Your Weekly Get Up & Go Has Been Updated

     Today’s meeting was held upstairs in the Odd Fellows Hall to accommodate the larger Student of the Month crowd.  There was no introductory piano music with Dave Morse gone for the day and Andrew Yang setting up the sound system.  But after President Gary Johns rang the meeting bell at 7:10 am, Andrew was at the piano to help us through “Smile” and “America the Beautiful.”

     Following the call for visitors, Mark Kropp (who is becoming a regular) was introduced as a visiting Rotarian from the Vacaville club.  Nancy Storm and Lori Raineri then introduced visitors from the UCD Rotaract Club who came to invite us to their Little Big Night on April 9, from 6 to 9 pm, at UCD’s AGR Hall in the Alumni Center.

     Nancy Storm provided a description of Rotary for parents, teachers, and students attending our Student of the Month meeting.  In addition to the usual facts about Rotary, including mention of the 4-way test, service above self, and Rotary’s local and international projects, Nancy observed that today’s attendance was affected by proximity to Spring Break.

     Students to be recognized were present from King High and Davis Senior High School.

King High Principle Michelle Flowers Wilson expressed her appreciation to the club for recognizing Matt, who was nominated by King High teacher Theo Buckendorf.  We were also informed that Matt is graduating today, so this is a very emotional event for him!  The King High presentation was followed by Davis High School Principle Will Brown for the recognition of students Alan, Alberto, Drew, and Josh plus two others who could not attend.  This reporter could not keep up with the descriptions of accomplishments for each student, which will be included in a follow-up article in The Davis Enterprise.  But a summary of words used to characterize these students included:  determination, ever widening universe, positive, fearless, participation, steady, conscientious, caring, and hard working.  It is clear that our futures will be in good hands.

     Following the awards and comments, students were directed to find Jim Belenis and have their pictures taken to be included with the newspaper article, while Nancy thanked all present for having such great kids.  President Gary then called for a brief recess to let students, parents, teachers, and administrators leave for school and work.

     While all present were still milling around, Gretchen Peralta snuck to the front and began her Sergeant’s duties before Club members could know what was happening – although something was said about having to leave early.  If this was a ploy to sneak past happy bucks, it didn’t work.  Dick Berry was happy about Michigan State (sent home by a 15 seed!) being included in the NCAA basketball tournament and instructed Roy Salomon to wear Dick’s Michigan State cap at least until his alma mater was eliminated from or won the Club’s March Madness pool.  Dick was also happy that the Davis Rotary Sunset Club was moving its meeting location to International House, and announced that he would be having hip surgery (for which Club members extended their hopes for a speedy and successful recovery, (he is now home with his foil).  Andrew Newman was pleased that his daughter is coming back from her Rotary stay abroad, but was disappointed that her arrival will be delayed by side trips, and he announced the availability of another March Madness pool.  Keith Watenpaugh was happy that Trivia Night turned out to be a great success with much money raised for contributions to Communicare ($2000), the Human Rights Association ($1000), and Davis Aquatic Masters ($500).  In addition, Tim Daleiden was found to be “one of the smartest people in Davis” by virtue of sitting at the winning Trivia Night table.  Nancy Storm then contributed $2 for Chuck Snipes’ participation in Trivia Night.  Dick Bourne was happy to have attended a college baseball game.  Carolyn Stiver was glad that, despite missing a Rotary meeting, she will be able to sleep in on the upcoming market holiday, and she is also glad for the Club match to a Rotary Foundation contribution (for her upcoming milestone birthday).  Meaghan Likes was happy for her chickens’ one year birthday. And Tim Daleiden was (finally) happy about Trivia Night, but specifically for its contribution to Communicare, and he enjoyed being part of the DSR ski race team even though they didn’t qualify for scoring because two members were too sick to participate.  Clay Brandow was pleased to have received a certificate from the California Department of Water Resources after being retired for two years, but noted that this shows how slowly state business is done and that they still know where he lives.  Roy Kroener is happy about his family’s award of another student scholarship.  Vanessa Errecarte is thankful for having so many volunteers for tomorrow’s Yolo County Food Bank workday – but told us that there is still room for more (it went great and we were done by 11:30).  There was also a comment about the loss of productivity caused by March Madness, but with a compensating increase in morale.  And Nancy Storm was relieved that there was a microphone available today.  On a more serious note, Susanne Rockwell was sorry to report that she and Brian Sway would not be going to Uganda as planned because she has cancer of the tongue that needs to be treated here, but Susanne found a silver lining in being able to attend DSR meetings for another year.  And Tom Cross is glad that Little League, where he is an umpire, has started.

     At this point, Sergeant Gretchen really did have to leave, but not before transferring her duties to Will Portello.  Reserve Sergeant Will immediately fined Tom Cross for playing Tetrus on his smart phone during last week’s meeting (while President Gary was giving out important stuff).  Tom started to protest but quickly realized the folly of challenging a Sergeant.  Tim Daleiden and President Gary Johns were fined for being present in pictures that the reporter never got to see.  All lawyers were ordered to stand (including the Sergeant, who was already on his feet), then all except those graduating from an Ivy League school were told to sit.  This left John Morgan and Bruce Wolk, who were fined $5 apiece.  After this, the Sergeant’s report just seemed to fade away.

     Next, Nancy Storm began an announcement that turned into a discussion topic about poor student and teacher attendance at recent Student of the Month meetings.  The reasons for this are not clear, and Nancy plans to talk with school staff about the cause and to encourage future participation.  It is certain, however, that this event will be remembered by the students who do show up.  Then Dave Heard thanked Nancy for doing a great job, which was confirmed by the applause of Club members.

     President Gary then asked Larry Greene and John Youmans to come forward for a Foundation announcement.  John had committed $1,000 to match Foundation contributions from other members.  This challenge was accepted by ten members, who each received a $100 contribution from John in addition to their own donation to the Rotary Foundation.  It was noted that the Club has a goal of each member donating $100 per year to the Foundation.  And Larry thanked everyone for their contributions.

     Larry Olsen was up next.  He began by commenting that John Youmans’ generosity was a great example for use of draw-of-the-day winnings.  But what Larry really got up to do was to remind everyone about the Jay Gerber Award event starting at 5:00 pm on the evening of Friday, April 8.  And it is important to remember that there won’t be a morning meeting on that Friday.  Lucas Frerichs and Chuck Snipes joined Larry to describe the community contributions of this year’s award winner, Emily Griswold.

     President Gary thanked Bob Poppenga for getting helpers to refinish Rotary Park benches at the Fairgrounds and asked for help with future speakers.  He then, finally, asked Dave Heard to conduct the draw-of-the-day, where Andrew Yang won a free breakfast by pulling the six of clubs.  This was followed by President Gary ending the meeting with a ring of the bell at 8 am.