Mike Roa is a retired school teacher. He was raised in Santa Clara County and taught high school science there for 16 years. After starting his family in 1985, he and his wife, J.T. O’Neill moved to Sebastopol. J.T. was also a school teacher and counselor. Their two grown children, Alex and Megan now have children of their own, and Mike and J.T. provide childcare for Rory and Olive.
Now that he is retired, in addition to grandchild care, Mike serves as the lead docent at Armstrong Redwoods, not only leading tours but also training other docents. He is on the organizing committee for the North Bay Science Discovery Day, about which he will be sharing at our meeting. In that capacity he is the Sponsor Coordinator and also recruits organizes high school student volunteers.
Club Assembly January 9, 2025, President Cindy Gillespie Presiding!
We had our semi-annual Club Assembly on January 9, 2025, presided over by President Cindy. Her agenda included updates on goals, financial year-to-date, philanthropic giving, a membership presentation by President Nominee Mark Campbell, and an explanation of the Club’s hiking and walking program from Past President Mary Behr.
President Cindy’s goals for her presidential year focus on impact (increasing the number and impact of service projects), reach (growing the Club and building a strong board and succession), engagement (by building opportunities to get involved), and adaptation (fun, inclusive, and effective meetings). Most of Cindy’s goals are being met: We have more service projects, and more people involved in those projects; members are more engaged in social activities, building community, and club functioning; our Board of Directors is strong and succession plans are developing; and our meetings are fun and inclusive (author’s comment). Cindy mentioned some key statistics about our service projects: Our goal is 75% club participation in projects with at least one project every month. So far, 72% of our members have participated in service projects and we’ve spent 682 hours on these projects (including 81 hours from Interacters)! Our projects have included working at the Gravenstein Apple Fair, the Santa Rosa Kagoshima Student Exchange Program, the Thanksgiving meal project at the Living Room, Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery clean up, greenhouse construction for the UC Master Gardener Program, multiple ongoing Leroy’s Golden Hammer projects, Mike Kelly Warm Coat Drive, Ridgeway Garden ADA Project, Laguna de Santa Rosa Native Plant work morning, bike build, to name a few.
Great news on the financial update: we are on track! Our giving program is also thriving. We’ve given to the Senior Center Oktoberfest, Family Justice Center (our raffle recipient), Emergency Prep Help, District 5130 Youth Exchange Golf Tournament, the Living Room, District Fire Disaster Response for the Lake Boyles Fire, the Burma Humanitarian Mission, North Bay Science Discovery Day, and many Golden Hammer projects. And, we have almost $18,000 reserved for giving through the rest of the Rotary year! Our giving program is focused on impact; giving to organizations who really need our money.
President Nominee Mark Campbell provided the membership update. Like every club in the District, Sunrise has declining membership, although our decline is lower than most clubs in the district. Mark gave us some best practices and key facts about how one club got 80 new members in 18 months. They focused on social media, posting a 3-month speaker calendar, and using lots of event photos linking to the website. Most prospective new members were referred by a current member. Mark asks each Sunriser to identify at least 2 prospective members and do initial outreach to them in the next 30 days. Mark suggests focusing on Rotary, community, professional, and service contacts. Past President and Rotary recruitment superstar Penny Millar told us about how she works her magic. Penny’s efforts have resulted in the recruitment of at least 16 new members! Penny has lots of interactions with a variety of people from business, social, and community activities. She has ways of inserting the Rotary name into many of her conversations. For example, a Rotary activity that she will be involved in on an upcoming weekend often comes up organically during a conversation and it’s sometimes a Rotary conversation starter.
Past President Marty Behr spoke about the Club’s hiking and walking program. We had 5 hikes in 2024 and matching walks in months with no hikes. The hikes included Annadel State Park, Bodega Headlands, Hunters Camp, Jack London SP, and Foothill Regional Park. Marty and the team, Dan Rosaschi, Mark Campbell, and MJ Girard will host hikes and walks in 2025 as well, including Roseland Community hike in February. The hike/walk program is great for socializing, exercising, team building, and having great lunches! The team is looking to increase participation in this important Club activity.
Thank you to Cindy, Mark, Penny, Marty, and the rest of the executive team for a fun, interesting, and helpful Club Assembly.
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!
Stacy Drucker-Andress paused in preparations for Sunrise first ~ of hopefully many breakfasts and other events at Chop's Teen Club last week.
As in all Sunrise enterprises, planning, prep, sweat and collaboration blended into our first meeting/club assembly. The set-up may morph, but our tradition of creative adapting continues to attract and retain members.
Max Bridges scans the landscape for optimal banner and flag displays. Breakfast seating and the gavel ring are just hours away.
And the first in line is .MJ. Gerard, served by Ken Petro.
See you on the 16th: Chow down at Chop's Teen Club!!
Sunrise Rotary Paving the Path to Success! And, Ridgway's School Garden.
The Ridgway School in Santa Rosa is a continuation high school, and many of the students face difficult challenges. Thanks to Curtis Short, a retired landscape architect, there is a beautiful garden in the middle of campus where students can have a nice place to have lunch or relax and also participate in gardening. Rotarians from Santa Rosa Sunrise, in collaboration with Sebastopol Sunrise, have helped enhance the garden with previous work parties to install picnic benches and build planter boxes that are now filled with thriving plants.
This past Saturday, the garden area got an accessibility upgrade. Previously, the gravel walkway and picnic area were difficult to access with wheelchairs or other assistive devices. Rotarians upgraded the gravel area to a new crushed granite surface that is more firm and easier for all to access. This project will allow more students to access and enjoy the garden.
To accomplish the task, the new material had to be moved from a big pile to the garden area using shovels and wheelbarrows, then spread evenly with rakes, then compacted with a vibrating plate compactor from the rental place. It looks great and is much more solid than the previous gravel surface.
While on-site, Rotarians also helped prepare a different area to become an extension of the pumpkin patch. This required removal of some very hearty crabgrass and the previously installed plastic "weed control" barrier (which was clearly not working!) We made a lot of progress, but there is still more preparation work to do - perhaps a future work party!
Many thanks to the following participants from Santa Rosa Sunrise Rotary: Warren Smith, Cindy Gillespie, Leroy Carlenzoli, Dan Rosaschi, Olin Leasher, Mattew Crooks, Harry Coffey, Paul O'Rear, Peter Hoberg and friend Doug Lewis, and the following participants from Sebastopol Sunrise Rotary: Bill Sauber and David Mark Raymond.
A man walks into a hotel and asks the Front Desk Agent for a room. The Front Dest Agent asks, “Do you have a reservation?” The man responds, “No, but I have a lot of confidence.”
I always walk into meetings at my home club of McMurray, Pennsylvania, with a smile on my face.
A few years ago, someone arrived late. Instead of scolding the person, we cheered. Since then, we’ve made it a tradition to applaud all members when they arrive for meetings. It’s tough not to smile with a greeting like that.
There’s nothing more powerful for engaging and retaining members than a club that’s vibrant, welcoming, and — yes — fun.
Think back to what drew you to Rotary. Chances are, it wasn’t just the service projects or professional networking. It was the people — the friendships, the shared laughter, and the joy of working toward a common purpose. That’s what keeps us coming back.
If you’re looking for that sense of joy in your meetings, don’t be afraid to ask yourself and your fellow members some tough questions. If you were a prospective member, would you join your current club? It’s a powerful question but don’t stop there.
Do members of your club feel that they belong? Are your meetings fun? If not, what can you do about it together?
At your next meeting or event, try something new to bring out a few extra smiles. It’s the simple things that create lasting bonds and make clubs simply irresistible.
Here’s one example of a club moving in the right direction. The Rotary Club of Fukushima, Japan, has been combining environmental responsibility with community fun since 2021. In Japan, people have made picking up trash into a sport known as SpoGomi, and every year the club hosts a game. This year, more than 400 participants cheered each other on while they came together to improve their community.
This event is an excellent example of how Rotary clubs can have fun, make a difference, and raise awareness for broader global challenges all at the same time. And the inclusive, family-friendly format allows people of all ages to participate.
When we enjoy what we do, that energy becomes contagious. It’s what attracts new members and keeps our clubs strong and engaged. It helps people feel that they belong.
Retention and culture go hand in hand. The healthier our club culture, the more likely members are to stay. Rotary magazine is an outstanding resource for inspiration on how to enhance our club culture and deepen member engagement. I encourage you to explore the stories and strategies in these pages, drawing from other clubs’ successes to find ideas that work for you.
Together, we can create a more engaged, enjoyable, and inclusive Rotary that every member can feel proud to be part of. Let’s continue with renewed commitment and enthusiasm, living The Magic of Rotary.
You can find all prior "RI President's Messages" at this LINK
January marks a fresh start, a time to take stock of what we have achieved and plan for future success.
It is important to remember that we are in the middle of a major year for fund development. The Rotary Foundation has set an ambitious goal to grow Rotary's Endowment to $2.025 billion by this year, 2025. This will only be possible through the generous support of every person reading this message.
January is also Vocational Service Month, when we recognize how vital each member's professional calling is to the work Rotary accomplishes.
During the Arch Klumph Society weekend in October, Gay and I were inspired by the diverse vocations represented among some of our most generous supporters. They included teachers, engineers, health care professionals, and builders. Uniting them was a shared commitment to building a better world through The Rotary Foundation.
So many of us bring the insight of our professions into Rotary through Vocational Service. The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers exemplifies this. These Rotary members use specialized skills to guide project planning, grant applications, and evaluations, ensuring the projects you fund and implement are sustainable and effective.
The work of The Rotary Foundation, from safe water initiatives to literacy programs, depends on regular giving by our members. One convenient solution for many is Rotary Direct, which provides a simple way to make monthly, quarterly, or annual contributions. This empowers Rotary to plan effectively, respond promptly to urgent needs, and continue transforming lives.
The Paul Harris Society, which honors those who contribute $1,000 or more annually, also strengthens the Foundation. Paul Harris Society members, like Klumph society members and Rotary Direct contributors, embody the spirit of sustained giving.
When setting your personal goals for this year, remember that by supporting The Rotary Foundation, you extend your impact worldwide. Every contribution — no matter the size — adds to the momentum driving meaningful change. So, as we enter 2025, let us reaffirm our commitment to The Rotary Foundation.
By combining our efforts and our giving with others in our great organization, we can truly say that no matter our vocation or location, we are contributing to a global force for good.
Thank you for all you do.
You can find all prior "Messages from the Foundation Trustee Chair" at this LINK
Get your cowboy hat. Your Rotary pals in friendly Canada are excited to welcome you to signature convention events, including dinner in their homes, a country music jamboree, and boot-stompin’ celebrations of the Western culture in Calgary.
“We’re a big small-town city, and so the hospitality we have, the ticketed events, the experiences — they will be fantastic,” says Mark Starratt, co-chair of the Host Organization Committee for the Rotary International Convention 21-25 June. Buy tickets at rotarycalgary2025.org.
Grandstand Spectacular, 21 June
This night of showmanship includes Indigenous hoop dancing, toe-tapping music, and horseback relay races.
Image credit: Calin Charles
Rockin’ the Big Tent, 22 June
Country music fans and people who want to sample Calgary’s Western charm will enjoy the honky-tonk beats and twangy guitars. The concert is billed as the night “Rotary rocks the roadhouse” in the Nashville North tent.
New Blood with the Calgary Civic Symphony, 22 June
The dance show features Peter Gabriel’s music and explores Blackfoot traditions through the story of a man who survived a government residential school for Indigenous children.
Host hospitality evening, 23 June
For this convention favorite, members invite Rotary visitors to their dinner tables, restaurants, or other venues to “break bread and share in fellowship,” Starratt says.
Western Ranch Showcase, 24 June
You may notice you’re holding your breath from excitement when you watch bronc riding of the “wildest, orneriest, out-of-line” horses. The organizers advise, “Pull down that hat brim and hold on tight.”
This story originally appeared in the January 2025 issue of Rotary magazine.
Join us for the Rotary International Convention in Calgary, 21-25 June.
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