President Kathy Gailey, “The African Queen,” called the meeting to order, reminding us that the R.I. President is John F. Germ and his theme for the year is “Rotary Serving Humanity.”
Our Greeter, Steve Wilcox, led us in the Salute to the Flag and gave us a short summary of what he does as a Financial Advisor at Summit Financial Group. To paraphrase Steve’s Thought for the Day: as we transition from one President to a new administration, whether we are happy or unhappy with the change, let us be thankful that we live in a country where such a change is handled peacefully.
PP Don Jones then led the group in the singing a Patriotic Song, a rousing rendition of “God Bless America!”
Visiting Rotarians: None. However, our own Jay Tontz was warmly welcomed back after his recent illness. (When is he going to present this year‘s Economic Forecast?)
Other Visitors: Heidi Kenniston-Lee, of the Cal High PTSA; Joyce Castro, of the San Ramon Valley Fire protection District and an Honorary Rotarian, and McKenna Lay, member of the famous Colette and Brad Lay Family.
Grant Presentation: PP Gary Sloan introduced our latest Grant Recipient, Heidi Kenniston-Lee. She serves on the Special Needs Committee for Cal High’s PTSA and their group held a “Winter Wonderland” dance for about 250 special needs students from Cal High and neighboring high schools. She stated that it took a lot of planning to tailor the event to these young people since the music, dances and many other activities needed to be significantly different than for the typical high school dance. About 125 adults, Cal High Leadership students and the Dance Club assisted with the event. Ms. Kenniston-Lee was happy to receive our San Ramon Rotary Foundation check to help defray some of the expenses they incurred.
Announcements:
All were reminded by President Kathy that next week’s meeting will be held at Cal High Library, with the Interact Club.
There were bags of goodies from the Run for Education waiting for us at the door; each attendee got a long sleeved tee-shirt with the Rotary emblem emblazoned on the back.
PE Lucky Sandhu reminded us that the District Conference will be held in Berkeley this year, on March 24 thru 26.
PP Dr. Bill routed thank you letters from Twin Creeks School fourth graders for the dictionaries we presented them with.
Edgardo Carrillo is seeking skiers to join a “San Ramon Rotary Ski Team” to compete against other clubs in South Lake Tahoe in April. Contact him if you are interested.
This Scribe announced a VERY important upcoming day! Saturday, January 21st, will be National Squirrel Appreciation Day! Those in the room went wild with excitement and promised to feed their furry friends raw (unsalted) nuts that day, keep their cats and dogs in the house to prevent injuries (or worse) and to drive particularly carefully down our tree-lined streets!
Blue Badge Presentation: Mike Thelen struggled a bit with the wording of the Four-Way Test -- as many before him have -- but got the essence of it right so he was awarded his Blue Badge.
Good News/Fine Free: Joyce Castro announced that her daughter is having her first baby; due April 27. She has other grandchildren as well. Chris Gayler’s wife, Natalie, had a birthday this past Tuesday; the party included Bingo. A further celebration will take place in Las Vegas (?).
Recognitions: None
Program: Colette and McKenna Lay teamed up to present a status report on the club’s Youth Services. The most significant involvement with youth revolves around the Cal High Interact Club. It has about 120 member of whom about 50 to 60 are really active. They have their own Board of Directors which meets every Wednesday for lunch during the school year. They try to schedule one fundraising and one community service event per month and one International undertaking for which they fundraise every year. This year they are focused on Polio-Plus and have joined other clubs within District 5160 in this effort. Colette would like to see some additional members get involved so that the Interactors get more than one person’s guidance. She summed up the need for “Interact Advisors” by saying, “Be the mentor you wish you had!”
Other Youth Services activities for this club are:
Dictionary Distribution to all fourth graders in the San Ramon schools; headed up by Dr. Bill Harlan.
Job Shadow Day for members of Cal High’s Life Skills Class; this program is in need of new leadership.
Student of the Month for Cal High; this has a new leader in Mike Thelen.
Scholarship Program including two $10,000 grants (four years at $2,500 per year) and several other grants, totaling $22,000 this year. Involved in this are Patti Hennigan, Chris Gayler, Don Jones and Mike Thelen.
Grads to Patriots Program which recognizes graduating Cal High students who have chosen to join the Armed Forces. Mike Conklin started this program but is unable to continue due to time constraints. Dr. Bill Harlan has agreed to take this on!
Summer Camps including Camp Royal (leadership-oriented) and Camp Venture (with a business focus). We send two students to each of these camps and ask them to report back to us on their experiences. This program is in need of new leadership.
Colette went on to remind all who want to get involved with youth activities, either in a leadership role or as a helper, that they must get vetted by both Rotary International and the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. See Patti Hennigan if you have any questions.
Raffle: The Greeter’s Gift -- a bottle of wine, it seemed -- was won by PP Dennis Harvey. The Lucky Marble Draw was won by PE Lucky Sandhu, however he failed to pull the winning marble out of the bag!
Next Week: The next meeting will be held at Cal High with the Interact Club.
