March 11, 2014 Club Meeting

reporter: Brian Lockwood

Meeting called to order by President Ron Sandidge

Pledge: Alex Matthews

Thought:  Trina Coffman-Gomez

Guests: Row DeMar, Marketing Director of Store More America Self Storage

Visiting Rotarians: Kristin Fabos (Watsonville), Laurel Jones (Watsonville), Rocky Franich (Watsonville), Constantine Gheriger (S C Sunrise)

Correspondence and announcements: Date: 2-15-14

Dear Mr. Howell / Mayers [sic],

              I enjoyed the opportunity of going in to your work place and getting the chance to observe you doing your job. I saw how difficult your days are. Also, how extensive of a vocabulary you need in order to succeed as a lawyer. I learned that people that work in your professional field are intelligent and dedicated. Especially because they have to re-write things many times. For instance, when I wrote the thank you letter at the end of the visit, it occurred to me that even the smallest errors can have a large impact.

            I like to thank you again for taking the time to educate me on your everyday life as a lawyer.   

Sincerely,

          Debbie Alvarez  

Reading Across America Day at Freedom Elementary School last Friday – thank you to Edie Abendschan

Thank you to Jeannie for straightening out the storage container

Doug: 30th Annual Casino Night, March 15 - - All hands on deck in the Harvest Building at the Fairgrounds 9:00 AM on Saturday.

Community Service project Saturday, March 29, 9:00 AM Main Street or Riverside Drive

Freedom Rotary Board of Directors meets Tuesday, March 25 10:30 AM at Watsonville Civic Plaza 4th floor

Detective:  filling in for the ever shy Danny Carrillo is none other than Rodney Tequila Brooks. Fines to all Freedom Rotarians who have not secured at least one donation for table sponsors for Casino Night . . . and there were too many who had to pay up.  Alex Matthews for being "up to no good"; Bill Barton for reading instead of playing in Baja California; Aloke Mukherjee for "No stinking badges'; Kirk Schmidt for being on crutches again, 3rd ?, no 4th time; Remi Duque for beverage that looks like beer but is allegedly "just apple juice"; Danny Most Dangerous Carrillo for "never, ever" being detective at a meeting of Freedom Rotary; Sandy Petznick landing the wrong way in Austin, Texas; Ron Sandidge for wearing flashing pin given by President-elect Vince Garcia - pin displays new R I logo for 2014-15 "Light up Rotary"

Raffle: Phil Buckwalter - - to Brian Lockwood (coffee mug); Ron Ince (juice); Bill Barton (used basketball hoop donated by Coach John Wooden)

Program feature:

Speaking with us today about Eleanor Roosevelt is Dr Laurel Jones, president of Cabrillo College. 

This is the County-wide premiere of her presentation "Eleanor Roosevelt: A Space in Time." Laurel did her Dissertation for her Ed.D.
(Doctorate in Educational Leadership) on "Emotional Intelligence and the Leadership Style of Eleanor Roosevelt." 

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962) was named after her mother Anna and her aunt Anna. Since Eleanor was very young, she went by her middle name, Eleanor. Eleanor's mother died of diphtheria when Eleanor was eight. Her father died almost two years later of problems with alcoholism. Eleanor was almost ten then. Eleanor Roosevelt's father's brother was President Teddy Roosevelt. Eleanor loved him a lot. Teddy Roosevelt was the president during at the Roosevelt-Roosevelt wedding. Eleanor was the only first lady not to have to change her last name when marrying since her husband was a Roosevelt and she was too. Eleanor and Franklin were fifth cousins, once removed. They knew each other since Eleanor was two years old. At first they were just friends, but in 1903 they became engaged. Franklin had an affair with Lucy Mercer, his social secretary. When Eleanor found this out in 1918, through Lucy's letters to FDR, Eleanor told her husband to end the affair or divorce her. FDR agreed to end the affair with Lucy for his political career and his children, although Lucy was with him when he died in 1945. Eleanor was appointed to the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations General Assembly by President Truman. She resigned from that position in 1953. Eleanor was also chairman of the Human Rights Commission. After Eleanor resigned, she became an American representative to the World Federation of the United Nations Associations, and later the chairman of the Associations' Board of Directors. President John F. Kennedy appointed Eleanor as a member of the National Advisory Committee of the Peace Corps and the chairman of the President's Commission on the Status of Women. Incurred the wrath of Southern conservatives during the Depression when she visited the South and discovered that local officials of the WPA (Works Progress Administration, an agency set up to provide government jobs such as highway, bridge and building construction for the unemployed) were deliberately excluding blacks from the program. Outraged, she informed her husband, who ordered an immediate cessation to the practice after firing several agency officials (many Southerners afterwards referred to blacks they saw working on government projects as "Eleanor's niggers"). She further alienated many in the South when she pushed both her husband and Congress to end official racial segregation in the armed forces (although that policy wasn't finally implemented until several years after her husband died). Travelled extensively once FDR contracted polio, serving at his request to be "eyes and ears" of presidency.

Reminders:

No meeting next week, March 18

Next meeting, March 25 is at Watsonville Fire Dept. 115 2nd St, Watsonville