We started the new year with Past-President Maria Mengotti leading the meeting.  This was the first time Maria got to chair a meeting in person.  If you remember, her whole year was spent doing Zoom meetings.  President Amy is enjoying a well-deserved vacation in Turks and Caicos.  

 

Despite Amy not being present, Maria still made us sing.  Tim Hayes started the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance followed by Keith McBride giving us the thought for the day.   

 

Sunshine report:  Club Service chair Chris Deering gave the Sunshine report.  It wasn’t all good news.  Carolyn Curtis is being treated at Stanford for a reoccurrence of cancer.   We did celebrate birthdays and anniversaries with plenty of cookies.

 

Firepit social:  Chris is looking for volunteers to host a firepit social.  Chris is hoping to have a volunteer for each month of the year.  The firepit is the last Friday of the month.  It is a potluck so the host does not have to provide any food or beverages.  

 

Happy dollars:  No Fundmaster, but there were plenty of members that were happy.   Alana Mathews is now the Assistant DA for Contra Costa County. She had successful hand surgery in the morning.  Betsy Gade just got back from a cruise.  Carrol Dudley celebrated that he is 18 months cancer free.  Allison Hamaker mentioned that her mother and brother-in-law passed away during the holidays. The funerals brought the family together. They enjoyed getting together laughing, telling stories and sharing fond memories.  George Gomes’ grandson has been selected for the Olympic Development Team by the Portland Timbers Soccer club. George rang the bell to become our latest bell ringer.  Don Brodeur had 3 of his fellow hikers from the Camino de Santiago hike on the Zoom call so Bill Watson gave $60 in honor of the 3 having to put up with Don for over a month.  

 

Bell Ringers for 22-23 year:  John Brown, Hanns Haesslein, Maria Mengotti, Jack Kimmel, Kim Walker, Don Brodeur, Bill Watson, Carol Dudley, Peggy Porter Honeyman, Bob Deering, Keith McBride and George Gomes.

 

Community Service:  Community Services chair, Dave Jones, gave an update.    The ARC diaper drive was a success and the school was very thankful for the donations.  This month is the Women’s Empowerment clothing drive.  They need used professional clothing for their clients.   He also reminded us of the breakfast meeting at Ettores on Tuesday. 

 

 

Salvation Army: Bill Watson gave us an update on the Salvation Army bell ringing.  The final numbers are being tabulated but our club’s donations exceeded $10,000.   Our goal was $7,500.

 

Speaker of the Day: Our own Don Brodeur spoke about his walk on the Camino de Santiago in Spain.  This was a 500 mile walk that took 35 days.  This was not the first time he did the walk.  As we were shown, this was not an easy walk.  The first segment required him to climb the Pyrenees with an elevation of 5000 feet.  It continued up and down the whole hike. Don showed us 90 of the pictures he took.  What a fascinating adventure.  

 

Jan 10:             Breakfast at Ettore’s at 7:00am

Jan 11:             Club meeting at OSF, Club assembly

Jan 18:             Club meeting at OSF, Erin Murphy, What is Ableism?

Jan 24:             Breakfast at Ettore’s at 7:00am

Jan 25:             Club meeting at OSF, Katie Valenzuela, City Councilwomen serving

                        East Sacramento