Kerry Benefield was reared and educated in Santa Rosa. After graduating from Santa Rosa High, Benefield played soccer at Cal where she was named to the Pac-10 first team All-Academic team her junior and senior seasons and was named co-captain her senior year. She graduated in 1995 with a degree in English. She earned her masters’ degree in journalism from City University in London. Benefield worked at newspapers in St. Helena, London, New Mexico and Louisiana. In 2003 she moved home to Santa Rosa to work at The Press Democrat where she has covered politics, education and high school sports as the paper’s prep sports columnist. Benefield has three times been named an Associated Press Sports Editors top 10 columnist. In 2018, Benefield was a member of the Press Democrat’s reporting team awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for the newspaper’s coverage of the deadly wildfires of October 2017. In May Benefield was named the paper's community columnist.
Len Marbella and Margie Pettibone From Catholic Charities
Our headline speakers for December 2, 2021, were Len Marabella, Chief Executive Officer for Catholic Charities and Margie Pettibone, Director of Development for Catholic Charities. Len has a PhD in Physical Chemistry, did post-doctoral work at MIT, and worked for many years in the aerospace and laser industries. Margie has an MBA from Notre Dame and studied at the London Business School concentrating on international marketing. Len started out doing volunteer work for Catholic Charities, joined the Board of Directors, and ultimately became the full-time CEO after having served for three months as Interim CEO. He’s been the CEO since 2014. He says it’s the best job he’s ever had!
Santa Rosa’s Catholic Charities serves the entire North Bay all the way to Del Norte County, although it concentrates on Sonoma, Napa, Lake, and Mendocino Counties. It is grounded in the priorities of the Catholic faith, including the goal of serving vulnerable people of all faiths, races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations. In other words, Catholic Charities helps people in need. It has more than 200 staff members and 500 volunteers, with a $20 million budget.
Its key programs include Homelessness and Housing Solutions, Immigration, and Financial Stability & Crisis Response. The Homeless program conducts outreach to homeless camps and works to help the homeless obtain emergency and more permanent housing. They work on housing placement and support services. The program has found permanent housing for over 650 people this year! The Immigration program sees 3-4 thousand people each year. It employs 9 government certified paralegals who work with applicants for a variety of programs, including applications for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), naturalization, and refugee programs, as well as advising people who have no legal path to citizenship. They helped with 579 applications for DACA status last year. The Financial Stability & Crisis Response program is designed to work with people who face financial and personal obstacles due crises, such as fires. It has helped people with contributions of $1,429,658 for rental, auto repair, home repair, and basic needs assistance.
Len also introduced us to Caritas Village, a new center for Catholic Charity’s work. The Village will include Caritas Center and Caritas Homes. The Village is located on and adjacent to the old hospital on Morgan Street in downtown Santa Rosa. The Center is expected to open in the summer of 2022, while the Village will open in 2023. The Center will include a Family Shelter, Children’s Resource Center, Housing Placement Center, Dignity Drop-in Center, a Medical Clinic and Respite Care. The drop-in center will help homeless and other underserved people on a daily basis and is expected to serve 200 people/day. The medical clinic will be operated by Santa Rosa Community Health. Once completed, Caritas Homes will provide 128 apartments for affordable permanent housing for working singles, vulnerable seniors, veterans, and families whose income can’t keep up with the current rental market.
Len also gave a strong shout-out to Jon and Terry Stark, who have been strong backers of Catholic Charities for many years! Thank you, Len, and Margie for your wonderful presentation and for all the work you do for our community. Our congratulations to you both for the fantastic progress of Caritas Village. Your hard work and dedication will add so much to our community!
Steve Zwick, Rotary Super Raffle League Director, has announced the Super Bowl for 2022 and named the teams who will be vying for the championship. Coaches have recruited a full slate of players and are preparing for the upcoming Spring Training which will be early and vigorous this year.
Look for exclusive interviews of coaches whose teams are preparing for a big win on 2022 in the coming issues of this Bulletin. New strategies and old rivalries are being developed and explored.
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!
Last month we ventured into the realm of Big Foot, and its reign of terror in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. Enter the Abominable Snow Man-Big Foot’s cousin. He is also called a Yeti. Legend has it that he dwells in the Himalayas above the snow line. He is also the antagonist in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. He is described as having blue hairless lips and a wicked growl. The glow of Rudolph’s nose sends him into a deep rage, and he hates everything about Christmas. Rudolph and friends call him The Bumble.
After the Bumble has a near-death experience where he is knocked out, his teeth are extracted, and he is thrown off a cliff, he comes to Santa’s workshop looking for a job. As a peace offering, he places the gold star on top of the Christmas tree. The Bumble was able to evade such a violent demise because his large body was able to bounce when he hit the ground. Hopefully, the elves in Santa’s workshop were able to create a new set of teeth for poor Bumble.
The Abominable Snowman does have many fine characteristics. He was misunderstood, and perhaps psychologically triggered. The holidays are a time for cheer, family, and friendship. They are also a time for redemption and forgiveness. This large furry bicuspid creature just needed a gold star and to be accepted to flourish.
ON Friday, December the 3rd 16 Santa Rosa Sunrise Rotarians braved the harsh winter conditions to "ring the Bell" for the Salvation Army. WE all know how harsh and miserable the winters can be here in Northern California. It seems last Friday was no exception.. WAIT!! Different year-Different City-Different Rotary Club!
However, we did have a great turn-out for our annual Holiday tradition of giving back.. This year was a bit different. While it was nice to be back after last years season was cancelled most agree that the "conditions" were a bit different. Yes, this year we were inside the Coddingtown Mall and well protected from the balmy mid 70's December weather. Yet, the crowds seemed light and the kettles a bit lonely. Please, keep this in mind when you pass a kettle in front of your favorite store. Reports from the Salvation Army are suggesting that giving is down across the board.
Thanks to the following Rotarians for their volunteer work last Friday:
Shauna Lorenzen, Steve Herron, Steve Olson, Dick Perman
Ken Petro, Rich Randolph, Del Raby, Warren Smith, Steve Zwick
Tom Eakin, Carolyn Anderson, Jim Moir, Randy Seelye
MJ Girard and his bride, Lynda, Marty Behr and Dicksie Tamanaha
Del Raby and Ken Petro took the reins at Coddington Mall Friday to ring in charity to the annual red kettle drive.
In Del and Ken's hand is a letter from the supervisor at Silver Crest, Salvation Army's landmark twin housing towers in Santa Rosa and home to Del.
When it was know he was coming to support the drive, the housing supervisor asked Del to deliver some cheer into the kettle. Ask Del about his parent's role as Salvation Army Officers in the 1900's!! Regarding Del's hairdo ~ rumor has it he had to dodge a few reindeer rehearsing for their upcoming marathon. All parties are healing satisfactorily.
Three Past Presidents, Warren our Charter and Ken, Del of Mt View and our District Governor in 91-92 did their best to attract red kettle donations. Foot traffic was very light, but cheerful.
WHERE: CAMBRIA HOTEL, 5870 Labath Avenue, Rohnert Park, CA 94928
DETAILS: Celebrate the holidays in style, don your most festive attire (an ugly Christmas Sweater, Tuxedo, Santa Suit, your favorite crazy hat, and/or a sequin evening gown).
Prizes will be handed out to the most creative outfits.
Guests are welcome
Potluck* (more info to follow) and Cash Bar in the lobby
MEET OUR SPECIAL SURPRISE CELEBRITY MYSTERY GUEST!
Terrified, he screams, "Don't hurt me!" But the Yeti approaches him closer and closer, bearing its claws. The man starts praying to God to rescue him. God comes down and says, "Well, well, well. You never believed in me, why are you praying now?" Flustered, the man exclaims, "I didn't believe in the Yeti either yet here we are!
Public health is on everyone’s mind due to the global pandemic that still threatens the safety of ourselves and our loved ones. In a sense, COVID-19 has made all of us much more aware of the roles and responsibilities of medical professionals than we were before we had to wear masks and maintain social distance. In addition, while moving through this pandemic, we have also learned about the role we can play in keeping others safe.
December is Disease Prevention and Treatment Month in Rotary. The pandemic unfortunately has schooled most people on the toll that disease takes on our communities. But fighting disease is something that Rotarians around the world have been doing for decades. In fact, it is one of Rotary’s seven areas of focus.
As Rotarians, we believe that good health and well-being is a human right — even though 400 million people across the globe do not have access to essential health services. The work we do in establishing clinics, eye hospitals, and blood banks, as well as in building infrastructure for medical facilities in underserved communities, all returns to a central belief that access, prevention, and education are the keys to stopping deadly outbreaks that harm the most vulnerable.
My exposure to health work began with my Rotary club, Calcutta-Mahanagar. There, among other things, I helped pioneer a program called Saving Little Hearts that over the years has provided more than 2,500 free heart surgeries for children from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Africa. Before the program went international, it started locally with the goal of performing just six surgeries within our community. Today, our goal is to complete another 20,000 surgeries over the next five years.
The world relies on Rotary to tackle challenges like these and to set an example for others. Over the past decade, medical professionals and government workers have provided free health services to 2.5 million people in 10 countries during Family Health Days, which are organized by Rotarians around the world. Similar health camps in India also provide thousands of surgeries to those in need. Medical missions from India to Africa each year are an excellent example of hands-on service in disease prevention and treatment. Rotary members can also get involved at a local level; clubs in the United States and Mexico, for example, fund a free health clinic in Guerrero, a small town in Mexico.
And of course, our effort to eradicate polio is by far the best story in civil-society health care.
This month, think about how your club can focus on preventing and fighting disease. This is the time to take a bigger, better, bolder approach through both club and district projects that can impact more people. Re-evaluate where you are with your goals. Create strategies that can sustain change over years, not months.
Everyone deserves a long, healthy life. When you Serve to Change Lives, your actions today can help extend the lives of others.
December marks a special time of year. It’s a time of holiday gatherings and family reunions (COVID-19 permitting). It’s also the halfway point of the Rotary year, when we look back on our goals, reflecting on the what and the why of our work.
First, the what. This year, to stay on course to reach our goal, we need to raise $50 million for PolioPlus, with a 2-to-1 match by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation bringing the total to $150 million. To keep our Rotary Foundation programs running strong, we set a goal to raise $125 million for the Annual Fund. We also aim to raise $95 million for the Endowment Fund in outright gifts and new commitments, and a further $40 million for other outright gifts.
So how do we reach our grand total of $410 million? We must remember that in all great endeavors, including Rotary, we are part of a TEAM: Together, Everyone Achieves More.
You can’t have a great team without great PEOPLE. P stands for pride in our organization, our achievements, and our potential. E is our empathy for others, which we transform into service. O has two parts: the tremendous opportunities to make a difference that Rotary has granted us, and an obligation to pull others up and to increase our ranks. Our second P is for perseverance, helping us stick to our goals, like polio eradication, when the going gets tough. L stands for leadership, and E for enthusiasm — the fuel of Rotary.
While we are revisiting our goals, we also need to remember the why. For me, this needs little explanation. Why wouldn’t you help expectant mothers and their children survive and thrive by supporting a Rotary Foundation grant? And why wouldn’t you initiate programs to help preserve the environment, our cherished home? The pandemic has only renewed my conviction that life is precious, and we must seize every opportunity to enhance the lives of others.
You are one of the PEOPLE on our TEAM. I encourage you this month to join other leaders who participate in Rotary’s strong tradition of philanthropy by making a gift to The Rotary Foundation. It is the season of giving, and every gift counts. Please contribute any amount that feels right by 31 December, and your gift will keep on giving in 2022 and for years to come. There are many ways to give, as a club or an individual — why not set up a giving plan?
The Rotary Foundation offers us countless opportunities to help make a difference in the world. Let us never squander those opportunities, nor take our Foundation for granted.
For Mother’s Day this year, Melody St. John’s husband, Paul, himself a member of the Rotary Club of Los Angeles, organized a virtual get-together with 20 people — all former Rotary Youth Exchange students who have stayed with the couple in their Los Angeles home. “They surprised me with a beautiful slideshow” of photos from their exchanges, she says. “We talked about how we’re doing and how we’re coping” with being in lockdown because of COVID-19.
Melody St. John
The St. Johns almost didn’t become exchange hosts. “I was hesitant because we didn’t have kids,” Melody explains; she wasn’t sure they would know how to navigate integrating a teenager into their household. But when the couple’s first student, Federico, arrived from Argentina in 1996, everything clicked — and their lives changed. “We had so much fun with him,” she remembers. “It was such a joy. We took him everywhere, and he brightened our lives.” For the next two decades, the St. Johns continued opening their home to new students — some of whom were siblings of students who had stayed with them earlier. They even started organizing a cross-country train tour for all the exchange students in their district.
In 2018, they took a break from hosting as Melody prepared to serve as 2019-20 governor of District 5280 — but in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, they opened their home yet again. “One of our former students, Pietro, lives nearby. He asked if he could shelter here with us,” Melody explains. “He also wanted to do the shopping for us, so we didn’t have to go out.”
The couple now can’t imagine their lives without Rotary Youth Exchange. “I was sad for a long time because I couldn’t have kids,” Melody says. “But now I’ve got over 20 of the coolest kids, and they all call me Mom. We’ve gone to our former students’ weddings; we’ve been to Poland for Easter and Spain for Christmas. We have family all over the world.”
Read more stories of How Rotary Youth Exchange changed my life
• Illustration by Ruby Taylor
• This story originally appeared in the September 2020 issue of Rotary magazine.
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise - Founded June 30, 1986
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