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Members of the Point West Rotary assembled at the Sacramento Food Bank's (SFB) warehouse facility these past two Fridays. Due to the CoVid restrictions, the SFB has been forced to restrict the number of volunteers they may have in their facility while the community need for local support has gone from 60,000 households per month to 300,000 households per month due to the pandemic. PWR provided club members for the 1PM to 4 PM shifts on the two Fridays following the club's Zoom meeting. PWR has yet to hold an in person meeting this Rotary year and so having the opportunity to actually see a club member in three dimensions was a welcome site. It appeared that some of us failed to have practiced 'social distancing' from our refrigerators during the pandemic!!! Needless to say the service event was a huge success with the fellowship flowing once again. An assembly line was the procedure applied with each member to place one or two items in a box as it traveled in front of them. Although members were given instructions on how to place their specific items in the box, there were some (names not stated to protect the innocent) struggled with where to place their item. It may be neceesary that several members enroll in a basic course of "grocery bag packing" at their local super market to gain some insight on the technique.

PWR's Paul Adams was the pallet loader and he kindly shared the final totals. PWR's service resulted in 8 pallets of 40 boxes each; thus 320 boxes total. Each box weighed in at 27.5 lbs containing fruit juice, condensed milk, peanut butter and canned vegetables along with an aray of dry goods. Thus per Paul's count, PWR volunteers boxed around 8800 lbs of food stuffs. And this weight doesn't include the bags of fresh pears and oranges that were assembled by the members on both days. So combining the two days worth of volunteering at SFB, PWR packed over 5 tons of food items. Great job, Gang!!!! Thanks, Greg Garcia, for chairing this event!!! Below are some photos of the PWR volunteers:

From left to right: Don Rodes, Rich Price, Tom Engwar, Paul Adams, Mike Bede, Brian Moore, Don Levin, Roger Gilleland, Randy Burton, Rich Fathy. Holding the sign: Left to right: Ross Siragusa, Desiree Wilson, and Tim Maliapaard.

Two PWR members below weren't able to get in the group pictures

Dave Black President Elect Mary Lyn Kagan

Pear Packing Crew: From left to right: Greg Garcia, Tom Knox, Richard Fathy, Roger Gilleland, Paul Fredrich and Greg Dwyer

Photo of wall mural at SFB Warehouse (taken by Tim Miliapaard)

PWR DISTRIBUTES DICTIONARIES AT SACRAMENTO FOOD BANK

Members of the Point West Rotary dawned on their face masks and met at the Sacramento Food Bank this past week. The purpose was to distribute 100 dictionaries to underpriveledge school children. This year, as was the case last year, classes are not being held in the elementary schools due to restrictions brought on by the pandemic. PWR's Dictionary Service Chair, Mike Garcia, contacted Genevieve Levy, the Director of Family Services, at the Sacramento Food Bank (SFB). SFB serves families in the community who have school age children. Many of these same children would be attending the schools that PWR had supported prior to the pandemic. Thus in cooperation with SFB, PWR was able to get the books to these children. In response to current precautions associated with the pandemic, SFB had adopted a drive up approach to serving the families. Thus PWR members were able to hand the dictionary to a person as SFB personel were loading food into the cars. Fortunately SFB had interpreters to speak to some of the recipients to grant us permision to take a picture. In some cases, the recipient refused to have a picture taken but were given a dictionary anyway. A group photo below;

Members from right to left; President Russ Fujii; Mike Garcia, Rich Price, Nancy Cofer; Roger Gilleland; Bob Tilly, President Elect Mary Lyn Kagan, Randy Burton & Brian Moore. To view additional photos, click on read more below.

PWR MAINTAINS PARTNERSHIP WITH VITALANT

PWR is a avid supporter of Vitalant. Club members, their families and friends can join the PWR/Vitalant partnership via registering for the Virtual Blood Drive thru February 28th. The link is :

https://learn.vitalant.org/LP=148?drive_code=SMFM386&division=WEST%26%region=SAC

PWR CONDUCTS ONE DAY SHREDDING EVENT!!!

We had a perfect day weather-wise for our Document Shredding Fundraising Event.

It was great to actually see some fellow Rotarians. A big shout-out to those individuals who volunteered:

Richelle + Kevin Whiteford

Beth + Ed Schatz

Desiree Wilson

Walter Helm

Mary Lyn Kagan

Trish Harrington

John Price

Bea Maurer

Russ Fujii

Paul Cunha

Don Levin

Doug Yoakam

DeWana Ljung

Mike Barger

Don Rodes

Don Jamison

The event resulted in acquiring a couple thousand dollars after shredding costs for PE Mary Lyn's year. Thanks to Mike Bede for chairing this event! Below is a photo of the day.

Many thanks to our volunteers pictured above (l to r) - Desirée Wilson,

Bea Maurer, DeWana Ljung, Doug Yoakam, Kevin Whiteford

helping club member Drew Houghton unload the many

boxes in his truck!

PWR HOLDS THE ANNUAL " CHICKEN CHUCKIN' " AT CAL EXPO, SACRAMENTO

35 volunteers comprising of Point West Rotary members, their friends and family members participated in the annual Salvation Army Toy and Food Distribution at Cal Expo. Volunteers dawn on masks and maintained physical distancing as best they could while all being done outdoors. This year marks the 30th that PWR has provided volunteers. It is one of the most popular community service projects among the club members. Fondly referred to as the "Chicken Chuckin' " event, this year's distribution resulted in approximately 2100 local families receiving boxes of food plus fresh vegetables, a bag of potatoes and the infamous "frozen" chicken. It has become a right of passage for new PWR members to be able to deliver at least one frozen chicken without wearing gloves. Preselected recipients are notified by the Salvation Army event coordinators and instructed when to arrive so volunteers may load the food into their vehicle. In addition, bicycles, trikes, skate boards as well as other toys and games were distributed. Thanks goes to PP Todd Murray for chairing the event and all the volunteers for making this time of year special for so many. Below are some photos of a few of the PWR team members plus guests and family practicing "Service above Self".

Who's behind the mask??? Looks like Club Community Service Chair Jim Hare serving as a model on how to come dressed for the event and displaying the bountiful assortment of food typically provided to each recipient.

Dave Black and PWR President Elect Elect (2022 - 23 club president) John Price

PP Mark Copeland, President Russ and PP Kathy Copeland

Group snapshot of the second shift (Unfortunately masks make it nearly impossible to recognize all so no names provided with this photo.)

PWR CLUB ANNOUNCEMENT: 2021 - 2023 CLUB DIRECTORS & 2021 - 2022 PRESIDENT ELECT

Club elections have concluded for 4 new directors (2021 - 2023) of a total of eight (Positions are for two years with half being replaced each year) and the 2021 - 22 President Elect. The members named below will assume their positions on the board beginning July 1, 2021.

Christine Cahill-Reams

Dr. Mike Barger

Tom Cicchini

Don Rodes

PRESIDENT ELECT 2021 - 2022

John Price

PWR'S RED KETTLE OUT DOES THE ROTARY CLUB OF SACRAMENTO

Over the years, two Sacramento area clubs have had an unofficial competition in who could collect the most donations at Arden Fair Mall during a single day in December. Members of the two clubs; PWR and the Rotary Club of Sacramento, would collect donations from shoppers at their respective "red kettles" stationed at two separate entrances to Macy's. The final donations have been tabulated by the Salvation Army folks where PWR collected $719.16 and the Rotary Club of Sacramento collected $284.99. To celebrate this win; PWR has elected to sweeten the pot (Red Kettle) effort with a $1000 additional donation directly from PWR !! Thanks to all the club members who volunteered to stand at the Red Kettle stations.

PWR Club members from left to right: Dan Hall, PP Kathy Copeland, PP Mark Copeland and John Caselli.

FOOD PACKING AT RIVER CITY FOOD BANK

Point West Rotarians joined forces with River City Food Bank to help pack bags of food to hand out to families for the Thanksgiving holiday. Bags containing fruits and vegetables were packed and were to be distributed with a turkey at Encina High to families in need . Many thanks to Don Jamison, Beth and Ed Schatz, Christine Cahill-Reams and Desirée Wilson for volunteering. PWR also provided $3,000 to support the River City Food Bank to help the food insecure in our community.

PWR HOLDS "PUTTING FOR POLIO" EVENT AT HAGGIN OAKS GOLF COURSE

Point West Rotary held our second annual "Putting for Polio" event at Haggin Oaks Golf Course. This occasion served as the club's first physical gathering since March of this year due to the pandemic. Early Friday morning, 33 members dawned on their masks and brought their putters to play a 9 hole competition in the golf course's putting area. The weather provided perfect fall morning and it was said the green was fast!!! The course proved to be a challenge for some. The last hole mandated the employment of a specially designed putter with a swivel head provided by Polio Plus Chairs; Lori Curry and Dominic Porrino. Recognitions in several categories were presented. Photos of those honorees can be viewed by clicking on the "Read More" button below. The big winner of the day was Polio. A total of $6000 was donated which when matched by the District equates to $12000. Then the Gates Foundation matches that amount 2 to 1 and the day's Polio event mushrooms to $36,000 all for Polio.