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Santa Rosa West
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Santa Rosa West
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President Bill Gittins (sometimes inadvertently misspelled as Gittens) opened our 1272nd meeting with welcoming remarks. Jeff Ray led us in the pledge of allegiance. John Palmer gave a thoughtful invocation. Bo Simmons introduced and welcomed ten visiting Rotarians. Two guests were also introduced and welcomed.
The Big Scare: Louie Capuano was admitted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital last Friday with a serious viral infection. He pulled through a life-threatening crisis over the weekend and is now improving, although he is still weak. President Bill did not know when Louie might be able to have visitors, but he encouraged us to send sunshine greetings to him at the hospital. We're all thinking about you, Louie.
Dedication Date: The Multicultural Child Development Center Preschool will be dedicated on Monday, June 2, not June 4 as previously announced.
District Assembly: The District Assembly will be on Saturday, April 19 in Ukiah beginning at 8:30 am. President Bill requested that all current and next-year Board members and committee chairmen and all Red Badge members attend this session.
District Conference: The District Conference is scheduled on Saturday, May 31 in Eureka.
Youth Exchange: Pete Hoogland announced that housing arrangements have been completed for the young people who will be visiting us from Holland this summer. He also requested that members' sons and daughters age 17-21 who are interested in visiting Holland next summer sign up as soon as possible.
Shoes For Kids: At our next meeting on April 7 a presentation will be made in the Shoes For Roseland Kids program.
Sebastopol Rotary Club: President Bill announced that a spin-off group from the Sebastopol Club has formed a second club which will meet on Wednesday mornings at 7:00 am. at the Veteran's Memorial Building.
Red Badge member Bill Dodson gave an excellent craft talk. Bill is an architect and a principal at the Santa Rosa firm of Witter Jeffries Architects. He received his architecture education at UC Berkeley. His professional emphasis now is designing educational facilities. He is on the Board of Directors of the Redwood Empire Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He is also on the Board of Directors and a past president of the Santa Rosa Thursday Night Market Association. Bill described his architecture practice as rewarding, highly computerized, and laden with regulations of every description.
Martin Miller-Hessel (left) was warmly applauded by the members on the first day of his retirement as pastor of the Knox Presbyterian Church in Santa Rosa. He was featured in the Easter Sunday edition of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, his farewell day in the pulpit at Knox Presbyterian. A highly respected religious and community leader, Martin served as president of the Santa Rosa Interfaith Ministerial Association and vice president of Hospital Chaplaincy Services, and he has been actively involved in a long list of other community services. Although he reminded us that pride is one of the "Seven Deadly Sins," the Press Democrat prominently discussed his "dream," now realized, of the new Multicultural Child Development Center Preschool building on the Knox Presbyterian Church property.
Carl Anderson, who spearheaded the fund-raising drive that made the Multi-cultural Child Development Center Preschool possible, will be honored on April 18 at 6:00 pm at SRJC for his significant contributions to this project at a Child Care Awards community event with refreshments prepared by the Culinary Arts program at SRJC.
Jim Hinton was recognized for his recent appointment by Santa Rosa Mayor Sharon Wright as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Luther Burbank Home & Gardens.
Rich Standard was recognized with a hefty $50.00 fine for his national recognition and travel concerning (did I hear it right?) nutriceuticals (whatever they are).
Jim Underhill was also fined $50.00, however incredible that seems, just for taking the "big trip" with his wife to Mendocino for her birthday! It seems that President Bill's tenure is coming to a close and Jim had escaped any prior good cause for a fine. What if Jim and his wife had gone to, say, Carmel?
Welcome to the club, Tom Tessier, who was recently awarded a Blue Badge and rather quickly recognized with a $50.00 fine. It seems that Tom has made a meteoric ascencion to the presidency of Tips International, Inc. after an association with the company of just four months. The "tips" have nothing to do with the stock market or horseracing. They are "business leads!"
So, Don Ling, where have you been? The answers were worth a $50.00 fine--New Zealand and Australia in January; Lake Tahoe in February; South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida in March, including a cruise on the Inland Waterway; and some "pleasurable business" scheduled in April. Tough life, Don.
John Hathaway and Bob Reinking were on the same South Carolina Inland Waterway cruise, but somehow escaped a fine for that trip. But Bob Reinking was nailed $50.00 for a Carribean trip.
Well, here's the big story! It seems that our Secretary Val Mazzoni (right) got locked up. How? Why? For how long? What's the penalty? Only the penalty part is known for sure--a $50.00 fine. She told us about the handcuffs, the wrong key, the hacksaw job, but there are some details not yet clear.
Mary Chakurian, who has recently had to spend some business time in Yakima, was also nabbed for $50.00, apparently not for the Yakima discomfort, but rather because her son,Tony, recently graduated from college with a degree in geology. This fine seemed to be levied against her new-found wealth, ie., the end of college expenses.
Duncan Holt held the winning raffle ticket for the marble draw, but he failed to pluck out the black marble.
John Palmer won the $20.00 raffle, which he graciously donated to the "whatever fund," whatever that is.
Neil Silverman introduced our very interesting and erudite speaker, Shannon McGowan, MFCC, the Executive/Program Director of The Wellness Community of San Francisco East Bay, a private, non-profit organization located in Walnut Creek which provides psychosocial support without cost to cancer patients. The Wellness Community is a place where cancer patients can come together to build support groups and extended families in the effort to improve the quality of their lives and fight more effectively for recovery. The programs there are facilitated by licensed psychotherapist-facilitators and are broad-based, including workshops, training sessions, and social events.
Shannon is herself a cancer survivor. She said the bad news is that one in three Americans will be diagnosed with cancer, but the good news is that 50% will survive and that there are 9,000,000 survivors in the United States today. She emphasized the family involvement and the focus on quality of life at The Wellness Community.
This week's Bulletin was authored by Jim Hinton.
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