November 19, 2024 Lunch Meeting (Dec. 01, 2024)

November 19, 2024

Rotary Club of Arden Arcade

Lunch Meeting

President Christine Jensen

Presiding

!!! IMPORTANT REMINDER !!!

The annual Laurell Ruff Holiday Party is this Tuesday

Members that go to Piatti's at 12:00 will miss the fun

Go to the Laurell Ruff Transition Education School,

5325 Garfield Avenue,

by 10:30 on December 3rd.

Al, wear something festive and suitable for being in the presence of impressionable students.

Club President, Christine Jensen, opened the meeting by ringing the glass as the bell was safe and sound in the Rotary trailer, parked at Al Cady's house. She welcomed everyone to the Mighty Rotary Club of Arden Arcade. The Prez then asked Jenny Davini to lead the pledge to our flag.

The Prez led the club in reciting the Four-Way Test and also provided the invocation. She declared that she was going to be a bell ringer for the following two reasons. First, her nephew and his wife are at the hospital having their baby as we speak. The second reason is her best friend's husband is undergoing his final treatment for cancer at the Stanford hospital. She read a writing that her best friend provided about living life to the fullest.

Visitors and Guests

Chris Janzen

Chris Janzen is the President of the Roseville Rotary Club and today's guest speaker, sort of. He is here to help raise money for Rotary while providing free booze... a shot at a time. Chris was delighted to be at our meeting for three reasons. He said two. I included the real reason as number three.

1. He was honored to address our esteemed and highly respected Mighty Club of Arden Arcade.

2.The Club is the home of the honorable District Governor, Steve Turner.

3. He will raise some money for Rotary.

His family has a special relationship with a local distillery and they arranged to have a single barrel of bourbon produced for a fundraising opportunity for Rotary. He is here accepting donations for this limited production of fine bourbon whiskey, valued over $70 a bottle. This is not your behind the high school Ancient Age booze. This is top shelf, fine sipping bourbon whiskey, that you only bring out for really good friends and when you are entertaining a District Governor. This production is Rotary produced, taste tested, and bottled. The distillery did not label the bottles as there was way too much red tape involved, so Rotary bottled and labeled it, avoiding that hassle.

What is the difference between bourbon and whiskey you ask. The simple difference between bourbon and whiskey is that bourbon is a type of whiskey that’s made from at least 51% corn and aged in new charred oak barrels, while whiskey can be made from any grain and aged in any type of wood barrel. It also has to spend at least two years in a barrel. The bourbon you will be tasting today has spent six years in an American Oak barrel. At the end of six years the bourbon was rested for seven months in a cabernet cask. This ads complexity and fruit flavors to it.

Profit from the donations go to anti-human slavery efforts and to aid foster care in our region. Many Rotarians in our club remember the 2018 first global, in-country-grant in the world that worked to bring awareness to human trafficking in an effort to stop it. The effort focused on educating school students and teachers to recognized signs of trafficking and other forms of slavery and how to report it to law enforcement.

The bottles have a suggested donation amount of $110 each. Even though you are donating, sales tax needs to be collected, therefor the odd amount of $110. About $75 of the donation goes to the cause. It was at this point that Chris started pouring samples for the club.

Big Al Frumkin shared that he purchased two bottles a week ago. As many people know, he has a bum knee and has had trouble walking. He shared that he is walking much better now... maybe not in a straight line... but the pain is gone.

Several members took advantage of the opportunity to add this fine Rotary Bourbon whiskey to their collection of fine spirits.

Chris sharing about the quality of the Bourbon

Rotary Labled & Taste Tested... several times

Preparing to

pour samples

Chris Figueroa

Al Frumkin shared that Chris was back for a third time and that he needs an application to join the club. Al then introduced Chris with his Classification Landscape Maintenance and Elk Hunter par excellence.

Jenny Davini

Paul Harris Fellow Pin Upgrade

The Prez invited Jenny to the front of the room to receive her next level Paul Harris Fellow, ruby level pin.

Prez Christine Jensen - Bell Ringer

Christine, as mentioned earlier, was ringing the bell for two reasons: First, her nephew and his wife are at the hospital having their baby as we speak. The second reason is her best friend's husband is undergoing his final treatment for cancer at the Stanford hospital.

Debbie Hudson - Bell Ringer

Debbie was happy because she is finally back in her kitchen after being out of it for the past four weeks while it was being remodeled. She loves it, and is finding it hard to stay out of the kitchen. The second reason for ringing the bell is that this is her one-year anniversary of being inducted into this club by George Prather and it was the best thing she has ever done.

John Gabriel - Happy Bucks

A year ago, John was bragging that his youngest granddaughter, who is a diver, won the Washington State high school championship. Today he's bragging because she is champion once again and did it the same week, she signed her letter of intent to go to the University of Nebraska... on a scholarship.

Bill Hambrick - Happy Bucks

One year ago today, nothing happened to him. He did spend two weeks back in Boston with family and at a conference. He ate a lot of lobster, oysters and clams. He had a great time. He won his age group in the race which proves you don't have to get faster, just get older.

Big Al Frumkin - Happy Bucks

Al shared that he and Lisa have talked with Bob and Patty Mutchler. Bob is still recuperating and hopes to be at a meeting in a couple of weeks.

Fines?

The Prez noted that there were only three people wearing badges as they kept them from the last meeting. Nobody else had badges and she intends to fine Al $1 for each person that is not wearing a badge. Matt Ross noted that Al does so much for the club and was answering calls even while gone so he is going to pay Al's fine... a fine idea. Well done Matt. The secret word is Fine.

Laurell Ruff Holiday Party

The Laurell Ruff Party is Tuesday, December 3rd. All members that volunteered to be the backup Santa are safe. Duane Oliviera has volunteered to be Santa. Duane read the newsletter and that is how he found out about the need for a Santa.

The BBQ crew needs to be there by 9:00 AM, the rest of us need to be there about 10:30 AM. We will have about 400 people in attendance. This includes children and staff coming from four different schools. The children and staff

get the famous hockey-puck burgers. Rotarians are provided the upscale burgers, fit for human consumption. This is a great event and we need everyone to help. This event is well received by all the children, especially the older ones.

Coats for Kids

Carroll Cook thanked the editor for the spread in the last newsletter that showcased the Macy's contribution to the Coats for Kids effort. The rack of coats shown was one of three that were donated along with another bin of coats, 110 coats in total. It took Carroll and Rolundia three hours to select them all. The coats are set aside and will be paid for with the Macy's gift card for $2,500 once it arrives. Costco, on the other hand, gave them a $50 gift card.

Even with these donations, we passed the hat to help cover the cost for the coats already purchased. We will be delivering over 200 coats and hoodies this year. Great Job Carroll and Rolundia!

The Prez announced that her daughter Rachel has put together a very nice informational handout "The Five Avenues of Rotary International Service and its Mission Objectives." The above photo shows a portion of the information sheet. This page will be in all the new Blue Books and it outlines areas of service that all Rotarians can use in deciding where they best fit in to Rotary.

Holiday Party

Lisa Asperger has been working hard and doing a great job on the party. Dinner is $75 per person which includes a buffet dinner, desert and two drinks of very, very good spirits at Locked Barrel. Check with Lisa or Christine to see if it is not too late to be added to the list of party goers. Don't forget there is an optional gift exchange opportunity for those wishing to participate. There is a suggested maximum of $25.00.

District Convention 2025

The District Convention will be awesome. Hotels are filling up quickly. If you are interested in attending and sharing an Air B&B contact the Prez.

Stench

Big Al Frumkin knew the answer was "stench."

He won a gift card.

Stench

Getting to Know You!

Well, it's been five months and Christine is still the Prez.

It doesn't look like she is going anywhere

(and we are glad she's sticking around,)

so... we might as well get to know her better!

Christine Jensen

President

Dancing with the Stars?

WrestleMania?

Al frumkin

Interigator/Interviewer

Big Al was pleased to interview/interrogate President Jensen. Before doing so he felt obligated to tell a joke. Jim lives in California and had been married to his wife for 45 years. He calls both his children who live on the east coast and tells each he is going to ask their mother for a divorce. The children are reasonably upset by the idea and beg him not to do anything until after they get home for Thanksgiving. He agrees. He then goes to his wife and says not only are the kids coming home for Thanksgiving, but they are paying their own way.

Al noted that President Jensen called him and asked if he would do another interview. He agreed on one condition, that she be the subject of the interview. It took a bit, but she finally agreed. Al shared that he has visited at least 5,000 Rotary clubs covering every state in the union and 14 different countries. So, he knows when a president is doing a good job or not. It is all about preparation and Al thinks Christine is doing an excellent job. But... we don't know that much about you. Hence, the need for the interview.

Al: Where were you Born?

Christine: Grass Valley

Al: Where did you grow up?

Christine: I moved to Sacramento when I was five for kindergarten.

Al: Where did you graduate from High School?

Christine: El Camino High.

Al: Who was the first boy you kissed?

Christine: Tim Higton (Sorry Tim if I mangled your name but that is what it sounded like on the recording.)

Al: What is Timmy doing these days?

Christine: He lives just down the street from my parents.

Al: When did you become a Rotarian?

Christine: 2013

Al: Who is your sponsor?

Christine: Bill Hambrick

Al: Why did you decide to join Rotary?

Christine: I have two children and I was always helping as the Girl Scout Leader, room mother, president of the board and all of her other volunteer things. After her kids went to college, Bill asked her what she was going to do with all of her free time. She didn't know, so Bill invited her to lunch at Ruth's Chris to see what Rotary was all about. Rotary is now her everything volunteer.

Al: Why did you join Rotary?

Christine: The people of this club were so welcoming and do so many wonderful things that she felt like she found home.

Al: Why did you stay in Rotary?

Christine: The same reason. This is my family. We do wonderful things together, socialize, we give of ourselves and we have fun.

Al: If you could only accomplish one thing this year as President, what would that be?

Christine: Hmmm... If everyone at the year-end the fireside chats say this was a great year.

Al: What part of Rotary do you like best?

Christine: Youth, I love giving back to the youth in our community.

Al: If you could change one thing about Rotary, what would it be?

Christine: Bringing an increased awareness of all the good that Rotary does at every level of Rotary.

Al: Growing up, what did you want to be? Did you always want to be an accountant?

Christine: No. I was always going to be a lawyer until I got pregnant. I wanted to be a business attorney. She still wanted to be a professional and figured being an accountant was her best shot at being able to be a mom and have a career.

Al: You have two children. What are their names and what do they do?

Christine: Rachel is 33 and she is a Vice Principal at Aspire High School. She is married and is a member of our club. Meghan is 30 and she is a project manager/interior designer for Bardis Homes and she is married.

Al: What is your favorite memory of your youth?

Christine: High School Graduation trip to Hawaii with her best friend and the friend's family. She had to pay her own way but it felt great being on her own and feeling like an adult.

Al: What is your favorite book?

Christine: Just because it was impactful on her life, "The Prophet."

Al: How did it impact your life?

Christine: It was my grandmother's book and I read it when I was 10. I went to it for advice. The passage about marriage was read at her wedding.

Al: All-time favorite movie?

Christine: Sound of Music. She went to Interlocken, Switzerland, with a bunch of girls after graduating from college and they went to see an outdoor movie on a hill under the stars, and the movie that was playing that night was the Sound of Music.

Al: If you could have a cup of coffee for an hour with anybody you could choose, who would it be?

Christine: The first person that came to mind was Margaret Thatcher.

Al: What would you ask Maggie?

Christine: How was it being a strong female leader and how did it impact your life?

Al: Are you thinking that you would like to be the President of the United States some day?

Christine: No!

Al: Of all the things you have seen in Rotary, what stays in your memory the most?

Christine: The International Convention was so impactful and wonderful. It was great seeing so many people from so many countries with the same goal.

Al thanked Christine for participating in the interview and felt that we all have a better understanding of who she is and why she is a Rotarian. He thanked her for all the time and talents she is investing in the club this year. The club showed its appreciation by giving her a warm round of applause.

The Prez thanked everyone for attending. She then encouraged everyone to go share the magic of Rotary and rang the bell closing the meeting at 12:55 P.M.

Respectfully (more or less) submitted by,

Mike Grace