The Governor Arrives

If you were a Rotarian and if you had ascended to the 'executive level' in our Club, you were treated to a lot of Rotary today.  Here's the gist of it:

 

Meeting #1  President Sean hosted our regular monthly Club board meeting, with District Governor (DG) Barbara Tracy and her husband Jim both in attendance.  President Sean would have started the meeting on time, but he apparently had low tire pressure or something similar.  As is our custom at bored meetings, Club Secretary Tracy gave an update on our current membership (27) and then Club Treasurer Pat Orelli threw the Prez under the bus for not understanding our budget.

 

 

 The Prez replied, "I can explain it to you, I can't understand it for you."   The net: it's a good thing our Crab Feed is coming up.  PP Chapman then stumbled through a brief membership committee report, which drew comment from a number of people around the table, at which point Chapman offered to resign and suddenly everyone liked him again.

 

 

 Tom Redmon reported on our PR effort, including a nice piece in the City newsletter highlighting our Club.  Brud Dufficy gave a very comprehensive report on our projects this year, including a brief description of our water purification project in India.  Well done. 

 

 

DG Barbara then talked about some of the changes in Rotary that have been appearing in recent years and emphasized some areas of interest she has, and of course urged all of us to attend District Conference in Santa Clara in May.  More on that in the Meeting #2 description.  Bored meeting concluded mere minutes before the Club meeting was due to begin and the bored all headed across the hall.

 

Meeting #2  Well, other than the pressure of making sure everyone used utensils while eating lunch, President Sean ran the meeting as if he had been doing it for months...  Starting off at the door was Bob McBee as greeter, and then when it came time to start (again almost on time) it was Ross MacCarty who got us off to a flying start by reciting the Pledge from memory.  PP Chapman then proceeded to lead one of the best renditions of God Bless America that this reporter has ever heard in our Club... okay, not up to the standard of a Gary Spainhower God Bless America... but pretty darn good, if you ask me.

 

 

 

 While everyone was still standing some guests were introduced: Angela Spease, past president of the Laguna Elk Grove Rotary, First Man (?) Jim Tracy from the Rotary Club of South Sacramento and this reporters favorite visitor, Layla, Beth Walter's granddaughter.  

 

Thankfully, that concluded the prelims and we all got down to the serious business of eating a delicious lunch prepared by West Coast Events Chief and Chef, David Maestas, consisting of salad, stuffed mushrooms (yum!~), mashed potatoes, and roast pork (although Beth got Layla to eat it by telling her it was chicken... what a grandma...)  

 

 

As is our custom, once conversations got interesting the Prez jumped up and squashed the whole thing by launching into ... you guessed it... announcements.  I should note here that a number of them were actually important and bear repeating here:

 

     1. The Halloween Hold 'Em tournament is going to be on the 29th and we will be forever grateful for anyone who can come to either play or work.  See/call Melody

 

     2. Our Crab Feed is coming up in February (the 'zact date escapes me at the moment), so start thinking about the people you want to invite.  For more info, see/call Melody

 

 

Once the announcing was complete, it was time for the Ray Wyatt weekly Club Rip-Off.  Unfortunately for Ray, this week is 'twas Navin Naik whose number was called and then Navin, being the charitable soul he is, went for and got a white ball, thereby passing up a big payday worth $30!  An item that your reporter inadvertently glossed over last week when Brett Shreiner won the pool for $208: Brett turned right around and donated the entire amount to the Rotary Foundation!  That is a remarkable act of charity and if you do the new math on his net gift to the fight against polio, it totals up to a staggering $1506!  That's a lot of kids saved from a life of disability.  Thank you, Brett.

 

As surely as Lewis followed Martin, Sgt Ross followed the drawing and all of the day's receipts went to the Rotary Foundation toward Polio Plus.  Ross used the simple expedient of asking everyone in the room how much they wanted to donate and so of course, no one wanted to look like a schmuck, so the donations began climbing.  Luckily for Tom Redmon, he was the first of the Sarge's victims and threw down $102.  Following Tom, most folks added a buck or two in order to make Tom feel bad: Ray Wyatt chipped in $103 when asked and Chase Armer checked with a Sustaining Paul Harris C-note, plus $20 for his birthday.  Way to go, Chase.  

 

 

President Sean did his Paul Harris Sustaining contribution; Navin chipped in $101; just about everybody made the leap.  Even Beth, our world traveler, paid for trips to Europe, New York and Philadelphia... yeeeeesh...   In all, the Sarge estimated he had garnered about $1500, which results in a win for Polio Plus of over $11,000.  I hope all our Club members feel good about this result. 

 

  Well, with the conclusion of the bloodletting, it was up to President Sean to move on to our guest speaker.  Manfully, he rose to his feet and marched to room front and center and began making up stuff about Barbara when he was interrupted by our visitor, Angela Spease, who had come to the meeting specifically to introduce the District Governor.  Nice try, Mr President.  Angela, who many of you will remember, is the better half of the Spease family; her hubby, former Rancho Rotarian Kevin is in a tight race for Mayor of Elk Grove and we wish him all the best.

 

 

 Once the introduction was complete, Barbara stood and immediately introduced her husband, Jim, who now holds the tile of the "DG's Detail Man."  

 

 

  Barbara's talk touched on a number of current issues in Rotary, including introducing us via PowerPoint to RI President John Germ and our Zone Rep and RI Board Member Brad Howard from the Oakland Sunrise Club.  She mentioned that the District motto for this year is "Feel the Power of Rotary." and then went on to describe five (5) goals or areas of focus for Rotary and the District this year.  In short, here is the list

 

     1. Expand each Rotarians' vision and experience

     2. With regard to Polio Plus, "Let's get the job done"

     3. With regard to our nationally declining membership, we should emphasize attraction, engagement and retention

     4. Celebrate the Foundation; this year is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Rotary Foundation

     5. Celebrate the Family of Rotary

 

Space prevents a fuller discussion of the points above, but it was well delivered and gave us an insight into the workings of our organization at the national/global level.  Well done.  The only fly in the ointment occurred when Barbara launched the brief video on the upcoming District Conference in Santa Clara from May 5 to 7 at a hotel near Levi Stadium.  While the Prez promptly (or not) fixed the audiovisual glitch, the DG's Detail Man filled the gap by announcing a zany photo contest, open presumably to any District Rotarian.  Just submit a zany photo of a Rotary event to compete for some swell prizes.  Also Jim asked for volunteers to help flesh out the Sergeant at Arms committee for the District Conference.  Once back on track, we watched a clever video promoting the conference.  Lots of activities will be available and we hope as many Rancho Rotarians as possible will attend.  This concluded the meeting and President Sean urged us to get out in case there might be an earthquake.  Very good and enlightening meeting.

 

Meeting #3   Just when you thought it was safe to vacate the premises, we were reminded that the Club Foundation Board was meeting and it gathered at one of the back tables in the meeting room.  For those of you who don't follow your Club's foundation, here are some current facts:

 

     1. Chase Armer is the president, Brud Dufficy is the Secretary and Paul Schubert is the Treasurer.

     2. The Board consists of 9 members, many of whom are specified (not elected) and one member who is not even a Rotarian

     3. The Club Foundation currently has a net worth of approximately $107,000, which is used primarily to support Club community activities, pay scholarships, provide baby food to the Cordova Food Locker, etc.

 

Your reporter had to leave the meeting early and cannot report on the actual happenings, but on the agenda was a discussion of funding the B Street Theater literacy project and some other current topics.  For more information on how our foundation interacts with the Club, see Chase or Brud or any board member.

 

And that's all the news there is.