Your Weekly Get Up & Go Has Been Updated

 

            Members and visitors were greeted by piano music played by Dave Morse (the Elder) with songs by the Beatles.  As the crowd grew, there was much discussion and socializing.  Then President Manny Carbahal started the meeting at about 7:07 am with a ring of the bell.  This was followed by hearty renditions of “Smile” and “America the Beautiful”.

            The only visitor was Will Portello’s daughter Ava.  But President Manny filled some time looking over a “bunch” of postcards from “all over” to be passed around the tables so that everyone would have a chance to see them.

            President Manny gave thanks to Marc Thompson for his leadership in setting up China Road for another Grad Night.  Marc asked all who had helped with set up to stand, and the club responded with applause.  Marc then mentioned the need for help with the 5:00 am breakdown and cleanup work.  This was not followed by applause, but Marc made a quick recovery by noting that the entire Grad Night setup was open for viewing. (Setup and takedown were both completed in record time this year.  Takedown was less than an hour and a half. You know what they say, many hands makes light work.)

 

 

            Carolyn Stiver announced the need for Meals on Wheels third quarter signups (which are now all full, bravo!). And Brodie Hamilton was reminded to remind the club that the upcoming Demotion Dinner will be on June 25^th at International House.  Finally, Mitch Mysliwiec told us that there had been a good start on the Garden Boxes at Holmes Junior High last week, and that help is still needed to finish this job on Sunday at 8:00 am. Check out this photo album to admire the handy work we did on those now completed & beautiful garden boxes. It was also noted that there had been no announcement from Nancy Storm.

            Next, Bob Poppenga came forward to induct Michael McCormick, sponsored by Larry Green who was not present to introduce our newest member.  In Larry’s absence, Bob related that Michael is a state employee with the Governor’s office.  But, that’s okay since Michael also rides bikes and has a keen interest in group behavior – so he will fit right in.  President Manny then moved in with a coin worth $100 when accompanied by a matching contribution to the Rotary Foundation. 

            To regain order, President Manny gave the podium to John Morgan for the Sergeant’s report.  Sergeant John began with a call for happy bucks that turned into an avalanche.  Meaghan Likes had a long list of reasons to be happy for help at different times throughout the week from Nancy Storm, Lori Raineri, Mike Read, Will Portello, Patsy Inouye, and Carolyn Stiver.  Lori Raineri was also pleased to have learned new things about Davis Rotary clubs, including Grad Night, scholarships at all the high schools (whose graduations are all being attended by Bob Poppenga and John Bowes), and how other contributions go to a worthy cause.  Patsy Inouye was happy just to be at the meeting.  Then John Bowes was thankful for Grad Night and also extended hopes to all for a great summer.  Matt Williams was grateful for his grandmother’s 94^th birthday and pitched in $94 to recognize this happy event.  Dick Berry was very happy about his 48 years in Rotary, and Jim Smith was pleased that Dick had perfect attendance for all of those years.  Matt Crider was proud that his daughter had made it through first grade.  Vanessa Errecarte recognized John Monley and Lucas Frerichs for helping with the Summer House project.  Gary Johns was happy about his 49^th wedding anniversary (there was some joke about perfect attendance).  Brodie Hamilton was pleased with his recent trip back East.  Dave Heard fondly remembered long hair in the 1960’s.  And, finally, Clay Brandow is very happy that his son-in-law is moving to Davis as a new gymnastics coach, along with Clay’s daughter and grandchildren, to a house around the corner from where Clay and Brooke live.  For all of this, and the golden anniversary of the summer of love, Clay contributed $50 (in a tie-dyed superman shirt no less!).

            After all this happiness, Sergeant John stepped in with the Sergeant’s recognitions.  He began by noting that this was the 50^th anniversary of many things, and offered insurance from his list of fines for anyone who could identify the last song played today by Dave Morse.  This was awarded to Clay Brandow, who remembered “With a Little Help from my Friends” by the Beatles.  Anyone from 68 to 74 years old was then instructed to stand and relate a memorable experience from the late 1960’s through early 1970’s.  This group included more than a few members, whose memories were described more rapidly than the recorder (who was one of the group) could keep up with, and it came with a price (we heard wild tales of road trips, music festivals, horticultural experiments, and beautiful women with flowers in their hair from Dave Morse, Clay Brandow, Jack Latow, Jim Smith, Tom Read, Gary Johns, Dan Carson, John Morgan, Matt Williams, Don Winters, Bud Harmon, Bob Agee, Ken Firestien and Bruce Wolk just to name a few).  Next, Sergeant John recognized Ray Salomon and Dan Carson for being re-appointed to the City’s Budget and Finance Commission.  New member Tyson Hubbard was picked on for coming back to Davis with a 3 year old.  Jim Smith was fined for his wife’s letter to the editor of The Davis Enterprise.  And Mitch Mysliwiec was fined for an inexplicable T-shirt message.

    At this point, we found out why President Manny had allowed the Sergeant’s Report to drag on, besides a desire to collect more of the Club Member’s hard earned money. Today’s speaker was a no show, which gave an additional 25 minutes for enjoying each other’s company – except for those who are uncomfortable with this.  President Manny tried a few jokes that weren’t working (including a hand shadow puppet show), so he called for the draw of the day, where John Morgan won a free breakfast (it wasn’t clear how the Sergeants had managed this outcome).

Finally, Nancy Storm could not make it through a meeting without saying something, so she asked who had been the Sergeant’s largest money maker.  This turned out to be Clay Brandow, who had paid $204 when his generosity was taken advantage of by an organized effort to extract money for the Sergeants. (I think Clay was the largest sergeant fundraiser, not sponsor? And I think John Morgan raised $204 last week, which did not break Clay’s record of $400 something? We’ll have to hear the story again…)

            Then President Manny rang the bell to end this meeting at 7:40 am.