President Ross rang the bell and welcomed everyone to
the best damn Rotary Club in all the world!
The Rotary Club of Arden Arcade!
Pledge -
Ms. USA Bigler
President Ross asked Ms. USA Bigler to lead the club in the pledge to our nation's flag.
He then asked Uncle Sam Cady to provide the invocation.
Both members did as requested,
very colorfully.
Invocation -
Uncle Sam Cady
President Ross led the club in the 4-Way Test off the back of the new Rotary Van.
Pizza was provided by Piatti's to make up for a blunder on their part...
not much of it was left! Thank you Piatti's.
The Drinks were on the Prez... What a way to close out a presidency...
not sure just who needed the drinks more the club members, or the Prez
for surviving a longer than normal year.
& Visiting Rotarians!
Visiting Rotarian - Dorthe Wright
PDG Steve Turner was asked to introduce visiting Rotarian, and soon to be Past President of Point West Rotary, Dorthe Wright. He did so once he finished eating the piece of pizza he had just placed in his mouth seconds before the Prez asked for introductions... timing is everything. Steve noted that the Point West club is one of the other amazing clubs within the Rotary Clubs of Arden Arcade's sphere of influence... And someday, will come back within the fold of Arden Arcade. Point Westians are absolute heroes and partners in almost every big project we ever do here in Arden Arcade.
Guest - Paula James
Christine Jensen was cajoled into introducing, for the last time, former member, and soon to be a rejoining member, Paula James.
Guest - Rayan Bradford
Jenny Davini was very pleased to introduce her mother, and for the very last time as her guest, Rayan Bradford.
Bells, Boasts, and Bitches
"Shinny Bell"
SHOW ME THE MONEY...
one last time!
What is that B!^)# doing now?
Once she got the hang of fetching a stick, she started branching out.!
We interrupt this portion of the meeting to allow PDG Steve Turner to introduce Allison Hammaker. Allison is almost the Past President of the Rotary Club of American River. She is here to help celebrate Matt's last day as President and the partnership between our clubs. Unfortunately, the photographer failed to capture Allison digitally... so, there is no picture to share. To make up for this oversight, the introduction has been noted in larger Italic Font. We now return to the regularly scheduled portion of the meeting in normal font and font size...
Bell Ringer - Lisa Asperger
Lisa apologized for missing the demotion party as she was otherwise engaged in Napa with her family and dear friends celebrating 50 years of marriage... to the same person, her husband Don. Congratulations!
Bell Ringer - Jenny Davini
Jenny was very happy to share that she was in Bend Oregon last weekend for a family reunion. Her son, the mathematician and computer person, went with them. The son has decided to hike a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail from Seattle to Bend. His Seatle cousin gave him a ride to the starting point in Seattle. While on the trail leading to the Pacific Crest trail, her son played the entire Graceland album. The last song he played was dedicated to his mom. He started it by saying Don't Worry Mom, Don't Worry Mom, Don't Worry... Be happy!
Bell Ringer - Paula James
Paula, soon to be, once again, a club member, stated she is buyer her badge. She went on to report that her brother, who is in good shape, turned 66 today. He said that he would have taken better care of himself if he had known that he was going to live so long. So, here's to my younger brother.
Bell Ringer - Todd Eichman
Todd was ringing the bell because he felt he had to after being away for three months, touring Croatia, Hawaii and Bodega Bay... not necessarily in that order. He claims to be happy to be back to reconnect with his Rotary family, have a great time, and say goodbye to Matt on his last day as the Prez... but in actuality, he just missed his own bed... Rotary was a bonus.
Happy Bucks - Christine Jensen
Christine was happy to share that she was very happy that everyone who attended the demotion party met her granddaughter. That was her first outing in public... Not a bad way to start her Rotary story when she joins Rotary in 18 years.
Happy Bucks - Almost-Past-President Ross
The Prez was pleased to be Happy and shared that his daughter flew in as a surprise to be with him for the weekend and attend the demotion party.
Happy Bucks - Almost-President Hudson
The Almost-Prez Hudson was pleased to see that PDG Turner checked in the club members without having to have the list being printed in 14 Font... by all accounts he got every name right... we even have a couple of new members no one knew about. Good job Steve!
Happy Bucks - Way Past, Past, Past President Hambrick
The distant past President Hambrick was alive to report that the Annual Western States 100-mile endurance run had an 87% finish rate... they are still looking for the other 13% and feel very good about their chances of finding them all alive. The weather was great and there were many records broken. Four runners broke the course record, but only three of them made it on the podium. The secret word is podium. There was some talk that the fourth runner may have been in the witness protection program and is still running to avoid being recognized.
Sad Bucks - Way Past, Past President Grace
The not as distant past President as Hambrick, Mike had sad bucks because he was out of town camping and fishing with his beloved son and missed the demotion party.
Happy Bucks - Soon-to-be Past President Dorthe Wright
The soon-to-be Past President of the Point West Rotary Club, Dorthe Wright, was contributing Happy Bucks because she really enjoyed working with Matt and Allison Hammake and that when it came time to work on the District Grant, Matt took charge. He made it really easy for Dorothe and Allison and she appreciated it... and congratulations to Matt and almost completing his year as president.
Linda Bigler...
was quick with his hand & was the most visible to the Prez, earning her the opportunity to answer the Secret Word question. "Grandma" was the correct answer.
Grandma
was the secret word.
It was only fitting that Ms. USA Bigler would get the Secret Word correct as she was the subject of the description. It seems that one of her RYLA students like to refer to her as her "Adopted Grandma." Linda now needs the wine to help her forget her new designation.
Linda was pleased to add a bottle of wine to her collection to ease the pain of grandmotherhood.
First Social Event of President Hudson's New Year
Lydia Wytrzes announced the first social event of President Elect's term is scheduled to take place on Thursday, September 3rd at the B Street Theater. The play is the very successful 80 Days Around the World. It has a history of selling out and can be difficult to get seats. This will be a regular show as the preview shows were all sold out. Drinks are still available but do not come with the ticket. However, the drinks are reasonably priced. If you have not signed up for the event and would like to go, please contact Lydia and she will see if they have additional tickets.
And Now... A Word from our Future President
Prez Elect, Debbie Hudson, was busy passing out this year's theme pin "Create Lasting Impact." She announced that her first meeting will be on July 14th. Daniel Martin and Chris Figueroa have been working on a special event, planting a peace pole at Aspire School on Saturday, July 25th. This is Aspire's student intake day for parents and kids. It will be a great opportunity to share Rotary with many people. The peace pole has not yet arrived, but it should be here in time for intake day. The first off-site lunch will be on August 18th at St. John's. There will be more information on this as we get closer to the date. She is really looking forward to her first meeting on the 14th... so are we!
EmPOWERment Park Update
Way-Past-Prez Mike Grace shared that the Sacramento Parks Foundation is conducting a volunteer workday at the new barrier-free EmPOWERment Park, 1024 Bell Street. The work party is being held on July 11th between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM. Individuals interested in showing support for the park are encouraged to participate in this easy, photo-op volunteer opportunity to do light clean-up and plant plants in pre-dug holes. There is no need to sign-up, just show-up. The tentative ribbon cutting day for the park is Saturday, August 29th.
Two more members are added to the club, just in time to say goodbye to the Prez.
PDG Turner invited Rayan Bradford and Paula James to the front of the room. "This is one of the most fun things we get to do, member inductance." Steve prepared a list of things to grill the new members on. "So, as you know, we now do very intense background investigations. I found a lot of stuff online from Ms. Rayan in the legal world. In the legal world, there was a lot of stuff, a lot of notations, a lot of stuff out there with your name on it. Unfortunately, you were never the subject, the defendant, or the plaintiff. That's a good thing. As opposed to Paula James at Teichert Construction. As you know, Rotarians love being around people that are enthusiastic about the work and the fun that we get to do. Whether you're a leader or a team member, there's a place for everyone here to enjoy. Given some of their time, their talents, our community work, our social functions, club and even district activities, which I can say has gone up in the last five years. So, we want to get to know you a little bit more. I've got some questions for you both. We're going to bounce back and forth and if you feel you missed something you wanted to say about a question somebody else got, it's still you're part of the stage too. So, you're going to get to also answer. I'm going to start with Rayan Bradford."
Steve: Please list three adjectives to describe yourself?
Rayan: I'm diligent, I'm a hard worker. I'm joyful, I'm playful.
Steve: Well, that's four.
Rayan: Too bad. I'm an English major, not an accounting major.
Steve: Paula, what are you currently reading?
Paula: Two are tied together. One's about Israel and one's about Palestine. I'm trying to understand that. Let's see, Strong fathers, Strong daughters is always a super good book. I read the Bible, well not the Bible per se, but I have three daily readings that I do that have. I call them my peace and abundance readings.
Steve: Rayan, tell us about your family?
Rayan: I'm lucky to have one daughter, as you all know her. She's graceful and lovely and smart and talented.
She gave me three grandchildren, who I was intimately involved with when they were being raised. They all look at me as their second mother, which means a lot to me. And then one of them has now given me two great grandchildren, age 4 and about 16 months. And we're all very close and very happy together. And it's wonderful.
I also have a husband, Chris Bradford. He's my third husband and we've been together over 30 years, so that works. And he's also an integral part of everybody's lives. That's my family.
Steve: We look forward to meeting Mr. Bradford one of these days.
Steve: Paula, I know all about your vocation, but there's been a lot of members new here since you were last here. Why don't you tell us about your vocation? Because you kind of have some interesting special duties.
Paula's classification is in construction and mining. So, I want you to picture her with a little yellow hat and little mining light on top as she answers this question. Tell us about your vocation.
Paula: So, I do mine almost daily, looking for the opportunities to really help anybody across the company. I started with Teichert in 2013 when I returned to Sacramento, and at that point was five years with Mary Teichert, who was the president at the time. And so, I was her assistant. And then when I sort of disappeared from the stage around Rotary, I took on the role as corporate secretary to the corporations, of which there's like, I know someone in the room who knows about 60 different entities. Teichert has, and we've grown tremendously in the last 13 years or so. I am the assistant to the chairman and the CEO and who handed off the CEO role to Mary Teichert a year ago, giving me the freedom to do some other things and to figure out how to retire over the course of time. It freed up my desk a little bit. I wear many hats and support primarily one person, but there's 3,999 behind them.
Steve: Rayan. Let's find a little another corner of you might be so legal. Have you played any practical jokes on a friend or family member ever in your life?
Rayan: Absolutely not. I am not a practical joke player. It's just not part of my personality.
Steve: Paula Same question to you.
Paula: So just in case you're ever sitting next to me at an Italian restaurant and you disappear when dessert comes and you're my brother, you might come back to, instead of a little dish of spumoni, you might come back to a dish of butter.
Steve: Paula, aside from that accomplishment, what's another accomplishment that you're bringing proud of in life?
Paula: The first thing that comes to mind is my mentoring of nieces and nephews and some work study students through Christo Ray. We do a work study program at Teichert. I have 10 nieces and nephews of which there's a handful that I'm super close with.
Steve: Rayan, you know a little bit about Rotary. You've kind of come into this seeing all the amazing things that Jenny's gotten to do here and fun stuff. What would you like to do?
Rayan: I like giving a leg up to children whenever possible. Children who need a helping hand should be given a helping hand. And I understand we do that here from this club and I'm looking forward to helping with that. I'm also good at little chores. So, if you got little chores that need to be done, I can help.
Steve: Paula, what would you see as one of the key benefits of joining?
Paula: I dropped by in October, when I thought I had some time, and I walked away and went, wow, those are my people. And so just being around people that are service minded and make the time out of, you know, Crazy days and weeks and lives to do something that matters and to make a lasting impact.
Steve: It's time for both of you ladies to stand up for the formal induction. Service above self is the principal model of Rotary because it best conveys the philosophy of unselfish volunteer service. It's part of the ethos of the Rotary Club of Art and Arcade. We chose to embody this through a metaphor of when you come through these doors, you must check your code of self-interest. Until you do so, you will not be able to get to your sleeves, roll them up and do the good work of Rotary. I'm going to ask the members to please stand. It is my privilege to induct Rayan Bradford, with a classification of Paralegal, and Paula James, with the classification of construction and mining, as members of the Rotary Club of Arden Arcade.
You are each going to be receiving your Rotary pin, your badge and a folder of your materials about Rotary. I'm sure you'll all spend most of this evening reading it from COVID to cover. You'll notice that the badge is red. And Paula, even though we have let you buy your blue badge back, I have been assured by the President, President Elect and the Sergeant in Arms that you have red badge duties, nonetheless. So, expect those. They're coming up. Our new traffic cones are going to be provided by Paula. I'm way excited about it.
In regard to the red badge, many years ago this used to come with a really ugly and uncomfortable red coat. And new members were called red coaters. They had to wear a red coat in front of the meeting and take care of their red coat duties. Luckily, these moth bitten and stinky fallen apart coats have gone away. And now you just get the red badge and are called a red badger. I'd like to officially introduce you to our club Sergeant at arms, Al Cady. He's the drill sergeant of our Red Badgers and help you complete all the requirements of the badge. Once completed, you will earn your permanent club badge. So, fellow Rotarians, I present to you Rayan and Paula. Please come forward and welcome them.
Paula James (on the right) introduced Jenny Davini (in the center) to Rotary.
Jenny introduced her mother Rayan Bradford (on the left) to Rotary
And Now a Word from our Drink Sponsor...
With this being the longest Rotary year possible, I have to torture you a little bit. And I know this is a little bit of a family affair. We just had with the mother and daughter combo going on, so I'm going to start with a joke my mom used to always tell.
Hold on, I need another drink, real quick, before this one.
All right.
So, one day, this rotary efficiency expert came in, came into my office and says, you don't look too busy.
And I said, I'm not too busy.
Why don't you turn dial one with your right hand?
So, there I was, turning dial one with my right hand when this rotary efficiency expert came in and said, you don't look too busy.
I said, I'm not too busy.
Why don't you turn dial 2 with your left hand?
So, there I was, turning dial one with my right hand and turn dial two with my left hand when this rotary efficiency expert came into my office and said,
you don't look too busy.
And I said, I guess I'm not too busy.
Why don't you hit lever three with your right elbow?
So, there I was, turning dial one with my right hand, turning dial two with my left hand, and hitting lever three with my right elbow.
Then one day, this rotary efficiency expert came in and says,
you don't look too.
And I said, I guess I'm not too busy.
He says, why don't you hit Lever four with your left elbow.
So, there I was, turning dial one with my right hand, turning dial two with my left hand, hitting lever three with my right elbow, hitting lever four with my left elbow.
Then one day this rotary efficiency expert came in and said,
you don't look too busy.
And I said, I guess I'm not too busy.
Why don't you hit button number five with your right hip?
I said, sure.
So, there I was, turning dial one with my right hand, turning dial two with my left hand, hitting lever three with my right elbow, hitting lever four with my left elbow, and hitting button five with my right hip.
Then one day the Rotary efficiency expert came in and says,
you don't look too busy.
I said, I guess I'm not too busy.
Why don't you hit button number six with your left hip?
So there I was, doing dial 1 with my right hand, doing dial 2 with my left hand, hitting lever 3 with my right elbow, hitting lever 4 with my left elbow, hitting button 5 with my right hip, hitting button 6 with my left hip.
Then one day this Rotary efficiency expert came in and says,
you don't look too busy.
I said, I guess I'm not too busy.
Give me a grass skirt and I'll sweep the floor.
The Prez continued... The reason why I'm telling you guys that joke is because that joke reminds me a lot about Rotary. Can all the past presidents please stand up real quick just for a second. And let's give them all a round of applause. Thank you. These are the first people. They remind me of my right hand. They're the first person to offer you their hand and help. They also use that same hand to twist your arm to get to become president. So that's why I always want to recognize the past president.
Then there's your left hand, right? I'm a left handed. So, will the board please stand those who are here?
Thank you guys for everything you do. My left hand is my dominant hand. I start throwing things around.
They catch those ideas, they help run with them. Without the board, nothing gets done.
So, then you get this right of it, right? This, this little chicken wing kind of giving you a nudge. To me, those are the seasoned Rotarians. They're the ones making sure we stay on track. So is anybody in the room here been rotary more than 20 years. If so, could you please stand or at least raise your hand to be acknowledged?
All right, Once again, they're the ones always giving that nudge to keep you on track. They're the ones who provide that sage advice. That's that elbow.
Then there's the left elbow.Hit and lever four, right? Once again, those who are on the foundation board or the fundraising committees or do anything on those fundraising committees, please stand up. Thank you, guys for all that you do. The reason why that they're that leftover. They're also giving you that nudge help give a little more because they know with those funds, we get to do all the things we want to do in the club.
Then there's that right hip. You want to take your first step in life. Everything with movement starts with that hip for that step, right? It's that first step we take for everything we do to help out the community. So, for all those running the events, the outings, the philanthropic and also the fun committees, could you please stand up?
We got Bill Hambrick. We got multiple people. Thank you, guys for all that. Yeah, come on, Heather, you gotta stand up. Christine, Linda, you guys are part of that, too. You guys are the ones who are helping to lead those events and outings, helping us one have the fun, but also giving back to the community, right? It's all those things, and it's so important. Like I said, every single piece is needed to make things happen.
And then there's finally that left hip when you start to get a little tired telling this joke. That to me is the new blood.
And to me, the new blood is people started after Covid. We did not know where this club was going to be before COVID So if you started after Covid, could you please stand up real quick? There's quite a few of you, right?
You guys are the new blood. You give us these great ideas as the club gets tired. You're the ones helping us give us new energy, and it's really, really invigorating.
And finally, there's the grass skirt. You think there wouldn't be anybody who would need the grass skirt? And you would not think it would be these people. But will the Sergeant at Arms and his team and the newsletter stand up? These are the unsung heroes. We often don't see what they do. They do all the hard work, though. We show up and the room's set up for us. We leave and it's all gone. Somehow, we don't know how that all happens. It just does. Except for Mr. Grace. He gives us a great recap. Otherwise, we wouldn't even know we had these meetings sometimes. So, this but they're the setup and breakdown folks. They take care of everything, every event we do. And that's why I tell the story is because it's no one part that makes any of this happen. It's all these parts that make everything happen. And I'm really just the guy moving around in the middle. It's everybody else doing all the hard work.
So, thank you guys for all that you do. But what does all this frenetic energy mean and what has it really led to over this past year? It means that between Polio Plus and Rotary Foundation, we've provided enough funding to vaccinate every visitor on an average day at this California State Fair. That would be more than 40,000 people we've collected in terms of funds. Between those two, we've created a global grant that we're now providing education resources for children at a school for the deaf in Kenya, that's giving them the tools to lead and establish sustainable agriculture throughout the region. So, not only are they going to be taught the skills, then they're going to go back and teach it in their villages. It's going to be something that's going to hopefully grow and continue to grow.
We sponsored two incoming and two outcoming Rotary exchange students this year. We're currently also have one short term youth exchange student and then we already have all those who also went to our Rotary youth leadership. So, we've done quite a bit on the youth side. And then when you think about it, we don't have just one club that we have sponsored for Interact. We sponsored two now between Aspire and Rio Americano. That is a lot of work.
We've also done our speech contest and we delivered dictionaries to six different schools. We continue to support Encina's track program through shoes and other equipment. We also gave them a grant to help provide jerseys and equipment to multiple sports teams there, including volleyball and track. We also provided lunch and had Santa and his helpers visit deliver candy to hundreds of kids with special needs through the San Juan Unified School District.
Too bad Carroll's not here, but I always love Carroll's Coats for Kids. We delivered over 150 coats to children who needed warmth during the winter. We've done eight scholarships this year for students between the Ray McClure and our annual scholarship luncheon. Just to give you an idea of what we're doing every time we give another grant to Aging Up for foster youth. So, as they age out of the system, they could have access to groceries, gas money and get a chance because they don't have family to turn to. We continue our work at the Rotary House in Oak Park. The Rotary House provides support for the families there while their kids are receiving critical care over at UC Davis Medical center. We also donated $5,000 to Firefighters Burn Institute. And then we partnered with our sister clubs.
And we actually did a lot of work with Mission Oaks, Fulton, El Camino and the American River Parkway.
We did the Rotary Van that one day I'll actually have come here to a meeting. They've already been at the other meetings, but I should have brought it here. I'm sorry, that was my mistake. But we have that new Rotary van that's out there helping out.
We also worked together with on two different American River Parkway cleanups where we rebuilt and painted benches, removed down trees, even brought the chainsaw and helped remove other debris and helped bring the education center back to life so hundreds of kids could go back through that thing.
And I'm sure I'm missing things, but when you think about it, we have touched tens of thousands of lives this last year and every year. And it's not because of something I've done. It's because of every single person in here. I just happen to get to watch it from here, which is a whole lot better viewpoint. I hate to tell you that, but it is. But it's all of this activity, all of this energy, all this surface was focused with one purpose. Making our community, our region, our state and our world a better place.
And so, for all of that, I really want to thank you guys. That's what Rotary does. That is what our club does. That's what makes us the best club in all the world.
With that, I don't have a whole lot else to say, except for Debbie. This is something I used to do when I was working in the capital. When I switched jobs, I would always give an envelope. Yes, it's a bonus check. There was zero dollars in there. I would give a letter to my successor to say just some ideas, some things I saw while I was along the way, just to kind of give you some thoughts. So, enjoy it or burn it, I don't care. Because in 11 hours and 10 minutes, this is your club to be up here.
I really don't have anything else to say. I just want to say once again, thank you. Thank each and every one of you for making this just the best damn club possible. Thank you to our other clubs for joining with us. And working with us, I hope we continue that partnership. Thank you to our two new members. And I didn't scare you off yet. I thought for sure you'd be running for the door after the joke.
PDG Turner:Okay, Matt, come on over here. Debbie, if you would come over here. Boy, I tell you, Past District Governor, I still get some cool little roles here. So, it is with great joy that I get to pass on to Matt and get to call him by his new title, Past president Matt Ross, classification public relations. This is your new past president, Matt. And Debbie, I get to give you. Your new badge, your new title.
Debbie: That's what I've been waiting for.
PDG Turner: It was not that long ago you and I sat down right there, right there to the same table. And I get to do this. Everybody, if you would help me welcome our president effective now, with her badge, everybody.
Debbie: When I first got the call saying, hey, how would you like to do this? I don't know. So, I remember it while talking to Bill and Steve, who cornered me after I got the call, just with these shitty grins on their face, going, well, how you doing? And I go, what's up? Well, I go, oh, you guys want to know what my answer is? And they're like, yeah. I go, well, I have a list of questions. And they go, okay, bring your questions. So I go to my purse, I grab a piece of paper and they go, you wrote them down. And I'm gonna write your answers down too. So that's how that started. And then I said, okay, I'll do this. That was about a year and a half ago almost.So that time has flown by like nobody's business. I have met some great people. Dorothe and I went to training together when I was like four months into this. I'm proud to do this for you all. So next year will be fun. I have got two predecessors that did a fantastic job. And I'm going to try to do the best I can.
Welcome Our New President, Debbie Hudson!
The King is Dead... Long Live the Queen!
The Prez thanked everyone for coming and adjourned the meeting a little after 12:52 PM.
Dad Joke of the Day
Dedicated to PDG Steve Turner
What do you call two monkeys that share an Amazon account?
Prime mates.
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.
Club Information
Service Above Self
Tuesdays at 12:00 PM
Piatti
571 Pavilions Lane
Arden-Arcade, CA 95825
United States of America
