Weekly Recap
President Bill Kelly
April 7th, 2022
We had serveral visitors and guests present at the meeting. Our guest speaker made his presentation in person and enlightened our group on the history and power of Pistachios. He brought a nutritionalist from the San Franscisco 49ers who discussed the benefits of Pistachios and provided bags of those tasty treats to eat.
Meeting Highlights
Pledge: This week Rod Stafford led us in the pledge. Thanks, Rod.
Inspiration: This week’s inspiration was led by Dan Winter. Dan talked about our current members who are facing medical challenges and provided a quote to encourage that we continue to support them. Thanks, Dan
Birthdays: A few folks celebrated their birthday this week. Harbir Bhatia celebrated her birthday on April 1st in Poland/ Ukraine. Harbir continues to provide unbelievable support to the Ukrainians. Be safe! Tucker Lasecke celebrated on April 6th and Colleen Noll on April 9th. Colleen was not at the meeting, but I am sure Mike spoiled her with a gift and dinner. Happy Birthday, everyone!
Wedding Anniversaries:
We congratulate CJ and Harbeen, who celebrated their 38th anniversary on April 1st, and John and Joan for celebrating their 46th anniversary on April 3rd. John said they went out for dinner, and he got food poisoning! They should have gone to Jack Holders for dinner. Happy Anniversary everyone!
Club Anniversaries:
Lou Mariani celebrated 7 years on April 2nd, PP Miles Barber celebrated 42 years on April 3rd, Tom Brown and Patti Smith celebrated 6 years on April 7th. Congratulations to everyone for many years of Service Above Self.
Upcoming events:
Area 5170 District Conference, scheduled for April 22, 23, and 24 at the Blackhawk Museum and San Ramon Marriott. We are looking for volunteers to work a short 3-hour shift at the House of Friendship display booth. Meal charges for the conference are provided for by the club for our volunteers. More information is available at the conference website.
Bocce Ball evening social event at Campo di Bocce in Lost Gatos. We’ll be Dark for the lunch meeting as we attend the fun evening event on April 21, 2022. Please contact John Bertolotti or me if you plan on going.
The Milpitas Rotary Scramble Golf tournament will be held on May 7th at the Bay View Golf Course in Milpitas. They will be honoring Denny Weisgerber as the 2022 Hero.
The American Cancer Society is holding its annual Relay for Life on April 30 from 10 am to 10 pm. Tom Brown is leading the fundraising event and is looking for volunteers to help on that day. Contact Tom Brown for more information and to see how you can help.
President’s Report:
Last week, President-elect Tressa Williams provided a recap of the President’s Dinner Cruise. The event was fantastic, but Tressa failed to mention all the Rotarians that were NOT wearing their rotary pin. Thanks to PP Dan Holder, I now feel empowered and took the opportunity to fine the following members $25. Phil Auger, CJ Grewal, Heath Hanich, Colleen Noll, Mike Beck, Tressa Williams, Dan Winter, Lou Ann Alexander, Tom Brown, John Bertolotti, Stella Kemp, Miten Marfatia, and Sandy Allen. That is $325 for the club!
Harbir is representing Rotary, and is working with United Sikhs, a UN affiliated non-profit organization that provides relief services throughout the world. She and her mom were delivering food and toys to families in a refugee camp outside Lutsk Ukraine. The club acknowledged the tremendous effort put forth by Harbir and all those helping refugees each day.
Milpitas Rotarian, Debbie Giordano, attended the meeting to advertise the May 7th Hero Golf Tournament, to be held at Bay View Golf Course.
Bocce is Back! Our annual club social event is back on schedule after taking a couple of years away. John Bertolotti addressed the group today and advised that we’ll be meeting for dinner, drinks, and bocce on the evening of Thursday April 21. We’ll be dark for our normally scheduled lunch meeting on the 21st so that Rotarians can focus on attending this fun evening event. Contact John Bertolotti for more details.
Past President BBQ is scheduled for May 19th. The event will be coordinated by PE Tressa Williams. PP Bob Buchser agreed to be the MC and the event will be at the American Legion Hall. More information to follow.
I attended the District Leadership meeting on Wednesday. Several past District Governors were present. Our very own, PDG Gary Citti, discussed the challenges and successes during his year. DG Flanders provided several updates. Rotary Polio drive has started and $290k has already been raised. PP Lou Ann Alexander has agreed to be our point person for our club. The Women’s Day conference in March was very successful. 210 people attended and 76 of them were non-Rotarian. They are hopeful several people will join after attending this conference. 5170 District Annual Giving will reach over $1 Million dollars. Our District is #2 in the world! Congratulations to all of those who have donated.
Keynote Speaker:
Past President Ken Rowell provided another outstanding introduction to our speaker, as he normally does. Thanks, Ken.
Our guest speaker today was Richard Matoian, President American Pistachio Growers. He and his wife Linda drove from Fresno to attend our meeting. Richard arranged for Jordan Mazur, Nutritionist for the San Francisco 49ers to co-present. Jordan talked about eating the right foods to live a healthy life. He provided alternative food suggestions to reduce sugars and unnecessary fats. He also talked about the benefits of eating pistachios. His presentation ran a little long, but fortunately Richard was able to provide a quick history lesson on growing pistachios and their benefits. Richard also provided every member with a bag of Pistachios.
Special note:
I won Jokers Wild this week and will receive $829 dollars! Thanks to everyone who has donated over the past several weeks. I pledged to donate $100 to Polio Plus and $300 to our Club Foundation. The rest of the money will be spent at Jack Holders.
I hope to see everyone this week.
Mike