Last Thursday, our guest speaker was Past District Governor of Ireland Patrick "Barney" Callaghan. Barney is no stranger to our club and once again provided a great talk. Please read Bob Ricks recap and watch the zoom recording.
Zoom Recording
Passcode: G%.*Z=48
The Firehouse Run has gone virtual this year. Our club has supported this event and the proceeds help our local schools. This year, participants can run or walk on their own and submit their results. Results can be entered starting on December 5 8:30 AM PST and must be submitted by December 20 11:59 PM PST. Reporting is on the honor system.
PP Andy Ratermann took the liberty of setting up a team for The Rotary Club of Santa Clara. Participating in the run this year is primarily a donation. I think keeping it alive would be a good for the community and the school programs they support. If you are interested in participating please click on the Rotary member link.
Here is the Rotary member link http://raceroster.com/events/2020/34995/2020-firehouse-run/pledge/team/292999
Have a great week and see you on Thursday!
Mike Sellers
President 2020-2021
Rotary Club of Santa Clara
The Greatest Rotary Club in the World: Santa Clara, California
Zoom Conference of the Best Rotarians: November 12, 2020
Mike Sellers, President, Zoomer and Referee
Bob Ricks, Humble Scribe on loan from Texas
John Mlnarik, Zoom Master on loan from Nebraska
Zoomer Count: When we restricted the ZOOM for only the best Rotarians we lost a few unnamed members. We still maxed out today at 36. Not bad!
PP Rod “Hang em High” Stafford ripped off the greeting and then inspired us with a Vince Lombardi quote (not a favorite of any Dallas Cowboy fan): “It is not possible for anything to be perfect, but if you chase perfection you can catch excellence”. 
Walt Marwitz was at required attention and led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. No kneelers were noted as we kept our record clean.
PP Colleen Noll and her #1, Mike Harding, will be celebrating his birthday in Texas this year. Gavin Newsom will be following the number of people at her party for Mike as Gov. Gavin now has a committee delegated to follow any California couple that leaves the state for the express purpose of meeting with friends. Stay tuned. So far Gavin has lost three committee members that failed to return to California.
Harbir Bhatia will celebrate 6 years in TGRCITW after a close, close, close race for the Santa Clara City Council. Well done, Harbir. The Club is proud of you.
WE CARE: Good News! No one to report on this week.
President Mike took the time to wish all veterans in our club a THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE. Vietnam Vets PP Ted Keech and PP Walt Marwitz earned a special call out along with PP Phil Auger, PP Bill Carver, PP Bob Ricks, PP Larry Fargher, PPFAD John Bertolotti (drum major extraordinaire) and Nick Livak. If I missed someone it is my fault. Well done, guys! Thank you.
Board Meeting Notes:
The board authorized a $500 donation to St Justin’s food pantry and a $250 donation to Next Door Solutions. There will be no Marsalli Thanksgiving this year due to you know what.
We are in discussion with the Elks Club on Martin as a place to hold our meetings in person when we can return to that format. This club has used the Elks in the past.
PP Lorenzo Rios brought it to the club’s attention that there has been severe flooding in Honduras. He and Harbir Bhatia are chairing a committee to collect clothing donations we can send to the people there. The need is great. More details to follow on how you can help.
Sad News: There will be no club Christmas party this year. President Mike said they are trying to get one party together in February to serve as a Christmas/President’s Dinner if the virus is at bay. We also may try to do a smaller club happy hour the week of December 17 in lieu of the party normally held in December. Stay tuned. The President Nominee for 2022-23 will remain secret until we can get all together.
Our board voted “no” on a proposal to reduce the age requirements on Interact from the current 12 to age 5. This is one change being submitted to RI this year and our board had a vote.
Don Skinner has created and is volunteering to contact both Wilcox and Santa Clara High Schools to determine the names of students killed in military service from the Vietnam conflict to date in order to get a special memorial plaque with names for these Santa Clara kids. It will be located at the Veteran Memorial in Central Park. Great idea, Don!
Firehouse Run: The run this year will be virtual. It will “run” December 5 to 20. Andy Ratermann is putting together a team for Santa Clara Rotary. Don’t worry…...no actual running is required.
Rotary Foundation: Many members have been contacting Sandy Allen and President Mike to find out how much they need to donate to get a Paul Harris Award this year. Sandy is preparing a report and will send you that information. NOTE: You can also go to the RI website, sign on to your personal account and find your personal information there. If you have never set up a page on the site you need to do that first. I looked at my report last week.
Congratulations: Our club was recognized by the Santa Clara City Council for our work and donations to the Food Pantry. Harbir, Ana Vargas-Smith, DGIW Jan-Eric Nordmo and Debra York were the main workers on this project. Well done! 
The date for Christmas for Kids has changed. Make a note. It will now be on Friday, December 18 from 3 to 7 pm at the Family Resource Center. PP Colleen Noll updated us on the effort today as we are getting ready for this year. Below are a few of her slides. 
Colleen will be updating all on the event in the next few weeks. Note: You can send a gift for the event by ordering through our account at Amazon. This works great. The list of the elves already enrolled in not all inclusive…..you can still volunteer! Bob “the voice” Buchser will again be Santa Claus and will once again grace the special Tom Brown Santa Chair. Bob is now up to 8452 kids in his lap photos and will add more this year.
So, Get involved! We are shooting for bikes, helmets and scooters this year. That is the good news. The bad news is that the virus has killed our fundraising efforts. We will need a great effort by all in the club to pull this off.
So far we have 150 students we want to host and present gifts to. This is a MAJOR EFFORT.
Comments on the Slides: Barney Callaghan is well known to our club. He has visited us twice in person and this time he spoke from Ireland. The second slide is Barney in full Governor’s regalia (Jan-Eric has photos of the official necklace and has contacted Patti Smith) along with his wife Ursula, also a dues paying Rotarian.
Barney and his wife have made many good friends from our club and he thanked them for their past hospitality. Getting an Irish shout out were Mike Sellers, Andy and Caren Ratermann, Rushton and Tabitha Hurley, Jan-Eric and Nicola Nordmo along with future governor Eric Nordmo, Harbir Bhatia, EZ Perez and Texan Lou Ann Alexander. As Barney said, “Our paths will cross again”.
He had a greeting for us in Gaelic. Andy Ratermann will translate for you.
The green island slide is Ireland from a satellite photo. Beautiful. Just like the Bay Area hills in summer.
Barney and PP Ted Keech have something in common…..both MPs. Ted still has his billy club. The photo is Barney on duty in Lebanon. He developed a special love for the country while stationed there.
Barney had a great presentation as usual. You need to watch the video that President Mike posts on Club Runner.
His comment on Polio was simple and to the point. Barney and Ursula have a 6 year old granddaughter. He said, “when my granddaughter is a grandmother herself I want her to be able to say my grandparents helped the world eliminate polio forever”. That is Rotary. Thinking for the future.
EZ did the introduction for Barney and sucked up big time. Wonder what country’s flag that is? He should be a lawyer. And how did EZ know Pete Best? Didn’t he play for the 49ers in the 50s?
Lastly:
Above is a genuine Larry Sacks photo of our team at work on October 24. Thanks, Larry. The article and photo appeared in the Santa Clara Weekly. Print this photo and write down the names of the Rotarians…...it could be fun.Another great project in the bag for TGRCITW! Outstanding!
See you next week………….