It Seemed Like a Normal Meeting...

A red letter day for the Rancho Cordova Rotary, yessir.  It all started off innocuously enough, with Chapman almost greeting several of the attendees.  

 

 

Soon lunch was served and it was very good, with do-it-yourself chipped beef sandwiches, salad and little cakes, presented by our very own Chef Dave.  The Prez called the meeting to order and asked PP Sean if he could read.... the 4 Way Test, which Sean handled with aplomb.  

 

 

Clarence was tasked with starting the Pledge and the first fly in the ointment arrived when Mike Passof was a no-show but was capably replaced by Neil Orchard who nailed God Bless America.  Guests, we had a few, the one of note at the moment was Pat Murphy, a former member who became part and parcel of the events that were to follow.

 

 

With a table full of delicious food available, Rotarians began masticating with abandon (in public, no less) and it seemed almost too short a time before the Prez called the assemblage to order.

 

 

 First on the agenda were the inevitable announcements (DON'T FORGET TO SIGN UP FOR FOUNDATION DINNER ON OCTOBER 28!!! DO IT!!!)  And then suddenly it was time for the highlight of the meeting:  President Brett asked Marvelene Weier to come to the front of the room along with her sponsor, Pat Murphy, and performed a very nice induction.

 

 

 

 At the conclusion, Pat pinned Marvelene and the Prez slapped a 'starter' Rotary badge on her.  Marvelene reflected on her history, in particular her interest in community service organizations and then sat down to wild applause.  Welcome to the Rancho Cordova Rotary, Marvelene.

 

 

Next came the weekly drawing and this time it was PDG Clarence's ticket that was called and true to Marshall University tradition, he promptly flubbed the follow-through, negating his chance at the $120 payoff he would have split with his cohort PPP Chapman.  

 

 

With that debacle out of the way, the PDG regained the stage  and took over as Sarge for the day.  Fines, there were a few... it turned out that our very own president did not have his pin on (even though he came in with one) so he paid.  When the Sarge noted that it was Bob McBee's birthday month, he asked the lone Chicago Bears fan in the crowd to lead the song, and it followed it's usual discordant path to completion.  Brud forked over a few bucks to thank Pat Murphy for being our go-to B Street chair.  Tracy handed over some moolah for school being back in session ( I guess this means no more trips to East Bejeezus for softball tournaments for a while, eh, Tracy?) and then Sharon confessed to getting a new car and paid (it's a nice one...).  

 

 

Your poor editor paid for the spotless regular season record currently enjoyed by his hometown Chicago Bears  and then Merlin Mauk applauded the return of the weekly football pool, which has become a fairly significant part of his disposable income .  The Sarge himself said something nice about the Marshall U.  debate team and then Sean, feeling the heat, fessed up to a nice trip to Maui and paid.  Pat Murphy, in a surprise move, stood up and boasted about her recently married daughter now being pregnant and so she chipped in.  Our guest speaker, Bill Wittich from the Laguna Sunrise Rotary failed the traditional  'best club in the district' question, but before he could pony up the dough, the Prez threw in for him.  What a guy...  Finally, Marvelene, even though she was advised she was fine-free for the day, insisted on throwing some cash into the pot and suddenly, that was it.  

 

 

Clarence remained standing because his role was changing and the next item on the agenda was the introduction of our guest speaker, Dr. Bill Wittich from the Laguna Elk Grove Rotary Club.  

 

 

Bill's topic, as it often is, was membership, both recruiting and retention.  He cited some fairly dire statistics about Rotary in North American and went on to discuss how to turn around the trend  in declining club membership rolls.  Did you know that the average age of Rotarians in North America is 57?  He emphasized how it is all of our jobs to be looking for potential members for our Club.  It was not a 'happy talk' but it brought a very large issue to our attention and it is your board's hope that each of us will take the message to heart and begin asking acquaintances to come to Rotary.  Good talk and it concluded with the Prez offering Bill a choice of books to give away to our public library.

 

 

  With that, Rotarians scattered like conservatives at an Antifa rally.  Good meeting.

 

NEXT WEEK'S SPEAKERS: Mr. Pravin Shelat and Navin Naik, speaking on India's most revered legendary figure, Chanakya