Author Will Portello
As is typical with a new President, the Zoom meeting got off to a prompt start at 7:00 AM. President Vanessa, resplendent and prepared on her first day, bears nothing like the image we will see in 11 months, when the meeting will start at 7:08, and there will be no preparation. However the goodwill was soon squandered by random sniveling about Mme. President’s singular inability to find her bell. The meeting kicked off with a slight tinkling of a sound that may or may not have been a small bell that fell off a Christmas sweater.
Fortunately a number of the sergeants committee were prepared, having set their virtual backgrounds to the image of the late Davis Sunrise Rotary bell.
The instruction was followed by a uniquely horrific rendition of “Smile.” Due to lag, the song comes across as an off-key round song in seven parts.
Vanessa then announced that she had sent everyone in the club a fake banner to use as their own virtual background. A fine gesture I am sure, but I prefer the image of the bell so that it does not fade away from our memory. She then confessed to being nervous. Don’t worry Vanessa, you can’t screw up that badly. Look at some of our past presidents. Odds are the club will still be here when your term is over. Hopefully. As in “hopefully the club fares better than your caretaking of the bell.”
Next up were visiting Rotarians. Woody Friday, are Assistant District Governor was on board, as was our own past member, Gloria Adroia, from Uganda.
As for guests we had Joy Cohan, Michael Bisch, and Austin Cooper all of whom were from the Yolo Food Bank.
Vanessa made an announcement about dues, soliciting a check and regressing be sent to PO Box 4551, the traditional Rotary mailbox that has not been checked since early in the Bruce Wolk administration.
With that, the discussion turned to Happy Bucks with Sgt. Brian Sway. Past President Tim gave happy box for his 366 days as Davis Sunrise Rotary president. Jay Brookman rented an RV and drove down the coast for two weeks. Larry Green gave happy bucks for 28 years of marriage. Patsy Inouye gave thanks for being Rotarian of the year. Irena gave happy bucks for her youngest sibling Vigdis making to the final round of the school board replacement trustee competition. Personally I would give happy bucks for dodging being on the school board. Clay Brandow gave happy bucks for his 42 years of marriage to Brooke.
Brian pointed out that July 10 marks several meaningful dates, including the start of the Scopes monkey trial, the Beatles release of Hard Day’s Night, and something about Karl Rove. He then moved on to target Pres. Vanessa. While she has the briefcase and PO Box key, there was no banner, no bell, and the 2021 Rotary Charter was suspiciously absent. Generally those are passed out to the incoming president on the last day of PETS, so the reason for the absence is unclear. Sergeants remain concerned about an overall lack of preparation. Lucas was nailed for having been interviewed by the New York Times about the pandemic impact on Davis. He was also nailed for something about the “Davis Trinity,” allegedly some type of drink. This proud UCD graduate has not heard of the “Davis Trinity,” but was familiar with “7 for 1 Night” Long Island Ice Teas at the late great Davis Graduate; as locally underrated “Hop Skip & Go Naked,” a concoction of lemonade and vodka, with the water added to the lemonade concentrate being replaced by a fine malt beverage such as Meister Brau or Old Milwaukee. Lucas wisely picked up some insurance.
Joy Cohan of the Yolo Food Bank was speaker of the day, joined by Michael Bisch, Executive Director of YFB. As you may recall our club donated $3000 at the outset of pandemic to YFB. At the outset, Joy expressed her gratitude for the contribution.
YFB is supported by number of local philanthropies, and operates on an extraordinarily large scale. It is the exclusive “Feeding America” food bank in the area. 30 counties in the state of California have a “Feeding America” food bank.
From a demographic standpoint, nearly half of Yolo County residents face financial challenges, and an inability to make ends meet. 50% of the area school children live in poverty stressed families. Pre—pandemic, Yolo County was already having difficulties with disaster level economic problems due to the extent of poverty in the community.
In addition to direct distribution, YFB provides emergency food home delivery during the pandemic. The food bank also has a motel delivery program delivering three ready – to – eat meals per day to 285 sheltered individuals. YFB also maintains the walk up/drive-thru food distribution program, which has seen more than a 60% increase in demand since the beginning of the pandemic.
The YFB facility is expected to handle 6 million pounds of food this year; a remarkable figure. Nearly 1000 volunteers are involved in the collection and distribution program. Michael Bisch thanked the Davis Sunrise Rotary Club, and observe that what YFB and the community have done to alleviate hunger in our community is remarkable.
YFB has transformed from an emergency hunger relief to a long-term solution. As part of that new focus, the food bank has sought to expand its nutrition program to include fresh fruits or vegetables in every food distribution. Austin Cooper is a new addition to the team, in charge of events and opportunities. He was born in West Sacramento, and lived in Woodland.
The best way to support Yolo Food Bank is the fundraising. A number of local organizations, including Meals On Wheels and other nonprofits access YFB for their food supplies. YFB makes food available at $.19 per pound to those nonprofits. One dollar to YFB results in five dollars worth of food.
With respect to distribution, YFB is cognizant of dignity issues, and does not impose a means test or income verification. The best way to learn about volunteer opportunities is to go to the website, where one can sign up.
At the conclusion of the program, Vanessa administered an unseemly joke, and twinkled her little bell with help of her assistants. Those two small assistants were quite eager to help leading to the probable slogan for the year- “Not now Jack.”