UPCOMING SOCIALS & PROJECTS & EVENTS  

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

More socials, projects, & events coming soon!

Please note: The bulletin committee could use more writers.   

Opening Ceremonies:

President Casey D’Angelo kicked off the meeting by inviting one of our newest members, Eric Butterfied, to give the Pledge, 4-Way Test, and the opening thought. He performed the pledge and test flawlessly and then admitted that he didn’t know he was supposed to have prepared an opening thought – which is a bummer because since Eric is an English Lit major, I’d have expected a quote from Shakespeare, or maybe a Walt Whitman poem about paths less traveled. But instead,Eric thought quick on his feet and told us about how the 4-Way Test helped him understand that Rotary was the place for him and how his dad helped him understand the difference between an indictment and a conviction… “Fair to all concerned.”

Visiting Rotarians and Guests

There were no visiting Rotarians today, which, frankly, makes this note-taker happy because I can never figure out their names anyway.

There were guests, however. Kim Murphy introduced her son Christopher to the group, Debi Zaft introduced former member, and the finest YMCA Board Member on the planet, Kerrie Chambers, who has applied to rejoin the club (yay!), and Susan Nowacki, introduced our speaker,Mark Stapp, Vice Mayor of the City of Santa Rosa. And, yes, I realize some of you are waiting for me to make fun of the politician, but Mark is just too nice of a guy. A true oxymoron!

Sunshine Report

Ginny said she didn’t have any news but wished Rose and Julia well. I missed the last meeting so I too am now hoping that Rose and Julia are fine.

But just when we thought the Sunshine Report was going to be just a ho-hum report, Kim Murphy came to rescue! She shared that one of herhorses was attacked by a mountain lion. Fortunately, the horse will be okay and she’s working with a local organization to help prepare the ranchto protect the horses. They speculate that the mama mountain lion was teaching her baby how to hunt. Rawr!

Opportunity Drawing

The illustrious Debi Zaft was in charge of the drawing and she oversaw a $113 pot. I happened to be sitting at the same table of Diane Moresi who famously shares a raffle ticket with anyone at her table who does not have one. Today, she shared with Ginny a single ticket and then immediately regretted it when that ticket got called! Alas, Ginny’s luck stopped there when she drew a yellow marble. Of course, she donated the$10 she won to the polio pail.

Announcements

Casey spewed a lot of data out and I tried to keep up. Here’s what I remember…

October 30 this the 5 th Wednesday of the month so we will not have our regularly scheduled meeting at the golf course. Instead, we will have as lightly-later in the day scheduled meeting at the golf course. Happy hour with our Rotary peeps will be from 3:30 to 5:00pm at Iron & Vine. There won’t be a $35 lunch but I bet you can get a couple of drinks for that price! See you then!

If you hate goblins and vampires, you can attend the worst-scheduled SCARC Meeting of all time on Thursday, October 31 stat the Sonoma Golf Club. See Casey if you’d like to attend.

Jim Green got up and reminded us that World Polio Day is October 24th. He also said that there have been 6 new polio cases in the past week in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Taliban are not allowing vaccinations because of fears that the vaccinators are spies. Keep giving to stop polio!

Casey then got sneaky and presented Jim with, not a blue badge, but a gold badge that honors his past presidency at his former club. It’s about time that Jim got rid of that red badge! Now he can really have some fun!

Kris Anderson then got up and rambled on about donating through Rotary Direct and that as little as $10 a month can help the International Foundation and help you achieve your Paul Harris. She added that if you need help accessing “My Rotary” or DacDb, then hit her up. She’ll give you a thorough tutorial.

Doug Chase then got up and went over the Local Foundation’s annual report. He mentioned thatthe funds continue to do well due to the market (especially this past quarter). He promoted the scholarships and grants the foundation supports as well.

Rich Rossi then announced he’s getting the Giro Bello Band back together and wants to start planning for 2025. The committee met on Friday at the YMCA and you probably missed it. Just reach out to Rich or Robert if you want to help.

Casey told us that Diane Moresi won two baskets at the International Foundation luncheon and decided she’d keep the good basket and raffle off the mediocre basket to the club (they didn’t say it exactly like that, but we knew what they meant). The basket did get some decent bidding since it had wine. Steve Olsen was the winning bidder with $80 going to the club.

Jeff Kolin went to some conference in Spokane and somehow procured a very nice Rotary trucker hat. I’m willing to bet the phrase “very nice Rotary trucker hat” has never been uttered in the history of mankind.Nonetheless, it was auctioned off and Sam McMillan ponied up $10 for the hat.

Recognitions

Casey innocently asked if anyone in the club had recently bought a new car. Jeannie Levin was bold enough to admit that she bought a car so fancy that she doesn’t know how to use it. And because she doesn’t know why music plays whenever she pulls into the garage, she donated $100 to the club.

Paul Hamilton then got up and announced that he’s been married for 42 years now on October 10 and he’d like to donate $1 for every year of wedded bliss and said that $12 oughta cover it. He quickly said he was joking and then offered $50 to the club and $50 to the John Brown Veterans scholarship.

Heather Thurber then announced that she bought an RV and said, “see you suckers,” as she plans to tour the US for the next 6 weeks. She did donate $50 to the club for her absence.

Guest Speaker

Vice Mayor Mark Stapp came to speak about his work with San Quentin inmates, specifically how he helps organize and play in weekend basketball games with the inmates. He then went on to share how Governor Newsom hopes to make San Quentin a role model in prison reform by creating innovative rehabilitation programs that teach skills and help reduce the recidivism rates that currently hover around 60% and help bring down the cost of incarceration which the state of California spends $14.5 billion on annually and the County of Sonoma spends $100 million on annually. There is data that supports this shift as recidivism rates for inmates who go throughthese programs are at 21% compared to the previously mentioned 60%.

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