Meeting Recap - July 9, 2020

Zoomer Mike Sellers, President of Social Media and Club

Bob Ricks, Humble Scribe returning from Quarantine

 

The Inspiration: The last time we had a Miles Barber motivation was truly inspirational: “ Lips that touch liquor will never touch mine”. Four members joined AA the next day. Today Miles went to the history books and quoted none other than Winston Churchill. When accused by a dowager of being drunk,  Mr. Churchill responded: “Mam, tomorrow I will be sober but you will still be ugly”. The Zoom crowd present waved their approval. Chalk another stellar inspiration up to Miles.

 

Miles did also mention one book this Humble Scribe highly recommends: THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE by Erik Larson. It recounts Churchill’s first year serving as Prime Minister of England. London was bombed almost to oblivion. We all know the end results now. Churchill in 1940 knew none of the results. It was day by day. Decision by decision. Compare this to our COVID 19 pandemic now. Someday the history books will report all the Covid results. Today we are like Churchill in 1940. Every day is different and it is day by day. Hang in there!

 

I may have missed a few. Jan Eric is celebrating a birthday. Miten is celebrating a wedding anniversary. Tim Ford and PP Colleen Noll are celebrating club anniversaries. Congratulations to all.

 

President Mike briefed us on all the activities planned for his year and recently completed in Colleen’s year. As our first Zoomer President, Colleen had to create things as the pandemic year progressed. Ever heard of ZOOM prior to March? She did a great job. Now Zoomer #2, Mike Sellers, has picked up the Rotary Torch for 2020-21.

 

The plan is to continue Zoom meetings for the foreseeable future. Attendance will be taken as at a regular meeting and the format going forward will be quite similar to our live meetings. Mike announced that he planned to record all Zoom meetings and post them on Clubrunner for members to review if they missed the normal Thursday broadcast. Bottom line: There is no excuse for not staying involved. We will soon be known as TGZRCITW. Sweeney will have the hats and shirts soon.

 

CJ Grewal will remain as Treasurer and Chief Money Collector until a replacement can be found. This is an important job in our club and CJ needs a break. If you are interested, please let President Mike know. In the meantime, please give CJ a credit card he can use to auto bill your club invoice. This really saves time in handling collections. If any mistake is made on your bill it can easily be rectified.

 

CJ did note that there will be no dues collected for Rotary on July 1 due to Covid. On another note he did congratulate us for making over $21,000 in donations to various organizations during Colleen’s year. We hope to do as well in 2020-21. Our club finances are in good shape even with a Covid disaster in fundraising.

 

Heath Hanich has run out of jokes so Mike had to move him from Speech Contest MC to Club Secretary. At the same time Heath and Heidi eagerly await child #1 due to arrive in late July. The countdown has begun!

 

Dr. Stella Kemp will bring her Texas skills to full service as Club Services Chair. Watch out for some unique social activities. Mike figured that dealing with kids as a profession was excellent training for dealing with Santa Clara Rotarians. Stella also informed us that she will soon be transmitting a Member survey to get a good feel for member interest and fellowship ideas. Please complete your survey when received.

 

Patti Smith will handle Community Service. This is a full plate with many and various activities. Some members can even get a free watch battery from Patti if they participate when called for assistance. The late Mark Grover had thousands. One of Patti’s projects is Christmas for Kids. She needs ideas on how to make this important event happen in December. If you have a suggestion, call Patti.

 

Harbir Bhatia will be in charge of International Service. She has great contacts overseas and we look forward to getting involved in some unique International projects.

 

Tim Ford will continue as Youth Service Director. This includes a relaunch of ELC and our other youth activities. If we are able to resume ELC in April you can be sure you will hear from Tim.

 

Bill Kelly as President-Elect and Colleen Noll as Past President will round out the board for the 2020-21 year. One or two of these members will be reaching out to you for your help in the upcoming Rotary Year.

 

Last year we had a great project set and members ready to go to PR. Covid killed it. Colleen Noll announced that the PR project is still in our sights. We want to determine the best way to get school supplies to these kids. Stay tuned for updates from PP Colleen.

 

Our current membership is 73. Our goal for this year is 85. All members are cordially invited to have a guest sign in for one of our Zoom meetings until we go live again. Teresa Williams had Katherine Talley from Paychex as her guest on today’s broadcast. Once people see our club in action they want to get involved. Remember: 85 in 21! Invite a friend!

 

Our master speaker coordinator, Andy Ratermann, is still on the job for this year. Next week will be our own Dr. Stella Kemp discussing planning a school year in a Covid pandemic. On July 23 we will have Phil McKinney, CEO of Cable Labs. On July 30 will be Andra Watkins relating her story of walking the 444 Mile Natchez Trace.

 

Andy noted that he is always on the lookout for WOW Speakers. Plus, Zoom meetings have opened up our possibilities. We can go worldwide for speakers. If any member has a WOW Speaker, regardless of where they live, let Andy know.

 

PP Mike wanted to let the club know that our club loan program for members is still open and available for members that have been affected by Covid. The fund is here to help. Contact Mike in complete confidence if you need assistance.

 

Our club is going with a six month budget to start the year due to the unique situation with Covid. Our plan is to stay in great financial shape regardless of what the economy or the virus throws us. Some members are making small donations to the club in lieu of their normal meal charges and this is appreciated, but not mandated.

 

We will divert more funds this year to social media in order to get our message out to the public. People that know Santa Clara Rotary want to get involved with Santa Clara Rotary.

 

More social events are on the way. Mike wants to dedicate one meeting day each month away from the standard format and set up a social event for all members, spouses and partners. Details to follow.

 

REMEMBER: We are still meeting each Thursday at 12:30 on ZOOM. We need all members to be involved. No need to wear a mask. Three members attended in their pajamas. We hope to see you online on July 16.

 

TGZRCITW!