Bulletin for March 1, 2010
SOS = Inspiration = Hope
By Tarina Hall
Preliminaries
 President Susan opened the meeting just a bit early today! |
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Today’s Team:
Chris Rosell – led us in the pledge
Chuck Stark – shared a thought-provoking moment about the depth of
charity
Ginny Pitts – did our set-up
Terry Galazzo – introduced our visiting Rotarians Nancy Aita, Don Johnson
Louie Capuano – sold Raffle Tickets
Jim Valinoti – was our shutter bug
Bob Zeni – played cashier
Terry Galazzo - told a joke about recommended safe sex practices for
the clergy
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Rotary Moment: Chuck Stark shared an interesting series of facts with us on the state of volunteerism in our country: "We usually hear about charity in the media when there is a terrible disaster. For example, after Hurricane Katrina, we heard about the incredible outpouring of private generosity that amounted to $6 billion. What gets less attention is that Americans routinely give that much to charity every week! Last year Americans gave $300 billion to charity. To put this into prospective, that much is almost twice what we spent on consumer electronics equipment—equipment including cell phones, iPods and DVD players. Americans gave three times as much to charity last year as we spent on gambling and ten times as much as we spent on professional sports. America is by far the most charitable country in the world. There is no other country that comes close!"
Introductions: Darcy Fellows introduced her guest Kerry Rego.
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Past President Jim Valinoti (’97-’98) introduced his guests and
former members of our club; Past President Bill Gittins
(’96-’97 who preceded Jim), who has recently achieved that coveted status
semi retired. And also, all the way from his current home club, The Rotary
Club of Arroyo Grande, Curtis Reinhardt,
where among other things he is the Youth Exchange Chair, and working
currently working on their latest Western Theme Chili Cook-off fundraiser.
Announcements & Such
President Susan announced that Smita Martinez, Julie Nation and Lidio Tropeano have now received official Rotary Information from Mike Merrill. They have also been published and hopefully will be inducted by the end of the month.
Harry Rubins announced that March is Rotary Foundation Match Month. For any member who has or will contribute the club goal of $140 towards their Paul Harris, the Club will match additional contributions up to $300. Be a Rotarian every year! Our goal is for 100% Club participation with $10 or more from every member.
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Tuesday, March 9th is our next Perspective New Member social. The event will be again held at Drapes & More from 5:30-7:00. Be sure to stop on by, enjoy a glass of wine and meet some potential new members.
March 15th is our St. Pat’s Day event. We will be treated to traditional Irish fare, an open bar with mixologist Doug Angelo and our delightful dancing girls. Spouses and SO’s are welcome! We will be meeting at St Rose at 5:30 PM.
President Susan reminded us that in a "Green Effort" you can
bring unneeded or unwanted electronics to the club and they will be recycled
at no cost to you.
"Getting to Know You"
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John Hathaway has been a member of the Rotary Club of Santa Rosa West for 30 years. This stability is a nice contrast to his roaming from New York, North Carolina, Connecticut and Ohio in his early years. John enjoyed a very interesting and successful career as a Design Engineer for North American Aircraft until he started his own company designing a variety of different connector applications. In 1979 he moved his company and 6 employees to Santa Rosa. When he sold to IT&T Connector Systems and retired there were 150 employees. John has been married to his lovely wife Jan for 56 years. They have 4 children and 8 grandchildren. He is an avid skier, enjoys golf and, as we all know, loves to travel and explore the world!
Recognition & Bragging Bucks:
$50 from Scott Bartley for expounding on his Planning Commission antics and MDA jail time!
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$40 from Pam Davis for her time in the brink for MDA
$20 from Chris Young for turning both Scott and Pam in
$75 from Bryan Jamar to celebrate his successful shoulder surgery that prevented him from golfing for 6 months and driving for 3.
$40 from Will Richards for rightfully bragging about his
granddaughter having won a 1st place in synchronized swimming at
regional competition.
Raffle:
And the winner was not …Chris Young who once again could not find the
black marble among the pack of 18. Janet Codding was able to take
home a bottle of wine and Will Richards won an entry ticket to the
Windsor Club’s fundraiser on March 13th.
Program: SOS = Inspiration = Hope
Bob Zeni again introduced Dr. Mark Doolittle, founder and shepherd of the SOS program. We also had the opportunity to hear from a counselor, a teacher and two program participants.
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Support Our Students (SOS) is a nonprofit counseling agency which began in 1991 and developed into a highly awarded collaboration among SSU Counseling Department and its Community Counseling Clinic, the four Rotary Clubs of Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa and Sonoma County schools, local foundations and other community supporters.
Its mission is to help students and their families be successful personally, academically, and socially. It has provided free, school-based counseling to youth and families in Santa Rosa, Roseland, Petaluma, Windsor and St. Helena. Since 2008 SOS has also provided clinic-based counseling the Sonoma and in 2009 it has begun providing affordable, sliding-scale counseling inn its main office in Santa Rosa.
The Rotary Club of Santa Rosa West has supported this worthy organization for the past 17 years. Rotarians Bob Marigo, Bob Zeni and John Palmer have been active with SOS since its inception. A portion of our Crab Feed proceeds are annually committed to SOS.
| Bulletin Reporter: Tarina Hall  |
Bulletin Editor: Jim Valinoti  |