- Rang the bell at 12:16 pm
- Pledge by Lewie Donhost
- 4-way test recited
- Thought of the Day: Amy Ruggles “Living in a state of gratitude is the avenue to peace.” She shared a story of her friend Lou King, a 95-year-old nurse who broke her hip and got right back to work after healing, grateful for the purpose that nursing brought to her life.
- Tax and Accounting Minute: Jim Fritzsche – spoke about Social Security taxability and Roth IRA conversions.
- News: Amy Ruggles would like to see all helpers wearing PJs this Saturday from 9-11 at the North Highlands Community Center for the Christmas Store. Thank you to all who donated so generously so children can “purchase” presents for their family members. George Gomes reminded us that this coming Monday is our YWCA homecooked Christmas dinner, and we deliver our dishes at 5:15 pm. Tim Hayes said we need everyone to RSVP for our Christmas party on the 16th so we can order the right amount of food. Bill Watson said we’ll be ringing the bell again for the Salvation Army. A sign-up sheet went around to reserve our preferred time slots. Bill told us that Jack Kimmel currently represents us on the Salvation Army board. We’ve supported them for 25 years. If we hit our goal to raise $10,000 in the bell ringing, our president Jim Fritzsche will dye his hair.
- Happy Dollars: Amy is happy that one of her children is now employed. Jim is excited that we will have 3 weeks with no meetings so the tech crew can have a rest. Lewie is happy for no reason. Keith McBride is happy because his grandchildren are getting their driving permits, and he doesn’t have to pay for their insurance.
- Speaker Mike Testa introduced us to “Visit Sacramento,” that has been around 22 years. It used to be a part of city government but is now an independent 501c6 organization. Funding is mostly provided through hotel taxes, and they use it to bring more conferences, sports events, and music festivals to the city, which benefits the city’s general fund. Their current budget is $14 million per year. Some of their challenges include 1) the homeless population which block access and create trash, 2) the work from home population which resulted in truncated restaurant hours downtown, and 3) the current high interest rate that makes it difficult to build new hotels downtown. Sacramento has far fewer downtown hotel rooms than many other big cities. Visit Sacramento brings in over 15 million people each year, generates over 4 billion in revenue, and supports over 100,000 jobs. Their goals include building a soccer complex with 20 fields and setting up a third music festival that would combine with the Farm to Fork festival.
- Raffle – Almond Roca won by Hanns Haesslein
- Concluded at 1:06 pm
- Attendance (21): Don Cotton, Chris Deering, Bob Deering, Lewie Donhost,Carroll Dudley, Jim Fritzsche, George Gomes, Hanns Haesslein, Dick Hall, Allison Hamaker, Tim Hayes, Kipp Johnson, David Jones, Keith McBride, Charlie Rea, Amy Ruggles, Jim Shaw, Marsha Vacca, Bill Watson, Jerry Wright, and Clarence Parkins.
- Upcoming Events:
Dec 9 Saturday: Christmas Store service project at the North Highlands Community Center, 6040 Watt Avenue. Wear your PJs and help to serve breakfast. We donated many nice items to their children’s store.
Dec 11 Monday: YWCA Christmas Dinner 1122 17th Street, Sacramento. If you volunteered to bring food, please deliver by 5:15 pm
Dec 12 Tuesday: Ettore’s meetup at 7:00 am 2376 Fair Oaks Blvd
Dec 13 Wednesday: Regular meeting with a Christmas theme. You are encouraged to bring a white elephant gift for our exchange.
Dec 15: Children’s Receiving Home Christmas Dinner & gift giving at La Rosa Blanca restaurant, 2813 Fulton Ave
Dec 16: Club Christmas Party at Bill Watson’s home, 7721 Winding Way. Come at 5:00 pm
Dec 20: no meeting - holiday
Dec 23: Salvation Army bell ringing at Bel Air, 4320 Arden Way, Sacramento
Dec 25: Merry Christmas!
Dec 27: no meeting – holiday
Jan 1: and a Happy New Year!
Jan 3: no meeting – holiday
Jan 10: Regular meeting. Speaker Dave Lambros, a football official from the PAC12
Jan 17: Regular meeting. Speaker Andrea Haverland from the Zoo, talking about its move to Elk Grove
Jan 24: Club Assembly
Jan 31: Regular meeting. Speaker Mary Lyn Kagan with the topic “Canine Companions”
Feb 7: Regular meeting. Dave Jones takes us on a virtual tour of the Sutter Buttes
Feb 14: Regular meeting. Valerie from Chocolate Uplift shares everything chocolate
Feb 17: Club Social Outing with Dave Jones to hike the Sutter Buttes
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