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!
Kerry Benefield Press Democrat Community Columnist
Our speaker for December 9, 2021, was Kerry Benefield, the Press Democrat’s Community Columnist. Kerry took over this position in May when long term columnist Chris Smith retired. Kerry’s first “job” was with the PD was when she helped her older brother deliver papers on his paper route nearly 4 decades ago! Since those early days she graduated from Santa Rosa High, the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in English, and the City London University with a Masters’ degree. She also played soccer at Cal and was named a Pac 10 1st Team All Academics. She’s spent her entire professional career as a journalist, and before starting for real at the PD in 2003 she worked in St. Helena, London, Farmington, New Mexico, and for three long years in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Kerry’s tenure at the PD has included reporting on schools, transportation, politics, and as a sports columnist. When Chris Smith retired in May she applied for and won the job as Community Columnist. She wrestled with whether to apply for the job because of the huge shoes she’d have to fill after Chris’ retirement. She got the job after multiple interviews with management (despite the fact that she’d worked for the PD since 2003!) She loves the job and the challenge of writing 3 stories a week about the community and the people who live in it. Her days are filled with meeting people and learning about their issues. For example, on Thursday morning she planned to go to Monroe Elementary School for a meeting. She gets ideas for her stories from community members, her own experiences (including running and walking in the community), and sometimes from her PD bosses. PD executives sometimes give her suggestions, but she is not required to follow up those suggestions with stories. For example, since May she’s only been given 2 suggestions from management and she only followed up with one, an article about Jon Gruden, the Las Vegas Raiders football coach who was fired after he engaged in a series of now infamous racist, homophobic, misogynistic emails. (If you haven’t read this October 12, 2021, article, I highly recommend it. As Kerry said after reporting that Jon Gruden said he never meant to hurt anyone: “Perhaps it was just a little locker room talk. You know, light banter among bigots.”)
Kerry mentioned other stories she’s written as Community Columnist (she said she’s going to have to change that name!) She almost cried when she wrote her December 8th column about Sid Gordon, the 95-year-old part-time band conductor with the New Horizons Band. She also mentioned the strong community responses from her August 13th article about the final 2 hours and 43 minutes of Ralph Harms’ life. Ralph legally ended his life at age 85 after contracting, and unsuccessfully fighting, cancer.
Many thanks to Kerry for her presentation, and for her long body of thoughtful journalism. Keep it up, Kerry, its good stuff.
Click HERE to view Kerry's presentation. It will be posted for the next week or so.
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!
Chiron is an asteroid that orbits our solar system somewhere between Saturn and Uranus. In Greek mythology, Chiron was half man, half horse. He was also a great physician and healer. Ironically, he was mistakenly struck by a poison arrow from Hercules, and he was unable to heal his own wound.
Chiron was immortal; therefore, the wound caused him great agony. He decided to make a pact with Zeus to give up his immortality and replace Prometheus who was punished by the gods for giving the gift of fire to mankind. Zeus relinquished Chiron’s immortality, freed Prometheus, and as a result of, Chiron’s kindness, Chiron was immortalized into the stars.
Chiron is deemed the “wounded healer” in astrology. Chiron’s presence in our astrological chart is to teach us how to heal our deepest wounds. These could be wounds that we have carried with us through multiple past lives. Once you have realized what your wounds are you can turn them into superpowers. The beauty of this aspect of the zodiac is that it takes the pain we experience and it helps create a way for us to use that pain to help others. It is a key to wisdom.
Chiron is charitable and shows that there is kindness and wisdom through pain and adversity. Chiron was a mythological Rotarian.
Luciana brought her best friends from Santa Rosa to play with in Palm Harbor, Florida.
Luciana's BIGGEST fan is sitting in the corner. A gift from Ross and Stacy in 2018, the bear and Luciana fill her room with Sunrise sunshine.
In other parts of the house, parents Ana Lucia and Javier are juggling new school and work schedules. Javier obtained his Dental Hygienist license and is working close to their new home. Ana Lucia interviewed today for a Dental Assistant spot at the same clinic as Javier. She is nearing exam eligibility for her Dental Hygienist license.
The send their best to everyone and will send a photo as their orbits slow down.
You may get in touch with them through Rich Randolph.rjurny@gmail.com
M.J. Girard is currently an on air personality on KOWSfm.com His “Roots of Rock” is broadcast every Sunday morning at 7 AM
As this year draws to a close, let us reflect upon our blessings and look forward to a better year ahead…with optimism and clear thinking of what is important to preserving and defending.
The Roots of Rock will be presenting the “Top Ten” tunes spanning the past decades of popular music, from its inception thru the years of war and peace, and beyond.
In 2022, we will highlight individual artist and groups, as well as the top hits of a single year. Thank you for your support and encouragement as I enter my 60th year of broadcasting, one that began as a summer “gig” whilst a student at Potter Valley High in 1966!
Request May be made by direct contact: Radio@mjGirard.com or on GIRARD.org
Thanks again for being one of the finest group of Americans I have ever been associated with.
One Christmas, Joe and Peter built a skating rink in the middle of a field. A shepherd leading his flock decided to take a shortcut across the rink. The sheep, however, were afraid of the ice and wouldn’t cross it. Desperate, the shepherd began tugging them to the other side.
“Look at that,” remarked Peter to Joe. “That guy is trying to pull the wool over our ice!”
Q. What do you get if you cross Santa with a detective?
A. Santa Clues!
Q: Why does Santa Claus go down the chimney on Christmas Eve?
A: Because it soots him!
Q. What happened when Guy ate the Christmas decorations?
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.
Vaccines are one of the safest and most effective ways to protect people from life-threatening and preventable diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted life-saving vaccine campaigns. As a result, there is a growing risk of resurgence of vaccine preventable infections including polio, measles, and tuberculosis.
Rotary has advocated, distributed, and administered vaccines to help reduce polio cases by 99.9% worldwide. Clubs globally are using the same strategy to help end the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we show the importance of vaccines and why it’s one of the most reliable ways to protect yourself and future generations from infectious disease.
We’re prepared to face the challenges ahead, including:
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