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June 28, 2022
Piatti's Lunch Meeting
 
Week #52 - President Patrick O’Neil
(Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker)
 
President Patrick O’Neil, rang the opening club bell for the last time at 12:03 and welcoming everyone to the Arden Arcade Rotary Club, the Best Damn Rotary Club in all of Arden Arcade.”  He asked Al Cady to lead the pledge and Matt Ross to provide the invocation.  Matt informed the club of the sad news. Our club has been built on the shoulders of some great people and unfortunately, Stan Alfonso passed away over this past weekend.  Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.  Matt then asked the club for a moment of silence in Stan’s memory.  He will be dearly missed. 
 
Introduction of Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Jed Van Wagner introduced his brother, Scott Van Wagner.  It was noted that at this point, Scott should be introducing Jed.  
 
Bell Ringers
President Patrick O’Neil rang the bell in honor of his last and final official meeting of his term as Club President.  He then thanked everyone for being present.  The room erupted in applause.  It was not clear if the applause was for the Prez’s appreciation of the attendants or for the fact that it was the Prez’s last meeting.  I guess we will never know for sure.  However, we may get a hint at the demotion on the 9th of July. The Prez went on to say that it has been a great year and that it went by in a flash.  It was crazy and he thanked everybody for participating every week.  He was very happy to ring the bell.
 
Lisa Asperger rang the bell to celebrate her 46th wedding anniversary.  She spun and won 3 tickets.
 
Matt Ross rung the bell twice in honor of Stan Alfonso.  Stan was one of the original crew at the Buggy Whip that started the collections for Rotary International.  So, in his honor, Matt donated $200 to Rotary International.  Matt spun and won 5 tickets.
 
Happy Bucks, Sad Bucks, What the H#!! Bucks
Al Cady was $20 happy because in his own words  “This Saturday I ran the Western States Endurance Run, 100 miles for the first time…”  Al was not able to complete his sentence as the room erupted with raucous laughter so loud that the restaurant manager had to come in and ask the club to tone it down a little.  The 4 Way test was invoked and Al was allowed to complete his sentence. “… at 4:45 a.m., for about a half-a-block up the hill to the ski resort formerly known as Squaw Valley.  Bill Hambrick was inside working his little heart out with Lee Hambrick.  None-the-less, I can honestly say that I ran my half a block… or whatever.   I had a great time along with about 2,500 insane people at the event.   They all need professional medical care.”  Al asked the Prez if it was okay to have Bill Hambrick say a little something about the event.  The Prez said “sure, just as long as he is going to put dollars in the coffers.”
 
Bill Hambrick reported that this was the 49th year of the event and shared a copy of the event program with the club.  Bill was very happy that not one of the participants needed medical assistance or was attacked by wild animals or died during the race.  Participants that complete the race within 24 hours are given a silver belt buckle to show they were one of the few people crazy enough to attempt and complete the race with 24 hours.  The winning time was 15 hours and 22 minutes.  This was one hour off the course record but you only have to run fast enough to beat the person behind you, and the bear behind him.  There is an 18,000-foot elevation increase and a 22,000-foot elevation decrease during the race.  Bill offered to be the last Bell Ringer of Prez O’Neil’s term in honor of the Western States Endurance Run Race.
 
Announcements and other Fun Stuff
 
Golf Tournament
Rob Olmstead noted that John Gabriel is in quarantine in advance of a scheduled surgery and couldn’t make it today.  John wanted Rob to emphasize Sponsorships, Sponsorships, Sponsorships for the golf tournament.  The secret word is "Sponosorships."  You are encouraged to buy your foursome tickets very soon as this tournament will sell out.  The same thing goes for securing your sponsorship. The Rotary Charities Open website is up we are looking for volunteers.  You can use this web address, https://birdease.com/RotaryCharitiesOpen to sign up to golf and/or be a sponsor.  The event will be held at Sierra View Country Club on September 9th.   
 
New Rotary Year, New Rotary President
Rob Olmstead reported that his first meeting will be on July 12th as we are going to be dark on July 5th.  Plan on attending on July 12th to help President Rob Olmstead start his term off with a great meeting.
 
Demoting Prez O’Neil
Tim Cahill reported that the demotion party for Past President O'Neil will be held on July 9th at the Cahill’s humble abode, 3510 Winding Creek Road.  Parking will be on the sides of the street. He announced that the party will be catered and Michael Caplan will not be cooking.  He passed around a signup sheet and encouraged everyone that even thinks they may be able to attend to sign it as he needs to make sure there is enough food for the event.  Guests are welcome as long as you sign them up.  Also, please think of all the things you have said behind Patrick’s back that you can now say to him in person to show him just how much we love and appreciate him. 
 
Rotarians of the Past and Present Month
Jenny Davini was called to the front of the room to receive her Rotarian of the Month pin for her work behind and in front of the scenes and all of the work she does for the club.
 
Al Cady was also called to the front of the room to receive his Rotarian of the Month.  Al does a lot behind the scenes and bringing all the meeting stuff every week and keeping it safe and secure.   
 
Secret Word
Bruce Stimson came up with “Dark” as the correct word and was awarded 1 ticket by the wheel.
 
Guest Speaker
Jonathan Barker introduced Drew Garrison with JVS Imports. JVS is a unique company in that they are their own importer and distributor of an extensive high-end line of spirits and wine.  Drew has brought with him six different expressions of their line for our tasting pleasure.  This will be an enjoyable presentation.  
 
Drew Garrison shared that he is a defense attorney by day and a wine importer by night.  JVS Imports are a group of people that got together to import spirits that you may not have heard of before from places you may never had heard of but are worthy of your attention.  This makes the sales a bit challenging and definitely a niche market.    Drew brought some tequila, gin from Auburn, CA, Mescal, 15-year-old scotch, Amaro made in California, and rum.  Jonathan was tasked with taking the product around to the tables to pour samples for the club.  Some people tried everything and went back for seconds, thirds and, well, you get the point.  Others were more discerning in their taste and only tried a few of the offerings.
 
Drew goes into different liquor stores and restaurants to try to sell them these products.  He provides sales trainings and tastings to help get his products into the establishments.  As most people have not heard of the brands it takes effort to sell them and usually only to places that pride themselves on niche products.  They partner with their customers to ensure they have the right product for their clientele.  Their distribution side of the business is headquartered in South San Francisco and have thirteen sales reps throughout the state of California.  Drew covers Northern California.  They also have an import division of their business that is responsible for the entire United States. They work with a variety of distributors all around the country to handle their products.  They sell a wide range of imported liquor from mescal to Japanese whiskey.  With unique offerings you end up doing a lot of tastings at people’s homes, at their offices, for clubs.  This can be a lot of fun.
JVS is a small million-dollar company that is specializing in representing small, or lesser-known producers of spirits.  Companies that don’t have the capacity needed for the larger distributors are the companies they look for. 
 
The tasting and talk about different types of liquor continued.  The presentation was informative and the spirits were appreciated for all their varying complexities.  The club was fully engaged and enjoyed the presentation.
 
Opportunity Drawing
The Prez read off the first ticket number 281938 and nobody claimed it.  He read off the second ticket 281963 and Jenny Davini was the lucky ticket holder.  She didn’t pick the ace of spades but did select the envelope that had a Piatti’s card in it.  It was later noted that the first ticket, 281938 belonged to a confused Rotarian, Mike Grace.
 
President O’Neil rang the club bell officially for the last time, closing the meeting at 1:06 p.m.
 
Respectfully (more or less) submitted by,
 
Mike Grace
 
Drew Garrison
Guest Speaker
Drew's Guests
 
Drew Garrison and
Jonathan Barker
Jenny Davini
Rotarian of the Month
and Winning Ticket Holder
Al Cady
Rotarian of the Month
and Resident Wise-Guy
Matt Ross
Double Bell Ringer
in honor of Stan Alfonso
Tim Cahill
Making his list
and checking it twice
Bill Hambrick
Western States
Endurace Run Official
Past Prez Patrick O'Neil
Thank you
for a great year!
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