I have attached Bob Rick's recap and the November 19th zoom meeting recording link. PDG Orrin Mahoney spoke to our club about the Rotary Foundation. Walt Marwitz celebrated his 80th birthday with us and received a special gift from Jan Eric Nordmo. You must watch the video to see what he received.
Remember we are dark this week. If anybody shows up to Mariani's restaurant this week you will be fined $100 dollars! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Mike Sellers
President 2020-2021
Rotary Club of Santa Clara
Passcode: P@6=VW&8
The Greatest Rotary Club in the World: Santa Clara, California
Personal Recap for dedicated Rotarians: November 19, 2020
Mike Sellers, President, Zoomer and Task Master
Bob Ricks, Consulting but Humble Scribe
Tressa Williams, Zoom HQ Coordinator
Zoomers in attendance: 35, including long lost Zoomer Dave Cowan. Welcome back to the fold!
Official Greeting and Inspiration:
PP (and current SC Secretary of State) Dan Holder, took us back into the days of yesteryear with a replaying of his presidential intro video from 2011. (The ONLY Presidential intro Video, ever). Dan’s video had to be produced away from home in the kitchen closet of Holder’s Restaurant in secret to avoid any detection by Anna. It is a great video and a better story. Check it out online. It neglected any mention of the podium phone ringing that was to occur at a later date in Dan’s year. Dan’s video included the following inspiration:
Dan also included a reference to a departed, long time member, PP Bob Gutske and his frequent mention that it was a privilege to be a member of the Rotary Club of Santa Clara. Bob exemplified Service above Self. He and I were probably the only two members that had been to Gull Lake in Michigan. I think we can now add Ed Bouwhuis to that list. It is a beautiful spot. Bob learned to sail on its waters. He is missed.
Everyone deserves a second chance: PP Colleen Noll was ready to accept the challenge this time and lead us in the pledge. (She may be off the future inspiration list). Colleen knew all the words and we again had no kneelers. Now Colleen will need to learn an additional pledge that will be required to receive the coveted Texas driver license:
I neglected to warn Bill Carver about this and apologize. He is now driving on a provisional license until he can recite the above from memory. Texas did not accept his “went to Berkeley” excuse. Be prepared, Colleen.
Walt Marwitz (was in Vietnam) turned 80 today! Our own Kenny Rowell (aka Jimmy Fallon) led the SC Zoom Chorus in a rousing Happy Birthday. Walt had already accomplished an additional 50 push ups prior to the meeting as his own celebration so was barely breathing. President Mike also had one more special surprise in store for Walt that will be revealed only if you read this outstanding scribble to the end.
Long lost Dave Cowan will celebrate on November 21 by taking a family trip into San Francisco to visit his daughter. Hopefully he wears a French Laundry approved mask.
Heidi Hanich has her hands full right now. My bet is that she and Heath stay home with Hope. Best wishes to all.
Dan Winter is celebrating 3 years in TGRCITW. Bob Gutske would be proud. Only 40 plus years to go.
In President Mike’s year no one is married. Stay tuned.
We Care: Our prayers and condolences all go out to PP Lorenzo Rios who lost his mother last week.
PP Colleen Noll briefed us again on C4K using the above slides. Basically, we still need additional club involvement to pull our new “Drive Thru” approach to C4K off this year. Our toys will be grouped in categories this year for the kids to receive as their parents drive them through our light display. This takes organization in advance. We will also need assistance getting the lights set. Bob Buchser will again be on display resting peacefully in the Official Tom Brown Crafted Christmas Chair but will have no contact with the kids for photos due to Covid. Bob will have to wait until next year to increase his number of lap photos.
Amazon for Toys: We made it easy to donate toys last year by creating a special Amazon section where you can log into Amazon by accessing our account, choose the toys you want to donate, pay for them and have them shipped by Amazon to our official delivery site. Colleen will give more information on this in the future. It works great!
Firehouse Run: See PP Andy Ratermann on this one. December 5 to 20.
Blake Levins , Leader of Interact, again visited our Zoom to brief us on some of the Interact projects for the year. Along with their own projects the Interact group has been extremely helpful to our club on various projects and we all appreciate their help. 
Above are just a few of the projects that Interact has participated in through Blake’s year in leadership. Well done!
Rotary Foundation: Sandy Allen briefed us on this year’s performance in club donations to the Rotary Foundation. The crusade for the RI Foundation is simple: Every Rotarian Every Year. A $25 donation gets you on that list and helps our club achieve the coveted 100% participation recognition. (This is the same amount we are not paying at present for our weekly lunch). All in all, Sandy reported we are having a good year, but more participation would be appreciated. She has recently sent each member their status with their donations from previous years. Our club’s status will be part of our speaker’s presentation today.
Smile.Amazon:
PP Anton Morec briefed us on Smile. Amazon. Type in the link above. Select your charity as Santa Clara Rotary Foundation. That is all you do. It costs you zero. Then ½ of 1% of all you spend on Amazon will go to the Santa Clara Rotary Foundation! Your purchase prices will not be increased at all. It sounds like a little amount but think what it could add up to if we ALL did this! We have a constant fundraiser! You can also tell non Rotarians how to enroll. It adds up!
Please check it out today.
Our guest speaker was introduced by our own Kenny Rowell after another rousing DAY IN ROTARY PARADISE! Shout out.
Orrin is well known to our club due to his past service as our District Governor. He is also a past two time Mayor of Cupertino and had a successful 35 year career at HP. Orrin was here today to speak about the Rotary Foundation and what you actually support when you support the Rotary Foundation with your donations. Please scroll over a few of the slides from his presentation. You will be impressed at your foundation’s work in the world and also District 5170’s participation.
NOTE: The amount above is just from District 5170…...your District. We are one of the top three districts in giving in the entire Rotary World. The projects noted above are also District 5170 supported projects. This is where our donations go.
Pictured above is our own PDG Ron Seckel in the middle with wife Cindy.
Bottom Line: The Rotary Foundation does great work. Please contact Sandy Allen if you have not made your donation for the year. Thanks Orrin, for an excellent brief on our Foundation. Orrin’s entire video presentation can be viewed on Club Runner. Check it out.
Fair warning. You know who you are:
Last but not Least: What was the Marwitz Surprise for #80? 
Our own DGIW Jan-Eric Nordmo showed up at Walt’s home during the Zoom Meeting and presented Walt with a bottle of his favorite Scotch compliments of TGRCITW. This was a fitting tribute to one of our club’s hardest working members. Happy Birthday Walt! Now get down and give me 20 more push ups!
See you after the Holiday. Have a Great Thanksgiving! Wear your Gavin Masks……...