Santa Rosa West

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Scenes from the 1997-98 Year End Celebration

Coming up

July 27
Plans for Santa Rosa Downtown, Regional Urban Design Assistance Team (RUDAT - Link is to home page for RUDAT in Tacoma, WA.)

August 10
Vote on Bylaws Changes

August 24
District Governor Address, Lou Del Sol

August 22-23
Pacific Coast Air Museum Gala

August 31
Adventures in the Ukraine, Robin Marrs

Monday, July 20, 1998

A PRAYER FOR THE CHILDREN

On Your Marks, Get Set...

President Richard Standard rang the bell and invited Bill Gittins to lead the pledge, followed by an Invocation by Martin Miller-Hessel. Paul Schwartz introduced at least 18 visiting Rotarians.

Bill Gittins introduced Tom Skinner as a guest! - both were fined $10. Another Notable was Bob Harris’ wife Sandy, just retired from 26 years of nursing at Memorial: no fine, and that’s fine.

"Good-bye Polio" bumper stickers

Be sure to buy lots of these at $1.00 each; Don't be the last in your neighborhood, get a bunch now, while supplies last.  Check the back literature table.

Sunshine Report

Bob Miller informed us that Moses Mitchell is undergoing dialysis three times a week. Drop him a card, let him know we care.

Announcements

Sallie Kennedy urged us to take time while we are pumping the gas to consider names to bring in of good candidates for membership in the club. Convenient forms were at each table.

Paul Ahearn informed us that we can help the Multi-Cultural Pre-School by buying greeting cards designed by the children on sale at SAWYER’S NEWS on 4^th Street. 100% of earnings goes to the Pre-School.

Paul Schwartz, wearing his INTERNATIONAL SERVICE hat, introduced VON (Von Der Mehden) to tell us about used textbooks (for which our club has picked up the shipping tab) sent to a school in Tanzania where Von’s daughter is a Peace Corp Volunteer teacher. The books were made available by a former member who is a school district administrator. The only Rotary Club in Tanzania has been a partner in this great project.

If you have access to a condo in Hawaii, let Arnie Carston know, so we can keep vacation raffle winner happy. The hotel at which accomodations were originally arranged no longer exists. Pat Sizemore suggested a pup tent in the Beltain Mud Flats as a potential alternative destination.

Rick Rybicki and Lori Burmeyer are offering "incentives" to sell "Club 1998 Dream Vacation" raffle tickets. Over the last couple of weeks every member should have received a personalized envelope with 10 baby blue raffle tickets to sell and full instructions. Sell all your tickets and get a deluxe golf shirt or a hand embroidered sweat shirt. It all helps out the club. Top sales person from 1997 was none other than Jim Valinoti, who got to pick from the next level of incentives - Lotto Tickets, for each additional five raffle tickets sold. So, get out there and sell your tickets...fast!

Induction

Mike Merrill (Past President and District Governor Elect - i.e. SIR! - at left in photo above) invited new member Ed Rich (center) to take one step forward while sponsor Gill Lucas (right) looked on. Mike offered appropriately genuine and challenging remarks about what Rotary means. Welcome to Rotary ED.

Craft Talk

Red badger Fred Zmarsly (that’s "frozen" in Polish) filled us in on his early awakening that there was better weather than that of his home town of Buffalo, NY. After completing his mechanical engineering degree at the U. of Buffalo, he became a California convert, and worked for Lockheed in the field of Heat Transfer (see the thread?). He has two Masters degrees, the second a MBA from the University of Santa Clara and did some Ph.D. work at Stanford. Moving to Santa Rosa, he worked for Optical Coating until 1991. Now, after receiving his contractors license, he is active in the field of single family home subdivision development.

His oldest son is a USC graduate and works for Microsoft in San Jose; his youngest son failed to learn from his father’s meteorological conversion and works in banking in Wisconsin after graduating from Notre Dame.

A late comer to Rotary, Fred is happy to have finally seen the light and hopes to be involved in the area of International Service. WELCOME again!

General Recognition Dept. (a.k.a.: fines!)

Our futuristic President Standard tried to recognize Don Ling for a virtual event. Collection postponed. Bill Fisher (left) was not so fortunate and paid "Caesar" Standard $20 for a recent trip to Italy, where he saw some soccer fever.

Raffle

Dennis Wilkinson won nothing more than an adrenaline rush in his second try for the lucky marble.

Visiting Rotarian Chef Pierre of Chez Peyo turned his $25 over to the Foundation. Thanks.

Reminder re: Leaving Early

Remember, the proper protocol for leaving early is as follows:

1. A visit with the President prior to the start of the meeting and an apology for leaving his/her meeting .

2. A request from the Secretary for an early leaver ticket (or whatever) and the payment for same.

3. An apology to the speaker for having to leave the meeting early (this is most important and at least relieves the speaker of ill feelings at the sight of persons leaving when he/she is announced as the speaker).

Submitted by Jim Valinoti

Internal Service Team Recognition and Reminder

Thanks to:  Ted Miles for set up and take down; Paul Schwartz for greeting visiting Rotarians; Rick Rybicki for selling raffle tickets; Bill Gittins for leading us in the pledge; Martin Miller-Hessel for our Rotary Moment; and again to Martin Miller-Hessel for this Bulletin. 

Next up to bat: Robin Marrs to set up and take down; Martin Miller Hessell to greet visiting Rotarians; YOU to do ticket sales; Scott Bartley will lead us in the pledge; Bill Dodson will give us an invocation; and David Bjorklund will write the bulletin.

PROGRAM: "Kids’ Street Theater"

Janet Codding introduced, Linda Conklin, Executive Director of "Kid Street Theater" (KST) who founded it in 1991 as part of her recovery from a serious injury. She began it as a volunteer program to provide a drama project for children at the homeless shelter for one summer. Seven years later it has blossomed into a remarkable haven of hope.

Linda pointed out that many of the kids she sees have no modeling of the kind we are able to give our own children. They live in a much less hospitable world filled with hurt, fear, and uncertainty.

KST opens up windows of possibility and dreams for children and youth ages 5 - 18. The kids come from the Shelter, from agency referrals and off the streets.

While the original project was a dramatic production, presently the real "theater" of KST is life. According to Linda, the children "learn to care about themselves by beginning to feel good about themselves." Some ways this happens: farming; helping with small repairs around the Railroad Square neighborhood; older kids helping younger ones with school work; "Group Time" where they learn to trust and share; assistance to parents such as computer labs, literacy programs, counseling and parenting classes .

KST is a "one stop shop" for everything from assistance with paper work to on site physicians and access to transportation.

Linda expressed great appreciation for the many ways groups such as Rotary who help through volunteer time. Money is important (KST has an annual budget of $130,000 and receives no government funding), but most important is personal attention and time given by adults and teens.

Currently KST is exploring the possibility of creating a Charter School for suspended kids, many of whom already "hang out" at KST.

Linda fielded quite a few questions, an indication of the liveliness of her presentation. We all learned something and were inspired. We also see opportunities for further connections, especially with S.O.S.

ADJOURNMENT - EVENTUALLY. Our President managed a few more announcements, such as a meeting after the meeting which really wasn’t meeting after-all, a reminder that we will vote on By Laws changes on August 10, and thanking Ginny Pitts for $50 to the Community Fund from her open house.

But the wait was worth it as our President left us with a powerful poem to ponder, "A Prayer for the Children."

Off the Wall

Notes from the  July 14, 1998 Board Meeting are delayed and will not be available until the next bulletin.

Submitted Martin Miller-Hessell

New E-mail address or Fax number?

Let me know at DRBjork@thegrid.net or
phone (707) 576-7632 or fax (707) 576-7672.

Past Bulletin Archive  Current Bulletin

We pray for the Children
who sneak popsicles before supper,
who erase holes in math workbooks,
who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those
who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
who can’t bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,
who never "counted potatoes,"
who are born in places where we wouldn’t be caught dead,
who never go to the circus,
who live in an X-rated world.

We pray for children
who bring us sticky kisses and fistfuls of dandelions,
who hug us in a hurry and forget their lunch money.
And we pray for those who never get dessert,
who have no safe blanket to drag behind them,
who watch their parents watch them die,
who can’t find any bread to steal,
who don’t have any rooms to clean up,
whose pictures aren’t on anybody’s dresser,
whose monsters are real.

We pray for children
who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
who throw tantrums in the grocery store
and pick at their food,
who like ghost stories,
who shove dirty clothes under the bed,
who never rinse out the tub,
who get visits from the tooth fairy,
who don’t like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
who squirm in church and scream in the phone,
whose tears we sometimes laugh at and
whose smiles can make us cry.

And we pray for those
whose nightmares come in the daytime,
who will eat anything,
who have never seen a dentist,
who aren’t spoiled by anybody,
who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
who live and move, but have no being.

We pray for children
who want to be carried and for those who must,
who we never give up on,
and for those who don’t get a second chance.
For those we smother and . . .
for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind enough to
offer it.

In Memory of........
Natalie Brooks, student age 12
Paige Ann Herring, student age 12
Stephanie Johnson, student age 12
Brittany R. Varner, student age 11
Shannon Wright, Teacher age 32
killed in the shooting on Tuesday, March 24, 1998, in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Also in Memory of......
Mikael Nickolauson, student age 17
Ben Walker, student age 16
killed in the shooting on Thursday, May 21, 1998, in Springfield, Oregon.

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