Anthony's Curtain Call

Curtain call, you ask?  Read on, dear reader.  Meeting prelims were the usual: Neil Orchard stood in for Merlin Mauk as Greeter and did a fine job representing the Mauk family.  

 

 

Navin was drafted to lead the Pledge and was followed swiftly by Jerry Smuts leading a pretty good version of God Bless America.  The President's Quote for the Day was authored by some guy named Einstein; I believe his first name was Frank.

 

 

 Guests; we had a few: Clarence's friend and protege' Sharon Ewing, Rotaractor Kyle MacLachlan and Craig Stevenson from South Sac Rotary were all in attendance.

 

 

 The usual announcements were cast upon the waters and then it was time for our Foundation Chair Clarence to give one of his periodic pep talks about contributing to the Foundation and today he focused on becoming a Benefactor, an easy step for most of us due to the nature of the gift coming after we're room temp.

 

 

 Then, just as we expected Clarence to retake his seat, he steadfastly refused to give ground and even called Jerry Smuts forward to receive his 4th Paul Harris Fellowship!  

 

 

Way to go, Jerry!!!  You have made a difference in the lives of a lot of people around the world that you will never meet.

 

No sooner had Clarence and Jerry reseated themselves than Kyle came up to announce a Rotaract project taking place this weekend in which Rotaract is looking for volunteers to help out in a job fair sort of setting.  Hopefully we'll get more on that in the next day or two and see if any of our members can help out our Rotaract Club at Sac State.

 

Traditionally, we would have done the weekly Ray Wyatt retirement fund drawing, but Treasurer Pat Orelli had a surprise up his sleeve.  You guessed it; the Club had amassed enough wealth to draw for one of our periodic Paul Harris Sustaining  memberships.  Imagine the dismay around the room when Pat asked our guest speaker, Ashley Slovak, to draw a name from the envelope and she read out the name of John Chapman!!!!!!!  When asked about the unbelievable coincidence that Ashley was sitting next to him, Chapman replied, "We're just friends ..."  Well, at that point it was time for the real drawing and this time it was President Sean whose ticket got punched by the selfsame Ashley and with only one white ball remaining in the can, the Prez' chances of walking off with a pantload of moolah (read that any way you want...) was very high.  However, in the tradition of a large number of people not named Ray Wyatt, the Prez found himself wanting.... again.  Tough break, big boy.... we feel your pain.

 

 

As is traditional, the Sarge was up next and Ross Johnson did not disappoint.  Focusing on happy dollars, he first asked if Chapman was happy about his Sustaining Paul Harris, to which the big guy replied, "We're just friends..."  

 

 

Sean got the hook for winning a fine white golf ball and was followed by Ray Wyatt and Pat Orelli who both found themselves sans pins.  The Sarge paid for the exciting North Carolina win and then Rotaractor Kyle chipped in for getting a 100 on a school essay.  Way to go Kyle; that education will pay off.... eventually.  Jerry Smuts paid for being proud of his 4th Paul Harris Fellowship, but the surprise of the day was produced by Anthony Chacon who told us all that he is relocating to El Paso (yes, on purpose...) and taking a job there with a company he used to work for.

 

 

 While this sounds like a step up for him, I think I can speak for all of us and say that our Rotary Club will be diminished by his departure.  We wish you well in whatever you end up doing, Anthony, and you will always have a warm welcome should you return to Sacramento.

 

By this time it was time for our guest speaker, Ashley Slovak, who is the outreach coordinator for an organization called Soldiers Project.  Her organization provides free counselling to current and former military members from all branches of service who have served since 9/11.  

 

Ashley Slovak.... we're just friends.......