UPCOMING SOCIALS & PROJECTS & EVENTS  

More socials, projects, & events coming soon!

Opening The Meeting

After President Casey greeted us (did I detect a British accent?) Fred Levin led us in the reciting of The Pledge of Allegiance and the Four-Way Test. In honor of Ray Dorfman, who passed away on New Year’s Day, he told a story of them making a gigantic matzo ball. It was really big! When cooking it, it exploded. Yes, we have missed Ray these last eight years since he left our club.  He was such a great person and so much fun.

Visitors:

Ed Buonaccorsi, a friend of Jeff and Patty Kolin; Pam D’Angelo, President Casey’s wife, and Ken Porter, our guest speaker

Sunshine Report:

As mentioned above, Ray Dorfman’s passing.  The memorial for Norm and Bev Owen has been postponed by the family.

Fines!

Patty Kolin’s cell phone rang.  Robert Pierce suggested she pay a fine for interrupting the meeting.

50/50 Drawing:

Patty Kolin ran the raffle for the first time today.  She did a fabulous job!  The pot had $55.00 and Rich Rossi’s ticket was pulled! However, he pulled out a yellow marble.  So, the pot rolls over.

Birthdays for January:

Keven Brown could not make it to the meeting this week, so birthdays will be next week

“The Book of Why”

They will be arriving in the next two weeks. President Casey is asking us to take two schools for delivery (as usual).

Announcements:

1. President Case thanked Ann Gospe and Julia Parranto for filling in at our meetings while he and Pam went to England. With the bell ringing, the Nutcracker, and the holiday party, he missed a lot! He paid $125 to the club for the England trip and missing all our events
2. Ann Gospe says the ESRAG committee has two projects that will be done on MLK Birthday, January 20. Both are from 9:00 – 12:00. The clean-up of MLK Park in Santa Rosa is the closest project.
3. Jim Green says that the International committee will be meeting on January 21, 7:00pm at the Gospe’s. Please come if you are interested in serving on this committee.
4. Susan Nowacki is looking for people to sign up to do the Reflection, Pledge and Four-Way Test.
5. President Casey read a thank you not from the Sonoma County Fair Board for our participation in the Junior Livestock Auction. $2.2 million was raised for the kids!
6. Michael Moore brought in a basket of goodies valued at $145. He offered to match the winning bid if President Casey auctioned it off.  Steve Olson had the winning bid of $165.00!  That means $330 to the club!

Guest Speaker Ken Porter, photographer for The Press Democrat.

Ken started taking photos in high school.  He turned his closet into a dark room.  He went officially into the business in 1982, first up in Lake County.  He later went to Midland Texas and came back to work at the Press Democrat in 1990.  In 2015, and the Valley Fire, he first saw how the environment was changing and the start of the many wildfires since 2015.  His work has been increasingly dedicated to covering wildfire and other natural disasters in and around the region.  He was part of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize team for Breaking News for the coverage of the October 2017 Tubbs Fire.  He has won the National Press Photographer Associations West Region Photographer of the Year three times. He has won numerous other state and national awards.  His photos have been published worldwide.

He showed us many of the photos he has taken in recent years and given us the story behind the photos and what he likes best about them.  He will drive 1000 miles to get a great photo of a storm, fire, or other natural disaster. He told us about how he took the famous picture of the collapse of the Bay Bridge in the Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989.

He and his truck are ready to go anytime

CREDITS