6/12/24 – Redwood Empire Food Bank – 2nd Wednesday of the month.  The next one is: June 12th – 5 PM – 7 PM

–> The Giro Bello is just around the corner! June 29, 2024.  Register to reserve your spot for one of the most scenic and fun bike rides on the West Coast – Now with a new start and finish, the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa.  Click here for more info and to register.

For pictures and descriptions of previous socials and other events click here.

For more details and additional events, see the Announcements section below.

More socials, projects, & events coming soon!

Opening the Meeting

President Ann opened up the meeting and invited Captain Sean Kelsey (who was also in charge of the raffle, by the way) to come up and lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Four-Way Test. Captain Sean performed his duties admirably as we all recited the pledge, and then the test and he even remembered to include the 5^th test – TO HAVE FUN!

But then, when Ann asked him to give an opening thought, Captain Sean was no longer having fun because someone neglected to tell the poor man that he not only had to do the pledge and the test and the raffle, but he also had to INSPIRE US with an opening thought!

Alas, we all agreed we would be inspired without any words of wisdom and then Ann moved on.

Visiting Rotarians and Guests

There were NO visiting Rotarians and Guests. Which makes this bulletin writer happier than a dog with two tails. On to the next section!

Sunshine Report

Ginny, always the bearer of bad news (it comes with the gig, I guess), informed us that Steve Reuter is recovering from a fall. Everyone send goodwill thoughts to Steve as he recuperates!

Announcements

Captain Sean appeared again to tell us that his second grandson, Ezekiel, was born last month. As he was telling us this, his phone went off and he ended up donating $50 for the Grandkid and $25 in self-fines for the phone. Thanks, Captain Sean!

Richard Lazovick, acting Sergeant at Arms, then fined President Ann for being late to her own meeting! Jeff Gospe tried to get her off the hook by stating that he was early so it should cancel out. I, personally, thought this was a really good point, but Richard wasn’t having it. So, Ann gave $100 towards her Paul Harris.

Speaking of Jeff Gospe, he announced that President Ann’s Debunking will not be held at the usual noon meeting on June 26^th. Instead, it will be at the Gospe residence later that evening. So please mark your calendars accordingly.

Heather Thurber then announced that her middle son, who is 18, is on his Senior Trip backpacking somewhere with lots of trees. (She might have said where, but I missed it. I’m sure, wherever it is, it’s a beautiful place to backpack.) Her son graduates high school in two weeks so in honor of getting one more kid across the finish line, she donated $100 to the club.

Then, Ray Giampoli was just sitting down eating his shepherds pie when Ann asked him about a recent fishing trip he took with his dad. Ray didn’t consider this announcement-worthy as he felt that taking his 86-and-a-half-year-old dad fishing wasn’t exactly a vacation. Ann reminded that the Rotary motto is “Service Above Self” and Ray did admit it was a good time hanging with his dad even if they only caught two fish and one jumped the hook before they could get it in the boat and the other was too small. Ray donated $75 to the club for all his troubles.

Raffle

Captain Sean showed up again. This time to do the raffle. Out of all the good, honest people he could have asked to pull the winning ticket, he settled on Doug Johnson. Doug did his friend Fred Levin a solid by drawing his number. There were only TWO marbles left and Fred pulled the right one out and walked a way with a cool $145 – which he promptly donated to the John Brown Scholarship Fund. Thanks, Fred!

Announcements, Part II

Somehow we got back to announcements where Ann gave us a summary of the District Conference last Saturday which most of you attended while I went to the Rose Parade and watch six contestants bury their faces in gooey pie. At any rate, the conference was a good one. We had 14 of our members as well as a number of past, current, and future exchange students attend which won us the coveted “Most Members Attending The District Conference Award.” Or something like that. Like I said, I wasn’t there. I was watching a grown woman scarf an entire pie down in eight minutes.

District Governor Tom Boyle, who is encouraging club collaborations, recognized our club, along with the East-West Club and the Healdsburg Club for our work with supporting Ukraine. We all got a certificate so if you didn’t go, you can pick yours up at the next meeting… which leads me to remind you all that…

WE WILL NOT BE MEETING ON WEDNESDAY MAY 29^TH! That is a fifth Wednesday of the month and we do not meet on the fifth Wednesday of the month because that’s just too many Wednesdays in one month to handle you all.

Finally, Ray got up and reminded to put $ in the Polio Bucket (But he did NOT say, “Out of your pocket and into the pail, folks!” and I’m a little disappointed. I’ll get over it though.).

Ray then reminded us that The Giro Bello is one month and change away and we are still looking for sponsors for the ride. We are half-way towards our sponsorship goals and we need all of the club to look at who they do business with and ask for sponsorships. We can do it but we need your help!

Heather also said an email with Giro Bello volunteer signups will go out soon and you can sign up or see where you signed up if you’re like Susan Nowacki and forgot all the places you promised to be.

Program

The program was a presentation by Doug Johnson, our International Services Committee Chair, about how our dollars were spent on international work this year. The committee tried to align our spending with Rotary’s seven areas of focus. All in all, the club sent $43,492 abroad. $17,000 was from the club’s budget and the rest, $26,492, was raised by our members to support specific projects.

Jeff gave an overview of the Ukraine spending, where we helped with generators, batteries, and supplies for kids who are experiencing trauma or were orphaned. Over $24,000 went to Ukraine this year.

This is where this bulletin writer had to go to pick up his daughter from school. If you have any questions about the rest of the program, you can talk to Doug Johnson or Jeff Gospe for more info. Click Image for presentation