President Marty's Last Hurrah
The speaker for our meeting on June 25th was our own President Marty Behr. Marty provided us with a summary of the amazing accomplishments of our club this year. Marty gave special recognition for the members of the Board of Directors and all of their hard work and dedication. He also recognized and thanked a number of club members who went ‘above and beyond.’ We had an interesting year, starting off with a massive wildfire that required large portions of Sonoma County to evacuate, followed a few months later with an unparalleled pandemic. Speaking of pandemics, we were the first club to start Zoom meetings and we have continued these meetings since mid-March. We had great and stimulating programs, engaging social projects, and fun social activities. We have had a net increase of 3 members this year. We have remained active with our service projects, including the Redwood Empire Food Bank, Vicki’s Garden, the West County Homeless Shelter and the Sonoma County SPCA. We have also continued to work under the expert guidance of Leroy Carlenzoli at the Women’s Recovery Shelter and on other property improvement projects. We have donated over $25,000 as a club to various charitable organizations this year.
Our club has continued its dedication to International programs. We sent 4 students to Japan on the SRKSEP program and provided over 900 people with dental and eyeglass services on our Nicaragua Eye/Dental Mission. And, sometime this year or early next year, our Sabalos Surgery Center will go online! Through Marty’s perseverance we amended our club and foundation bylaws and finalized a credit card program for breakfasts. Our Elsie Allen Interact Club is thriving, thanks to Past President Merle Hayes and others. The Interact students have also participated in some of our service projects, including work on Vicki’s Garden! And, we have set up a Service Fund in the Foundation so that we can improve our long-term giving plans.
We also significantly improved our Rotary Foundation donations. Our total goal was $15,250; we donated $67,863 and rank 3rd among the 47 clubs in our District! Beyond Amazing!
Marty gave special thanks to ‘Rotarians of the Quarter’: Roy Johnston for his fantastic administrative and organizational skills, Merle Hayes for her dedication and advocacy for the Roseland Interact students, and Peter Hoberg for his all-around IT greatness. He is the virtual meeting guru, and much more.
We had a wonderful year, despite the fires and pandemic. Marty, thank you for all you have done for this club, not only this year but throughout your Sunrise career. You can now take a bow and enjoy life again as Past President Marty – but not until Wednesday!
