Since joining Rotary in 1998, Tom has been active in Club roles, including serving as the 2009-2010 Windsor Rotary Club President. In 2008 he was asked to perform public relations tasks for then-District Governor Ken Moulton and went on to serve more than nine years as the District Public Relations Chair and became the District Webmaster in 2011.
Tom served as an Assistant Rotary Public Image Coordinator from 2013 through 2021. As a Zone 26 & 27 Communications team member, he had the opportunity to share the importance of rebranding our organization to Rotarians throughout the Western US. He stepped down from the Zone team in 2001 when he was selected to serve as the 2023-2024 District Governor for our District.
DG Boylan owns The Boylan Point Agency in Santa Rosa, California. The company offers digital and traditional marketing to various businesses and organizations, including Rotary. Tom created the agency in 1997, the same year he visited his first Rotary club.
Past professional experiences include a brief run as a music producer and co-owner of a Northern California recording studio, Marketing Manager for a Northern California newspaper, and working with radio in sales and creative development of commercials. As a former contract writer and editor for several New York Times-owned publications, including The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, it is no wonder his Rotary passion focuses on literacy and education.
Tom and his wife, Melody Montero, live in Windsor, California. They have two sons, Brendan, a High School math teacher with two children, and Sean, who has taken the role of Creative Director for Boylan Point Agency.
Lynn Stanton, Co-Founder and Development Director of Emergency Prep Help for Seniors
Our guest speaker for August 31, 2023 was Lynn Stanton, co-founder and development director for Emergency Prep Help for Seniors (EPH). EPH’s mission is to educate and prepare seniors for natural disasters and other emergencies. She started this non-profit with two other women. EPH’s provides seniors with workshops to teach them about responding to natural disasters and emergencies.
Seniors are a huge part of Sonoma County’s population. Senior comprise over 20% of the overall Sonoma County population. Other North Bay counties, including Marin, Mendocino, and Lake, have even higher percentages of seniors. Seniors are among the most vulnerable populations in national disasters and emergencies. For example, in Hurricane Katrina in 2005, half of those killed were over 75. In the Camp Fire (Paradise), 25 people died and all but 12 were over age 60. The special challenges for seniors include minimal resources for emergencies, limited access to information, compromised health or mobility, and lack of support services.EPH gives 2-part workshops tailored for older adults. The topics include making a plan, putting together go-bags, accessing warnings and alerts, pet safety, and power outages. The workshops deal with the particular problems created by earthquakes, fires, flooding, heatwaves, and cold snaps. In the first workshop they give out go-bags and first aid kits. They also have guest speakers, including fire and police department first responders. They also give out a form to aid in emergency preparation, including addressing questions like where you will go, how will you get there, and who needs to know about the plan. They also have a go-bag checklist. They give out a go-bag with supplies and have the seniors come back in 2 weeks for the 2nd part of the workshop, bringing their personalized go-bags. They give incentive gifts for seniors who come back with their go-bags personalized! They also give a list of items to keep in the seniors’ homes for emergencies.
Between September 2021 and August 2023, EPH has served 670 seniors in 60 workshop sessions in 30 communities in Sonoma County. Lynn and her 2 partners have done all this work on their own as volunteers but now need support, including funding and volunteers. They need funding for part-time pay for 3 workers, a database, a unit rental, and go-bag supplies and incentives gifts. They also need volunteers, including a grant writer, fundraising consultant, Spanish translators, social media experts, and marketing experts. Lynn invited us all to an event on 9/12 at the Petaluma Women’s Club. The event will include a mini workshop and social time. They’d also love to have a musician to provide music before and after the presentations.
Thank you, Lynn, for the presentation and for doing this important work for an under-served population in our community.
Click HERE for a limited time recording of Lynn's presentation.
On a regular basis, our resident photo pro Warren Smith, submits pictures of what is going on at the weekly meetings. You can always find the most recent pictures at the websites photo journal called "Meeting Sighting" Please note that all the meeting photos for the entire Rotary year are at this location with the most recent on the last page.
Thanks for all the great pictures Warren!Link to Meeting Sightings. The most recent are on the last page!
Peter Hoberg chaperoned Del on Zoom from his new home. the 97 year old Rotarian, Scout Master and lovable member of Sunrise waved amiably at those gathered at breakfast. Peter emailed detailed directions for visits.
Just three weeks after Master Gardeners presented their Demonstration Garden rollout to Sunrise Rotary, Golden Hammer Leroy Carlenzoli had the team and materials on site. Rob Sanville's trusty Toyota work-horse transported mix and tools for an early Saturday morning start. Newest member Dan Rosaschi brought gusto along with his relative youthfulness. Our varied community service projects give rise to members multi-skilled experiences. Paul's leadership in environmental action has planted seeds in schools and our minds. Stay tuned for updates on Lewis Learning Center and this garden.
It is an exacting process ~ Dan, Leroy, Paul and Rob realize their reputation and Sunrise' carries a high bar. So to
assure a level headed result bring in just that!
A few finishing touches by Leroy's trowel and then the cleanup begins.
Paul fills the base frame for Leroy to finish.
Paul rinses the makeshift cement mixer. It worked very well. about 10 bags of cement did the pole setting. Dan's power auger idea proved a real time and back saver. In less than 3 hours the 6 poles were set STRAIGHT in the right spots. Soon the yellow and blue (University of California colors) sunshades will be raised and the Demonstration Garden's gathering place will be open for the children.
A public Open House is slated for October 14 from 9 AM til 4 PM.
Job Well Done Team Sunrise!!
Dan Rosaschi, Paul O Rear, Rob Sanville ,Leroy Carlenzoli
Rob Sanville summed it up with this:
The Golden Hammer and his trusty assistants, Rob, Paul and Dan, dug five 3 foot deep 6 inch holes and poured concrete around 14 foot poles that will support the 2 sun shades in the Master Gardeners children's garden at their Master Gardener greenhouse location in Kenwood. We were aided by the rental of a post hole auger! Automation is the bomb!
A morning's work that was worth the effort. The shade sails are on order and will be installed when they arrive.
President Debra adjourned the meeting with this message:
Working together in concert more smoothly not only helps us move more quickly; it changes the nature of what we can undertake. When we have the confidence that we can orchestrate the group effort required to realize them, we dare bigger dreams.
Harry was stunned to come home from work one evening and find his wife stuffing all her belongings into a suitcase. "what on earth are you doing?" he cried.
"I can't stand it any more!" she shrieked. "Thirty-two years we've been married, and all we do is bicker and quarrel and ignore each other. I'm leaving!"
Stunned, Harry watched his wife close the suitcase, lug it down the the stares, and proceed to walk out of the house... out of his life.
Suddenly, he was galvanized into action. Running into the bedroom and grabbing a second suitcase, he yelled back at his wife, "Sylvia you're right, you're absolutely right - and I can't bear it either. Wait a minute, and I'll go with you."
The International Day of Peace takes place 21 September. The United Nations General Assembly declared this a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.
It is not enough, as People of Action, to simply avoid making war. If we are to Create Hope in the World, we must aggressively wage peace.
Where can we begin? There are countless armed conflicts around the world, and the global population of displaced people is higher than ever. The opportunities are nearly limitless, but the cycles of violence and hardship seem endless.
My advice is to start small but think big. I look to Rotary members in Pakistan and India for inspiration.
In March 2020, about 50 Rotary members from Pakistan met about 50 Rotary members from India at Kartarpur Sahib, a shrine in Pakistan. The sanctuary honors Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, a religion practiced in both countries. Tensions between the two countries barred many religious pilgrims from India from visiting the shrine. That is, until Pakistan opened a visa-free pathway to them in 2019.
Earlier this year, Rotary members from opposite sides of the border again met at the shrine, this time with about twice as many participants.
Any work toward building peace needs to be brave and bold. What these Rotary members have done is just that. The Pakistani government took an important step toward peace when it admitted Indian pilgrims to the Kartarpur Sahib shrine, but Pakistani Rotary members took the next step when they welcomed Rotary members from India as friends and family. That is Positive Peace at work.
These peacebuilders did not stop there. Club representatives at this year’s meeting signed twin club certificates to recognize their long-term commitment to continue to learn from each other and to work together on more peacebuilding efforts, and they have held joint meetings via video chat.
The importance of communicating with and learning from another culture cannot be overstated, and Rotary is making it even easier to do so. One way of engaging in cross-cultural dialogue and building relationships across borders is through virtual international exchanges that build on our current programs and make them more accessible.
A virtual exchange uses online platforms to connect people from different parts of the world so they can share their traditions, priorities, values, and more. Virtual exchanges can serve as a window to another part of the world through activities such as teaching a digital cooking class, learning a new language, or even designing service projects with a global impact.
These online chats have the potential to inspire new connections and more respect between societies. Taking that knowledge and using it to better the lives of our fellow human beings is the next step.
When was your Rotary moment? It’s when you realize that being part of Rotary means more than just showing up for a meeting, when you discover you are part of something that changes the lives of others as it changes yours.
I will never forget the moment when I learned about Daniel, a Haitian child. Rotary Foundation Trustee Greg Podd, who at the time was serving with me on an RI committee, had been trying to get Daniel on a plane for urgent heart surgery through the Gift of Life program. But Daniel couldn’t get the visa to travel, and doctors had given him only months to live.
When Greg told me this, I remembered that Gift of Life was operating in Haiti and we could do the surgery there. This was on a Wednesday. Greg helped get ahold of Daniel’s medical records. The Gift of Life surgeon I knew — who visited only once or twice every month — happened to be in Haiti. By Thursday, the surgeon had looked over the medical charts and told us that he could repair Daniel’s heart but said he was traveling soon. We had to get Daniel to a medical facility by Friday morning.
Daniel and his parents rode 90 minutes on a scooter through the bumpy roads of rural Haiti to get to the facility, and the surgeon successfully performed the procedure. Thankful, Greg and I moved on to other projects.
A few months later, I got an email with a picture of Daniel. I will never forget his smiling face, despite the foot-long scar running down his chest, and what he wrote: “I know you helped me. You saved my life. Thank you.”
On behalf of Daniel and countless others, I am passing along that gratitude to all Rotary members who have helped or will help this year.
The beauty of Rotary, especially with The Rotary Foundation, is that we can create these Rotary moments anytime. Just reach out to others in Rotary and discuss our work. Our caring network, our dedicated volunteers, and available resources will take care of the rest.
If two people can make such a difference, imagine what we can accomplish by working together in larger groups through The Rotary Foundation. Picture the impact of clubs within a district joining forces for a Foundation district grant to boost literacy, or two districts from different parts of the world transforming a community through a water, sanitation, and hygiene global grant.
If you haven’t discovered your Rotary moment yet, keep searching. Serving Rotary through our Foundation is a great place to find it, and it will change your life.
Since 2014, members of the Rotary Club of Seminole Lake, Florida, have ventured on service trips to Belize with a focus on the welfare of children: constructing school playgrounds and providing educational assistance, clothing, and medical screenings. “The kids had a recess period but little for them to do,” says David Buzza, a past club president. Three years ago the club forged ties with the Rotary Club of Belmopan, Belize. In February, Rotary members helped construct a seventh playground in Belize and helped hand out 1,500 pieces of new clothing, along with toiletries and backpacks. The Florida Rotarians added to the Belmopan club’s existing wheelchair distribution project with a May shipment of 30 wheelchairs.
United States
The Indian River Lagoon along Florida’s Atlantic coast is home to some 3,500 plant and animal species. In January, District 6970 and the Rotary clubs of New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater introduced a tide pool exhibit in the Marine Discovery Center in New Smyrna Beach. The display is home to horseshoe crabs, sea stars, sea urchins, hermit crabs, marine snails, and other small oceanic creatures. “Having that opportunity to see the animals up close is a very engaging experience,” says Chad Truxall, the center’s executive director. “It’s been fun for us to have this additional tool to share the story of the Indian River Lagoon.” A district grant provided $20,000, the New Smyrna Beach club devoted $10,000, and the Edgewater club another $5,000 toward the cost of the exhibit, representing just a portion of the financial and volunteer contributions Rotarians have made to the marine center over the past decade.
Rotary projects make a difference in communities around the world.
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Since 2014, members of the Rotary Club of Seminole Lake, Florida, have ventured on service trips to Belize with a focus on the welfare of children: constructing school playgrounds and providing educational assistance, clothing, and medical screenings. “The kids had a recess period but little for them to do,” says David Buzza, a past club president. Three years ago the club forged ties with the Rotary Club of Belmopan, Belize. In February, Rotary members helped construct a seventh playground in Belize and helped hand out 1,500 pieces of new clothing, along with toiletries and backpacks. The Florida Rotarians added to the Belmopan club’s existing wheelchair distribution project with a May shipment of 30 wheelchairs.
The Indian River Lagoon along Florida’s Atlantic coast is home to some 3,500 plant and animal species. In January, District 6970 and the Rotary clubs of New Smyrna Beach and Edgewater introduced a tide pool exhibit in the Marine Discovery Center in New Smyrna Beach. The display is home to horseshoe crabs, sea stars, sea urchins, hermit crabs, marine snails, and other small oceanic creatures. “Having that opportunity to see the animals up close is a very engaging experience,” says Chad Truxall, the center’s executive director. “It’s been fun for us to have this additional tool to share the story of the Indian River Lagoon.” A district grant provided $20,000, the New Smyrna Beach club devoted $10,000, and the Edgewater club another $5,000 toward the cost of the exhibit, representing just a portion of the financial and volunteer contributions Rotarians have made to the marine center over the past decade.