Meeting Recap January 14, 2021

Last Thursday, we had three high school students participate in our speech contest.  All three of them did a great job.  You must read Bob Ricks recap to see who helped Heath with his bad jokes.  A special thanks goes to PP Bob Buchser and Heath Hanich for putting this contest together with the school district.  I will hopefully get the recording of the meeting tomorrow and will make it available to everyone.

 

This Thursday, Andy arranged for Julie "The Brain Lady" Anderson to speak to our club.  This will be a great presentation and a must see!

 

The link for this meeting is below and hope to see everyone there.

 

Mike Sellers

President 2020-2021

Rotary Club of Santa Clara

 

Mike Sellers: President, Leader of the Masked

Bob Ricks, Always Humble Scribe

John Mlnarik, Zoommeister

 

 

 

Zoomers for the Meeting:  42 dedicated Rotarians and a few esteemed guests. Most participants were dressed in Pre-Covid clothing. There was only one member in pajamas this meeting.

 

 

Tim Ford gave a rousing Shout Out and Inspiration.

 

Tim indicated that he was a Silver Lining Type Person. Out of dark times always come great things. He noted how the depression made us do things differently as well as other bleak times in our history. He is now witnessing an America adapt to the changes brought on by the pandemic that will make us a better country in the end. We had the same mask controversy 100 years ago during the Flu Epidemic of 1918. Now the Covid 19 problem has taught us how to bring vaccines to the public more rapidly than ever. This is sure to pay off in the future. And the growth of Zoom….a time saver for all is now used by many. Tim then went on to list other innovations that were developed to respond to a national crisis that paid great dividends in the future.

 

As a side note: There is no evidence that this sign has slipped into any California Armadillo Willy’s yet…...but wait:

A sign of the times.

 

PP Joe Sweeney and myself were the two visiting Rotarians. I had to be here or President Mike would track me down. Sweeney showed up to let us all know he had now lassoed a goat. That was his final task to accomplish for full time membership in the Prescott Rotary Club.

 

One note from last week: Yes Jan-Eric did drive his 85 foot RV to the local Benihana Restaurant to celebrate Nicola’s birthday. He wanted to eat Take-Out in style. Trouble is, they were busted by the Local Guys. So much for Defunding the police. Hopefully he got some pictures of being towed away.

 

Dick Brooding celebrated his birthday on January 13. We don’t see Dick at the meetings too much anymore but any long term Rotarian remembers fondly Dick’s great humor and dedication to skiing. We all wish him a Happy Birthday!

 

Our resident Grinch (we even bought him the costume), PP Ted Keech also celebrated on January 13. Ted reports he enjoyed a great Hamburger and Margarita at Holder’s with our Secretary of State, PP Dan Holder. We did not discover who picked up the tab.

 

Congratulations of January 15 to Deborah York…...one of the hardest workers in this club. Period. Hope she had a great day!

 

Anniversary:  President Elect Bill Kelly and Barbara are celebrating 37 years married TODAY. Bill reports that they were married between semesters while attending San Jose State and have been together ever since. Congratulations!

 

Larry Sacks is celebrating two years in TGRCITW on January 17. As we will find out later…...he does not write jokes for a living. Thanks for your service Larry.

 

 

Yes, this is Don Skinner.

 

Don wanted to let all of us know that two long time Santa Clarans had recently passed away: Ann Biagini and Juanita Anderson. Both women are from old Santa Clara families and will be missed greatly.

 

Ted Keech noted that PP Stan Chinchin is back in the hospital to check up on his recent heart surgery. We are all pulling for Stan….one of the great members.

 

Another past member we all remember fondly, Aldo Bertolotti, is in the hospital for Covid at age 99. PFAD John Bertolotti reports that his dad is being released to home for recovery. Aldo always kept John somewhat legit when they were both in the club. You could always look at Aldo smiling and shaking his head when John got a little too deep into one of his diatribes about shrinking RIM membership. The club is all praying for his recovery. We miss Aldo and his humor at the meetings.

 

Dan Winter caught Covid but is now recovering and was online for this meeting. Fantastic!

 

President Mike reported that the Board had approved a $150 per month donation to the JW House during the pandemic. This was brought about by a few “volunteers” into his recently resurrected $50 CLUB. Mike is still seeking more volunteers to join this exclusive Club or a draft may be instituted.

 

Bill Kelly and Stella Kemp are deep into the details of organizing our first ZOOM SOCIAL EVENT. The date is February 13. It will be in lieu of our annual President’s Dinner. The Party will entail learning how to cook Cajun style and may even include a famous Pat O’Brien’s Hurricane Glass. Stay tuned for final details on how to get online to attend…….(I got my first Hurricane glass at age 18 after driving the 600+ miles to NO from Dallas with two high school buddies. It was an eventful weekend.)

 

President Mike at this point thanked all the Board Members, Directors and membership for the outstanding job done so far this year in keeping all our programs in place and vibrant during a Pandemic Year. We have not missed a beat! Let’s finish strong with another fun 6 months.

 

Speech Contest:  Heath Hanich! The Speech Master. Our Jokester!

 

 

At this point President Mike turned it over to Heath Hanich to review the rules and set the parameters for this year’s speech contest. Heath has now been at this for 9 years after Bob Buchser ran out of jokes. Bob ran the contest since 1982 so at least he had a good bag of jokes…...well, mostly…..to take if for that long.

 

Heath recognized all the members and volunteers that made the contest happen this year even with Covid. Special Thanks went to Patti Smith, timer, Don Skinner, vote tabulator, along with volunteers Michelle Schmitz, Joe Ayla, Tamika Brock, Katy Weeks and our own Bob Buchser. Our judges were Jos Hanan, Doris Pickering and Jeff Nott. They have all judged for us in the past and were here again to assist. Thanks to all.

 

The speeches this year were required to be themed around the Rotary Four Way Test. Our speakers were as follows:

 

 

The speeches were all interesting, well constructed and expertly presented. Fortunately we have them all on video and available on Club Runner for any member to view. You will not be disappointed.

 

Speaker A, Danielle Schmitz, won the top prize of $300. Speaker C, Medha Iyer, won second place of $200 and Speaker B, Nithya Yeluri won third place of $100. All did an outstanding job. Danielle will represent our club at the next level of the District contest.

 

Andy has done it again. Author Julie Anderson will be our guest speaker. Her books are on the brain and brainstorming. Andy guarantees a very interesting presentation and he has not failed us yet……..see you on January 21.

 

NOTE: Any member that wants a copy of any of the jokes made during speaker intermissions in today’s meeting must contact Heath Hanich, Larry Sacks, Bob Buchser or Don Skinner. The estates of Rodney Dangerfield, Buddy Hackett, and Bob Hope would not allow me to print them in this bulletin.