by Tom Port

                       

 

Lady Colette opened the meeting in the “sardine can” sized room known as Bret Harte. However, the more crowded the party the more fun, so no problem. In case no one remembers, R. I. President is Mark Daniel Maloney and his theme is Rotary Connects the World”.

Greeter Tom Port led the Flag and offered a somewhat metaphysical “Thought for the Day”  courtesy of Albert Einstein: “Everything should be kept a simple as possible, but no simpler”. Too bad no one could figure out what that was supposed to mean.

 

Visitors Alanna Power from the Niles Rotary, our speaker, and Aran Bhasra of Bangalore, India Rotary club were introduced.

Horace Crawford put out a request for donations for Christmas cards for the homeless.

The Holiday party is Dec. 21 at about 6:00 pm at the CCCC. Internet invites will be coming out.

Julie McKinney recognized various members for birthdays or anniversaries including Horace Crawford, Terry Koehne, Judy Lewis, Cindy Toby, Edgardo and Norbert.

The Senior Center Christmas lunch is next week. Don’t go to CCCC.

Don’t forget Christmas lights party on the street where Colette lives. She is offering an open bar, but you need to bring a can of food (or some cash) for a donation.

Rotary Foundation: Ray Giles says: “Don’t neglect to donate toward Disease Prevention and Treatment”!

Vera Packard is raising funds for her organization: Lazerex. Edgardo for the Salvation Army.

Speaker: Alanna Power explained how her life experience brought her to leave a very successful career in high tech to found a non-profit “Boldly Me” in 2012. At the age of three she had been diagnosed with Alopecia, a disease that caused her to lose all hair. At first, she was treated with cortisone injections. They proved successful, but were also very painful, and when the injections were stopped the hair loss continued. So, she wore a bonnet as much as possible. Eventually she gave up on hair and decided to go forward as she was, but the emotional trauma stuck with her. From then forward she had a desire to found an organization that would assist young people with self-esteem issues resulting from physical disabilities or other factors. Alanna says “Boldly Me” has saved over 194 lives – people who were at the point of suicide, and eight mass shootings. One of the young people Alanna has been assisting, Mary Zhu, came forward to explain how “Boldly Me” has changed her life.

Alanna hopes to spread Boldly Me across the country, but she depends on community support. She has scheduled a fund raiser, the 8^th Annual Promise Event, for Saturday March 14, 2020 at the Dominican Center in Fremont. More information about the event and about “Boldly Me” is available at www.boldlyme.org.

 

Raffle: Hermann  Welm won the Greeters Gift, and guest Mary Zhu won the Progressive, but drew a blue ball.