, everyone!).
On the announcement front, it's not too late to bring a toy (or money) to PP Jim Leet at next week's Daughter's Day for our annual toy drive, and Christie Holderegger invites you to join her on the Community Grants committee this year (drop Christie a line if you're interested).
Ok, on to the big news: As far as the incoming Board Members, "Other" was crushed in the election yet again, and all members on the ballot skated through easily, as expected.
And our President Elect-Nominee for the 2025-26 term (insert drum roll here)?
The ever-impressive Kerry Wood!
Adopting the motto "Why run one substantial organization when you can run two?", Kerry will carry the Sacramento Region Community Foundation in one hand, the Rotary Club of Sacramento in the other, and throw in her Rotary Roadies gig just for good measure. Congratulations, Kerry - so well deserved!
Nancy Teichert (the only Pulse reporter with a Pulitzer) was our Chair of the Day, introducing Faith Whitmore, the CEO of the Sacramento Region Family Justice Center, who gave an impactful presentation on the extremely fine work being done by this non-profit organization.
The Family Justice Center exists for the unprotected -- victims of domestic violence, and human trafficking, and child abuse, and elder abuse, helping them with protection, and housing, and pro-bono legal services, and hope. Unable to do Faith's presentation justice here, see www.sacramentojfc.org for all of the good work her organization is doing.
That's a wrap for this week. It's the always-popular Daughter's Day lunch next week, and then we'll see everyone next year. Happy Holidays!
John Wood
Photos courtesy of John Swentowsky.
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