March 10, 2026, Rotary Lunch Meeting (Mar. 15, 2026)

March 10, 2026

Rotary Club of Arden Arcade

Lunch Meeting

President Matt Ross Presiding

President Matt Ross rang the bell and welcomed everyone to

the best damn Rotary club in all the world.

Pledge: Was led and said

The President asked someone to lead the pledge to our flag, and he/she did as requested.

He then asked someone else to provide the thought of the day... which was accomplished as requested.

Thought: Was provoking

President Ross lead the recitation of the Four-Way test.

... and Guests!

Guest? - Jean Hatfield

Jean is not a guest... when the editor asked her what club she belonged to she looked a bit surprised and said "This one! I am an Honorary member of this club."

NOTICE:

The Rotary Club of Arden Arcade is presently accepting applications for a newsletter Editor. The Editor must possess at least half a brain. (The old standard was 3/4ers of a brain, but there has been a lot of alcohol consumed in this club, and the standards have been lowered by necessity.) The Editor should be able to remember his/her name and the name of the Sergeant at Arms. Knowing the name of the current President is a plus. Please send your application to President Lewis at your earliest convenience.

Guest - Diane Tawloski

Diane was present for a second time, in a row. She must have liked the food, maybe it was Burning Man, or possibly it was the Rotary meeting and all the nice people she met (she was seated in the back on the right, south side, of the room.) Whatever the reason, it is nice having her back.

Guest Speaker - Christina Preston

Christine was our guest speaker. She is presently managing the Effie Yeaw Nature Center and will be proving information pertaining to recent developments at the center. More about her later.

Show Me the Money!

Further Evidence that a New Editor is Needed

The current Editor was not able to make it on time to the meeting due to circumstances well within his control. Misplacing a phone is no excuse for arriving 15 minutes late... but it was the only excuse he had.

Due to this most unfortunate circumstance, the following list of Bell Ringers and Happy Bucks contributors does not list the very special, personal, reasons for the contributions... all of which are most appreciated by our club, especially by President, Matt Ross, who needs the donations to help make his budget.

Bell Ringers

Robert

All politics is local

Olmstead III

Chris

Praying for rain

Figueroa

Good morning

Cady

The Prez, Matt

Only 15 meetings to go!

Ross

Heather

I need volunteers

Wulfert

Joe

Pit Boss

Green

Rolundia

I did NOT have a heart attack

Mitchell

Bob

I love Firemen

Mutchler

Linda

I love Firemen, too!

Bigler

Joelle

At least the food is good

Fondale

Bruce

Got students?

Stimson

Chris

Volleyball is a sport!

Figueroa

Robert

Soccer is a sport too!

Olmstead III

Steve

If you can't use your hands...

it isn't a sport!

Turner

Ryan

Duck Hunting...

now that's a sport!!!

Driffill

Chris

What was I thinking

Lewis

Lydia

Just sleep on it

Wytrzes

Mike

Help Wanted

Grace

Fine? - Mike Grace

Mike was late, hence, a worthy candidate for What's My Fine?
The Prez, noting that Mike was exhibiting signs of distress over his being very late to the meeting, decided to give him a confidence building question, one even a Kiwanian could answer.

Question: Who invented the telephone?

Answer: Alexander Grahm Bell... correct... no fine for Mike!

The Prez noted that Alexander made his first call on this day in 1876 but he dialed a wrong number.

15th Annual Poker Tournament

Past, Past, President Rob was enlisted as the closer to make the case that we need poker players, and they don't even have to know how to play, we will train them as they play. Rob will personally sit next to every new player and teach him how to play, maybe not how to win, but how to play. For an extra fee Rob will not sit next to them. This is an all-hands-on-card-deck event for our annual Poker Tournament, March 21st. We need a few more sponsors, but butts in the seats are the important thing to remember. The secret word is butts. Tell all your friends and neighbors that poker is also considered a sport and you can use your hands. We have over 100 registered players, but we want 200. For those of you quick with numbers, that just over 50% of our goal, meaning we have some work to do. The website is up and running. You can log in and register and see all the sponsors we already have. Even if you have never played, you stand a good chance of winning, as a first-time player won the tournament a few years back... and it was not Rob. It is a great time, you can even win prizes if you make it to the final table. We have Blackjack for those interested in playing for drink tickets. Joe Green will be the grill master for the evening meal. There was a lot, I mean a lot, of discussion about pulling pork. The pork pulling party was, after much deliberation, planned for Friday at Joe's house... if this is the first you heard of it, you missed a primo pork pulling party. We are all looking forward to a full post pork pulling party report and names of the people that partook in the preparation of the pork. Linda and Ruth are going to do their best to keep all the players plastered. The food is plentiful, the players are great, and the cause is plausible. Please plan on participating. (Question - how many "P's" were used in the preparation of this post?)

Daniel

Cookie Monster

Martin

Daniel Martin knew

"Bar"

was the Secret Word...

The Extra Credit question:

What was the name of the suggested official State Bar?

Answer: The Sutter Club

Nobody got the name right.

Daniel chose the

Girl Scouts Cookies

District Conference

This year's District conference is being held May 1 through May 3. Please mark your calendar and plan on attending. More information to follow.

Fireside Chats

This year the Fireside Chats will be held in the month of April. Every member is required to attend at least one of the three meetings. These meetings help the incoming president to plan their year. The meetings will be held April 15th at Steve Turner's bachelor pad, April 23 at Richard Goore's abode, and April 30th at Linda Bigler's bunker. A signup sheet will be passed around next week.

Aspire's Annual College Fair

Christine Jensen shared that Aspire will be holding their annual College Carrer Fair on April 24th. They are looking for individuals willing to share aspects of their profession with impressionable minds looking for future careers. For more information contact Marisol or Rachel.

Demotion Date

June 27th will be the date we say a fond farewell to Matt and finally be able to tell him what we really think of him. Mark your calendar and postpone your vacation. You won't want to miss this one.

Member Minute

Featuring

Bob Mutchler

Bob Mutchler was willing to do the Member Minute, but only if steak sandwiches were on the menu. Thank you Bob for getting the steak back on the menu. Bob was pleased to announce that our government has recently announced that it has approved $1,325,000,000 to go towards eradicating polio over the next five years. Bob went on to share that he plans on living forever and so far he has accomplished that goal. However, over the past 16 months He has actually faced death twice. The first time he actually lost the battle but was brought back to life by four firemen. I now truly understand just how fragile this life is. I also understand just how unimportant we are

unless we actually make a difference in our world. That is why he is very grateful for the privilege to be a Rotarian. When he does die, Bob wants his remains to be spread around at Disney Land. However, he also does not want to be cremated.

Christina Preston

NGO Strategic Consultant

Bill Hambrick was delighted to introduce Christina Preston, the consultant we are working with at the Effie Yeaw Nature Center. "It is a beautiful place. If you have not been there, you need to go. She is here today to let us know about what is there and the changes to come. They have one of the greatest nature interpretive trail systems. It is great just walking around there, especially at this time of year, it is gorgeous."

Christina shared that she was once a Rotarian, but grad-school took her

away from it. It was at this point someone offered an invitation to join our club saying, we have room for you. She un-membered herself from her former club as she couldn't afford the fines and was too busy teaching at U.C. Davis. She has been a consultant to the Effie Yeaw Nature Center for several years and is now managing it.

Christina worked at a fire lookout station for six years. She was born in Sacramento right across from the Effie Yeaw Nature Center. She jokes that she was born in the San Juan Rapids. She worked with Cal Fire for six years helping them with their volunteer program and pointing out fires as seen in the picture above. She is an avid horseback rider and aviator. Christina now a nonprofit development consultant.

Effie Yeaw was a teacher in Sacramento and had a great love for the natural environment along the American River. The nature center is located in Ancil Hofman Park adjacent to the American River in the American River Parkway.

The parkway is world famous and brings in over 350 million in economic benefits to our region annually. It is known for biking, hiking and rafting.

The parkway is a favorite location for birders as it is home to over 240 species of birds. We have 30 different types of birds of prey.

The nature area is 100 acres and takes up a sizable portion of the Ancil Hoffman Park, everything that is not the golf course.

There are more visitors than the official100,000 counted, as the nature area has many points of access and the majority of the visitors are not counted. The center was established in 1976 and was run by the County of Sacramento. Park Rangers and Park Ranger Assistants and volunteers led the nature walks at that time. (The bulletin editor was one of the Park Ranger Assistants that led tours for the school children.) The county transferred operations to the nonprofit American River Natural History Association. Before taking over the center, the ARNHA focused on publishing information on the American River including information about hiking, biking, rafting, birding and the general ecology of the area. They have been around now for 50 years which is, in-and-of- itself, a great accomplishment as most nonprofits don't get passed the 10-year mark. It takes 250 volunteers to keep the programs and maintenance of the nature center going each year.

The nature area is home to a variety of mammals, reptiles and birds. Coytes are a common site in the area.

Bobcats are present but harder to find. Deer are plentiful and not fearful of the presence of visitors to their habitat. Mountain lions have visited the area. Seals are frequent visitors along the nature area in the American River. They travel all the way up to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery. There are two Bald Eagles that call the parkway home, their location is kept a secret as poaching along the American River is a problem.

EYNA was awarded a grant from the California Natural Resources Agency to perform some much-needed improvements to the nature center. Unfortunately, the tortoise enclosure will be negatively affected by the installation of the ADA accessibility ramp. The wood will be repurposed, and the Rotary sign will be returned to the club. FYI, falconry MEWs are aviaries for raptors. The center keeps 4 to 5 raptors on site. These birds have been injured and can't fly. It is a retirement home for injured raptors. The mew will provide a better living environment for the birds as well as a greater interpretive experience for the visitors.

email: christina@prestoncreativeconsulting.com

Volunteers make the center function and they need a variety of skill sets to keep the center functioning. Handyman help is in great demand. They have only one volunteer that helps manage the 100 acres.

The Prez presented the End Polio Now Certificate to Christina in appreciation for her interesting presentation.

President Matt thanked everyone for coming and adjourned the meeting by ringing the bell and closing the meeting at 1:10 P.M.

Dad Joke of the Day

Dedicated to Steve Turner

A Rabbit, a Priest and a Minister all go to a Rotary blood drive.

The greeter says, do you know your blood type?

The Rabit says, "I think I'm a type O"

Respectfully (more or less) submitted by,

Mike Grace

Reporter, Photographer, and Editor.

Hellen Weight

Ombudsman and Content Supervisor

DISCLAIMER - Some of the information provided in some of the articles and possibly included in some of the "quotes" from club members, may have been a fabrication of a demented mind. It is up to you to determine fact from fiction. Individuals objecting to all or any parts herein, are encouraged to go to Hellen Weight to lodge a formal complaint.