Club President, Christine Jensen, opened the meeting by ringing the bell and welcoming everyone to the Mighty Rotary Club of Arden Arcade. The Prez asked Heather Wulfert to lead the pledge to our flag. She then asked Joe Green to give the thought for the day. Both gladly complied.
The Prez then led the club in reciting the Four-Way Test
Visitors and Guests
The Prez noted that there were no visiting Rotarians or guests other than our guest speaker, Rebecca McCormac.
Bell Ringers?
Not this week!
Everyone was rung out from last week's
Polio Plus Bell Fest
Jenny Davini
Happy Bucks
Her Daughter's Birthday
She made Jenny a Mom
Prez Christine Jensen
Happy Bucks
Spontaneous weekend trip to Huntington Beach to visit with a cousin from Luisiana
News From Our Prez
Next week our guest Speaker will be from the Amarok Society. The "Old Members," as opposed to the "Newer Members" will remember hearing from the Amarok Society a few years ago. Some (one) of the chronologically advanced members of the club took umbrage at the term "Old," obviously a sore point of reality for him, and the Prez felt the need to explain the use of the term as it pertained to her employment of it. The secret word is "Old." The Amarok Society "teach mothers to teach the world." The mothers that are taught take what they learn back to their communities and teach other mothers as well as other
community members how to read and teach. Young and old members alike will enjoy and appreciate this speaker, coming to us via Zoom, and what the Amarok Society is doing to help improve the world. We will be given an update on the woman we sponsored to get the training.
Run to Feed the Hungry
Our Prez announced that she is putting together a team to run/walk in the Run to Feed the Hungry event. Team shirts are $54. You have the option of walking together as a club or walking separately. Those who wish to remain sedentary but support the walk may do so by purchasing the shirt, wearing it on the walk day is optional. A sign-up sheet is being passed around.
Matt Ross
Last Week's Word - Shirt
Matt Won
Some Beer
Making Up For
Linda Bigler chose a stainless-steel travel mug
Past Winners Who Received
Lisa Asperger slected an IPA Beer for her friends
No Prizes
Jenny Davini chose a stalinless-steel travel mug
News for "OLD" Members
Al Cady, pictured at the right side of this article, informed the chronologically advanced club members (those with many years of service,) that former member Chuck Hubbard is not doing well and may not make it through the week. Please keep him, his wife Lynn and his family in your prayer and thoughts. He has asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to our Rotary Club Foundation.
Coats and Hoodies for Kids
The Prez asked Carroll if he wanted to pass the hat at this meeting and he thought waiting would be best. Matt Ross disagreed with Carroll and forced the issue by making a donation. This set off a chain-reaction of donations for the Coats and Hoodies for Kids. If you missed it, it will be back again soon. Coats and hoodies can be purchased and donated. Please, new coats and hoodies only.
Laurell Ruff Holiday Party
Matt Ross informed the club that December 3rd is the date for the annual Laurell Ruff Holiday Lunch. At one time we had bus-loads of special needs kids, from the San Juan Unified School District, attending this lunch. We served student ages 5 to 24 years, most of which still believe in Santa. The honored position of Santa is open. Applications to fill the position, and the Santa suit, are being accepted by Matt. First requirement is, you have to be on Santa's "Nice" not "Naughty" list. As you can imagine, this limits the applicant pool substantially. Being Santa is very rewarding. Members seeking loving hugs and much
attention and are perfect for this position. The event starts about 10:30 with the cooking of the hamburgers. We may or may not still be cooking as requirements sometimes change. Santa is accompanied by four costumed students playing the parts of random winter holiday characters. We also have been visited by a few Santa's elves.
Dave Ferrer Approved for Membership
The board approved retired doctor, Dave Ferrer's membership application. Barring any opposition from the club members to his becoming a member, he will be invited to join our club. As there were no objections, and many comments in the affirmative, he will be inducted very soon. We are pleased to have him as a member.
The Prez noted that we have another potential member that
comes to us via the internet. She mused why this was. Someone suggested it had something to do with our club’s name starting with "A." Bruce Stimson noted that while that was true for many years, we are now second on the list with the American River Rotary club in first position.
Rob Olmstead
Please come to the Front of the Room
"Oh $#!*" were the first two words out of Rob's mouth. Rob has not been in attendance of late and was sure he was in for some trouble. Rob explained his absence was due to his participation in a leadership gig in Arizona. The Prez thanked him for explaining why he had missed the last meeting but that was not why he was called forward. She awarded him with another Paul Harris Foundation pin, thus ameliorating his guilt and remorse for being away.
Special Note:
Please keep the mother of District Governor, Steve Turner, in your prayers and thoughts as she has contracted pneumonia. Steve is not with us today as he is tending to her needs today.
The Real Story Behind the Rotray Van
Our club was instrumental in securing a van for use by the Sheriff's Community Project, Mission Oaks and Fulton El Camino Recreation Districts to help with transportation of participants in their recreation activities. Unfortunately, regulations pertaining to the use of 15 passenger vans made the use of the van all but impossible. Fulton El Camino RPD sold the van back to Rotary for the same cost that Rotary sold it to them, $1.00. The Folsom Rotary Club suggested that the van be given to the Flying Samaritans for their charitable use. The picture above shows the peaceful transfer of power, keys, from Rotary to The Flying Samaritans, the new owners.
A big shout out to Nick at the Sutter Club, who did a wonderful job detaining the outside of the van, taking off the stickers that identified the van partners, leaving the Rotary stickers shiny and bright. The vehicle looked marvelous.
Matt Ross introduced today's guest speaker Rebecca McCormac.
District Governor, Steve Turner, told Matt about a person he met on a plane and their discussion pertaining to protecting children from the hidden dangers in undiagnosed heart defects. Rebecca is the Project Adam Coordinator and they screen kids for heart defects and they are championing the installation of Automatic Electric Defibrillation machines in schools, parks and public facilities.
Rebecca noted that Project Adam has many branches throughout the country and she is the local Project Adam Coordinator. Rebecca has a son that has a heart condition called HDM, the most common condition that
causes heart attacks in young children. She wanted to make sure that his school had an AED in case he should have a heart attack. She did some research and found Project Adam and started volunteering.
Project Adam started with the a boy, Adam, that passed away from a heart attack while playing sports and the staff was ill-prepared to deal with the problem. There were no AEDs available at schools.
Not only are the children protected, but the adults that attend functions and work at the schools are protected too.
There have been a couple of cardiac arrest cases in our community. One person passed away and one was lucky to have a cardiac nurse at the field and his life was saved.
Recent CA legislation has been passed to help address this problem.
A video was played that showed Clair passing out and being tended to for her cardiac arrest incident. Her life was saved through the use of the AED.
Schools have fire drills but few have health emergency drills. This is what Rebecca attempts to get schools to implement.
They have done four free local screenings.
1,500 screenings revealed 27 heart abnormalities.
They also teach CPR at these events.
It was during one of these screenings that Jake was passing the physical but something didn't seem right so, since there was an echo cardiogram machine her they decided to use it to check further. They found that Jake had a heart valve issue. He had a heart valve replacement surgery as a result and may have saved his life because of the testing.
Through the efforts of a mother who lost her son, Mike, to cardiac arrest, AED stations were placed in parks in Sonoma. Friends of a teen, Mike, used the station to save his life after he collapsed on a basketball court.
These are climate-controlled stations set up with security cameras to help keep them from being vandalized. They have not been vandalized as the community supports their use.
Youth that want to help have joined with Rebecca to help with the effort by fundraising.
Rebecca's chance meeting on a plane flying back to Sacramento from Atlanta, and the conversation with him led to the development of a Rotary grant to provide AEDs to schools and parks.
AED training takes one hour. Use of the system is completely automated; the machine tells you what to do step by step. There will be nine opportunities for people to get this training for free.
President Jensen thanked Rebecca for being our partner in this important project and for a very informative presentation. She then gave her a 4-Way Test coin as a thank you for her presentation.
She the encouraged everyone to go share the magic of Rotary and rang the bell closing the meeting at 1:04 pm.
Respectfully (more or less) submitted by,
Mike Grace
$1,000,000 Rotary International Foundation Club Member