Jennifer joined the Rotary Club of Lakeport in June 1998. She is a two-time past president with her most recent service in 2015-16 during the Valley Fire in Lake County. She was the founding member of the Lake Area Rotary Fire Relief Fund which succeeded in raising over $1M in 2015 for the residents in Lake County affected by the fire. In 2017, Jennifer helped expand the fund to the District 5130 Fire Relief Fund during the fires affecting Sonoma, Napa, and Mendocino counties. To date, the fund has raised over $3Million dollars for disaster relief within District 5130.
Jennifer has served for 15 years as the chair of Lakeport Rotary’s Konocti Challenge cycling event held annually in October, an event previously recognized by Cycle CA Magazine as the best Metric Century Ride in the state. She was recognized in 2016 as the District 5130 Rotarian of the Year, served for 3 years as the District 5130 Grant Chair, and is a member of District Board of Directors.
In addition, she has served as a Youth Exchange Club Counselor and host parent. She is a Certified Financial Planner and owns and operates Strong Financial Network in Lakeport serving nearly 2000 clients throughout 22 states. She resides on her 6th generation farm in Lake County and enjoys gardening, preserving food, scuba diving, traveling, and is in the process of completing her private pilot’s license in addition to countless hours spent on community service throughout Rotary, her industry and Lake county.
Our meeting on July 6, 2022 was President Jack Strange’s first Club Assembly! President Jack provided us with a clear outline of his goals for his year as President, introduced us to the Club’s Leadership Team, and gave us a personal Craft Talk to reacquaint us with the real Jack Strange! Jack was too modest to start his first Club Assembly with his Craft Talk, but it is front and center in this summary.
Jack received his bachelor’s degree from Fairfield University in Economics and Physics. Jack has also done coursework at Stanford in theoretical physics. Wow! Jack’s early work career was in the high tech arena and focused on 3D visualization software. He worked for Xerox, Autodesk, and got caught up in the 1990’s “start- up fever,” working in three startups. Jack eventually got to the point of extreme dissatisfaction with the start-up world and changed directions to become a teacher in 2002. He teaches math and science to junior high students at S. Isabella School in San Rafael, and also teaches high school students. Jack is passionate about teaching! He was also a trustee of GATE Academy, also in San Rafael. GATE is dedicated to teaching academically-gifted students in grades K-8. Jack started working with the Sonoma Marin Debate Society in 2003 and is passionate about debating. The Society is a club for students whose schools do not have competitive debating teams. Some of his teams have even successfully competed against high school students at international debating events. Jack joined Rotary in 2011 and Sunrise Rotary in 2016. He was club president for his club in 2015-2016. He has been the faculty advisor to St. Isabella’s Interact club and has also served as District 5130 trainer in public speaking. His Interact work with St. Isabella students has included a focus on speech and memory and a memorable trip with the kids to work on a school in Costa Rica!
Jack’s vision for his presidential year includes following up on the recent club survey. The number 1 survey response was an interest in clean water and sanitation. He would like to explore that and help develop a clean water project. Jack also noted that our club’s signature project is the Nicaragua medical clinic, and he’d like to follow up on that with a new project, preferably in partnership with another club. Jack also wants us to continue our strong social activity calendar. He is passionate about minor league baseball and hopes we can spend time with the Healdsburg Prune Pickers and/or Sonoma Stompers!
Pres. Jack also introduced our club’s strong leadership team, including Debra Robertson, President Elect; Cindy Gillespie, President Nominee; Immediate Past President Jen, community service (no one does it better); Past Pres. Steve Herron, returns as treasurer; Shauna Lorenzen, Foundation Chair; Steve Zwick, Philanthropy Chair; Eloise Tweeten, Speaker Bureau (and First Lady); Olin Leasher, at large; Stacy Drucker-Andress, Membership; Tom Eakin, Club Administration; and John Jones, International Service Chair. Each member of the leadership team gave us a brief summary of their goals for this year. Thank you to all of these club leaders for stepping up and working to take us to the next level!
Well done Mr. President! A great first start, now only about 49 meetings left to go.
Click HERE to to view the recording. It will be available for a limited time.
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!
Traffic and vehicle emissions are reduced Thursday mornings thanks to Steve Zwick's Rotary Express!
From his Oakmont residence Steve navigates his compact SUV to three fellow Sunrisers, Rich Randolph, Jim Moir and Del Raby. The vehicle is plenty roomy for the three six footers plus and even some cargo. This foursome enjoys additional time to catch up on each other and solve many current issues: Inflation, fitness, other people's driving, the usual hot button topics.
The time together provides a wholesome alternative to driving solo, being held captive to our solitary perspective. Environmentally three less cars are on the road, reducing our carbon footprint while leveraging our social network. The experience is great! Try it! You will like it!!
BROTHEL OWNER SUES LOCAL CHURCH OVER LIGHTNING STRIKE!
What an interesting turn of events in Pahrump, Nevada...Diamond D's brothel began construction on an expansion of their building to increase their ever-growing business. In response, the local Baptist Church started a campaign to block the business from expanding -- with morning, afternoon, and evening prayer sessions at their church.
Work on Diamond D's progressed right up until the week before the grand re-opening when lightning struck the brothel and burned it to the ground! After the brothel burned to the ground by the lightning strike, the church folks were rather smug in their outlook, bragging about "the power of prayer. "But late last week 'Big Jugs' Jill Diamond, the owner/madam, sued the church, the preacher and the entire congregation on the grounds that the church ... "was ultimately responsible for the demise of her building and her business -- either through direct or indirect divine actions or means. "In its reply to the court, the church vehemently and vociferously denied any and all responsibility or any connection to the building’s demise.
The crusty old judge read through the plaintiff's complaint and the defendant's reply, and at the opening hearing he commented, "I don't know how the heck I'm going to decide this case, but it appears from the paperwork, that we now have a brothel owner who staunchly believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that thinks it's all a bunch of bull.”
Every month since I joined Rotary, I’ve looked forward to reading this magazine, especially the opening essay from our Rotary president. I’ll admit that as much as I appreciate a digital copy, I still revel in the tactile sensation of sitting down and leafing through the glossy pages. They are a treasure trove of photos and memorable stories about our great organization — the one we all know and love. I have learned so much over the years about service projects and lives that each of you have transformed.
As a communications professional, I have longed for the day that our stories were a regular part of mainstream media and that our flagship magazine might populate doctor’s offices, coffee shops, or anywhere else people sit, wait, and browse. It’s great that Rotary members are better informed about all we do, and wouldn’t it be that much better if more people knew our stories.
All this was top of mind as I thought about our plans for promoting Rotary worldwide in the upcoming year. Over the next 12 months, we are going to shine a light on projects that put Rotary service on display to the world, and we are going to do it strategically. Nick and I will focus on some of the highest impact, sustainable, and scalable Rotary projects from our areas of focus in what we call the Imagine Impact Tour.
We are inviting top-tier journalists, thought leaders, and influencers to use their channels to help us raise awareness by reaching people who want to serve but have not yet realized they can do it through Rotary.
But there was another important issue to consider — our carbon footprint. I take seriously Rotary’s emerging leadership position on environmental issues. The example set by our members during the pandemic is fundamental to how we carve out our future.
That means we will harness digital technology to tell these stories — we will be tweeting, posting, and “going live” to anyone who will listen. We must consider our environment, and part of that means not always traveling but continuing to connect in meaningful ways as we have for the past two years.
Of course, we are social people, and we still need to be together. We simply need to be more mindful of our decisions and think about how we get together just a little bit differently. For example, if we travel to visit a project, we will plan successive visits in neighboring areas.
So, what are your stories and who can help tell them? I hope you might consider your own Imagine Impact efforts — your story might be something you can promote just as easily on social media or during a Zoom call. Think about ways to showcase notable projects in your clubs and districts.
We all feel the impact that Rotary service and values have on us. Now it’s our opportunity to share that feeling with others.
As an accountant, I look at the world through the lens of inputs and outputs. We can plan with precision today for success tomorrow. My profession also taught me that numbers — those inputs and outputs — can sometimes tell great stories.
One of those stories is The Rotary Foundation: What it has given the world, starting from a modest input of $26.50, is nothing short of remarkable.
In 1918, that amount — the surplus from that year’s Rotary Convention in Kansas City, Missouri — was applied, at the suggestion of 1916-17 Rotary President Arch Klumph, to a fund with the purpose of doing good in the world. The fund grew modestly until 1947, when Rotary founder Paul Harris died and donations poured in as a tribute to him. That year, the Foundation supported scholarships for 18 students — the first indication of the greatness to come.
Later the Foundation expanded, providing programs, like Group Study Exchange, and humanitarian grants, which impacted the lives of members and communities around the world. In 1979, a major grant helped immunize 6.3 million children in the Philippines against polio, which led to the establishment of PolioPlus in 1985.
Rotary’s work with polio eradication — helping reduce wild polio from an estimated 1,000 cases daily in 1988 to just six total cases in 2021 — has been one of the most ambitious humanitarian projects ever undertaken by a nongovernmental body. That success story alone shows the significance and widespread impact of Rotary and its Foundation.
Perhaps what is even more remarkable is that polio eradication is but one part of the Foundation’s efforts.
Today, the Foundation has grown into a multimillion-dollar charity. Our robust funding model allows districts the flexibility to choose which Rotary aspects they would like to support — polio eradication, scholarships, district grants, global grants, and more. Today’s Foundation impacts the world through disaster relief, disease prevention, peace education, and other areas.
Everyone in Rotary is part of this great legacy; it is our responsibility to keep it going. This year, the trustees have set the goal of raising $430 million. I know the expectations are high. But I also know just how much our members can achieve.
To get there, we will work together as we always do, with each club and individual giving what they can. In this way, we will ensure that we meet our ambitious but achievable goal and move our Foundation forward.
Herring are food for salmon, halibut, lingcod, seabirds, and orcas and other marine mammals, and are a traditional staple of First Nations tribes’ diet. But herring populations are in decline because of overfishing and the degradation of preferred egg-laying surfaces such as kelp fronds and eelgrass. In February, Rotarian “sea foresters” in British Columbia dropped herring curtains into Porpoise Bay, northwest of Vancouver. The curtains — heavy-duty landscape fabric cut to lengths of about 8 feet, floated with foam and nylon rope or PVC pipe, and anchored with rocks — are ideal surfaces for the fish’s eggs. Since 2020, nearly 30 volunteers have installed more than 100 curtains and returned weekly to monitor them through the spawning cycle. Six Rotary clubs are participating in the project, led by the Rotary Club of Sechelt.
Colombia
Public safety in Cali has improved since the mid-1990s, when drug cartels lorded over the city. The Rotaract Club of Cali-Norte is promoting peace and conflict resolution through its Re-Créate initiative, “a social and psychoeducational intervention project” involving role-playing, discussions, arts and crafts, music, and athletics at a local school, says Diana Rivera, immediate past president of the club. Since 2017, hundreds of children have participated in the program, which covers social topics such as bullying, setting personal boundaries, and team building. “We make two visits per semester on Saturdays,” Rivera says of the initiative. Though the COVID-19 pandemic has sidelined a popular soccer tournament fundraiser, individual donors, raffle proceeds, and other initiatives have filled the gap as the club works to enhance Re-Créate with digital offerings.
This story originally appeared in the July 2022 issue of Rotary magazine.
Rotary Club of Santa Rosa Sunrise - Founded June 30, 1986
.png)
.png)
Herring are food for salmon, halibut, lingcod, seabirds, and orcas and other marine mammals, and are a traditional staple of First Nations tribes’ diet. But herring populations are in decline because of overfishing and the degradation of preferred egg-laying surfaces such as kelp fronds and eelgrass. In February, Rotarian “sea foresters” in British Columbia dropped herring curtains into Porpoise Bay, northwest of Vancouver. The curtains — heavy-duty landscape fabric cut to lengths of about 8 feet, floated with foam and nylon rope or PVC pipe, and anchored with rocks — are ideal surfaces for the fish’s eggs. Since 2020, nearly 30 volunteers have installed more than 100 curtains and returned weekly to monitor them through the spawning cycle. Six Rotary clubs are participating in the project, led by the Rotary Club of Sechelt.
Public safety in Cali has improved since the mid-1990s, when drug cartels lorded over the city. The Rotaract Club of Cali-Norte is promoting peace and conflict resolution through its Re-Créate initiative, “a social and psychoeducational intervention project” involving role-playing, discussions, arts and crafts, music, and athletics at a local school, says Diana Rivera, immediate past president of the club. Since 2017, hundreds of children have participated in the program, which covers social topics such as bullying, setting personal boundaries, and team building. “We make two visits per semester on Saturdays,” Rivera says of the initiative. Though the COVID-19 pandemic has sidelined a popular soccer tournament fundraiser, individual donors, raffle proceeds, and other initiatives have filled the gap as the club works to enhance Re-Créate with digital offerings.