Your Weekly Get Up & Go has been Updated!

     Despite the ambiance flowing from the piano, which palpitated to the tender touch of Dave Morse, there was angst in the air and a palpable delay to our Friday morning.  Our speaker (return visitor/guest Mark Kropp) had no computer.  Both he and President Gary Johns had their eye on yours truly’s MacBook Air, and we soon transferred the file from Mark’s memory stick to my sleek and unsleeved companion.  But…no “dongle” either, to allow Mac to talk to the waiting projector.

     Of course, the show must go on!  Gary took command, rang the gong, Chuck Snipes led the song, we all joined the applause, and Gary scanned the crowd for guests.  David Morse (the younger) introduced returning visitor Cliff Sheppard, Jim Grieshop presented return guest Don Porter, and Lori Raineri brought forward Paul Philley, who works at the Sacramento Air Quality Board with Larry Greene.  We also had two very small guests: Nathalie Minya Mukome cradled her 1 month old daughter Chiyedza (which means “dawn”) and Elma Gardner showed off her grandson Lleyton James, rolled in by stroller.  Finishing the guest list was Danielle Moss, pitched by Mitch Mysliwiec, and a co-worker of both Mack Walker and Mitch.

     Before moving on to announcements, Gary offered up recognition for Will Portello’s recently posted but clearly classic “pajamas” Get Up and Go rendition; don’t miss this one on our friendly website here!  After general agreement that the spring social at Our House was enjoyed by all, David Morse (appropriately, the Younger) noted our youth scholarships and gave special thanks to Jay Brookman before showing (with a white-teeth smile) the relevant plaque (ooh, that was subtle); Tom Cross’s son was a recipient. Vanessa Errecarte announced a “6:30 on 6/20” meeting; unfortunately this wax-eared reporter missed the topic, so be sure to tune in next meeting for Vanessa’s re-invigorating, re-inforcing, re-announcement (I’m pretty sure this announcement related to an upcoming community service committee meeting).  Prez Gary noted a 6 PM Board meeting on 6/22 at his house, to include both old and new boards.  Carolyn Stiver thanked all for the great start for this quarter’s Meals on Wheels signups; the ledger is almost full, so if you have times and wheels, don’t miss out!  Next followed notice of an upcoming student-sponsored whiskey tasting fund-raiser (the humor here is not dry), already being sponsored by the other two Davis Rotary clubs.  This “pour” event will support a UCD student group trying to finish a library.  Again, hopefully clarification will come in a future edition.

     Gary then searched for Andrew Yang, so far MIA this morning, querying whether he was “still in recovery”; wherein our China Road Hero made an unbelievably timely entrance, to announce that our handiwork and the entire Grad Night venue had visiting hours from 4-6 that night. (Andrew’s arrival also generated a presidential sigh of relief, as he quickly resolved the speaker’s computer woes.)  After Alika Castillo announced that he is still collecting signups for the demotion dinner, Larry Greene marched forcefully to the fore for a Foundation Moment.  Noting the tabled handouts demonstrating how our annual giving has surpassed past performance, Larry passed the baton to Bruce Wolk, who reminded us that next week is our last for donating this academic year.  Paul Harris awards and congratulations were ready for Carolyn Stiver, Kelly Wilkerson, and Keith Watenpaugh, but neither of the “W’s” were with us, so only Carolyn felt the glow, clap and rise of our standing ovation.

 

     And so it was time for our much-awaited pre-speaker finale, as Sergeant-of-the-Day Gretchen Peralta marched militarily and maliciously forward, clearly full of malignant and mischievous intent.  But, her malevolent act began mildly with a capitulation to Happy Bucks, offered up as follows:

 

     After rapping raptly with us through all this happiness, Gretchen declared a wrap on volunteerism and unwrapped her target list.   Starting kindly, she noted that 6/21 is Red Rose Day, and presented a red rose to a reddening Rose, thanked Lucas for his rosy support of the business community, and then turned with a vengeance on Treasurer-for-Life Tom Read, who arose to hear his unknown transgression.  It seems the China Road dragon head suffered a squished nose in storage, and for some reason it was Tom’s fault that the gravity of a carpet roll did the fine-able damage.  Next in the line of fire was Irena Asmundson, accused of moving into Chuck Snipes’ Sycamore Lane apartment; at least Chuck promised to chaperone; stay tuned to this potential soap opera!

 

     Gretchen then queried Matt Crider about his mentoring activities, apparently accusing him of some indiscretion with an intern, but the story had a happy ending as it was really about an Intern of the Year award.  Following up on the Audacity of Hope, our intrepid sergeant finely asked Chuck Snipes whether Hope was headed north of the border to escape the Donald.  After a mumbled response, last in the target sights was Bill Kopper, for his fine and fine-able new bike; after Gretchen promised to be there for him in the ER, fellow Sarge and President-in-Waiting Manny Carbahal chastised our ER sergeant, claiming she “didn’t deliver it right!”  Apparently she was supposed to ask about Bill’s relationship with his bike, and his pent-up desire “to ride something new.”  In the ensuing pall, we applauded Rose again, and turned to our program.

 

     Prez Gary introduced Mark Kropp, who has frequently visited our club this year.  Mark is a doctor whose wife is Brazilian; he met her while working in a Brazilian clinic that Rotarians built.  Wanting to serve a good cause in his wife’s native land, he and his wife have been helping an orphanage that has also been supported by Rotary International.  Mark’s adopted daughter came from this orphanage and has just graduated from high school in Davis.  This orphanage is in the jungle and is surrounded by dangerous predators, but apparently most of the kids survive.  They can only stay until they are 14; some subsequently proceed to Mark’s alma mater, American University of the Caribbean, a medical school based in Coral Gables, FL.

 

     In an aside from his topic, Mark noted that Don Saylor urged him into Rotary, and he joined Vacaville Sunrise; he kindly ran against Don for 4^th Assembly.  Mark went on to congratulate Bruce Wolk for his fine son Dan, the front-running Davis candidate in this race.  After brief commentary of his role on the local grand jury, Mark headed back south and summarized the demarcation of South America.  Brazil, a democracy of 27 states, almost swallowed up Teddy Roosevelt on his trip to the Amazon. 

 

     In a dizzying slide tour, Mark offered a potpourri (or the Portuguese equivalent) photo stream of Brazil that even included a pinup shot of Miss Brazil, hired as a spokesperson for their orphanage.  We learned that surprisingly, Sao Paulo has the largest diaspora of Japanese in the world.  We saw many photos of Steven Sullivan, a Rotary grant leader from HQ in  Chicago on his visit with Mark to the orphanage.  Many of Mark’s photos were videos that tantalized us as he skipped by them in the interest of time.  Several slides captured a group trip to Rio in a VW Bus with “P.R.A.Y.” emblazoned on its prominent sidewall.  But there is no religious connection; the acronym is for “Project Rescue of Amazon Youth.”  They have been working to restore the orphanage after major floor damage.

 

     Mark’s realtime race through his colorful photo stream left time for a brief Q&A session, as follows:

 

Mark finished with a smile by noting that based on his Assembly run, he has exactly 151 friends in Davis.  If there was a book signing, it was very subtle; after the applause, Manny Carbahal’s 7 of clubs earned him a free breakfast in the draw-of-the-day.  Ham that he is, Manny took advantage of the moment to promise bacon for next week.