Rotary Meeting April 26, 2022
PRESIDENT BOB gaveled the meeting to order at 12:10 PM sharp. He recognized our incredible greeters including BRUCE TIMM (Attorney at Law /Boutin Jones, Inc), NANCY TEICHERT (Writer), and PAST PRESIDENT WALTER DAHL (Partner, Dahl Law). The appetizers were served and our wine bar in excellent form! SCOOP KEEFER (Executive Director / Pacific Charter Institute) reported the daily affairs and JOHN SWENTOWSKY (Owner/Swentowsky Photography) captured the pictures that no doubt will tell a thousand words! KEVIN WILLIAMS (Account Executive/KCRA 3) graciously hosted the wine bar offering only the very best to the Rotarians!
Thought for the Day
SURENDER SINGAL (Retired-Electrical Engineer/US Army, Corps of Engineers) provided our thought for the day emphasizing our journey in life being similar to going around and around like a Ferris wheel. He advised that we as humans need to learn to change our course when trouble comes. Thank you for your sage advice SURENDER.
Welcome back NORM!
It was great seeing NORM MARSHALL (Headwaters Construction) successfully returning to our Rotary meeting and enjoying our food and friendship.
Guest to RCS
Our guests included BONNIE DIXON WATER, Volunteers of America, JENNIFER ROTX with ACWH, ARISOLE SOLIS guest of ERIC SOLIS.
Our Prospective Rotarian included DEE JOHNSON.
Our visiting Rotarians included MICHAEL CAMPBELL, Campbell Pacific, Past president, West Sacramento.
Who is that at the Head Table?
Our head table included CHRISTIE HOLDEREGGER, VP VOA, CLAYTON LEE, CKL Trust, and WILLIE WHITTLESEY, General Manager, Yuba Water Agency and of course PRESIDENT BOB!
Meeting Sponsor
CHRISTIE HOLDEREGGER, Volunteers of America, Vice President of Development, sponsored our meeting with AUTUMN BANKER from Volunteers of America to present Operation Backpack. AUTUMN showed a video describing this valuable program. The children in the video expressed the value of the backpack including the fact that the children “don’t have a hundred arms!” Volunteers of America have a goal of 10,000 backpacks this year to help the children ‘feel normal.”
New Member
Sponsored by JUSTINO SANTANA (Nonprofit Business Development Manager, eFundraising Connections) and JOHN MCINTYRE (Mercy Foundation), our new member MEGAN LAURIE, Director of Development & Marketing, UCP of Sacramento & Northern California, was introduced to RCS. MEGAN is married with a teenage daughter, a Boston terrier and a boxer. MEGAN enjoys climbing and travelling with Machu Pichu in her sights! Also, MEGAN has experience with Rotary Exchange (Welcome aboard to the RYE Committee for RCS!).
Announcements
BROWN BAG
SARAH HODGE (Association of California Water Agencies) introduced BROWN BAG.
Please join us on Tuesday, May 10 for our next Brown Bag meeting. There are five amazing opportunities for you to enjoy lunch and fellowship with a small group of Rotarians.
**Arts Education at CLARA with Megan Wygant**
CLARA is an innovative public-private partnership that provides rehearsal/administrative/classroom space to arts organizations in exchange for those groups providing free arts education programs to Title I schools in Sacramento City Unified School District. Join Megan Wygant for a tour of their historic school site, a conversation about the arts and economic development, the importance of arts education, and maybe even some fun interactive activities.
**Floral Design with Jim Relles**
Hands on experience making a floral bouquet or plant garden. Learn about the history of the floral industry and the current affairs of the floral industry at Relles Florist in Midtown.
**Winters Wine tasting with Ann Solomon**
Join Ann Solomon in downtown Winters in front of Berryessa Gap Winery for a lunch and wine tasting.
**Ukraine – Proper U.S. Response? with Retired Judge Brian Van Camp**
After quoting from JFK’s Inaugural, retired Judge Brian Van Camp will briefly review suggestions from Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Sen. Tom Cotton and former Trump Admin. Officers on the U.S. response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, then invite all comers to suggest or formulate our nation’s best response. Lunch will be held at Piatti at Pavilions.
**Lunch with President Bob Miller**
Join President Bob for a fun small group lunch to talk all things Rotary and get to know a small group of Rotarians better!
Please click here to learn about the different topics and to sign up.
GOLF FOR KIDS
ALFRENA FORD (Ford and Associates) in true festival style was fundraising for the Golf Tournament on May 6. The team is pulling out the stops with the Rotary Beer Garden from 11:30-2:30 PM and Federalist Food Truck.
PAST PRESIDENT DIANE WOODRUFF and MAGGIE HOPKINS introduced the fun activities with three fun people leading games for all of our guests: JOHN WOOD (Cornhole), LATOYA WONG (Giant Jenga), MAGGIE HOPKINS (Beer Pong)
BOBBY REID- 5 slots available for golf.
CARE GRAMS
STEVE HUFFMAN
DARLENE MCCLAIN, wife of BOB passed on the day after Easter. She battled cancer for two years. BOB is doing pretty well. Please complete a CareGram.
GO FOR A RUN
JOHN MCINTYRE: Running a ½ marathon this weekend but will a do a 10k today to welcome Megan.
MEGAN: $25 donation in honor of her father
PAUL KEEFER (Pacific Charter Institute) : $25 to MEGAN’s PAUL HARRIS
Water and Power in California
CLAYTON LEE (CLK Trust) introduced our guest WILLIE WHITTLESEY, General Manager of Yuba Water Agency. WILLIE grew up in the Sierra foothills and has a clear view on how to protect the Yuba River Watershed. Prior to Yuba, WILLIE spent 13 years at PGE, Humboldt State University (Cal Poly), is a registered professional Forester, and a member of the Yuba Rotary Club.
WILLIE explained the Yuba River Development Progress including tunnels, reservoirs, Log Cabin Dam, New Bullards Bar, New Power House, One House, and 60,000 acres of farmland with sustainable water. WILLIE explained how 185 million dollars in bonds afforded this 50 years ago in a deal with PG&E with the bond ending in 2016. The primary goal of the agency is reducing flood risk as well as providing sustainable water supply, and yet other projects like reforestation and biomass are in the works. WILLIE was very optimistic about water in California.
Upcoming meetings
5/3 – Dark – No Meeting (Golf For Kids, May 6, 2022)
5/10 – BROWN BAG DAY!
5/17 – Thien Ho – Running for Sacramento District Attorney
5/24 – Veterans Armed Forces Day – You don’t want to miss it! Click here for a preview of this very special meeting.
5/31 – Dark – No Meeting