March 4, 2014 Club Meeting

reporter: Brian Lockwood 

Meeting called to order by President Ron Sandidge

Pledge: Fred Betz and Ron Ince

Thought: Danny Carrillo, "Hire people smarter than you."

Visiting Rotarians: Margarita Cortez (Watsonville), Kimberly Ferm (Watsonville), Ed Banks (Watsonville), Peter Huber (Santa Cruz)

Correspondence and announcements: 100+ Men Who Care of Santa Cruz County meets Thursday, March 6. A volunteer body with no staff or administrative cost. 100% of funds donated at each quarterly meeting goes to organizations in need as selected by the membership. To date $15,000 has been raised in six meetings. Stated purpose: men supporting causes that advance, support, and enrich lives of boys, young men, men, and fathers. http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_23507533/100-men-who-care-raises-donations-100-at

Reading Across America Day at Freedom Elementary School this Friday, March 7, 9:00 - 10:00 AM. We will meet in the Main Office at 8:55. 

S C Warriors game this Saturday at Kaiser Permanente Arena, 140 Front St, Santa Cruz. Game begins at 7:00 Arrive in time to pick up your t-shirt.

Doug: 30th Annual Casino Night, March 15 Receipts on NCR paper (duplicate) are for prize donors, NOT table sponsors. Be at stoarge container near airport at 8:00 AM to help load up equipment for transportation to Fairgrounds. Otherwise be at harvest Building by 9:00 AM to finish preparations for the event.

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

Detective:  Phil Buckwalter (absent) represented by Kirk Schmidt who issued fines - - to Ron Sandidge for writing what was allegedly a sentence improperly referring to more than the correct number of PVUSD high schools; to John Skinner for misguided reference to "men type people"; to Fred Betz for wearing a cap supporting libraries where over in New York; Vince Garcia for no show to Interact Area 10 Charity Dinner; Dave Kegebein for not being senile; Ed Banks for being Man of the Year; Paul Vitali and Steve Bennett for some good reasons but not detected by this reporter.

Raffle: Mark Bisbee prizes to Gloria Garing (oven mitts); Steve Bennett (matching coffee mugs); Peter Connery (sweatshirt); Kimberly Ferm (earrings); Paul Vitali (soap)

Program feature:

Speaking with us today about the Project Homeless Connect is Peter Connery, Vice-President and CFO of Applied Survey Research. Biennially, communities across the country conduct comprehensive counts of their homeless population in order to gain a better understanding of the current homelessness in their community, and to apply for federal funding for homeless programs. Santa Cruz County has worked in conjunction with Applied Survey Research (ASR) to conduct the Santa Cruz County Homeless Census and Survey for adults, families and unaccompanied children every two years, since 2001. Based on the 2013 count, it is estimated that Santa Cruz County is home to more than 3,536 individuals experiencing homelessness. Project Homeless Connect is a one-day community wide event that provides housing support and quality of life resources to individuals experiencing homelessness in our community. The Santa Cruz PHC event will be May 20th and recently relocated to a bigger site at the Kaiser Permanente Arena... and expanding into a Watsonville event in November 2014 at Vets Hall. 

15% of homeless individuals in Santa Cruz County are living in families with children under the age of 18

11% of the local homeless population are veterans of the U.S. Military